July 12, 2014

#1640 a good day

fresh sheets and new socks
a newly made bed and a new day
your favourite place and a good book
great friends and great food
a fire-lighting conversation and inspiring ideas

#1639 leadership

it is the speeches, and the silent nods
    in the clothes, and in the naked moments
it is in the dreams, and the reality
    in the voice, and in the whispers
it is in front of the crowd, and alone at night
    it is all of the yesterdays, all of today, and all about tomorrow

#1638 getting the shot

he calls himself a photographer
an artist
but he loathes todays
making brats smile
panicking about running out of memory space at the cake-cutting
an intruder in someone else's day

#1637 letting go

a mother holds her son in a funeral home
or maybe the son holds the mother
the embrace is tight
the release is delayed
but there is always a time for letting go

July 8, 2014

1636 hot day

on the hottest day of the hottest day of my life
at the moment when the telephone poles showed no asphalt shadows
she walked in front of me
she was the only one in the county at that moment (barring the air-conditioned) who was smiling
and she made my heart, my being, my soul smile too
she had no cliché ice cream, but for a moment, my body forgot the record temperature
i just stayed suspended in am altered state of time
still
she haunts me

July 7, 2014

#1635 all about you

the grass doesn't grow much when there's nothing but sunshine
and neither do we
like Natalie and Jo and Tootie and Blair
we take the good; we take the bad
not because we want to but because that's the way things work
that's the facts of life

too much rain can kill the grass too
but the balance
          the balance
sun-rain
          rain-sun
keeps the lawnmower busy

#1634 pseudo-democracy

we call it thunder and lightning
though we know we have it backwards
we do this because everyone does this
and we follow along
never questioning

July 4, 2014

#1633 quality screen time

from inside he front porch she spies on her boy
playing in the sandbox
his arm is a crane
the plastic shovel in his hand fills the plastic pail in his lap
his lips make what his mind decides are machine noises
he stops, turns, perhaps sensing his mother's stare
his eyes stop on hers and his mouth spreads into a crooked grin
full of happiness and short of teeth

#1632 4 in Paul is sea

we call it July 4th
as if the date itself
was named after our celebration
after our country
fireworks, alcohol, and unquestioned pride
national pillars
we stare at the sky
explosives telling us there is something bigger than ourselves
if only we stared at the sky the other 364 nights
we'd know there's something bigger than our explosives too

#1631 early July

nothing blooms like a lilac
but the gardeners fail to mention
how short the bloom lasts
how plain the shrub is before bloom
how brown and ugly the flower is after bloom
the girl at the party who everyone knows should go home and change

July 2, 2014

#1630 habanero lover

my habanero lover she moves like no other
my habanero lover get under my covers

my habanero lover even her absence is hot
my habanero lover let's see what you got

my habanero lover she moves like no other
my habanero lover get under my covers

my habanero lover she sets me on fire
my habanero lover are you for hire

my habanero lover she moves like no other
my habanero lover get under my covers

#1629 the same song plays

the same song plays
for the same audience of two
but the audience doesn't dance anymore
they used to know who led and who followed
now love lies in the stomach, swallowed

the same song plays
the same notes and lyrics
but the meaning ain't the same no more
they used to love the silence between the notes
now they make excuses to grab their coats