Monthly Archives: February 2015

Bedtime Existential Crisis

What is the rope that tethers me to this orb
hurtling through space in the dark moments
of the night that breeds existential crises?

No ignorance of the abyss
that is acknowledgment of pure chance
acting on what used to be will.

Alone,
in the quietest moments
my mind is the loudest
screaming that it can feel
reality thinning,
the ties loosening.

At any moment the tapestry could fray
leaving a chaos of meaningless threads.

Any moment the world will agree
that I am pointless,
driven by happenstance,
and release me from gravity
Into nothingness.

So I must lay perfectly still,
make no error,
and pray the stars don’t notice.

Dressings

I’ve heard love is like a dress.
Try it on,
Decide it doesn’t flatter,
Discard it.

Except,
Love is absolutely nothing like a dress.
It can’t be custom ordered.
It doesn’t come in sizes,
It doesn’t come in styles,
In colors
In separates
In layers.
Well, maybe in layers.
But there is absolutely no way love comes in patterns.
There is just no way love is a gaudy floral.

Lamentations of a Proud English Rose Who Waited too Long to Consent to a Plucking

I look back on when I was but a bud
Recalling how I longed simply to bloom.
Released, I smiled along with the sun
Fully nourished by my ancestors’ tomb.
Promenading in my virgin colors,
Still free to stretch my roots and charm the world.
No single flirting bee did I prefer.
Growing long in the leaf because I could.
But now the frost is creeping down my spine.
My time basking in the light at an end
Petals fall – as if a flower could cry.
The weight of winter forces me to bend.
Wrinkled, I regret wasting the season.
I know next year I will not rise again.

Two Roads

In answer to “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in the wood and I
I took the one deep rutted
by traveler’s feet.
A time tried trail
vetted by those that came before.

I aimed for the town
those consistent padders’ own
and made record time
as they must when coming
to the place that is mine.

I took tea and broke bread
and all things that come
with taking the normed path.
I conducted my business
and profited us both
and left with a smile
to plod back home.

I thought on a tale
shared over our cups
of a daring man who tried
a different path and died.
Well, at least that was the gossip
and it made as much sense as not.

If his aim was mine
then he failed in that
and if he aimed
where I headed back
then he missed as well
and if he wanted a different place
then that’s his chance
he took with fate.

Instead, I chose to travel twice
along the path
along my life
and headed back to home I go
along the path of safety known.

Hollow Be Thy Name

The shot is just the beginning
As the world life traveled
Flashes across the mind
And neurons fire in desperate red.
 
Claret pools. Mind bogs.
Brain makes a desperate plea.
 
Our Father,
My father will bemoan
And curse the god
He swears against existing.
 
Holy Mary,
My mother will weep.
I have failed her.
I have lost the world’s game.
 
Choking on Jesus wine
My battle cry comes out
Only a whimper.
 
Amen. Amen. The End.

Credo of the Weed Activist

I believe in Dandelions.
They are freckles of the earth
Who only want to reach a sage stage
And bring you luck.
Not acne,
Made worse by picking.

I believe in Queen Anne’s lace.
I believe you can’t even really see the little black bugs
Unless you look for them.

I believe Thistles are prickly
Because they have been hurt before.
Someone told them they were pretty
But abandoned them for something with petals.

I believe wild Violets blush
Because they know they are whores;
Ashamed,
The try to hide their parentage
Behind deceptive good looks.
Pretty enough for you to pick
But not worth bringing home to meet the family.

I believe in weeds
Far more than the vanity
In a hybrid rose.