I Wonder

From the last kiss to the pain

from the wonder to the rain

and I wonder once again

was I

the one

to blame

why I didn't hold you tighter

why I didn't ease my hold

why I let you wander so long

without being one bit bold

Had the last kiss lasted longer

had my ardor been much stronger

oh, I wonder

once again

was I

the one

to blame

Blackbird

In the midst of a

black and white land

of burnt skeletons of homes

a raven sits

on a blackened tree limb

looking down

at the ground

at a mass of black feathers

beneath puffy white clouds

in an azure sky

and in the stillness

of that moment

my soul echoes

the blackbird's 

silent cry

Blind Lady

"Heard your tap tap tapping, ma'am. May I hold your arm to cross the street?"
"Thank you, son."
"Anytime, lady. Us blind folks gotta stick together."

Go ahead

Go ahead... one more time

say it like you mean it

repeat that same old lie

then we'll both go home

and start again to die

Hold me close... one more time

hold me like you mean it

before we say goodbye

before we both go home

and start again to die

Watch the trees a weaving

weaving while we wave

cold raindrops a falling

cold 

as the love 

we gave

Go ahead... one more time

say it like you mean it

repeat that same old lie

then we'll both go home

and start again to die

The bum

Joe the cop crosses the street to escape my rancid smell. Pretends he doesn't see me, in my greasy, dirt stained, torn, and ragged coat. I stand shivering under the awning of an empty store front. "Hey, Joe" I holler. He doesn't even look my way. I cuss at him under my breath, not loudly enough for an approaching couple to hear. "Hey, mister" I speak to the man. He tries to speed up but his lady friend hesitates, opens her purse and hands me a five. "God bless you." she says. I smile and head for the liquor store.

Granny 1942

In her seventies regal, tall, and skinny she hoed and planted and weeded her half acre garden. It was all she had left. Scratching mosquito bites, swatting flies, her clothing soaked with sweat; snuff trails crossed her wrinkles from the corner of her mouth to her chin as she prayed to the wind in her Indian tongue, but the wind seldom heard her pleas.  Her hoeing done for the day, bees making their last flight, and chickens on the roost. She searched the sky at the whine of the plane and cursed it - the source of all her ills - grandpa gone, her penniless, alone in a three room shack fending for herself. Grandma 1942 Alabama back wood country.
[revised 7/16/2013]

FootPrints

Her detour to me in my rocker / a timid touching of my arm / a silent cry for just one kind word / an I love you I never said
Her footpints on the desert sand dunes / a timid touching of my arm / her laughter echoes cross the mountains / an I love you I never said
Her detour to me in my rocker / her fragrance hugs the lonely sea / a silent cry for just one kind word / an endless search~a memory
Her footprints on the desert sand dunes / her fragrance hugs the lonely sea / her laughter echoes cross the mountains / An endless search~a memory