I See Right Through You

It’s like saying it’s yellow
When it’s really gold
Or pretending to change
And conform to a mold
Where you can’t quite fit
To the stories you’ve told
And warmth is still absent
Even away from the cold
Your eyes will betray you
In your imagination so bold
You think you’re so clever
With your cards that you hold
Refusing to back down
And admit you should fold
Keep lying to yourself
But I won’t ever be undersold

02.25.09

Rape of Innocence

He opened the door
Without knowing
That fire spreads more quickly
And we all breathe the same
Oxygen
Too late to shut out the images
That should never have been seen
Now burned and charred along
With their innocence
That can’t be reclaimed once
You’ve been raped
Bless the child who lit the match
That started the fire
Where oceans of water can’t
Drown the flames
Or wash away his parents’ sins
That smolder in the aftermath
So knock down the debris and rebuild
Or renovate and repair the damage
With the likelihood that every damp day
Thereafter
Will permeate that memory you are trying
So hard to erase
And the soil under which the door had stood
Will never know drought
Yet no matter how hard you try to plant
The seeds to bloom flowers
Only ugly weeds will emerge
Offering polluted oxygen you don't want to
Breathe


02.18.09

Self-doubt

He stands outside the circle
Unwilling to step over the line
Looking at the broken pieces
Of what he must leave behind
Turning his back to that life
And slowly making his way
From the pieces he couldn't fix
Since he threw them all away
Soon coming upon a door
Open and welcoming
But he passes it by moving on
Certain he will never fit in
One meant to live alone
Having broken so long ago
Unable to step over the line
And becoming his only foe

Fall '08

Dead Words

Sometimes you toss
Your words around
Like the wind tosses
Dead leaves
And when I refuse to
Catch them
They will fall dormant
At my feet
You can gather them
In a pile
And again toss them
In the air
But they will fall to the
Ground again
And again onto deaf ears
Harsh winds, I will steal
Myself against
And block them out with
A stockade fence

02.03.09

Chipped Paint

It is still there
That first layer of paint
Buried under several coats
A hidden but permanent stain
No matter its color
That will remind you of time
You thought you buried forever
In the past you left behind
Time moves forward
As we all tend to do
But it still catches up
And will always chase you
So knock the wall down
Or just move away
But you’ll always find that color
To remind you of yesterday
What was the first layer then
You’ll use to hide once again

01.23.09

Truth

They are among the non-believers
Who think it’s all a ruse
As if it’s possible to even see
through the fabrics of the wool
That was never theirs to claim
As an excuse for accusation
That she’d reveal her clusterfook
As the means of affirmation
That the tale is as real today
With the promise for tomorrow
They will likely take for granted
While they mistake all of our sorrow
Casting stones as hard as their hearts
they could not possibly understand
She couldn’t fabricate what she has endured
When it was always in his His hands

01.18.09

Thelma & Louise

You want me to hold the line
And risk all that I have
Thinking with you I’ll find
How good it feels to be bad
The vows I made would be breeched
Though forgiven at a confession
A cross road you have reached
Has taught me an invaluable lesson
I ask Him, “Can I help her?”
I hear, “Regard all that she sees.
An accomplice to her being Thelma
You don’t have to be her Louise.”
Go on and have your affair
It’s a risk I’m not willing to dare

01.04.09