Two halves
from the middle
each end joins the past
Memory’s essence
the moment recast
Each second
or hour
lost victims of fate
Time off the table
— not early or late
(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)
Slaying dragons
I sat in my den, trying to compose a poem
which is not easy for a pretender
a scream from the living room, she heard
something in the kitchen and sent me there
to slay the dragon
I found a tiny mouse, knocking over
an empty plastic bottle of water
I picked up the mouse it was surpassingly
supine, sniffed at my hand, since we
live on the seventh floor, it must have had
a long clime
I did what every brave man would do,
left the mouse in the hallway
I heard a scream from the sixth floor
a new hero was called for, I hope he didn't
kill the tiny traveler
See the little man that could
Bravely ever there he stood
Enduring every little scar
To battle giants near and far
Not using either axe or sword
The danger he was heading toward
Was met by those that he'd oppose
Wielding but his words of prose
Relentlessly they would attack
So deft of tongue he held them back
Unable to deter his aim
Defeated bowed their heads in shame
Long days gone hazy
Maybe due to my crazy
I see deep into my mind
Where nobody else will find
A place of memories gone so wild
Some are of me as a child
For these memories I don't care
Back then life was not so fair
Memories are the ghosts of the past
None of them days went very fast
Time does not heal
These memories I feel
Lost in the echoes of a childs tears
At times ,I still feel my fears
Who was the lost boy I see
Can that truly be me
Memories dimmed by times gone by
At times I still feel the need to cry
days best forgotten, my childhood
Memories of a child that
understood
Love, even then ,meant pain
Dragons ,his mind has long since slain
Trying to bring peace to a child lost inside
In my mind he still does reside
Healing scars of a long wounded soul
Finding peace the only goal
bringing peace to the boy in my mind
Maybe this memories left behind
Will help the man, he is to be
So that he too, will be free
In my daughter’s world, fraught with danger,
Sharks swim at the deep end of the community swimming pool,
Long-clawed demons roam the hallways after dusk,
Sea lions emerge from wooded trails to snatch young girls,
And deadly dragons soar over highways.
In my world, fraught with danger,
Kids crack their skulls on cement and drown in a local swimming pool,
Rapists crawl into bedroom windows and abduct dreaming children after dusk,
Cougars prowling wooded trails clamp little sun-kissed heads in their jaws ,
And deadly drunk drivers explode family cars into red metal on the highways.
Don’t worry, I promise with a half smile,
I can slay dragons.
The Lay of Slaying the Denial Dragon
Denial breathed from his two lips,
Words in phrase from fingertips,
Inner mirrored image not sheen,
Reflections of changing not seen,
Remove a love or just replace,
Scarred but bury without a trace.
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