#274 please locate your nearest emergency exit

mind and heart heavier, i board the plane

my luggage also, larger upon return

window seat

i stare

feeling tired and awake

and heavy

next trip will be for bad news

the headrest becomes a magnet for my head

as the engine roars muffled excitement

i slide the window panel down

shut

only excited kids make noise now

and in about 2 hours and 7 minutes

there will be the clatter of opening seatbelts

as we each depart to our own stories

mine, an early chapter

#273 grand people

an argument

or the closest thing they have

over too much salt

he in his chair

by the washing machine

hands clasped

they are good

and they are simple

and they are gone

but they are not

#272 Too Late, December

weight of remote control in my hand

i watch the news

missing kids, murder, somalia

OFF

focus on the living room

close my eyes and my self to World's problems

i tidy the glass coffee table

straighten furniture

water the tree's red and green bowl

and stand back

i squint at the mediocre tree

glow and twinkle, glow and twinkle

sometimes, things look better

with eyes half shut

#271 the tea is on

the kitchen shines

my eyes adjust from the dark outdoors

my shoulders relax for the first time in months

I'm smiled at

hugged

welcomed

sitting at the kitchen table as the teapot grows warm
this smell of homecooking would make my tail wag if i had one

i am at home in someone else's house

i forget the darkness outdoors

exercise the muscles involved

in smiling

in loving

in living

#270 between kids and kids' kids

this year, their Christmas tree is perfect

not like before

now it is one of the best on the lot
symmetrically decorated, bulbs equidistant, rope garland hung perfectly

not like before

when the kids decorated it

a sparse tree

with reused tinsel thrown at every spot

even the gifts below

now, looking professionally wrapped

then, more tape than wrapping-paper

the wrapping-paper's tube

is slotted into the recycle bin

instead of being a sword and a light sabre and an alien arm

until the New Year

when it broke

or broke mum's patience

#269

destiny is a suggestion

ignored by you

your kind

you should be with me and you should be happy

a hometown girl

high-school sweetheart

when you left

you forgot to come back

and realize how good you had it

instead

i see your face beside her perfect one

usually black sunglasses on both

Friday, sobey's magazine rack

and i run back

for the ben&jerry's i resisted in aisle 4

#268 december

hands and knees

glass in hand

tickled by branches above

i maneuver into a downward dog

empty the cup into the red pot

supported by green legs

i crawl out

stand up

smelling like Christmas tree

#267 dougald's lane

it begins with a shelter

shelter

a covered lane

trees from east and west meet overhead

slight winding, meandering

but with purpose

and shelter

ever shelter

halfway

birch and spruce and fir decorate your view

end in sight

white house on the hill green trim

shelter

#266 invisible horizons and tired smiles

four boots. two big, two small

gaze over the ocean

to an invisible horizon they trust is there

where the water blurs the skyline.

four laces undone after hills and puddles and miles of trail

and now, behind the camera's eye

the boots' owners

spoon their tired

smiles

to sleep

#265 snowfall

ovenight an acoustic blanket was laid

absorbing all sound and echo

and the cars are white lawn nymphs

unmorphed with magic wands by work-goers

#264 3 chords (capo4 A,C,Dm)

quiet evening

southeastern BC

snowflakes fall

in their silent shadows

so do we (lord)

so do we

streetlight globe

catches it all

unlike me

unlike me

white white ground

catching all sound

when will we

when will we

chimneys exhale

easy and free

never me

never me

door stays shut

drapes peak open

watch with me

watch with me

night revolves

darkness dissolves

awake 'til 3
awake 'til 3

still snowflakes fall

in their silent shadows

snowflakes fall

in their silent shadows

#263 exit us

gold trim

high ceilings

priceless paintings and artefacts

beautiful

repulsive

after communion we walk

past our pew

exit man's church

enter god's

#262 turnip and pork chops (*accepted in "message in a bottle)

saturday evening, after suppertime but before supper

using every minute of light

Dad mans the splitter, i collect and pile wood

fill my arms each load

fuller than full if Dad's watching

we work for hours

every time he stops to help me catch up

a failure in my mind

i'm too young to prove i'm a man

old enough to prove i'll make a good one

the piling and stacking and walking

fight november 28th's cold air

Dad stops, stretches his back

looks at me

at the pile

at the splitter

flicks a small switch to OFF, and the machine coughs itself silent

we enter the house

where mum saved a hot supper

worthy of working men

real men

and men-to-be

a meal made all the better by a large helping of hunger

#261 crumbs

chocolate cake behind the big comfy chair

secret secrets

knees curled to chin

whispers whispered

is the chair still there

memories remembered

#260 28th of the month

boxes on the couch

box-springs on end

the webby gauze exposed

shoes worn everywhere

nowhere is sacred

in two days all will be gone

all will be empty

must be

i wish we started earlier

#259 red canoes

the pines lean the direction the wind whispers

east

home

georgian bay

red canoes and homesick pines

and now

here i am

west

#258 38 below from above

the chimney's smoke

pauses

hesitant

the cars are all attached by orange lines

to walls of houses

the streets are empty

except for the orange-flashers painting roads dark

the few people who enter the evening

walk fast

their heads various colours

#257 for keeps

haircuts in the garden

keep the deer out

Vessey's envelope packs at the end of each row

keeps the vegetables clear

cookies in the tin

keeps the boys happy

butter on the homemade buns

keeps a custom shine

water and a swish

keeps everything lasting until grocery day

a hand on the holy-crap bar

keeps her sane while they learn to drive

these things and many others

keep me happy

#256 after supper

an empty tin can

crumbs rattle

orange and black

second shelf from the top

homecooking- homesick

wax paper swishes

dishes done again

and again

and again

washed

dried

put away

what did we do all day?

what was the entertainment

we didn't have a laptop each

we had none

no internet

no iPhone to text

no hundred channels of emptiness

#255 all alone

minus 29 is positively cold

today is three hours old

my fireplace has stayed awake with me

unable to sleep

outside, smoke rises in straight lines

from the roofs of the little town

am i the only one awake?

is someone else too occupied with

the phone bill and the future?

is anyone else keeping their fireplace company?

or

are we all

alone?

#254 more is less

more passwords than morals

more plastic in wallets than friends in life

more debt than happiness

more contact info than contact
more attention for SIN than for sin
more informed and more apathetic
more on credit and less to our credit
more quantity than quality
more lessons all around, but no lessons learned
give me less

#253 late december evening

an undecorated christmas tree

two lovers and their laptops

three mismatched couches

the dog on her mat

sighs

and i agree

we hear the wind's path

meeting the bay window

snow whipping and jumping

a good night to be inside

#252 lab retriever

i used to own my couch

now i get space for one buttock

if i'm lucky

what happened?

when?

how?

#251 i love beer

the sound-

twisting the metal cap off

relaxes me like a massage

the taste-

that first swig

comforts me like a handwritten letter

the feeling-

a sweating bottle in hand

cools my hand and mind like a snowball down my back