Long Handrail Poems

Age defiant was this spruce and spirited citizen slinking blithely past the burgundy red doors of her enigmatic country dwelling.
As her olive skin neatly curved fingers 
slid over an intermittently scratched carbon black handrail she...

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Human foot-traffic is flowing along slightly faster than 2020,                          ...

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My mother always took the bus.  I never understood why.  We had a car, but she insisted on taking the bus uptown.  I think she did it because father would not let...

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The man wore motley, so I whacked him...

Hello, my charming neighbor; 
How you grace me with your wit.
You’ve really got the spirit 
And I like your costume’s fit.
What’s that? No, I’ve had plenty. 
What I...

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”This morning, with her, having coffee.”.
(Johnny Cash, when asked for his description of paradise)
 
A coffee stain on my desk; you left it behind,
and I sojourn there, staring at it like it was a magic...

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No matter that the mailman stops or not.
I still put on my heavy jacket, 
Tug on my boots and woolen gloves.
Give an unspoken invitation
To my ol’ shaggy shepherd,
Who arthritically arises, stretches, yawns
Pads to the door...

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I had seen the train leave the station
I had said goodbye, for the last time
A cold day in autumn, I decided to do some cleaning
Putting summer away, preparing for winter
I found a grey woolen hat,...

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Hungry for munchies, on his way to the lunchroom, 
a rambunctious, persnickety,“fuss-budget”, elderly
jittery, fidgety, geezer, named Cassidy…
whose questionable dexterity, aghast by a massive sneeze,
teeter-tottered precariously. 
at the edge of the thingamajig, ...jigging one way, jagging...

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The Great Winding Stair............ 
To the galleries........ 
Above and below 

For, the stories on each stair............. 
More magical than the last 
Tales from ages past......... 
So many to tell 
So far to go............. 
The spell...

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This aggrieved papa
of two progeny, (female)
holed himself in a
rigorously fortified fail
safe impregnable invisible monastery
barely room enough to exhale

decades before their conception,
when I hapt tubby
more hearty and hale,
though robust health a blessing -
this haint no rumored...

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It's claim
To fame 
Is pain.
Through this we gain
An heir.
There 
Is nothing like it to compare.
To break the chain
Of some thing this intense I need to completely
Relax mentally, physically, emotionally, close
Out all chatter and remember medicine...

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The seasons passed beyond the glass doors
I could see in detail each of their days
As I wheeled my chair forward-
No one day remained the same
You can always find some difference
Mirrored by choice

Save for a sparrow
That...

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Long time ago; in an African land
In a house whose walls with fine flannelette sheets
Whose roof was well made
A house whose floor was well tiled
Lived a family that known no peace 

A family that uttered...

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The moon had long since it spoke to me
About its pearly star
I ask her to sit in  my bed
So I could take from her a spoon of light   

One summer evening I...

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A Parody of Sir Philip Sidney's Sonnet 31 from Astrophel and Stella


With wobbly steps, O Youth, thou climb'st the stairs!
How clumsily and with how red a face!
What! Dost thou trip and fall about the place
and...

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Beads of sweat roll down my back,
Feeling sick I nearly yack.
Body quivers, hands now shake
Tremors of my bodily earthquake.

Heard my name; I've been called
Stairs handrail I tightly hold.
I tap on the door to my right
Nerves...

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I am empty of tears
nor will welcome again
my wounded wonderings each night
up the staircase to my despair
drunk on the elixir of my pain
love ended
and we will go with it
when I stare down the curved handrail
of...

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We still face the test of absolute truth
As creatures of the wild roam on a vast field
The sun burning through their earthy pursuit
Within this mind, a darkened haze concealed.

I watch their shadows, deepening a leer
My...

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the end is not so close
but I'm still drowning
in all ponds of Mars
guilty and filthy
and walk down the alley 
of sombre solstice
swearing at walls
after the heist gone wrong

now the everlasting 
ambulance siren
echoes through 
the tumbledown...

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Again , she pines on barren stars
and clasps the handrail of despair,
maiden of night, gazing afar
Juliet speaks to feeble air .

Oh, hours trickle on beats quite piled,
that mock a future then decide
unmoved, her pulse begins...

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Heavy,thick dust on the floors and benches
Open back door and a key on the table
Grass uncut, beer bottles strewn about
Brown water spurting out, pipes detached
Original wallpaper melting off the walls..
Old ,loose fitting, rusty  handles...

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There are at least two Fridas
I think one might be me
We both almost died
Broken similarly

 Her spine
collarbone
ribs
pelvis
and a dislocated shoulder
eleven fractures in her right leg
her right foot crushed and dislocated
abdomen and uterus 
by an iron...

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The staircase to a bedroom of lies
creaks,    with worn out balusters
from the palms of lovers
that shook the handrail as they climbed...trapped
with a honey smile  beneath eyes of desire
offered to quench their...

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a baseball hides in shadows on the landing
  glove and bat nowhere to be seen
a football perches oddly on the top step
  helmet and shoes sprawled across the handrail

cries of 'nice cut,' 'home...

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A wild night tucked-up
riding a storm in my bed.

Late digested cheese and crackers
are crumbs in my head
that now tumble like rocks
in a landslide.

Spumy sprays of dawn
crash upon my toss and turn,
pillows billowing on the floor
a...

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