doubt

i looked at you
with the hairy
eyeball

way too many times

your love was filtered
with what you thought
was discretion

my heart was held back
with what you felt
was caution

our future was muddied
with doubt and
uncertainty

over and over again

i never knew
which way to look
at you

out of focus dreams
were all i had

in the darkness of
what was to come

nothing traveled
my way

until the road
was lost in the
fog

in the obscurity
of what was ours

and what could have been

(gone)

harvesting

orange is my world
death surrounds as the leaves fall
yell without a sound

or

used to be alive
produce ripens on the vine
dies in coat and tie

or

fall apart inside
harvest what's left of what i am
autumn of my life

gray days

sometimes
you can't pray
the horror away

no matter how hard 
you try

sometimes
you can't figure out
what people are on
about

even if it makes
you cry

sometimes
the glimmer in the eye
can change to
the glare of a stare

and there's nothing 
you can do about it

we can but try
the experts say

but what did they
know about real life,
anyway?

(gray)

yeehaw

and as
she clapped
in time with the
music

she felt him 
clap with her

his shadow
falling
across her face

the smell of
unfiltered camels
in the air

she heard
him whisper

"now that's good country!"

and it was

hank and
newer generations
combined

her daddy
not far behind

(yeehaw)

skull talk

in natural things
i find thoughts of what once was
and what i could be

or

roaming through the earth
then things stopped suddenly
the wind rushes by

or

i conquer what i kill
before it can conquer me
life's eternal war

ability (downtown word-sketch)

disabled man
walking with
his feet

pointed in two
directions

in a dance
of a walk
that's a mixture
of stumbing

and dancing

lancing against
the wind
cutting through
the confusion

leaning his
way on home

(go)

curiosity

it was my own
curiosity
that sealed my fate

it was my own
stupidity
that lead me here

and even though
she's senseless
and even though
it's against the law

i know
it's not all
her fault

it was me

i caused this
flaming
destiny

(goodbye)

i get prompts from a poet's group.... this one was just a picture, but the grimm's tale behind it is ...interesting: https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm043.html (frau trude)

abandoned

the piano
in the corner

plays no more

the stairs
in the foyer

lead to nowhere

the windows
in the study

let in a familiar 
light

but there's not one
in sight

to see

what the house
has become

without you and me

(done)

treed

you said hug a tree
but you didn't say let go
now i'm stuck to bark

or

i am in tune with
all of nature around me
but i cannot sing

or

forest touches me
i touch back with all i am
learning as i live

hands across the water

everyone needs

a hand to 

hold onto

but not in the 

bathtub

calgon take me away.....

but to where?

mr bubbles always

did look ominous

trapped on his

pink cardboard

box

smiling his

empty smile

coaxing you

to use his contents

liberally

with no thought 

of expense

or peril

what's beyond

the terror

of the bubbles?

come clean

and tell me

now

(how?)

wall

it's funny how
the wall falls
between us

over little things

things that i
let through before

things that shouldn't
matter anymore

cracks in the brick
when there's no one
to blame

play the game
one more time
and see

how high
the sun has to be

to climb over
the wall

(eclipse)

mirage

sometimes
the things we see
in the far ahead
is blurry

sometimes
what we need
to see
and hope to hear
isn't clear

in all the madness

sometimes
what we think is
a rainbow
is nothing but
a cluster of
machinery

mowing us down

only to allow us
to get up
again

hopefully stronger
hopefully wiser

hopefully
more careful
of the mirrors
around us

until we meet again,
mirage

(be)

doll dreams

underneath the dirt
is a friend who you could love
if you just give in

or

did she have to leave?
did the light have to follow?
did my world just die?

or

her eyes have seen all
from first kiss to lasting hug
now just endless dark

escalator

she liked
the dead malls

the empty aisles
and shadowy stores
beckoned her to look

and look again

but the escalator
with its terrible whining
grinding sounds

would warn her of
imminent danger

and the perpetual
movement of stairs
were too slippery to stand on

and always seemed to go
way too fast

as if catapulting you
towards the chik fil a
above

where the Lord's chicken
was always available

except on sundays
when the mall
was extra dead

and the sound of
beatles muzak in
your ears

was only there to hide
the beating of your heart

and the desperate
wheezing of the
escalator

(ware)

moon's lament

i once basked in
the light
of your life

your rays touched me
in all the right places

but by and by
you disappeared

and left me in
the darkness
again

i know you'll
come back
and face me
once more

as steady as steady
can be

but the endless ebony
plays tricks with
my memory

and the space
that i float in
is cold and
half-hearted

not far from
how i started
without you

climb the
endless blue
and see me again

(soon)