Putting Unwanted Feelings in Their Place

Putting unwanted feelings in their place

Grief, always the courtier

Knocked at my door

Asking to speak to the man of the house

But as I was indisposed

He understood and vowed to return later

While his less couth cousin – disquiet

Waiting at the curb

Without announcement

Intruded into my private space

Ransacking the place before

I could dial for help

When the authorities arrived

To make a report

I, interrupting business as usual

Made a case for choice in matters

Some say before abrupt changes

For sanguine solitude

To be promoted among the legislators

Sorry, said I, but willy-nilly upheaval is inopportune

Impertinent and calloused

And as they took notes I spoke with passion

Reminding them to look me in the eyes

As I made my case

After which, to my relief

They started to pack up and leave

Assuring me my message would be conveyed

Giving me back my night

Even begging my pardon

Upon knocking over a dear picture

As they retreated

I returned the likeness to where it belonged

But as soon as they left, that hollow feeling entered

The same door

Sitting down in my desk chair

Opening files on my computer

In fact, one I thought I had deleted

The one in which I had written

So movingly of permanence

Requited love

A separate peace

Sanctuary

I know grief, loneliness, separation

Or perhaps the dark king himself

Will return

And ask to speak to me again

But just maybe I won’t be home

Or suppose I am

But have insight afresh

Giving him an ear full?

I am feeling again in charge

Working out is paying off

These, these aliens and imposters

These ne’er do wells

Really, I don’t think

Want to mess with me

Giving Thanks

Expectations

To know what you want

Is a stuffed pantry

Obligations

Follow like the scorned

With nowhere else to turn

Incantations

Perch on tongues

Before they fall in laps

Orientations

Upside needs down

The way money does the poor

Indiscretions

Obfuscate the future

By undermining seconds

Deliberations

Offer promise

Always a little behind

Perorations

Swell inside

Tsunami is too strong a word

Explanations

We can dismiss

As for the faint of heart

Imaginations

One year light

The next night-dark

Transitions

Not my favorite

Time to be

Memories

Closed-circuit connection

To we uninformed

Considerations

Of a room

Filled with heartbeats

Appreciations

Glad to have shared

Space and time

Acknowledgements

The little person

Will be fine as always

Thanksgivings

What we feel

For someone noticing

Misgivings

Steps on stones

In water to our waist

The years now past

To be mined

For nugget expressions

Of unification

And with a supply

I will not hoard

But rather give

Thanks

For…

If I cannot have

My desire

I will be glad

For its discovery

Since...

To know what you want

Is a stuffed pantry

It's Going to Be Okay

I sat in the weeds beside our trailer

With my wonderful Aunt and Uncle on their way

To visit for my graduation

And memorized my lines from South Pacific

The role of Joe Cable

By staring the words on to blades of grass

And reading them back

The chiggers attacked

Through my pants

But I had no time

To worry over itching

The future was rushing in

High school burning off the horizon

The sun so bright

I wish I could get back there

And tap the skinny boy

On the shoulder and say to him:

It’s going to be okay.

I'd Like A Word With You

I’d like a word

With a few good people

She who’s lost a child

A breast

A house

He a job

A dream

A marriage

They’ve taken his car back

Her dinette set

Those who’ve lost their minds

And now sit in the waiting room

Of someone paid to listen

I need to talk to these people

To ask their wisdom

How they keep going

Where my view

Needs tweaking

And if you’ve been there

Looking down the barrel

Of a loaded gun

I’d like a word with you too

Vegas Is No Mirage

If you're going to Vegas
Take along a friend
One who asks why
And looks hard at life

Talk about it
Write your thoughts down
Be gentle as you judge

But you can rest assured
It's no Mirage

Gluttony and lust
Two of the deadly sins
Carried punishments
Of eating rats and snakes
And being smothered in
Brimstone

Vegas has a novel approach
Set them up in front of
A game of chance
And give them
Enough money to
Last a week

I am no stranger to sin
It does not frighten me
I don't believe the tragedian
Accounts it has inspired

It's Vegas I don't get
From Mormon, Sicilian and Jewish mafia
To profligate use of water
And hedonism on Viagra
I will have to pass
Hit the next guy

Desert Fountain

If you want to find yourself
Vegas may not be your place
You might find your inner Elvis
Or worse, a pack of rats

Walk sober at midnight 
from Mandalay Bay
To the Palazzo 
And then back south

Look hard at the faces
Listen to the yelps
Sit for a time 
As the parade passes

Ask yourself what that is
Is it a form of joy?
Was love waiting on you
When you got back?

Desert fountain
I fear for your future
But it's the clanging machines
That must not last

Adios Las Vegas

I want to love Las Vegas, I do
The way I want love everything
Attraction just feels better

The weather is nice
The food to die for
Nights are busy, days relaxed
The streets are clean again
By eight in the morning
The slots sing still
As I sit in the airport
With the strip gleaming
Through the window
And I'm reminded
Of their saying:
Have a lucky day
Well...
This is my lucky day
Adios Las Vegas