Lightning in a bottle
Your lips on mine
The power of your sighs
Too busy catching
Stars
That fell from your eyes
To notice
The forked tongue kiss
I thought my words were stars, unshaken,
But they were only lamps in mist—
Too bright with pride, too quick to waken,
Too eager for a fleeting tryst.
Now softer rhythms touch the page,
They move like rivers, slow and deep,
A gentleness comes with quiet age,
And truth no longer stirs from sleep.
The vanity of sounding grand
Has slipped like ash between my hands,
I lean instead on earth and sky,
And write the way the roses die.
If I have grown, it is by loss—
By setting down the crown, the gloss,
Until my words are bare, yet whole,
Like light that falls and heals the soul.
Filmed by strangers,
a story doomed not to last.
Beauteous verse
wrapped in barbed wire—
each sonnet
a blade to the vein.
Eyes like jade—
not diamond,
but cut rock.
A granite heart.
Tar recedes
into stone.
Still, the boy covets
with hunger.
And the girl—
she has appetites too.
First love:
a pigtail yanked,
a giggle echoing through time.
Innocence dissolved
with each year gained.
But the eyes—
they never changed.
Breathe life and fire into love’s nest—
reignite the spark of youth,
peeking through years like iron curtains,
framing the fugitive selves
we left decimated.
I still see her—
not in dreams,
but in the hush between songs,
in the way a door closes softly
when no one is there.
She has appetites still.
And I—
I feed them
from a distance.
Let her starve for once.
We left home behind,
hearts full of hope,
dreams draped on backs,
dust dancing on shoes,
the city ahead —
calling us forward.
Tall towers took time,
but so did costs.
Bread was a bill,
air wasn’t free
Even sleep stung —
priced in pressure of thoughts.
Coins clattered too soon,
pockets pressed dry.
We chased light,
found cold steel.
Time ate dreams,
tangled and true.
We counted months,
but gained grief.
Rain mocked us,
so did noise.
Home hung farther,
each city night.
Plans pooled into prayers,
hope huddled, thin.
We worked wide,
waged just peanuts —
enough to stay stuck
in survival’s spin.
Still, we hold
that first fire's flicker.
Not lost but paused,
not failed just finding.
We left home to build home.
In a given context, when we isolate a situation from a viewpoint where we're standing, that we hold ourselves open to the possibility that there is a good beyond the good that we can perceive with our limited understanding.
Life is full of steps and stages
As we learn what it is to be alive.
And every stage is marked
By the recognition that we were wrong
About what it is we now know.
Like a box within a box
Or nesting Russian dolls
Continually we open onto a new world
A new level of understanding.
We talk of insects and crustaceans
Reptiles and amphibians shedding their skin
But we do it too, just more subtly and subjectively,
And as more evolved beings, continuously.
What is it we shed besides old dead skin?
Old dead ideas, outgrown, outlived
Making way for the new
Slowly changing the programmed self
Into a newer version, gradually adjusting
Our identity
With software updates
That continually need the bugs worked out.
When does this all end?
Never, Life says
With every new layer of skin.
(9/13/25)
To Rewind or Pause Life
Most people are confused as to which one
Others may want to try it out just for fun
If there's any pain involved either one could hurt
Correcting any mistakes that we want to revert
Who in there right mind wouldn't want to rewind the good times
To meditate on the good things and taking stress off our minds
The pause button would be good for making a decision
The world can be an audience with your life on television
By pressing rewind we would all get a do over
Giving our drunken minds a chance to think sober
Both of these words can't win because its an equal fight
That's why we don't have the option to Pause or Rewind life
What people say, what people do..
Is born from them, not born from you.
Their words reflect their inner skies..
Their thoughts, their fears, their hidden lies.
The world they see is theirs alone..
A mirror carved from flesh and bone.
When you take things to heart, you’ll find..
You let them rule your peace of mind.
But if you choose to stand apart..
You guard your soul, protect your heart.
For power lives in how you see..
Your thoughts, your truth, your dignity.
Let others walk their path, their way..
Their storms are not your skies of grey.
What’s real for them is not for you..
Just be yourself.. sincere and true.
So breathe, step back, let judgments fall..
