Poetry

"Like painting poetry offers emotional release, allowing me the opportunity to create something from within, which leaves the visual up to the reader."

Click on a poem title at right to read.

Am I Blind?

Times Square art shatters me with its illusion.

It is just another noisy room,

Where the artistic cripple show word and vision,

While the socially imperfect

Don’t listen

Don’t see

Don’t care

I’ve been called too late to the urban slumber.

I’ve over slept and missed the train to my east of Eden comfort.

You can not call my name with the morning sunrise,

Like the rooster calls the dawn.

It is just sirens and shadows that awaken me,

So callus and intruding,

Like 3 am traffic sounding up 10th Avenue.

 

Bath of Red Wine

You hold the needle

But you’ve never pierced my arm

I’ve hit the walls

With all of my charms

I’ve seen the

Pimps,

Hustlers, and

Fiends

All standing outside

And west of my dreams.

Caught like hexes

In some ancient voodoo

Sedate in their

Morals,

Morphine, and

Blues

I know the pattern

I’ve searched for the lights

I’ve slept in tatters

And have dressed for the night

She’s seen the

Earrings,

Tattoo, and

Smile

We danced the dance and

Watched the sexes go wild

We knew the moment

To crank up the heat

Feeding the frenzy

Of a love that can’t speak

You’ve heard the

Riddles,

Poems, and

Rhymes

You’ve bathed in puddles and

Baths of red wine

Out last that moment

Just before dawn

The morning is for saints

I’m told, I’ve been warned

We’ve known the

Feelings,

Wealth, and

Crime

Out running distance

Just to see what we'll find

I’ve felt the pain of a king and his crown

As body and armor lay pierced on the ground

 

 

Blind Dog

The blind dog sniffs to find his tail

Then wanders out of town.

The dreamer dreams to find his way

Then colors his emotion

Flesh and blood

Dancing in the mix.

You wearing those fine Italian shoes

And weary of the time you spend alone.

You pet the blind dog

As he licks your hand

And soothes your bleeding wounds.

 

Caught

Caught like breath and the forgotten word

Held like a moment in shadows

Coughing like echoes

In valleys deep and wide

Trust like an angel protecting my cries

Your figure your patience

Your deep-set rhythmic eyes

A pasture of pleasure

A cloud supporting sky

Wild eyed and running

Like the dreams I call my own

This night I keep searching so close and far from home

For tomorrow's answers

And the warmth of its morning sun

Passion and pleasure fall like colors from my brush

Aromas and fragrance

Yours drip like dew upon my lips

Like the morning I kissed you after that night I felt so hip

Green leaves surviving autumn

That is where we both can play

Anxious yet uncaring

On this side of yesterday

 

Poetry in Blue

This year has been so bad for me,

Thirteen months of misery.

I ordered a whiskey and just to be mean I poured it all out

Because the glass was clean.

So close to the wall I can feel my hot breath

I’ve gone three weeks without shaving and a year without rest.

Now I’m dirty and tired and feeling bad for myself

Will you pass me the bottle of sweet liquid wealth?

Close all the windows lock all the doors

No one is safe till I bounce off these walls.

I’ve been to the mountain and the edge of its cliff

I'm deep in the night making love with life’s witch.

 

Silhouettes & Shadows

I see silhouettes and shadows in the wind.

I know memories of country lanes and sullen urban streets.

I’ve lived in places I have never been.

I’ve dreamed beyond the dreams that quite men have dreamt.

I see silhouettes and shadows in the wind.

I have traveled on the roads other men have walked.

I’ve been the view from mountaintops.

I’ve kissed the lips inside my heart.

I see silhouettes and shadows in the wind.

I know the soul and all its hidden depths.

I’ve played with toys as riches lay beneath my feet.

I’ve hurt enough to know that every feelings real.

I see silhouettes and shadows in the wind.

I know the touch of a well felt truth.

I’ve been aware of all the rules.

I’ve been awake at night waiting for my love.

I see silhouettes and naked souls and shadows on the wind.

 

Wind

Tonight I went with the wind

Blown close to home and protected by my shore

Applause and conformation bouncing off the westward breeze

I own everything I need in the simple embrace

As the tide kisses the sand

As the gulls take to wing,

And as the night turns to day

I see things, I feel things, I am things

Just feelings

Sweat and pain

I’m looking for joy on the other side

Looking for the make believe Coney Island ride

Where carousel ponies are waiting for a child

Like a stranger in a different dream

Like the joy of an unexpected sunrise as I watch you dancing

And hear you laughing the way you are supposed to

I love to explore the night

Enticed by different moons

Like a young man unaware of his chains

Still knows the curiosity of the wind

As it blows across his heart