A Day of Blood
For long, in stillness lay the west,
calm was the air and still their zest.
Long they forgot the war of Kings,
which shamed them so, that none dared sing.

They held thought on their shamed defeat. 5
They brooded o'er the reckless feats
that led them on to fruitless war,
their name to ruin, fame to scar.
They since despised the foe uncouth
that, condescending, watched the south. 10

With mornings' breaths, I inhale my pain
and urge it to stop while humming "don't complain."

Those little nagging things are life's daily spices
we need to smell and taste, they're trifle prices.

But what really hurts is this worldly oppression
that paces under everyone's recognition,

and what deepens the aches into my heart,
I find no painkillers work to make my pain a past.

Whispering through tall pine trees
in winter as the air blows cold
or among poplars tall and bold
soft spoken winds as puddles freeze

Whispers pushing southing cloud
in spring time as the leaves all sprout
when bull frogs burp and peepers shout
murmur in rain but not too loud

Whispers through the evening hours
in summer time as all life sings
from whippoorwills to insect wings
soft shushing after summer showers

her faded floral dress
clung to a gaunt and sinewed frame
as the wind molded it
to a hard edged body
no fat no curves
just age and hardship
molded angularity
arms outstretched
holding wet flannel shirts
A mouth full of clothes pins
Coaxing heavy material
on to the swaying line.
his clothes...washed every second day
Iron gray hair blowing
across her chiselled face
her eyes china blue
in laughing counterpoint
to the drab garments around her
she stood out on the hill

Atomic Speech

The beginning of what you call
the universe am I,
Hidden from none because none
could see me. I had the first thought
in this universe, to eat with my hands.
I created thousands, millions,
no billions of miles that you now
call space.
And yes I can see the question
forming in your head, we do
have hands. Did you assume, or
are you so thought lazy that it’s
easier to believe what the, ahem!
Scholars told you.

The seagulls are blowing about
like pieces of white paper,
in the gentle swell of the breeze;
just as yesterday in a dust-devil,
I saw a piece of waste paper
doing the most graceful ballet,
turning and rolling up the brick wall
of a square pillar,
it folded and unfolded at the whim of the wind,
and catching my attention as it first rose,
kept me mesmerised by the beauty of it's dance.

MORNING WAYS

When shadows gray
and blue melancholy
cross my brow
as morning strikes
and I awake
I wonder how
many ways
I can break
this evil spell

Lined up neatly
All in a row
I've seen X's before
Criss-crossed when they
Run out of room
But not you

Even in this
The worst of all things
You are precise

And you are beautiful
And what you do is disgusting

Pull your sleeves up
I want to see what you did
When I couldn’t be there

Could I even stop you or
This thing that seems to take over
You start and you can’t think ahead

Billy Budd was dropping knowledge bombs
on those he saw as crude
Bobby Nova was showing Geezer
his favorite Redtube nudes

Knowledge dropping is alright
Making fun is kinda mean
Killer thought about saying that
when Billy called Gee; Guy Bean

Now Killer don’t take kindly
joking about his friend the Gee
Told Billy Budd; now stop it
or you’ll answer to me

Billy Budd, he couldn’t stop
He just had to go on cracking
Killer grabbed him up
and gave him a shellacking

It's nights like this
The ones where there is nothing
No lights
No sounds
No one about
That i feel you the most

Your gaze is on my skin
It begs for my attention
The air is disturbed by
your sweet breath
Making me dizzier with
every lung full I take

Your presence traps me
My body is no longer mine
to command
My mind can scream til
my heart stops
But it's no use to fight