Music
Crackling above
Shadowy tracks on the street
Street songs chime each stop
Ode To Rain
I hear you pattering, plinking,
Trickling in rivulets down rock walls
Soaking the lush explosion of green,
Running down from volcanic hillsides, feeding the sea
Feeding the gardens, the trees,
Cooling the sticky, sweltering air,
A pleasant chill on bare skin as I gaze into the clouds from whence you came,
Source of all that grows around me
Mahalo, gentle rain
One Dress
One Dress
I know your life was not easy
Immigrant parents
With little English
Farmers during the depression
Thirteen brothers and sisters
Alcoholic father
You had one dress
Only one
No plumbing
You drank from the well
Poor education
You started working during
The eighth grade
Dropped out
Moved out
Supported yourself
Single mother
You worked hard
Taught me to value the same
You always told me
I would go to college
You made us a home
Full of books,
Sunday dresses
(not just one)
I look back
At how much
I took for granted,
Never really understanding
I admire you for
The battles you fiercely faced in life;
I admire how you are battling now
For your dignity, your memory, and
Your life.
#10 Life
I am always amazed at the tenacity of life
From plants coming up in small cracks in rock or concrete
To life hanging on in bodies ravished and racked in pain
Some take life for granted, never thinking it will run out
But I have seen life snatched from agile bodies far too young
Snatched from the best souls that I miss so deeply
I too have come close to the edge
I wake every day, grateful for another sunrise
Another chance to fail and stand again
Another chance to see your eyes and smell a rose
To breath another day
Hour 10 – Praise
A Grandpa’s Love
When I was young, my grandfather
taught me so much about life;
I learned to cook, and I learned to fish,
and I learned about surviving through strife.
I learned about camping and campfire coffee,
pinching toes I soon learned to avoid.
I learned that ‘Til Death Do Us Part’ can be true,
and his passing, in my heart left a void.
I’m now Grandpa to a beautiful bunch,
and I hope that I too will impart,
to my ever-growing branch of our family tree
the lessons of love in my heart.
All of these messages I wont get to teach
to Eddy, my first born grandson,
for God called him home much too early
and his Earthly time with us is done.
So I’ll work without fail for the rest of my life
to be the best Grandpa I can,
and to hopefully teach the best lessons of all
to the rest of my wonderful clan.
I may not be rich, and Grandma got the looks,
but my babies I promise you this –
no one in your life will ever love you more,
or give you a better ‘cow-kiss’!
Grandpa loves you all … Forever
Dedicated to my Grandpa
~ Audy McDaniel ~
(1918 – 1984)
Ghost Story: A Nearly Found Poem
Not all haunted
places are houses
Memories rattle chains,
mistakes pace hallways,
regret wails through the night.
And the ghosts,
they own everything
10 // chlorine
wanted to write about chlorine for weeks
became it for a time
hoping to find caesium
thought it was poetic that it needed completing
considered how the smell doesn’t leave
how when I think of it I think of lifeguarding
how I think of Jamie and the rope
think of chemistry classes
never touched chlorine
but school makes me think of the pool
and the pool makes me think of Jamie
and Jamie makes me think of the rope
can talk about him now
wasn’t on duty
Ode to Opus
There is a little flightless bird that lives in my paper.
He has many friends and gets into many capers.
He has a perpetual tuxedo complete with bow tie
And he takes me back to a time when all was right.
His laughter and tears parallel mine.
He follows my life as if by design.
Although he is really just a drawing on paper,
He brings me joy in knowing he is forever.
His attitude never changes, he always sees
The brighter, greener side of the street.
Most important of all, when I look at him
I am with those I lost all over again.
Ode to Opus
Lue
August 13, 2016
10 I Don’t Want To Be Left Alone
- with my Thoughts (why? where would this lead? what matters most? who could it be so? how to undo what’s been done?)
- with my Memories (faded pics, inanimate objects, old posts, events, places)
- in a One’s wake (who’s that? that’s not possible…unchartered prayers, hi, hello, goodbye? do i know you?)
- on Halloween nights (creepy noises, creaking doors, dogs a-howling, flickering lights and candles, intermittent power supply, horror TV flicks)
- or for that matter… Special Occasions (Christmas eve, birthday eve, birthday itself, New Year’s eve)
But wait, you need to enjoy your own company sometimes
Yeah, yeah
I could laugh without being branded a mental case
I could discard nuisance things, old and new
I could attend wake at my own pace, like after the interment, probably?
I could ignore those unwarranted spine-tingling, hair-raising scenarios, switch channels or just turn the TV off?
I could, of course, I could
If talking to myself and arguing at that is a worse case of dreadfulness?
I could be left alone then…