Poems…

Storms…

It’s one in the morning
And your heart’s storming

Rain in steady streams
Haunts your dreams

The lightning races 
The thunder chases 

Embracing silent fears
tasting salty tears

Morning’s distant glow
Marches too slow

It’s one in the morning
And your heart’s storming



Prairie Winds…

Prairie winds blow
Rain, sun, and snow

Endless milky way
Shooting stars play

The seconds crawl
I’m lost in awe

No future no past
Let this last

The clock winds
All left behind

Prairie winds blow
Rain, sun, and snow




PaPa Stories…

When I’ve grown old
What stories will be told

Will little ones sit to listen
With bright eyes that glisten

Long ago and far away
Seems just the other day

Was it a life well lived 
Now only stories to give

An old man’s wisdom
Last gift to give them

When I’ve grown old
What stories will be told

She Came From the Sea…

February 7, 2021

She came from the sea
Wind in her hair
Salt on the air

The guls mournful cry
Outward she gazed
As the nets swayed

A brilliant palette sets
Wind in her hair
Salt on the air

Authors note: This is inspired by the courageous daughter of a dear friend

Homeless

September 8, 2020

Conversations with the air
Carts with wobbly wheels
Things no one wants to steal

Sun wind and rain its all the same
Bound by chains they didn’t make
Loneliness that they can’t shake
 
Can you see them out there
From our perch in here
We’re all hoping it will work out

Scribbles

September 8, 2020

Scribbling lines under a street light
Verses, curses, wishes and dreams
 
A long walk down a dead-end street
She’s hurrying with nowhere to go
 
Memories at the bottom of her pack
Strings and things - timeless treasures
 
A stranger’s coins in a tattered hat
The sun, rain and pain its all the same 
 
Scribbling lines under a street light
Verses, curses, wishes and dreams

Fire in the Sky

Smoke in the eyes
Blood in the streets
Fire in the sky

I can’t breathe
Four didn’t care
Now all grieve

Smoke in the eyes
Blood in the streets
Fire in the sky

Now you’re woke
With Fist in the air
Slogans you spoke

Smoke in the eyes
Blood in the streets
Fire in the sky

History now sacrilege
Topple the idols
Hide your privilege

Smoke in the eyes
Blood in the streets
Fire in the sky

Where from here
Is justice served
Nothing’s clear

Smoke in the eyes
Blood in the streets
Fire in the sky

Mortality

My mortality weighs heavy
every breath
every moment

My mortality weighs heavy
Every note
Every word

Every joy sweeter
Every pain deeper
Oh my mortality weighs heavy

Every kiss lingers
Every tear stings
Oh my mortality weighs heavy

I saw a girl today…

I saw a girl today
Melancholy eyes of grey

With honey hair she played 
A wistful smile relayed 

Red to green displayed 
And so she drove away
 
I saw a girl today…

Moments

December 7, 2018

The sky blossoms a kaleidoscope of color – the heat a lover’s embrace on a winter morn… It’s only a moment, but in that moment the realization of a thousand other moments… the compression – expansion – dissipation of time itself… a horn blows – the traffic moves and it occurs to me we have no moments to waste…

Two Vases

A good friend was telling me a story about an abandoned home where the folks had left their “parents” or maybe “grandparents” cremated remains behind… that seemed incredibly sad and lonely to me… I imagine a conversation something like this…

Two Vases

Time ceased its count long ago
And the voices have faded
As the dust deepens on this lonely perch

I feel you near me dear
Do you remember my kiss
Now it’s just the two of us

Long passed are our days in the sun
The sand soft beneath us
The kids playing in the surf

I remember the stars above
The singing of a mountain stream
Marshmallows by the fire

It seemed so long I waited
Now you sit beside me
Matching vases in the shadows

Time ceased its count long ago
And the voices have faded
As the dust deepens on this lonely perch

The North Wind

The North Wind

I have always been here
I chiseled the peaks
I carved the valleys
I smoothed the prairies
I have always been here

I was here when the Red Men came
I carried their arrows
I lifted their prayers
I cherished their songs
I have always been here

I was here when the White Men came
I spun their windmills
I closed their highways
I weathered their curses
I have always been here

No voices cry in the silence
No prayers are left to carry
No songs are left to sing
The firs bow in final supplication
I will always be here

Author’s Note: I was driving across Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota recently experiencing a relentless North wind… the land is beautiful beyond my meagre ability to describe and always the wind, the wind… the words have been stuck in my head ever since so I share them with you…

JC