Life can seem beautiful
blushing with color
pure, unblemished and
full of youthful innocence
...
It wasn't me
it really wasn't
not like me at all
and come to think of it
...
This act of growing
of being alive
a continual process
internal and external
...
The older I get
the more I feel it
the slow and
constant fading
...
Anxiety, Anxiety-
you creep, you lurk, you worry me
Mangy monster under my bed
on all my fears you must be fed
...
Life was not at all "nice" to them
it did not treat them fairly
and if you asked how they survived
they'd answer you with "barely"
...
There was a garden gnome named Griselda
who lived by my back garden gate
she was nasty and mean, at times quite obscene
to Gregor, her poor garden mate.
...
One day I delivered a poem
one that seemed to be premature
so I swaddled her up
and set her aside
...
"Pshaw! " My grandmother said
as she thumped and bumped about
her crowded kitchen
steam rising, having
...
Amid the dark and gloomy glen
you tower where you've always been
a spectral shape, foreboding, fierce
with witchy wands to prod and pierce
...
Narrate you own life's story
and tell you own life's tale
Don't leave it up for grabs
or even up for sale!
...
Bronwyn the Barbaric was a buxom lass
the envy of all her peers
She spoke with unrivaled swashbuckling sass
her pirate-ess fashion was fierce
...
Seagulls talking
what's the matter?
fussy squawking
seagulls talking...
...
Restless, roving soul
needing, reaching, grasping
aching, antsy, anxious
impatient since birth
...
They taught me as a child
To look the other way
To smile and act as if
I don't hear what they say
...
Little faces upturned, watching.
Their childish prattle gives
a sense of security to us,
thinking that they are too young
...
Parasites, these
unremembered memories
unbidden guests
made themselves at home
...
Things Change
Life can seem beautiful
blushing with color
pure, unblemished and
full of youthful innocence
Then change with
lightning-speed
into a monstrous montage
of nightmares
you never imagined...
Life can seem stuck
lacking traction
bald tires in the same old ruts
worn tired and dull
from too many years
of pain and tragedy
Lifeless gray shadows
in place of the people
we would much rather be...
Life can seem horrible
with no good reason
to keep going on
no good reason
to hope for better things
But whether or not you do
things never stay the same
and one day you may be surprised...
That suddenly-
life can seem
wondrously
unreasonably
good again