Wedding

I cannot write the beauty of a wedding--
Cream-white gown worn in anxious excitement
Tuxes all matching and pressed,
Decorations chosen with meaning
Carefully placed, hung, and spread.
There's so many physical items;
They play to the eye,
But others--seen or not--
All make this moment special in time.
A sister and her smile of twentysomething years
(Years of summer skies and falling stars),
Her sweet smile beside her husband's,
Old and new friends brought together,
Loved family ties solidified by this union,
Snapshots of memories from a friend photographer.
I hope the remaining years will yield
All the joy and belief and love seen before now.

Working With the Public

If you're the one
Who doesn't like generic
You can always be stunned
By working with public.

Service jobs are best
To see all personality sorts
There you'll never get rest
From laughing sports.

I've worked at banks,
Also groceries and restaurants,
And often I give thanks
For all the stories I've got.

Professionals
In unmatching clothes
Being obsessional
With their stuck up nose.

Farmers standing like wheat
With their empty pockets
Kind and with patient feet
Waiting for their turn on the docket.

Big tall high-schoolers,
Who from football practice stink,
In their own kingdoms, they're rulers,
But they always order something pink.

Some driving through naked
Or standing atop their cars,
The hilarity can't be mistaken;
It seems some are from Mars.

Please enjoy the public
By always people-watching.
You'll have stitches in your stomach
From such abundant laughing.

Dreaming

Searching after sleep
In a Serengeti
Of pillows and sheets.

Laying about
In sand dunes
Of high thread counts

Diving in indigo
On barrier reefs
With more places to go.

Trodding in snow
Of down feathers
Attacking Matterhorn's glow.

To dream is to go
Wherever one wants
And constantly grow.

Letter

There's something about a letter
Other modes of communicaton miss.
Others in clarity may be better,
But letters are with words a kind of kiss.

They could also be punches to the jaw
Depending on emtions the words contain,
But from letters one does not withdraw
Feeling compelled to read all, e'vn in disdain.

A reader can show emotion to the paper--
If dear words, holding it close to the chest,
If hatefully, tearing and shredding in anger,
Or if happy, jumping around with zealous zest.

With personableness and personality
They are a special way to speak.
Handwritten or typed, with originality
They're a form of communication at peak.

Sales

I sometimes buy expensive clothes,
But never at full price.
I pay for all of those
At amounts that are nice.

In order these to get
I look forward, far away
To a place I've not yet met
And often buy for another day.

I find something I like,
Something I don't yet need,
And I buy it when moment strikes,
When I find a sale and future need.

Only A Poet (How to Write a Poem)

Writing a poem every day,
It often takes away from play.
One must put the mind in a place
And find that elusive poet face.
Some days what comes is only tripe,
Plain and hackneyed, no longer ripe.
Some days one's work shines like brass
Even if it only talks of grass.
Writing like this makes one think deep
It makes beauty stand out and further seep.
One feels all beauty as an emotion
Even through life's noisy commotion,
But it makes one truth very real:
Realizing the days when One nothing really feels.

Eating

Desires, for me, are there but only three,
And of the three the one that won is food.
Good food that--whether coming from a tree
Or fresh from a kitchen pot--gives good mood.

One of the Many

I'm a tree like all the others.
We're all tall, leafy, and green
We act as a home for those with feathers
And from far away can be easily seen.

Some are taller than than even me,
Towering over everything around;
Some are shorter even for a tree
And don't make so loud a sound.

I may not be a standing-out profound,
But I have roots that run deep
And keep me tethered to the ground
Even when I dream while sound asleep.

Sore

Sore
Sore
When the muscles roar
Pain like an eagles soars
Sore
Sore
Sore

Knotted
Knotted
When shoulder has rotted
And motion has halted
Knotted
Knotted
Knotted

Ache
Ache
A job that long is a mistake
My feet hurt so thy shake
Ache
Ache
Ache

Strained
Strained
To be so unjustly pained
Amongst ailments, to be famed
Strain
Strain
Strain

Help!

"I didn't intend to put this off.
It just sort of passing, happened.
Now I cannot stave off this cough
Of bothersome work uncompleted.

"I'm neurotic and emotional
Because of all this stress I'm in.
I cannot complete this all alone.
I don't know how this will end."

"Here let me help.
We'll go it together.
It'll still take a while,
But at least you'll feel better."

Cottonwood

White fluff hanging smooth
Warmly in a springtime breeze.
This season's falling snow
Makes me itch and often sneeze.

A Wet Oklahoma Saturday Morning

Spiderwebs all covered in mourning dew
Breathing in a thick helping of fog.
Watching fish splash and spew
And twenty yards away a laughing frog.

The distant chug of a tractor
Birds sing a quiet salutation.
Fishing hat and coat in worn-out splendor
And their statue owner in contemplation.

The gentle pat pat pat of ripples
From Emerald water that hugs the sky
And the hum of waking peoples
And their cars as they seldom pass by.

Wise fish with mountain-sage mustache
Kissing the air in unanimity
Clearly dancing for rodless me
As yonder empty-handed fisherman leaves.

We stare at each other
Them swirling their carpish dance.
I watch in eternity longingly
In a quieted, fixed trance.

Wet-hooved cattle chawing
And an existentialist bull.
Roadside pigeons philosophizing
And a mailbox stuffed completely full.

A Buddhist-believing tree
That peacefully overhangs the road.
A boulder in a pond that rests on its knee
And NPR classical to relieve any mental load.

International Croud

International people are an understanding lot;
They know just how to hit the spot.
They listen well and comprehend most all,
And are always the people laughing in the hall.