They never really knew you at all.
The strength is yours, the choice is free..
Don’t take it on.. just let it be.
A single pill rests on the counter--
quiet, small, almost polite.
I told myself it would stay that way.
But days grew thinner,
hours frayed at the edges
and the quiet promise began to hiss.
Friends laughed. I nodded.
My reflection wavered in the glass,
someone familiar yet gone.
The pull was slow - like water eroding stone,
soft at first, then urgent, unstoppable.
I chased the calm it offered,
unmindful of the shadows it left behind,
the nights pulsing with my heartbeat,
the mornings hollowed and quiet.
One day, I reached for air instead...
for the sharp taste of morning,
for voices that held me without judgment,
for a hand that said;
“You are not this. You are still you.”
Healing does not arrive in a flare.
It creeps softly, day by day
teaching the heart to see once more,
to taste the colors that were dimmed,
to carry the weight of the world
without letting it break the soul.
Plant a seed, watch it grow
How it happens, I don’t know
A little rain, a little sun
But I don’t know how it is done.
Slowly reaching for the sky
Still, I cannot tell you why.
Flowers, trees, weeds, and grain
Just don’t ask me to explain
There’s really just one need: plant a seed.
Plant a seed, dream a dream
Live your life, be extreme
Make a move, diversify
Just don’t ask me to tell you why
Reality from pretend,
You never know just where or when
Lawyers, artists, doctors, too
There’s really nothing you can’t do
There’s really just one need: plant a seed.
A bit of introspection can
do wonders for a troubled heart.
When nothing else can help a man,
a bit of introspection can.
To ask for light is better than
denying truth God might impart.
A bit of introspection can
do wonders for a troubled heart.
Rain falls wet upon my body,
I lay half-dormant in the gutter of my mind.
Unable to move, it worsens
Striking cold and hard.
Then brightness sifts through parting clouds,
And the sky begins to glow.
I rise, stretch and go my way
As your warmth dries my weary soul.
College Before Family, 1982
My pen just writes
My dog just bites
My wife just fights
And I just might
Decide everything’s alright.
Empty Nest, 2025
Life didn’t quite yield that plight
Because the pen barely writes
The pups play fight
The kids had height
Were polite
And actually bright
The wife’s a delight
Most days and nights
My life might be trite,
And I’m good with this slight rewrite.
Body and Mind give way to the Heart and Soul.
They let the emotions take over yet remain in control.
Passion and sentiment now replace logic and reason.
Interchanging ever so slightly- as if from season to season.
Feelings flow freely, replacing all thought.
Emotions running wild without fear of being fought.
The Mind sits back and takes no part,
letting all decisions be made by the Heart.
And throughout the Body the Soul can now freely flow.
With the Heart now in control the Body can only follow.
As the Soul controls the actions revealing it's glow.
Every decision now based on "I feel" not "I think" or "I know"
Emotions unchecked by the Mind, the Heart's desires continue to grow,
and with the help of the Soul will continue to do so.
The Heart and Soul move slowly but soon control All.
This is what takes place when, in Love we fall.
What if one day the death comes knocking at my door uninvited,
What if it's my last day to see my loved smiling,
What will happen to the list of places I wrote, where I wanted to explore,
What will happen to my bucket list , the long drive midnight,
What will happen to my dreams , the hard work I've been doing,
To my favourite type of dress or the jewelry I wanted to purchase,
The love I've longed for, the light laughter , soft hugs and kisses I've been dreaming off,
The white gown on my weeding night and a gaze never leaving mine,
But I would still like to know where I'd be buried or the flowers i would receive,
How many would mourn and cry or how many would laugh at my sight,
How many curse and how many wouldn't come,
Isn't it a funny thought , my love?
I do want to see myself age, thick white strands and wrinkled hands ,
But I would still like to see if I'd smile or cry when the uninvited guest would arrive.
Specific Types of Growth Poems
Definition | What is Growth in Poetry?
Poems Related to Growth
prosperity, success, advance, hike, rise, advancement, expansion, improvement, increase, production, gain, surge, unfolding, crop, buildup, flowering, aggrandizement, cultivation, boost, vegetation, proliferation, swell, enlargement, produce, augmentation