Reading a Note from a Mysterious Stranger

 

Ice cream scoops from the OED

words yummy as a clear conscience

laughing a bouquet of sunflowers

 

a chorus of golden petals 

sing hallelujahs 

around earth’s warm fruit

 

seeds set in endless labyrinths

feed winged multitudes

 

outside thunder rolls 

morning sky darkens with rain 

that dims not the inner light

nor limits the flight of dreams

                               ~  pcm

                                     2019-09-19

photo:

sunflowers 2020-09-12

Battle Till Dawn

                                                  

                                           morning began the night before

                                                  the sun arose in glory

                                                  grief’s relent I did implore

                                                  morning began the night before

                                                  each star of hope a troubadour

                                                  through dark sky’s memento mori

                                                  morning began the night before

                                                  the sun arose in glory

triolet: pcm  2018-04-09

photos: April 2020, crescent moon over pines,  #Carrboro, NC

April 2009, Stonehenge at dawn

New World

The birth act contracts

before release

narrows the vista

to a small tract

of real estate

—an impassable darkness

delightful in conception

death defying

in regeneration

each rolling wave

of pain a victory

gained enlarging

consciousness

our common

humanity

strains to be born.

pcm 2020-04-04

photos:  gaze from the sky, Nice 2019-02-23

wave, Nice 2019-04-24

Advice to Physicians

fill your own chalice

before calling others to sup

neither rectitude nor "engagement"

as the French say

je mens, tu mens, il ment

not mon

the other is not mine

but mystery

the earth

turned through worms

sweet scent

of rain and rot

your salty thick nectar

makes me see stars

photos: Nice 2019 fireworks over the port

Raleigh, night of two moons 

 

Here's looking at you, kid

the soul goes walkabout

untethered quits the noisome world

a shadow cast from driftwood

perhaps it seeks the sea

or a clear pool

of love where it is pleasant

to stand and pretense drops

its trousers about the ankles

forming little ripples

photo: crane from Ocracoke Island, circa 2000

December 31, 2019

                                                

What anchors me here is no sense

of urgency, no mission, no calling

the love of my children

           

            tendrils of hope that curlicue

around wafting leaves  only to escape

into dappled light flickering

from a street lamp or the moon

or perhaps a bonfire in the aboriginal outback

when roasting marshmallows for s'mores

was the greatest challenge

finding the right twirl to assure

golden brown or flamboyant flames

smooth and sweet or the crunchy grit

of victory won in audacity's grasp

yearning irrepressible for sweet sticky nectar

unsheathed from the charred ruins

bursts in my mouth

            trickles down my throat

followed by a sip of champagne

            your lips on mine

           

                        the shudder of ecstasy

photo: Moon and fireworks over Nice, France, 2019

 

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In Transit

                

As leaves 

            cling to trees 

so flesh 

            to our bones

we tarry 

           together

 

knowing 

          all the while

  

we live in transit 

          from one

  sunrise 

          to the next.

photo: Carrboro, NC, 2019-11-28