Long Veneered Poems

We lived in our ancestral bungalow
                            Three generations...

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ROHRBACH CAFE

Intimacy.

A place
of shared warmth, an atmosphere of muted shadows and candlelight,
where
emotions, profoundly sincere,
softly glow,
flare,
then wane
until, fully consumed, they are dimmed
and gentled
by intrinsic breezes of serenity.

A cafe
of quiet murmers, hushed revelations
among tables close,
but afar,
where
evening lit...

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For National Cat Day, October 29, 2022

Egyptians worshipped and revered them;
Superstitious people feared them;
When wicked witches commandeered them,
They rode on brooms and sometimes steered them;
In cramped pet shops owners tiered them;
Exotic dealers bred and reared...

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I am a Savonarola chair
carved from discarded 
remnants of cedar and birch that
littered our backyard - 
waiting to be burned
or broken by a trespasser’s hands, 
or tended to by the warm touch
of a gardener’s natural...

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"You don't belong here!"
They said. 
They doubted the authenticity 
Of my identity. 
Black night bade me come in, 
Provided I sang a song. 
Paroxysms of regret filled my song; 
The monotonous song from my ektara....

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Triumph At the Cross

“ 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ”  Col 2:15 NIV


Christ triumphed over Satan
And his unholy alliance;
Made...

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Triumph At the Cross

“ 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ”  Col 2:15 NIV

Christ triumphed over Satan
and his unholy alliance;
made...

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Just Remembering

In a corner in her garden, sun hat leaning,
Traffic white noise backgrounded,
Sara dozes and dreams of life long ago
When she was young, so young.

She is dancing the jitterbug, Glenn Miller playing,
Baby sister peeking through...

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When those words are spoken, written, to be a man or not,
Buzz says the bee, to discover what is he?
When the vortex of brains come calling all to reveal plots,
On dripping lips with open mouths...

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You knew by then there wasn't much left,
except wandering sterile halls--
amid blackened lungs; 

Where time meant nothing--
fading into insipid yesterdays, 
knitting needles complicating--
tomorrow's worried hands;

Age, flattened numbers--
held tightly against your heaving bosom,
as if engraved with...

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Mother Earth is so divine
If I stood still for a lifetime
And realize I’m just a spec
But tried to grasp the true aspect
Of why existence is the norm
Then in the eye of raging storms
I might not...

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Should I disregard
what other people think or,
balanced on the brink, maintain
a thin-veneered façade?
Where shall I store,
how shall I keep,
the poetry I must write
but cannot show--
that which smolders deep
and threatens to erupt?
Must I lock it all
securely...

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This song comes from some place

And its dancers, with hips up

Are going to the same place

And this song does not stop

 

Wither comes this song they dance

No one knows

Thither goes the sum who dance

Hope God...

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Wild Leafs flutter in a hue-laden town,
windows creak open, spritely faces gleam,
cheerful air burgeoning, no need to frown,
sweet fragrant coffee dock, a gust of hot steam,
just rejoice as the heavens don their gown

Bus stop close...

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Mightier than fibs and sharp swords, 
Manacled truth will with time prevail
Against high peak and gigantic vale, 
And glossed lips' deodorized words. 

Sharper than lucre's nectared studs
Stabs tested truth's right-driven nail;
Till all wrong-worn tongues wax...

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Fear of death shadows me like clouds of rain.
When fiercely I indulge in deeds so worth;
Like fountains brim-fill within ceaseless pain,
With grim queries: What's life? Why is this birth?

My mother went, like bloom-fades, with no...

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Strong as stone, monotone, tremendous woman;
Muscles of steel, well veneered bulk stature, ( You go girl)
Keeper of a strong will in a race runs faster
She’s a lot, don’t need a man;
Big as an amazon, she...

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The lightly fizzing mood
I've felt all day
and fenced within a grin
is at odds 
with the stoppered
solemnity of this pompous 
ceremony I've had to attend
and is becoming harder 
to hold, slowly pressurizing
to a giggle and then...

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In love
I keep coming back
to this place in the hope
I'll hear your voice,
feel your presence settle
the evening and draw closer
in the scented air.
Already spring has fired the furnaces
of desire and life trembles. Flowers
beckon bees and...

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Why has natural human beauty
Been deemed as not enough
Faces plastered and glued
With artificial,  unnatural stuff

False eyelashes glued on
The length of camels plus some 
Faces orange or unnaturally brown
Not touched by natures sun

Lips injected and...

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My heart is bruised,  
Words unspoken  
Thoughts restrained, confused 
Under lock and key, unopened 
I pry with eager eyes  
Running through corridors 
With a flashlight soon to die 
Vacant, bolted doors 
Hallways...

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Broken dreams, broken life walking the railroad track.  No destination.  Hold onto what goodness and sanity that was left.  Following his infectious smile worn on a veneered face.  To set aside...

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