We Held The Sun

Only kids.

We held the sun, we two, and only kids;
On dampened stairs, we saw our brightest days –
With strawberries and blond, your hair would shine;
And I would breathe, not knowing of the air

In innocence we gazed at purity;
‘Togetherness’ meant only, we were two —
We looked and touched and felt for the first time,
As children have and will, so did we do

And where the warmth was felt beneath our skin,
The glow infected, cauterized our eyes;
We strangled back the yearnings of the years
A life too big for two so child-sized

The joining force,
Together, there, as one:
Upon a lonely stair
We held the sun

in the time of dreams

thoughts from an auto graveyard.

each car is a story;
every story starts with a dream

like children,
born of passions lost to the moment

how came they each to be here?
each came by a different set of roads, we know –

for there was a someone
or someone(s)
for whom, on a certain day,
the purchase of this specific car
was the whole of their concerns

and it was new
and choice was new, and paramount –

all delivered back
in the time of dreams
before the years pummeled these vehicles
into what we see now

ore mined one place
parts manufactured somewhere else

car built
shipped
sold

gas pumped in stations in
who knows how many towns

what conversations took place in this car
what journeys were undertaken

is this place a reminder of human vanity
or
a testament of human strength in frailty?

cars are just things,
but
things are
kind of important —

the wind is blowing harder now
and i’m looking as though
i fit right in here

back in the time

of dreams

Shoals

A very vivid memory.

I remember one November
(I was in my early twenties, and
My father was still alive)
I met my parents out on the beach
At a Holiday Inn
For Thanksgiving Dinner

It was very cold:
Twelve degrees Fahrenheit
In Florida, standing next to
The Gulf of Mexico

12 degrees, sans “windchill”, mind you
Although the wind was blowing occasionally

I arrived about an hour early;
Enjoying having miles of coastline
Completely to myself,
As no one in their right mind
Would be out on the beach on
A day that cold

I had left my “right mind” at home

And I remember
Looking out at the shoals,
Or “The Sandbar” as we called it

Wondering how, on a day so freezing,
Anything could look so tropical

But also struggling to understand
Why I had no girlfriend

Why “everyone” seemed to be spending
Thanksgiving Day with families they had forged
As well as ones they had been born into –
Except me

But I loved that day
I loved how cold I felt
(It was painfully cold)

And I guess we begin
To truly understand
What it is to be thankful

When we’re even grateful

For the pain

So Much The Same

We are so much the same, and yet, alike.
Alike in yellow leaves that slip and wend,
The same in how we wonder at balloons,
Identical in speed to comprehend.

But sure, no voice the same on open mic,
Nor eyes that one mistakes the other for:
We are so much the same, and yet, alike —
If likeness is still like that

Anymore

Snapshot: The Morning After

She walked out of the trailer
Into frigid Winter air
And left the boy she’d met last night
Alone and sleeping there

She heard the softish crunching
Of the snow beneath her feet;
And pulled her jacket tighter
To keep in her body’s heat

She walked to a convenience store
A half a mile or so
Where she bought her some breakfast
And a coffee cup to go

And as she headed back
She thought about the night she’d had
And said: you know this growing up
It isn’t that half bad

Turning Heads, Twisting Hearts

And there she is, on purple roller skates;
Her purple elbow pads and matching socks –
Original, no fear of duplicates,
With longer lines than any ballot box

She’s skating by, and boys are hypnotized;
By further motions they all long to see –
She laughs, but she can also recognize
The signs that mark each future devotee

For she has no illusions on that score;
She knows they’ll come with promises and lies –
And mocks their paltry games and scheming poor,
To window shop for those she classifies

As a nice pup to pick up for a time
Then place back in its cage if it should whine