From where she sat at a small round table in the center of the otherwise empty café a wave of quiet rippled outwards languidly in the heavy heat of the midsummer afternoon. I didn’t want to disturb the spell by entering the radius of that quiet, sitting down at a table not too near, and opening my notebook as was my wont in such places to write my own predilections. The book she read was beyond my ken as her exquisite fin...

I loved you for a lifetime We were two of a kindOur love always sublimeNow I just live in your mindPrecious memories storedOne spouse needs to let goFor the other heaven is the rewardOur love will continue to growI'll wait for you hereYour book is still being writtenYou must not cry any more tearsYou can meet other womenMy life is now in the lightYour book still not completeDon't worry I'll be all rightI know this sounds...

Flowers bloom, the Winter thaw, Outside the songbirds sing. With the arrival of the bluebirds, I know that it is Spring. But listening to the bird’s songs, And watching the flowers bloom. I can’t but help myself, For feeling a certain gloom. For I find myself a bit jealous, As the flowers start anew, So often I wish I could do the same, If I just knew what to do. 02-22-16.

Outside, a scattering of forlorn leaves clung to the dark, wet limbs of trees bordering the deserted playground and half-empty parking lot behind the red brick apartment building. Cold, misty rain and swirling winds hastened the inevitable outcome of this doomed struggle. For Gwen, watching from inside her snug bedroom, it was a beautiful scene. The nasty, late-December weather had given her a great excuse to spend the en...

Two young brothers are left at home, All by their lonesome selves, The older one notices a new toy, Sitting high up on a shelf. He climbs up and brings on down, What he believes is a toy gun, He thinks about the games they’ll play, Boy this sure will be fun. He aims the ‘toy’ at his little brother, And shoots him in the head, But that gun was not a toy at all, And soon the three-year-old is dead. When a child dies, All th...

How do I live When this is over? How do I cope With this overwhelming Feeling of loss In my chest That makes it So darn hard to breathe? How would I Be able to define My own existence if Everything I had Known to be true, Suddenly stopped, Disappeared, And no longer ceased To exist? How do I live in A world that No longer included Yours, When for so long, I had existed in your World, your reality? Where do I begin And wha...

Note: This was written for the print anthology..."Mandela, The Man, His Life, Its Meaning, Our Words"...to be released by Inner Child Press in early 2014... Madiba He was the voice of those who had no voice, The spokesman for the oppressed.He became a true hero to the downtrodden,Who had been denied their basic human rights.There were those who tried to stop him,But he proved himself a true force of nature.Because you can...

Eye lids flutter Her nightmare begins Tossing and turning like flotsam on the sea Chased by something without a face She clutches the book to her breasts, its pages tattered and torn Her book of dreams It pages written in her hearts blood Her hopes and promises to her self found in its worn depths Five keys to unlock her dreams Two she holds, three she must win She runs through a dusky wood The trees mock her The fog rise...

She was new, how could she have known? (Break up with her, have a fling, do something, back together again) The star quarterback. Handsome. Gentlemanly. Kind. Humorous. (The star quarterback. Monster. Acting. Angry. Dangerous.) The cause of the bill every month for PTSD counseling and her purity pledge being broken. (The cause of her pain, nightmares, and shame) She should have listened to the letter.

Note: This was written for the print anthology mentioned above, released April, 2012 on Inner Child Press... When I first saw this sub call I have to admit I was a bit reluctant to contribute, I thought there was a bit too much controversy surrounding the situation at the time, though I believe justice was served in the end...and I tend to avoid controversy, btw... Anyway, I chose to write about the indisputable facts...t...

NOTE: This was a contest entry for the World Healing, World Peace 2012 poetry contest sponsored by Inner Child Press...it made the Top 30 btw, and is included in the recently released print anthology...I Had A Dream...  I had a dream just the other night, That people would no longer fight, No more wars to be lost or won, That everyone could live as one. I had a dream just the other day, Of streets where kids could safely...

Well, that IS what she said. Not that I had a reason to trust her opinion. How do you trust opinions anyway? Or movie reviews? You just make up your mind, and find an excuse.So "she said" was my excuse for reading this. Or at least for planning to read it. The author was eminent. Lots of awards. A literary giant in a language I couldn't read. So I was going to read a translation. Because she said so. I turned it around in...