the departure
unexpected

a solitary witness who
owned only three summers
unperturbed
said, ‘Nana's gone to sleep
and won't wake up’

then
displaying childhood's acceptance of
all things new
spoke nothing more of it

until, at the wake
in the deceased’s sunny kitchen
was heard to
whisper to
her siblings and cousins

Where world powers clash
the heart of insomniacs
overcome by dreams

Peace was never in the plan
even with the simple clans

For who can find peace
when both thoughts and battles rage
among hearth and kin ?

Mostly we learn from parents
what is it the child learns then?

No one lights their way
in this world darkened by storms
unknown right from wrong

Fear with hate insidious
learned from lightning strikes long past

Floaters

By RW

Brief lightning

Halogen flash of feeling

too soon gone

not even an odor lingering

just moments made less savory

by rapid passage

Now I see spots

and the darkness is no longer comfortable

 Before you
I was blind
I crawled and cried
as a child

my thoughts
were mere doubts,
inner shouts
that howled
and ground my awe

until when
you intruded
and diluted
my heart
in the world
of words' art
and in you. 

You kept me hidden in your heart
As we constructed our love, our art
We were dreamers and lovers, fighters and spies
But I remember once you awoke from a dream
You looked so deep into my eyes
Pulling me closer you said in my ear, “I am home”

I caught you in the afterglow
excitedly I squirmed,
a nervous cough
all bets are off
my suspicions are confirmed.

So now, that I am wondering
just what you're going to do,
I packed your stuff
it's going to be rough
guess you didn't think things through.

Fall and winter are coming soon
repeatedly I've said,
don't steal from me
and then, I see
my possessions hidden under the bed!

A curtain of false civility
like tall grass hides the predator
whose ripping teeth are veiled
by lips of greed
all the better to stalk
profit

Don't mistake the gleam in laughing eyes
for a cheerful twinkle
humor masks the mirth of sizing up
an unsuspecting prey

Those who take him for a friend
taken in by feigning of good will
are merely meat in waiting
ear tagged for the cold locker
a meal for when greed's hunger
makes him drool
don't be that fool

It takes five broken cameras
to tell the story in pictures.
No one can hide the truth
by building a wall around it,
It takes one look into
a child's eyes to see the laughter
and the tears, to hear the
geese honking goodbye into the
silent winter of your heart.

Spitting Flies

I sit and spit whole flies on a dusty floor,
nothingness comes close but I soon reject
Particles are disturbed as the flies soar.
now, I believe those parts get my respect.

The day didn’t start good, soon got worse,
to many parts of my life keep shrinking.
Not as if we’re given a chance to rehearse,
why does a widget in a can get me thinking.

another aged vanity
another baby grand
another california king

these hovels each
a museum becomes
all replicated
grandstanded
re-exhibited

exhausted

archivists
conservators
curators
all