fog (dp)

A walk in the fog
droplets cling
to lips,
fingertips.

A ghostly shadow
passes,
out of vision
a lost soul
walking
in fog.

foggy dream(d)

Walking in a forest, lushly green, I encounter a wall of fog. Do I go in? Do I turn around and go back? Decisions, decisions.
I proceed, the fog so thick I can feel it condensing on my face. Out of the corner of my eye I see shadows, fleeting wisps of others, none of them see me.
The fog does not seem to end. All sound is deadened, even my own careful footsteps.
The fog thins, I can see shapes, trees, rocks, all wet with foggy dew, dripping.
I hear a bird, a squirrel chatters at an unseen intruder.
Here is a small pond, the fog seems to emanate from it, thickening as it rises and spreads out across the forest.
I sit on a rock near the pond, noting the lichen and I wait.

Early Morning Sounds (p)

The early morning sounds of the city;
a bus, stopping to pick up people
in a hurry, but not too much
all to get to the other side
of the street.
The birds, conversing,
telling tales of travels, travails
of a wintering
in Boca Raton
or Baton Rouge.
The happy shouts of children
free of the
harness of school
so cool.
Morning done;
here but one,
am I
alone.

home again (d)

I dreamt that I went to the City of Gold...

Actually I dreamt that I was in Vermont, 4th of July. I was 11, we were at the carnival in Morrisville and the fireworks were about to start. I had cotton candy and was happy.

untitled (d)

Sleepwalking through life,
past the lonely park,
a dream escapes.
Such is the palette
with which life is colored.

forced dream (dp)

Eros in his glory
sent to me a story
of love sublime
and merry rhyme
which made me oh so sorry
that it was just a dream.

Patience (p)

Patience, a virtue,
which encumbers not my life,
has left the building.

another dream (d)

I wrote our names in old chinese characters
yours in indigo on cream colored parchment
mine in green on pale blue silk

words (d)

entire sentences seen
you tell me of your purchases
and that you are dripping wet from the rain
your name changes as you get new spam

songtitle dream (d)

When you lie next to me
I know you by heart
More than words
Don't be cruel
After the lights go down
Mighty girl
Someone to watch over me
What are you doing for the rest of your life
South by sail
All I ask of you
The music of the night
Midnight without you
White silence
Poem without words
Silent prayer
Sehnsucht
Moonlight in Vermont
Arizona skies
First light on Ayer's rock
Sunshine of your love
You are my sunshine
I love you [period]

snippets here and there (d)

a whirlwind world tour - faces, smiling past me (invisible me) at the person behind me
I find a note left for me in Nepal
there's a group of people discussing the day's news over coffee at a sidewalk cafe
a dog sniffs my hand and licks it
my car breaks down, numerous times, in different locales - the weather however is always perfect
a walk down a shaded lane, holding his hand [this is part of another dream I have too often, and I was happy that it was just a snip of it]
pain in my left shoulder unbearable, I cry

Do you hear me? (p)

I call out in the dark
a name, ever never
in my mind, on my tongue
from my heart;
a cry in the
small hours.
I wake and beside me
is empty space where
never ever
you were, you are
only in my mind(less dreams)
always ever in my dreams
You do not hear me
and come not to my call
and my comfort.

The lie

Love is a lie our heart tells us,
to teach us what lonely means.

Come in to my nightmare (dp)

Blood everywhere.
The smell, sickening.
Taste it in the air,
metallic.
Feel it, sticky,
stinking,
icky.
Run, run, run away!
The meadow;
the flowers
all red.
Like blood.
The river flows,
you can't get away
from the blood.

A Token (p)

I heard a thought,
outside my door,
and wondering, went to see
if perhaps a robin,
in early return,
had been thinking of looking for me.
The sun was there,
outside my door,
brilliant rays warming the steps
upon which I found
a feather of red,
a token of what may someday be.

Seussian dream hell (dp)

(Or: How that Cat in the Hat invaded my dream)

I miss you;
but wander I won't.
I kiss you
and ponder
I don't; on poems
from old books sent
by friends
with whom looks have
never been traded.

In other news
the dreams of a muse
have me dreaming in
seussian rhyme.
Escape, I cannot!
For fear of a thought
leaves me feeling
much less than sublime.

Limericks of Love (p)

I wrote you a verse for Valentine's Day,
then crushed the paper and tossed it away.
I don't love you more, I can't love you less,
a day is a day, no matter the mess
the greeting card fools have made out of it.
To tell you the truth, I feel like a twit
and limericks of love are not meant for us
just know that I do, and don't make a fuss.

Valentine's day massacre (d)

Walking through a town I don't recognize, but it's familiar. I'm looking for something/someone.
Now I'm going to take someone on a tour of the high-security facility, but they won't let me in because I'm wearing shorts and have no shoes on. My t-shirt is unacceptable for the words written on it.
Sitting outside the heavy doors of the mountain that looks like a stegosaurus [from Denver]. There's a blast and everything melts away except the mountain, the door and me.

