August 30, 2013

#1529 fall

the sun is growing tired
her days are shrinking shorter
she sleeps in, then retires early
the leaves are stealing colour from her bedtimes

september is a bookend in the middle of a shelf
september is when we start hugging ourselves
no longer summer
winter not in sight

August 28, 2013

#1528 sticking together

God was throwing hockey sticks one day
one left, one right
one south, one north
when by divine coincidence
we ended up on this team of two
an unlikely combination that makes a an all-star team
i would not have chosen you, you would not have chosen me
but now, would i choose you/
i sher wood

August 27, 2013

#1527 thumbing

according to my phone, i've been standing at the end of this on-ramp for two hours
five cars have gone by
one waved
one stared
three avoided meeting my gaze
my mind is running out of distractions
listing the colours of the cars
singing forgotten jingles in my head
counting the change in my pocket
if i don't land a ride soon
the worries i left behind might catch up with me on this highway
maybe i'll walk
try to find an underpass

August 26, 2013

#1526 the one left standing


It must be quite a rush

From monkey-bar playgrounds to pub and bar parking lots

They stand tall and lead with their chests

Hoping for someone to look at them wrong

Then hands turn to fists

The same hands that once so tiny

Curled around their mothers’ fingers through reflex

These hands swing on the ends of arms like speeding wrecking balls

Aiming for human faces

Aiming for blood and bone and flesh

Are these people evil

These same boys and men go home and do kind things

Do errands for their mothers, kiss grandmothers goodbye

They help others, hold others, love others

Still they hunt, at 3pm then at 3 am

It  must be quite a rush

August 25, 2013

#1525 "the system is broken"

outdated and unwilling to change
people and politics and policies
barricading success

the occassional one achieves success
mistaking these barricades for hurdles

#1524 what can wait

the lawn the dishes the bathroom
the dishes the bathroom the car
the bathroom the car the bills

playing catch
writing a note
phoning a friend

#1523 a happy tragedy

music without words
can speak to parts language cannot
a different journey for each set of ears, each soul
music can grab us by the shirt at the sternum and throw us against the locker
of our least favourite year of school
music can hold us in its palm and raise us up above mountains and clouds
a world without music could be a happy world
but a tragedy

#1522 dessert

write on walls
break one beer bottle
when we say be careful, take risks
ask questions
take shit apart before you're sure of how to put it back together
run barefoot
eat dessert first
surround yourself with good people
help people in need
know that refusing to help is sometimes the best way to help
love who you see in the mirror
find and copy heros
find and be yourself
throw rocks in lakes
eat well
enjoy junk food
see the inside of the principal's office once

#1521 buzzer beaters

the senior boys jogged to the end line
ready to run lines
thinking the coach was upset because the coach said
put all the basketballs away
but as they lined up he said
no, play a game of 5-on-5, without a ball
awkward silence
until jerry (the team clown) dribbled an imaginary ball to centre
where he prepared to throw up a jump-ball
the other boys fell in with smiles
three-pointers were hit and missed
fouls were called and accused
benchwarmers deked starters
with ten minutes left, Coach shouts
now add a ball, but don't subtract any of the fun

#1520 hat's off

here's my hat, an old ball cap
i take it off to the young who worry about the world

youth who, spend more time in their head than in their body
to the young who count troubles at night instead of sheep
the mature young
who stress that the world is not the place it could be
who lose sleep to the day's injustices
to the young who feel too much
too much guilt
too much anxiety
too much responsibility
i was once you

(disclaimer: for those who don't want to hear advice
plug your ears and close your eyes)

i was once you, so i have some advice
the worst kind of advice
simple-sounding advice that i never followed

advice #1
go use your body
walk, run
carry, throw
build, haul
whatever
just bring yourself out of your head for a while
the brain is a miracle
so your body

advice #2
physically connect with others
hug all you can
you don't have to be good at it
at least high five
human interaction is amazing
enjoy it
skin-to-skin touch is as important to adults as to newborns

advice #3
smile
look up at the sky or the ceiling, and smile
fake it if you need to
remind yourself that body influences mind
that the brain is one part of the body

let me put my hat back where it belongs- on my head
i hope your body understands what my mouth has said

#1519 late august

the sunflowers reign high in the garden
the remaining peas a fading yellow
squeezing in another backyard fire
we huddle, hoodies donned
as the mountian tucks the sun in goodnight

