May 30th, 2014

Smoke

Sitting on a
friends deck, chatting
easily about little
things, big things

weddings and islands
and what is happening
at work and not
what is coming up

the smoke from the fire
the kids made
sifting over us and
getting into our hair, clothes

my glass briefly
hides the smell of smoke
while I breathe the
breath of hops

I look out and see the sparks
that still glow and
I can hear the kids
but cannot see them

As they run pell
mell through the yard
miraculously missing
the fire pit and the new hole.

time for more haiku

folding stacks of clothes
little and big some quite old
a sneeze damn the dust

washing so many
dishes all clanking and wet
hey! there's my yogurt

May 29th, 2014

shade of brown

A shade of brown
dark almost black
eyes looking

my love
you lose me
in those eyes

a dark pool
without end
into which I fell

so long ago
on that night
late into the night

now my son
the same eyes
quiet brooding

echoing your look
a chink in my armor
a crack in my facade

a shade of brown
dark almost night
eyes looking down

guns and idiots

My guns
my rights
he screams

the bullets
fly by like bees
stopping the screams

You can't take
my rights my guns
2nd amendment

he turns
just like death
staring coldly

the government
wants to take
my guns!

his finger tenses
he pulls against
the spring

I need to
protect myself
against the foreigners

the bullets
fly out like a swarm
stopping the screams

As he stands
proudly holding
a gun designed

the screams
are quiet and
the blood is so red

a gun designed
only to kill
other human beings

Two men
one screams about his rights
one doesn't scream at all
he just uses the gun
for it's only purpose
to kill

Terror deep

we sleep guarded

waiting for the word

that it has come

The missiles

make no noise

sliding through the sky

dropping on our heads

Terror keeps

we sleep guarded

waiting for the flash

that tells they did it

Someone’s decision

and then we pray

to whatever we believe

as we wait for it

Terror sleeps

we wait guarded

waiting for the word

that someone slipped

We wait for the

day after

the day

that everything has changed

Terror creeps

we stand guarded

facing East, West

North and South

The skin peeling back

the nausea

that tells us that the poison

is in our blood

Terror peeps

out from behind our knees

letting us know

that it is still there

No bomb shelter

will seal this out

no magic pill

will make this go away

We just wait

but Terror doesn’t