The most unsettling sound
is the sound of work shoes
pounding on a hardwood floor.
It's a sound that may harbor a hug or violence
the sound of authority and mundane chores
it's the sound of fatigue and routine
a sound without middle ground.
I grew up in dwellings where it was rule
to take our shoes off in the mud room...
So, all the footfalls sounded the same
cotton feet whispering - unthreatening
soft footsteps can harbor the echoes
of a supreme flavor of deception.
Categories:
unthreatening, 5th grade,
Form: Free verse
JOURNAL VI – Tangled
In Seclusion
Looking through
various American Art
Reviews
I find I’m drawn to
the country rustic
scene –
A stream, or lake,
uncluttered
A thatched hut or
neat, plain farm
house (oh not
too neat – a
place to luxuriate
in undisturbed
comfort)
A small boat to
determine,
waterside, the
lake’s
size
And, of course,
delicious greenery,
wild flowers
Some domestic beasts
perhaps -
Though the lake may
be a clear cerulean
My total scene may
be cluttered,
pinched
together,
A veritable super
sundae for the eye
Why this favorite
canvas?
Being city-raised
might be an answer –
though
mine a certain
benign type of
clutter,
That removed from
city turmoil,
By protective trees
and hills, with a
few distant
billowing,
unthreatening clouds
In these last few I
would find a
peaceful
freshness
tangled in seclusion
To renew a fading
spirit
Categories:
unthreatening, introspection,
Form: Free verse
He may have worn my father's uniform,
lived next door five years ago,
took communion with my uncle
each night for a year
in the jungles of Vietnam
but the familiar heap
though weak and unthreatening
is dangerous.
I may feel shame,
tossing him a five
and whispering a Merry Christmas
when I know that his will be
a melancholy meal spent
at Saint Peters (if he gets there early)
and that he would be able
to comfortably forget the holiday
if not for donors like me
mumbling guilty-good wishes.
but I can only see
the shivering heap
asking me to forget
my society taught survival instincts
to invite danger
into my locked car,
behind my locked gate,
into my locked home
and into my locked heart
that cannot afford to lose faith
in yet another human being.
Categories:
unthreatening, introspectionmay,
Form: Free verse