One hot summer night
She sent him off with fireworks
Exploding mid-air
Reds and blues bursting
Sparklers lighting up the sky
Oohs and ahhhs ringing
She prayed he’d return
But the heat left when he did
Dark skies, quiet hearts
Category: Poetry
When the Lights Go Out
Without a flicker
One by one the lights go out
Sometimes beats apart
I’ll replace them all
Someday, when the ladder’s found
When I’m not afraid
It isn’t the heights,
And I don’t fear the darkness,
Until they’re combined
Playing Along
His touch, unwelcome
His words, inappropriate
Please, just play along
Her words were doubted
Her fears were all discounted
Boys will still be boys
We have had enough
We have found strength in numbers
We won’t play along
Breaking Hearts
Every day hearts break
Shattering like fine crystal
Starting with a crack
You’re ugly, stupid,
Fat and flat unloveable
A great waste of space
Those cracks never heal
Ask anyone who has heard
The shattering glass
Butterfly Collecting
I collect butterflies,
But mine are never displayed
Pinned under clear glass
Loosely assembled,
Mine aren’t arrayed in cases
Alphabetically
No, mine flit about
Pausing to sip at petals
Eliciting smiles
Lost Humanity
Chaos does not sleep
Just points his gun and takes aim
Chips fall where they may
Collect your fallen
Move along, nothing to see
Prayers and thoughts sent
What’s one more life lost?
After Sandy Hook we shed
Our humanity
For my Friend
She’s forged in the fire
Of unspeakable sadness
Such weighted sorrows
Loss, her companion
Her memories, filled with love
The pain, hers to bear
When darkness threatens
She wields the brightest of lights
Searching for justice
Turning the Other Cheek
I heard him before I saw him
Loud pipes announced his impending arrival
As I angled into the left turn lane
He came up on my right side
Big truck with bigger tires
A veritable fortune invested in chrome
Two flags waving proudly from the truck’s bed
Two expressions of his rights
One flag displayed the Stars and Stripes, a noble symbol.
The other, the Gadsden Flag: “Don’t Tread on Me!”
The flag hoisted by the alt right.
What an overcompensating loser, I thought.
Mouth breathing, Neanderthal, I added for good measure.
But even in that moment I acknowledged his right to express his feelings.
Was he offensive? To me, most definitely.
But did he have the right to offend?
Beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Protest should make us squirm.
Otherwise, it’s merely the status quo.
Musical Musings
Dissonance, we’re told, followed by harmonic resolution, heightens emotions, takes us beyond the ordinary.
One chord away from our comfort zones, straining our understanding, challenging our deepest beliefs.
Every piece worth keeping keels on an edge of unease, hiding a slip of protest between the lines, so we may join the refrain.
Wide Awake
I slept for forty years
My eyes closed to injustice
But I’m awake now
Patriotism
Might mean kneeling in protest
Soldiers bought that right
We might not condone
The paths these protesters trod
But their rights remain
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Praying for Eyebrowz 