Poetic License

To My Son

I love you
At depths
I cannot describe
But would not
Have known
Without the pain.

Cancelling the Call

The phone call left me exhausted

Worn down and confused.

Wanting so much to trust

Ignoring a flickering doubt.

I was slammed by the heat

Of your vented frustration.

Money, more money.

Demanded as a threat

To our infant chance at understanding.

Again the endless craving

Defends a fear

Too sharp to soften

With anything but love.

All for One

Don’t worry that the Narcissist

Will try to steal your heart.

They’ve never known a need for one,

Beyond seductive art.

Your soul’s the prize they aim to take,

Sucked whole through a hollow kiss.

Then on they’ll cast for other prey

To snare in wanton trysts.

Just Because The self-centered sot Is angry a lot That’s how they get their way. So try as you might To side-step a fight It will happen whatever you say.

Faith

Perfect is not planned

It is a happy accident

That has more chance

Of falling into place

When anything is possible.

Fairy Tale

In love with the illusion

Of a glance that speaks

A lifetime of mutual devotion,

We each become an echo

Of the story

The other wants to hear.

Mixed Emotion

Into a grog of frosty denial

Add a generous pour of guilt

And one full measure of unreasonable fear.

Stir with endless anxiety,

Then chug

My Father’s Eyes

I look into men’s eyes

And hope to catch a glimpse of yours

Hope to have another chance

At knowing who you were

Without the whiskey

A Sign

I glance out the window

Wanting a sign

That everything will be ok.

But there is no window

With a more relevant view

Than the one that opens

On my own heart.

Learning to Fight

I found my power in the written word
In stories told as they were lived
In simple language that did the work
Of remembering to listen beyond a lifetime

Food for Thought

Fear pours my brain into a blender
Then presses the puree button
It kneads my gut with hot peppers
Then stuffs it up my throat
It coats my heart with a heavy batter
Then drops it into a deep fryer.
Fear makes a feast of my most secret ingredients

A Friend in Need

Some people
Use other people up.
It’s a lesson I learned
When I had nothing left to give
And noticed where it went.

Note to a Not-So-Loved One

I wish all your selves
Would get together
And decide on
A final version of my faults