Falling short, I sigh
Disappointment in myself
Striving to improve

From the confluence of two small creeks
The Bear River starts its mighty flow,
Through majestic mountains close to heaven
Towards parched plains waiting far below.

The longest river in our great America
To never reach towards coastal seas,
This landlocked serpent ebbs and flows
With gifts and bounties sure to please.

Three states will claim its clear blue waters
To feed livestock and awaken thirsty plains,
Nearly five hundred miles of pristine beauty
Winding until in Bear Lake it finally drains.

I wander, and roads wander in my thoughts.
Do they take me, or am I taken by roads?
Those that are narrow and suspiciously wild,
Running in forests, playing seek and hide.
Each with a story of ones treading them,
Some reach their destiny, others yet to come.

Some seem wider with more promising ends,
With greener sides that endlessly extend.
They swallow our pains as we travel along
And give a strong feeling that we belong.
Though silent they are, they speak to you
If treading them with a more hopeful view.

do I let it out
Word by word
Do you think
They will listen?

Nightly chased
By worries
That suffocate
The stars

Hope, a speck
Only seen
Under a
Microscope

Most see
A speeding
Car driving
Into a wall

As the sound of the
Crash makes
A heart run
For cover

As for me
It is a walk
In the dark
On a mountain
With no pathway
Just branches
To hold you up

I trumpet the withdrawal
of democratic contender from out the presidential race.

Breaking headline news story
courtesy rumor monger premieres
showcasing emphatic groundswell
against feeble minded incumbent.

Extraordinary turn of current events
immediately enlivens the United States populace
injecting much needed lively discussion
about gerontocracy deliberating for the electorate.

She is a perfumed breeze
swirling up to greet my seeking fingers,
in colors hues of soft pastels.

Pleasing to my senses,
her hypnotic scent lingers
silently permeating the air I breathe.

Although she is my captive,
somehow she bewitches me into believing
that I am her reason for breathing.

Witnessing her every movement,
I am absolutely lost by conceiving
daydreams constant and forever.

Fort Supply hospital,
out by the lake

With the moon in his eyes
He made a futile escape!

No one was watching though
as he slipped through the gate.

Panic and paranoia,
were reflected in his gaze

When the sun came up they subdued Him
caught in the pristine haze

Down near the waterside
in a psychotic daze

Determined by doctors
to be some sort of craze.

But on any given night,
when the full moon is in phase

You’ll find him out wandering
in His maniacal maze!

The wheels wind slowly
As we move on through our lives
Seeking hope and love

I enter, fear
crawling
on my skin
As curiosity
whispers
Stay a while
Perplexed, I
Sit on the couch

I can see the sun
Bowing its head
As a calm voice
Asks how I am?
Puzzled, I
Say, I guess okay

The old man in
The recliner says
Are you really?
His stare
Filled with empathy
As his wrinkled hands
Held my shoulder

His embrace
Spilled my troubles
Until I filled
Every empty bottle
On his bar

Drowning in blood soaked regrets,
Razor's edge, cuts deep.
intrusive thoughts begin to seep,
soaking bed sheets as I weep.

Neverending torture, how I tried
to break the invisible chains that bind.
Stumbling, falling, nearly blind.
Was it so hard for you to be kind?

Time is a thief, for the things we love,
yet stood still while I burned at the stake.
How do you sleep under all that fake,
there is no give, only what you take.