They're multilingual and can bend as they please,
And for work they don't mind standing on their knees.
Even-keeled and well anchored when needed,
They are well structured and multi-pleated.

To understand them one must become one,
But one cannot translate something won.
One must continue as is and be,
To most people something of a mystery.

Bad Dream

If you have a bad dream
Don't tell your mates;
Things like that
Should be left to Fates.

Take your bad dreams,
And cast them away.
Place them in seas
Along with the fray.

Don't take a chance
And speak your full mind;
Just keep still your mouth,
And happiness you'll find.

Desire Knocking At the Door

I'm drearily in bed at last,
The day's events slung on the floor,
I think I've finally quelled my mind
When Desire comes knocking at the door.

I fling some laundry in the way
To stop the sound that I abhor,
But gently there's a damning scratch
From Desire scraping on my door.

I turn and say it's just the wind
That shakes me to my quiet core,
But I cannot but help to hear
Desire whining at my door.

Covering my ears in dread
I try to quiet the droning score,
But gauntly and sonorously
Desire is dirging at my door.

My mind is grossly grasping now
To squash the sound of garish whore,
But nothing tears my self away
From Desire calling at my door.

I feel bewitching I can't stop,
A haunting 'till I slake the roar;
Gore and grotesqueness I will see
'Cause Desire's spooking at my door.

I'll stop the horror and be free,
Of beckoning I can't ignore
If I won't sleep then I will meet
Desire's knocking at my door.

Prometheus' Fire

Huge in understanding
The brother of shoulders stands
Defying couped ruling
With stealthy, giving hands.

A founder of thinking,
Of development he sings.
He pays for his doing:
Fire, a bird, and ring.

But woefully he's living
For man forgoes much thought.
With pain he doubles remembering
What his gift should have brought.

Man, upon receiving
His wonderful thing so bright,
Instead of further proceeding,
Only used it for light.

The Ocean in My Dream

The ocean in my dream
Flows in Emerald green
It ebbs and flows
Like lime Jell-o
And laughingly it gleams.

To Sky it winks each day.
Together they always play.
They seek and find
And hide behind
The clouds that float and sway.

The Shore of Machu Picchu

With neatly terraced lawns
And grey old walls of rock
Children play
As trees do sway
In their mossy-colored socks.

The waterfalls of green
Forever flow and roar.
Glowing mornings
And mid-day stormings
On Machu Picchu's shore.

These islanders are blessed
To live so far away
From bumbling strife
Of city life
And on their island play.

Poison Ivy

Afraid to step into the green
For fear of touching leaves unseen;
To quiet stay upon the path
For fear of reaping itchy wrath.
On sidewalk 'lone intent I stand
And reach out not one single hand.
Instead in safety I walk tall
Admiring greenry like a wall.

ER

Talking.
Cooking.
Chopping a vegetable.
Preparing the table.

Oh-noing.
Hurrying.
Washing in the sink.
Fainting then taking a drink.

Rushing.
Waiting.
Chatting with the nurse.
"Did you bring my purse?"

Calming.
Soothing.
Continuing life again.
With bandage and grin.

Nice To Meet You

Nice to meet you.
What's your name again?
I'm sure we'll become
The best of friends.

What do you do?
Why'd you choose here?
Being here alone
Doesn't make you fear?

How do you like it?
Getting on well so far?
How's the weather outside?
Did you come by car?

Will you go now?
Wherever to?
Without my new friend,
I'll surely be blue.

If not just a bit longer,
I'm glad at least we've met.
Perchance we'll cross again
As fate my might just let.

Humanity Larder

I have jarfulls of understanding
In my humanity larder.
It's the drink that I love sipping
And wouldn't for anything barter.

I've also sweet small cakes of talking
That I so dearly love to munch,
And pralines of perfect passifying
With their piquant, light crunch.

But the one snack I can't leave
On shelf as it seething lies
Are sugary tarts of bitterness
I can't quit no matter how I try.  

A Letter to Love

Today I wrote down words to love,
Some things I've meant to say,
Pithy prose I've oft dreamt of
But lost along the way.

For some reason though,
Today was the riper time.
With ink and paper in tow
I commenced my outline.

I spat down quandaries that do baffle,
I threw out character attacks in a huff,
I carved in faults of the emotion that ruffle,
And sealed the note with all it's haughty stuff.

Upset though I sat as one,
Before my envelope I could send,
I daydreamed of that someone--
My love and dearest friend.

So sits this letter now
On the desk all untouched,
If I'll send, I don't know,
But by love I've been touched.

Paint Tomorrow

If the day hurts,
If the life spins fast,
If an ear burns or
Energy doesn't last,

If feet ache,
If someone's lost,
If much is at stake
And it's loss will cost,

If ideas quarrel,
If feelings put down,
When memories whirl
And one must sit down,

When love lives away,
The heart feels alone,
Paint tomorrow a better day,
And stand on firmer stone.

Too Much To Eat

A long busy day
Makes one forget
To pay attention
To point of regret.

Talking and going
Arguing too
Never looking at
What one does do.

In bed before sleep
One looks back in wait
Seeing there was too much
Put onto ones plate.

Blocked Out and Taken Back

Whether through a pair of inexpensive earphones,
Or by way of the top of the line speakers,
The right music at the proper time can hone,
Transform the moment into solace for seekers.

Even in quietness it can drown out surroundings,
It can also toss ones mind neatly back in the past.
It brings back a time with specific feelings,
And it jolts the mind to a moment that sprints passed.