.

lilac petals drop daintily

a swoosh of night air and fragrance
pushes the poplars to samba
swishing and swaying seductively
bouncing droplets of rain on
xylophonic roof tiles
beckoning me to join
this unnamed celebration

I escape my lazy chair ways on
loosey-goose legs
(usually stiff as boardroom banter)
and I feel

....TALL!

I met her once,
in a battered place
where Irish bombs blew
holes into an English city,
broken bodies writhing
as I looked down at the splinters
of a shattered friend
stuck deep into my shins.

We kids were all prompt to arrive at the door
for we knew we shouldn’t turn our backs on
Christmas roast at dinner time -
it can’t be left long after out of the oven
for the Aussie bush blowie is nasty
and even with windows and doors fly-wired
doubled over and nailed every inch
the buggers still get inside
and if they get to your dinner before you
well, the sight would make a saint cry
wriggly maggots dropped to feast
on what was going to be our festive meat.
Too much information do I hear you implore??

Steaming jungle darkly wrapped
closing in, keeps him trapped

Sounds of life and of death
he holds his screams and nervous breath
Life crawls by, touching him
he holds his bowels, filled to brim

Eyes strain to see through blinding gloom
trying to guess whence comes his doom
darker blackness slides closer still
waiting for the chance to kill

Senses tuned to ultimate
this is as good as it gets
Emotions roil filling him with life
as he holds the ebon bladed knife

Field of Stone

I crossed the hills and valleys
And prairies all alone
I forded mountain streams
And found a field of stone

I toiled until my hands bled
And blood mixed in the ground
Baptized in my sweat and blood
Happiness was found

I built a home from all the rocks
And raised a family there
I plowed the fields and grew the crops
In soil so loose and spare

'I watched my children move away
To greener fields and goals
We stayed on; just my wife and I
at the hearthfire of our souls

Open House Madness

Welcome!
Come, step into my dream
I’m sure you will find
Things are as not as they seem

Your host is in the kitchen
He has become the main course
The places that are dined on
Are his pleasures source

What’s going on over there
How many people
Can fit in one chair
Arms, legs assorted body parts
Hard to tell
Where one ends
And one should start

Baby kisses
Chills from neck to spine
Linger, linger
Please, take your time

You inspired from the start,
cradled me in the wealth of your knowledge.
Nursed this fledgling through it's poetic birth

A beautiful spirit that burns and sparks,
a vessel for all that is dark and exquisite,
and righteous.

Now you have been laid
and it is I who must support you.
Give you hope, enouragenent

I will ease your burden.
Erase your suffering,
allow you to be strong..

When the clouds
Block out the sun
And your heart is
Another’s red carpet

Look into your soul
And find that smile
That makes Satan
Regret meeting you

Yea’ life will throw you
To the wolves
That is when you
Look into your heart
And find the courage
Of lions

When those around you
Trample your dreams
Don’t you shed a tear

rationalizing
reminiscences of her
needing pretty pictures
to revive my burnt out life

Armorall'd surfaces
seasoned, but shiney
glow-in- the-dark fantasies
oozing whispers of love
so necessary
so needful

woe be me, for real,
if the surfaces were to be glimpsed
in their natural rough and dull state
and the darkness was unmarred
by smokey spotlighted images
and the oozing was a raging flood of regret
and disillusionment

What Mankind Has Done

But for the cold
Calculating stare
Of electric blue orbs
Lightening flashing
From within
You’d think it human

Others blind their eyes
And deafen ears
When in her presence

Faint whirrs and clicking
Are the only clue
That she
No longer lives

Once filled
With life’s passion
Flowing through every vein
The sole giving of all
To flora, fauna and mankind