four years ago i sat in this room
with those who will not shape tomorrow
but eternity
they were of different colors
skins, languages, races,
and i found myself honored to be sitting
in their midst

today the same crowd gathers and now i know the man of God who commands thousands in front is also a close talker.
the mover and shaker on my right passes gas incessantly in meetings.
and none of the gentlemen on my left will look you in the eye when you talk to them.

i find myself wondering
am i weird like these?
or simply worthless to the cause for i’m truly without grand defect?
then i remember my overbearing personality
and feel again honored to be in such company

It may be second-guessing, but I always
tend to wonder when I’m asked to
Dance

D.J. Spinning the same six songs he’s
spun for every hitching since they started
hitching folks those years ago,
and here we are out on the dance floor

Spoken words make way for awkward
silences,
though they’re only really awkward with
our hands around eachother’s waists and
not a piece of common ground to
stand on

except,
of course,
this dance floor

is it the black walls
and black carpet and
black floor and black
mold? could it be the
gradual blackening of
my skin,
my organs,
the essentials?
is it the black ceiling,
with the black monsters
that live above us…
or maybe the big(ger)
black ones that live
below? is it all of
these things that suck
my lust from my chest
and the smile from my
face?
i wish i had cleaned
this truth-less place
the first time i’d offered
to,
i’m
beginning
to
mistake
me
for
it.

so long ago
and so different now,
yet still,
one of several hills
to be climbed,
to be conquered,
as you have finally been conquered today,
not quite two years later;

now on to June…

oh these stars align on just the right
days for lunch and days for dinner
dates where we connect and roll through
old memories we managed to drum up about
the times we shared before the bottom fell
out of tune, out of time, out of place, out of
towns through which we’ll roll in three months
time to move beyond these clouds of gray to
perpetual hope in dreams of complex problem
solving issues we didn’t know we needed
to have friends and leadership passed off to
those much more gifted than us take the reigns and
ride full speed ahead as though i wasn’t there
in the first place

it seems like just yesterday
our communications systems were firing on all cylinders
but systems break down if not well oiled
or should you throw in a rock
or even fail to give them their necessary attention

a full system tune up may be in check
but first i’ve another system to flush

My brother’s gone to gypsying I
think, but do not fear, as
all is well when he his gypsying,
I’m told, and I can hear it
twixt the twanging strings and
memories made
all around a fire, oh
my brother’s gone to gypsying
and I can only sit and be
inspired

I expect that you will earn your keep –
that you will bring home the bacon
but not eat it – cause it’s bad for you,
you know?

I expect that you will broaden
your horizons and will make your mistakes and learn from them and learn from
everyone else’s – but still have some fun, because boys
will be boys.

And I expect it’s time for you to be a man – expect you to take on responsibility and
pay your dues – I certainly paid mine.

But I expect you to travel and
jump off cliffs and start saving for your future and try new things and work long hours and get a graduate degree and learn a new language and know your priorities and
live for adventure and keep your blackberry on and spend time with your love…

But definitely, certainly, absolutely, and without an ounce of doubt –
I expect that now is the time to contribute
to your IRA.

wherever they want

crocuses bust up, purple

but here it still rains

inspiring teacher, sarcastic jerk
unmatched golfer, unfaithful spouse
gifted singer dancer, likes little boys
visionary leader, big time embezzler
comeback quarterback, statutory rapist

and you find yourself wondering
what will your ‘after comma’ be

Where will you go?
This darkened wine pours city streets
Splashing to gossip down pocked alleys
Over highways
Under bridges
Between us all
The thirst is quenched, the search continues
Glinting resplendence
Stored to maturity
Encapsulated to revive dustiest of dreams
Inscription worn to decay
Inscrutable, but perceptibly outlined
Pronouncing with revered remembrance—
Where will you go if you depart now?
Forgotten on a cellared rack
What will you have then?

Our minds wander
to the land of cymbals and cigarettes
oh, this land of plenty has got
everything but that, it seems

The sweet smell of the sea breeze
and the thoughts of old Byzantium so
eerily close at hand.

As we drift ever farther,
black sea starts us sinking,
the aridity compromised only
by tall bottles of sweet red wine

Yeats would be ecstatic