Long Bathwater Poems

Brainstorming until figuratively blue in the gills...,
and finally gung-ho with a poem title
important to yours truly
not disappointing his Facebook fan base,
which electronic affirmation,
and confirmation, breeds gratification
analogous to being
the proud papa begetting offspring
progeny growing up at...

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Each English-speaker knows that funner means more fun than fun,
   and weirder means more weird than weird. And yet nary a one
of "proper" dictionaries has neologism words -
   the editors must...

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Did you notice?

What you have for breakfast,
despite what Mom said,
is probably less important than who you do 
and do not 
have breakfast with,
and why

The brand and make and year of your car
are less significant to...

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"I watch the bathwater drain"
says Tonight Alive with powerful refrain  
stepping out of a bleach bath to hide from her pain
Hesitating, she turns the water back on, her self esteem slain
as she waits for...

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Today,
there are no rubber ducks
or mother's marigold skirts
to hide behind
as we once did.

In their place,
lurking dark and hoary,
a bathtub mist
updrafts thick with loose spores,
and mildew veins
sprawling
behind caulked-over creases.

The day,
shrinking away heavy with time,
as a body
sagging
into
water.

Even...

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In the cold tub, at ten-thirty in the morning, I float like a wreck after a week of drinking and gambling,
My body trembles, my mind is a dense fog, when suddenly the phone rings like...

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From a mouthful of this morning’s eggs,
I pull bits of char from yesterday’s breakfast.
‘I had no chance to scrub the pan’, I plea with myself-
But I still smash it over my skull
like a cartoon.

Every morning...

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Expectations and like the many changing faces. 
We are constantly trying to fit the best one to put on. 
I constantly try to adjust one side and keep one's truth hidden deep inside. 
Embedded in...

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Gratitude attitude grow
Peacock attitude away throw
Though temptations line up in a row 

Pointless, heartless any soul you to hurt
Under no circumstances invective blurt
Because so doing grows you curt

Achieving trinkets, reaping limpets
As you blow trivial trumpets
Deriding,...

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Buried beneath blood-shot baby doll eyes
 where drowns dark truths dwelling empty despair,
 finds five fraught faces from false idol lies
 clinging cold-coffins caused by cruel affair;
Saddled by sorrow seen in mother’s stare,
 washed while...

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I like fixing broken things.                              ...

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"You drown not by falling in a river, but by staying submerged in it.”

A gentle mist
billows above the man-made pond
that spawns a rippling

sorrel-dusky brook
that ebbs and widens as it becomes
a river.

The runnel is dark rust...

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The darkest moments come when she’s in the bath,
…she sits there, waiting for them, staring into 
The ignominious bathwater, so crystal clear,
Beckoning her head to sink into its cleansing purity, 
The baptism of quiet bubbling...

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“I fight the good battle!” I thought:
But a warrior
whether Christ’s or the Devil’s, or Self
is still “A blade held high” demon
of sorts, though the conscious motive
May be of highest righteousness--
the transformation of darkness into light.

The...

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In dreams I see them:
Men and women, in Renaissance attire,
Moving about in silence in some fabulous cathedral
Full of silent Coptics and other sombre monks,
Their faces, all but one of them,
Obscured to uniformity by cloth
Silent themselves,...

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Time to take a bath
When the flies buzz around you
(and they are wearing masks!)
And the room deodorizer leaves the room
It's time to take a bath
Believe me, it's not too soon!

When the bathwater turns inky
And people...

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One
What good is it, to complicate flesh and bone you've yet to know?
 To paint portrait a brain only seeing the mask-y Face, 
It is a canvas that is sure to lie.
 What use is...

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Casting Off The Bow Line

Goodbye
my unwed darling
I’m married
to this dream

Freedom
calling out to me
betrothal thus
redeemed

Bachelorhood
a Siren’s calling
Feted tween
the sails

Truant winds
to act upon
Legends
tell the tale

Setting off
this final time
Rudder
in my hand

Truth when hoisted
up the mast
Liberty
— commands

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

So...

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I want to write a song today from six feet under here.
Won’t paint to kill the dead saints but I want to make it clear
that I’ve been praying in the dark while lying in this...

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Prisoner Of Language

Will time live eternal
or just its retelling
A prisoner of language
whose paradox mined

Dimension in contrast
ill-fated contrition
To look but not touch
—and hope they align

(Rosemont College: December, 2023)



Through A Vacuum

Biologically tethered
time is the demon
Your flesh and...

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The Seasons of Style

the season of style
like a vernal pool edged round 
raked and baked by the elements
of which it was formed; cracks

a trend seamless and current
flowing from detergent springs
as bubbly as bathwater
flowing down a...

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The survivor


 
 The pandemic has taken its toll, the survivors have fled to the woods
 the town is full of mice, rats have decided to stay in their sewers
 and sea-gulls get fat.
 The...

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The halved tomato
was freezer bagged and kept in the fridge too long
Breakfast is nothing without a tomato
but this melting fruit
is in a dream state. Not corrupted yet,
not rotten as we might explain rotten,
just spoiled, going...

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My village was dusty and burning
Everyone was screaming and running
I stood dumb in the chaos, my eyes rolling
Tried to listen out for mother’s calling

The noise of death was the only sound
My pants wetted, a boot...

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I had a dream that felt so real,
Even awake, it felt surreal.
Sitting in my comfy chair,
Goosebumps rose as I sat there.

Reality hit—I caught my breath—
I almost tossed it out, a part of me to sudden...

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