Now in the desert a flower blooms, each petal slowly unfurls until the flower is fully open. It greets the morning sun with a reflection of its setting.

nap dream (d)

I was very sick and you were taking care of me, feeding me chicken soup and taking my temperature, making sure I was warm and making me drink lots of juice.
All of a sudden it wasn't you anymore, but him, and he just wanted me to sign papers, even though he could see that I was burning up with fever. He faded away and you came back with a cool cloth for my head.

alone - finally (d)

In a desperate effort to regain self-conciousness I leave everything behind and follow a stranger to an island. It's warm and sunny most days. He lives on the north side of the island, I choose a mountain in the center, the west side. We communicate with notes left where the other will find them. The island changes and becomes a continent, then again to become a planet. He is gone and I'm on my own, alone on the planet that used to be a warm island.
I am alone, feeling that my god has left me. Without guidance I wallow in self-pity for a while then come to my senses, realizing that there never was a stranger, he was a projection of my own making. The human need for contact with others slowly melts away and I learn to live on my own and find out that happiness is just a word for societal gain.

Wonder, Wander (p)

Wonder and wander,
but not far from the teaching.
Search for truth
but seem to be reaching.
For what, not known
what's needed is found.
So far out of reach
from here on the ground.

food for thought (d)

hunger, incessant;
invades every thought.
dreaming of dreaming
of food.
crisp-skinned duck,
new-born spears of green,
a yeasty loaf
butter, made fresh
from the cream,
from the cow;
milked that morning.
a bowl of berries,
red, black, blue and green.
beef, roasted rare
with horseradish
fresh-ground
so hot, so good
peas, cooked in a bowl of lettuce.
corn roasted
mountains of mashed potatoes
and gravy
turkey and stuffing and blue hubbard squash,
boiled and mashed with
lots of fresh butter and ground pepper.
more mountains of mashed potatoes
and gravy.
pies of fruit
rhubarb, apple, peach
custardy pies
chess and pecan
and coffee
rich, dark, creamy.

Fragged (d)

I'm writing left-handed, my notes are readable.
I write over and over; "I want out, help me".
There's a merry-go-round and the music is off-key, the animals are wrong.
A cave; an entrance to another world.
Kiki is fading, not dying, just fading. She's not the color of black coffee anymore.
Back to the cave, I pick up a small, smooth rock and put it in your pocket for safe-keeping.
You smile at me and reach out to take my hand. I disappear and you are left alone, looking for me.

Midnight confession to a god of improbable purity (p)

(based on music heard in a dream)

Once confessed
probability flies
out the window
to ears;
repeated fabrication.

Words are power.
More than words;
redundancy.

A picture
a thousand words
a song sung
green.

Practice makes
purity.
An improbable god
does (not)
practice
preached.

What confession,
what lies!
What god?

Denial
is a river
and there is
no paddle.

soaked in tequila (dp)

dancing on rooftops of
pueblos in smoke from a bonfire
where marshmallows are roasted
by children on sticks of petrified wood
the music is drums
and flutes of
varying sizes and tone
tequila-soaked pepper rings
laced
with thin strips of candied lime rind
a dessert for the deserted in the
desert
eating one leads to another
and another
and a kiss
laced
with the taste
of tequila-soaked lime rind
and thin strips of candied pepper rings

forgive (d)

We're going shopping and there's this thing that you think I did, and you don't like me for it. I prove I didn't do it then you seem to like me again.

detail:

we're staying at a hospice in winooski
everyone piles into the mini-van to go to the grocery
but I can't because there isn't enough room
I want a cigarette, and I have some, but I don't smoke, I throw them away and walk down the hill
everyone gets back and empties the groceries out of the van
you won't talk to me at all - I ask why - you show me the crumpled pack of smokes you'd seen me throw away - you're very, very angry
I tell you how old they are, and that the point was that I had NOT smoked them - I'd kept them because as long as I had the last few in that pack, I wouldn't buy a fresh one, which I would smoke
you finally come around to my way of seeing it and agree

for some reason everyone - except you - is wearing a transparent plastic kind of outfit - not everyone has underwear on - it doesn't bother anyone except me, and you think the green and blue outfit I put on is cute
we are all waiting to go out for the evening, standing in front of the van listening to music

dark (dp)

a cave, dark
damp
water, heavy with minerals
drip, drip, drips
a slight breeze urges me on
toward the way out
I fight the urging
go into the depths
of the darkness

camping (d)

We were going camping, then you kidnapped me and took me away. Then I was talking to your mother while helping to prepare dinner. You did not want me to talk to her while you weren't there.