August 14, 2013

#1518 heartwood

this empire is rotting
from the inside to the out
we grew too big too fast
just for the sake of growing

we are rotting
from our core to our skin
we buy and lie
selling ourselves out and lying to ourselves

the only way to heal?
start over
small, real

August 13, 2013

#1517 as the sun falls asleep behind the mountain

between the mountain's black and the sky's darkening grey
are two bands of more colour
bordering the mountin is a stripe of yellow, brilliant
and between it and the sky's grey, a light purple

no wait
the yellow changed to orange
and the purple grew deeper

#1516 schooling

it's saturday
he's 15, almost 17
cashes his part-time cheque
grossed out by the net difference between gross and net pay
goes to the store
buys the stuff that makes him cool
his spirit taxed by the difference between the price tag and the till
monday, he'll go to school
a place he thinks adults invented to torture him
unaware he is paying for it

August 11, 2013

#1515 balloons

canada day
birthdays
community days
we see the ballons float
up
up
drifting out of sight
i'm left wondering...
where do they all go
is there an enormous pile

August 9, 2013

#1514 fences

words are like barbed fences
keeping people in
keeping others out
marking boundaries
tearing flesh

August 8, 2013

#1513 if

we all do what we can
some days it's more, some days it's less
some days you're the baby, some days you're the man
we can't fix it all
can't always stop what's in motion
but we can nudge and shoulder
change the direction
if we do what we can

August 7, 2013

#1512 pre-adolesence

dilly-dallying along the lake
skipping stones and cutting the devil's throat
growing up along the way
watching ripples travel away from me
rings growing in succession
this world is great
that i were to visit again

August 6, 2013

#1511 life lesson from my dog in the park

i pause
her muscles are tensed
focused
ready
i throw the ball

as it sails
she runs so hard
that i feel the ground shake and hear it thump-thump-thump
a stampede of one
when she reaches the now bouncing ball
she tries to go from top speed
to zero
resulting in a tumble of dog and of dust
out of the dust
i see a high tail
the dust settles
revealing a proud smile

August 5, 2013

#1510 the game winner

i was in the seventh inning stretch of that stage of my life
pressure was building
having fouled off two fastballs
the count as 0 and 2
i dug in my front foot
tapped air twice with the bat
tugged the short bill of my helmet
stepped in with the rear foot
breath
ready

a pitch i wouldn't swing at if the count were revered
an unlikable pitch in the strike zone
i committed
a change-up
i reached out front
contact
that sweet sound
the ball shot up well over and past the heads of the infielders
then apexed
floating down
the leftfielder tracked it toward the track
watching, hoping
but the stitched ball landed on the other side of the fence
success

August 4, 2013

#1509 dollars and common sense

kids need less excess, more macklemore
stop being whore for
the media who putting there name in the mediocre
for to score
at the expense of us jokesters
what's the last thing you bought that you thought
would improve your life
mine was a camera for my wife
1500 i sqandered
now she takes pictures we save but never see
that camera make SLR short for slayer
slaying moments
posin chosen shots frozen
photo-shoppin
reality-choppin
i want
i want
i want
i want to be free of this stuff
we call it a nice little word: interest
what it means is we we payin banks to let us live beyond our means
we all wanna be free
free from stressin alone in the morning at three
mournin our freedom, freedom we never had
we all wanna be free
free of the feelin i get from wheelin and dealin with my plastic visa
does it please ya
my master-card is my master
american express expresses america's ten-lane freeway to disaster
and here in the north we ain't no better
the name of our dollar describes our collective insanity
our lack of humanity
spending our savings accounts
and like a addict i got get back to it
gotta find a bigger hit
we let debt stress us
lie by saying we gotta dess us
to destress we buy stuff
enough is enough
i want
i want
i want
i want to be free of this stuff
enough is enough
free me from the stuff
i want
i want
i wont

#1508 ribbon

the finish line is no great feat of the heart
the feet and the heart not quitting during those 33000 strides
and the many more training strides which happen before
those are the feats
the finish line is an ending
and like all endings
full of joy and loss

August 3, 2013

#1507 sandman

an old song heard anew
a new friend with an old feeling
happy is the fellow who packs happiness in the space between his toes
i'll trade you a dime for a good story
and a nickel for your best advice
i'll go broke but i'll be fixed

August 2, 2013

#1506 blessing

i hope you're enjoying the world
it ain't perfect
but it's a tiny bit closer now that you're here

August 1, 2013

#1505 submission

and before i heard an answer
i sent out another request
so that if the first answer was No
i still had movement and hope

#1504 croup

she cut out my heart with a reciprocating saw
that spits blood like sawdust
i fell like a bomb
that never detonates
she chewed me up and spit me out
a wet sunflower seed on dirty asphalt

i lost big at love
she raked my heart across the table with love's croupier stick
yet i am the horse's ass