Long Bare bone Poems

Come join the unraveling circus
quite soon to be passing our way,
with the clowns in a clamor to twerk us -
line up as they lead us astray!

Arriving, the elephant trumpets
agendas of aberrant acts
while the donkeys drool,...

Read More

Farewell Advent!
by James Ryman
translation by Michael R. Burch

Farewell, Advent; Christmas has come;
Farewell from us, both all and some.

With patience thou hast us fed
Yet made us go hungry to bed;
For lack of meat, we were nigh...

Read More

I deleted the words before I could say them 
Ate the words before I spat them out
I buried them alive 
Like my heart
I left a tumor in me to encapsulate 
N one day it’ll kill...

Read More

Dissolved in salts, sprits and holy water
Stings my wide opened eyes to a deep red
The visible failures of a man of faith
Fear sealed lips purple blue
Because I believed that for my sin the son of...

Read More

They Were
They were boys going over the top to die in their tens of thousands in the mud of the Somme.              ...

Read More

Dogs pant in the sweltering, humid air
that morphs into dewdrops as the night cools.
And summer swimwear isn't seen anywhere,
now that the kids have returned to their schools,
abandoning their sandcastles and pools.

The leaves are slowly getting...

Read More

The paths and patterns of flowers
are lost beneath the darkness of desperate rocks

By summers security
and winters threat
does the slavery of hands
make its peace

To be eagerly assaulted
by grit and bare bone supported
in famished mouths
the overwhelming reassurance...

Read More

Twist the truth 
in what I say 
Tick ,tick it is a matter of time 
Hiding the truth 

With each movement tick ,tick 
Getting closer
to the final countdown 
Tick ,tick the pressure
 
It is building...

Read More

when darkness falls
shadows serenade
upon moonlit walls
and my eyes close
as i bid farewell to day

sweet dreams
cannot come
when hand from grave
rocks you back
through life's storms

i was bound to the hand
that rocked the cradle
my ship in stormy seas

slapped...

Read More

fluffy clouds swirl in the cold winter sky
yet there are sweet moments of dazzling blue
but, it is time for winter to say goodbye
as I wish for a delightful spring view
oh, I am a winter child...

Read More

To land a mockingbird,
sent out an innocent cat;
one that wouldn’t eat a bird
if it was starving.
A mockingbird’s greatest fear,
hatchlings being eaten
by a feline foe.

I had a tabby who never bothered a bird;
he only dined from...

Read More

And now they expect my tears!
And now they want to see me cry!

Now you’re gone, I can see what I wouldn’t dare see
I can be free from your chains and your song
Locked away every night...

Read More

PUZZLES  OF LEAVES
The hillside canopies of seemingly cascading skeleton trees,
bare their boney branches that once clung to myriad puzzles of leaves.
Each shimmering fall leaf
 a vividly colored flame,
now a fallen burnt out brief
spent for...

Read More

Past transgressions are all in bloom,
vast like a weed thick in its gloom.
Grabbing up emotional real estate
engulfing whole city blocks at a time.
Time and again reeling you in like a fish.
Making death in all its...

Read More

Oh Lord, please light my way 
And when I get lost guide me 
Help me to be the person 
That you want me to be. 

There are time when I'm feeling lost 
With no place...

Read More

With bare, bone-dry bureaucratese,
       can camouflage their intentions;
with official cordialities,
       can disguise their inclinations;

can bury their predilections
      ...

Read More