Hour Three, Image

Kinship

I left the trail temporarily,
my backpack straps tugging
my shoulders down and back
until I found this place, off
the beaten path and becoming
a part of the soil that once
supported its structure.

I laid my burden down
on a rock and wandered
the ruin, noting a rusted
refrigerator, gaping, a rotten
opening in a gap-toothed grin.

Clapboard siding was piled
and ready, the house skinned
and awaiting a cleansing fire
that never came, snow now piled
over the whole.

A single sock, a child’s doll, smashed
Ball glass jars, the half
buried detritus of lives
interrupted, transported elsewhere
in a clenched heartbeat.

I sat on a rock nearby, still,
but for the wind sliding
over the minute hairs on my skin,
akin with the emptied rooms
in front of me, now
open to the sky.

Cybernetic Hips

Laser my heart, you brimming song,
Pulverize first pause into submission.

Burn aortic passage with smokey din
Blind heat of pebbled words in, in, in.

Singe my valves, drum my beat, pain
Right where I live, not gut, not brain.

Don’t say your gun’s misfired, lie me
To sleep in one fell shot of jet stream.

Penetrate the skin of resistance there
At center stage you tore tongue, hair.

Ready, aim, spin a flame ray smashed
True to its target, seared into my flesh.

Be my one true spacey love, dream bot,
Cold chips, cybernetic hips, lover’s knot.

Johnny Willert

As he filled the jug

from the fresh, seeping spring

he thought about the girl in the skirt,

her lips wet with whiskey

her hands damp with want

her gray eyes moist

with dreams of faraway places.

 

They thought he was lonely

in the tar paper shack

with only the wind and weather

for company.

There was no electricity

no education

even in the 80’s.

 

Screaming Widow Peak couldn’t quite cast

a shadow long enough for cooling

on days the sagebrush curled

at the edges, trying to eject

itself from the ground

that was not quite soil, not quite rock.

The rattlesnakes didn’t stay to play.

 

He rode into town every once in awhile.

Kids found him odd,

adults thought him dull behind the eyes.

His blue roan ground-tied

outside Hardware Hank

as he purchased his meager

supplies: coffee, beans, flour.

 

He could kill his own meat back then.

He jerked most of it, so it would last,

the rest, stored deep in the dirt cellar out back.

The iron skillet

constantly on the fire

a mix of hopes

a gathering of memories.

 

They fenced around him,

keeping him in,

keeping him out.

The snow crunched under his boots.

Years later, he caught his arm

in an auger and went

to faraway places.

Prompt #2

https://au.pinterest.com/pin/416653403004856668/

Prompt #2

Your beauty, broken down
nakedness became the
garment clothing your skin.

You didn’t cower in your shadow
you came into the light
revealing soul and truth.

Vulnerability is your armour now.
You stand straight and tall
and you refused to succumb to
insecurities, you didn’t take a bow.

Your purity determined your
thoughts and the way you
behaved around men.

You didn’t lose your dignity
you are grace and eloquence
all wrapped in one.

j.r.m ©

Eternity (poem 3)

The moon swings in the sky like a great bronze bell, and the east rings with its light.
Minds, like drops of dew, reflect the sky; when clouds come, the moon remains.
Trapped between mirrors, we could see eternity but for our own heads.

A Life Well Spent

Dusk to dawn
Life goes on.

Life is a daily battle
We must face without a rattle.

Be strong
For life is long.

A life of length
Needs courage and strength.

Life is fun
When we act like one.

Life at its best
Is a survival test.

Between the body and the soul
Life is made whole.

Life we must tailor
For both success and failure.

Not a minute must be wasted
If life is to be tasted.

Rich is the man
With a healthy life span.

Let me make it plain
Life is about ‘gain without pain’.

Wish you all the best
In life’s every quest!

 

Necklace

I have a necklace in my drawer.

It is a locket that holds a clock.

The clock no longer moves its hands.

I bought in a Philadelphia thrift shop

with a group of friends.

For Sarah’s birthday, she takes us all

into the city, into the thrift shops.

We all bought a necklace with a clock.

I am the only one who still wears mine.

The clock no longer moves its hands.

I used to wear it with the pride of knowing

I could pop it open and tell the time.

Time was in my hands.

I wore time around my throat.

But time cannot be held for long.

It slips by, and leaves tiny brass locket cases.

It slips by, and I am the only one who still wears mine.

I wear it when my neck looks too empty.

I cover my emptiness with an empty clock.

It is still right two times a day.

The clock no longer moves its hands.

It is a beautiful conch shell:

Once home to an animal so rare and strange,

an animal that left or died,

leaving behind this necklace for me.

Your Cell Phone’s Echoing Song (With Apologies to Andrew Marvell)

 

Had we but world enough and time

That cell phone out would be no crime.

You could sit down and talk away,

And chat, text, and Angry Birds play.

But at your back you should fear

Midterms, papers, and finals hurrying near.

For yonder all before you now lie

Incompletes of vast eternity.

So rather than inattention your GPA devour

While you daily deplete your i-phone’s power,

Now roll all your wit and charm and all

Your attempts your instructor to enthrall

And get back to listening as a part of life

While a D-slip causes student-parental strife.

Thus, although you really cannot swing an A,

With some effort, you can still softball play.

Picture prompt

Eternity

A place or feeling

To many it could be both,

We want to have serutiry

We all want to know.

Some crave to have enernity

To save cherish our lives,

Some crave it to take care

Of our children or wife’s.

 

There is a place called eternity

A light will show your way,

You can go in and keep to yourself

Or to people watch or even to pray.

People come to this place to loose

Themselves inside this place,

We all want that place where inside

We can let loose some way.

 

Eternity a place where we can

Be sure and unsure,

Thinking we know what we want

Money or a forever cure,

To help people that love us

As we love them so,

We want to know for eternity

Our families are safe as they grow.

 

So come with me to eternity

Follow our dreams,

Let’s go let loose

Talk quiet or scream,

Follow me to a place where

We are free,

Inside this place you can find you

And I may find me.

 

Waves Wash Away

In this world of lies and empty smiles
Of gadgets and of virtual friends
Waves wash away the unwanted thoughts
And bring them far to far-flung place

In this world of many two-faced people
And mind you they are those that rule
Waves wash away all the frustration
And toss them to the god Poseidon

Waves wash away yes waves do wash
To shores all burdens they smash
For us to feel strong again
And be just like uncanny men.