Again today, I was able to read my words for others and it was wonderful.
Ambleside Fog
after photograph by Jason Cyr 11/02
Under eerie darkened skies
she creeps
spinning her web of sweet deception
alone; she sees
the dawn of each new day’s reward.
The blades of grass left short by diminished daylight,
left undisturbed by all but
fairy wings that flutter through as
whimsical lyrics, visible to only artists, paramours, and thieves.
Her arias sweep away their misty past acquaintances,
and eye the stormy air ahead. She waits (as cats lives everlasting)
to dream and feel refreshed as warmth returns
her to her fabled resting place.
Among the clouds, she drifts for yet another chance
to live, to venture forth, to know her own existence.
© 2002 & March 2020
Beneath the Porch Light, Marlene
Leaning against the front porch post,
dragging on a cigarette like Marlene,
you ignore the cancer eating away
at your lungs, but I cannot. I want to
slap you, shake you, yell at you to stop,
but you have not. In denial, your bad habits
run your life, ruin my memories of
my favourite uncle, who introduced me to
Caesar salad and diesel cars before
they were cool. Who you lived with,
what you were did not matter to me,
I loved you just the same. Three years ago,
I left a note at your final resting place,
shaded by stands of birch and aspen.
A chickadee choir sang matins.
© September 2020
Immorality
From ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou
The simple truth is I want the easy way out. You
say there is no easy way to anywhere, but may
I disagree. I feel compelled to write
the truth upon this page; don’t expect me
to be kind. So glad I live so far from hell, down-
town east side in the city of Vancouver, in
the country I will always call my home. History
will show I tried to milk my station fully, with
the best of my abilities to shape the world, your
world, without the lies -- crass and bitter --
to injure those less fortunate than me, those twisted
by the privileged few who hold the monies and spew the lies.
The simple truth is I am afraid to die. You
say we all die, every person on this planet, but may
I clarify. Whereupon this rocky road we bravely trod
with thoughtfulness besides, yes you and me,
and while we play within the rules in
everything that carries weight, the
pressure to be the top, the very
top, to leave the world better than just dirt
under the shoes of the underprivileged. But
in the far-forgotten centuries beyond, I hope we still
become space explorers like
we once were and transform us past star’s dust
remembering who we loved last and I'll
expect on some remote earth, its moon will even rise.
© August 2020
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