We notice things

My people, my tribe

We hear patterns in voices

And see the calculus of movements

Fast hands tapping away as if in code

Eyes that dart from place to place

A movement from here to there

That tells a story hidden from most

We notice things

My people, my tribe

We uncoverers of truth

We exposers of that which prefer to remain hidden

We notice things…

It was easier for Lida

To claim a swan had ravaged her

Than a reckless god drunk on power

Had torn away her dignity

All for the whim of curiosity

And thoughts of:

“What’s this one like”

This personification of manhood

Taking whatever fancied his Olympian eye

Until bored and sated he’d head back

Up the mountain for an afternoon sleep

Leaving the woman to clean up

From the disaster of the irrefutable.

At least swans are beautiful.

I am lifted

Brought to new places

Higher than before

Giving me views

Of a new vastness

But I see the horizon

And I am heading for it

It is love

And the sun

The only two forces of nature

That blind you

Of you look directly at them

Long press

It is hidden

Somewhere

Like two cans and string

Buried between houses

Though they vibrate

When in session

Sending echoes

Through the air

There

Out the window

Is tree and leaf

There is cloud

Water and waves

Sun and shade

Day and night

And in night

There is embrace

Warming from cold

There is dream

Becoming nightmare

Becoming dream once more

That teaches of hope

Always of hope

It is a cool summer day

And we, we are quietly near

Quietly near one-another

In a place of silent comfort

That takes years to build

I hear the water lapping

Splashing against the stones

Washing the piers beneath the dock

Striving to get to us

But it has been restrained

The lake has its place

And we, we have ours

Here above the waves

Together in a way

No one else experiences

And this is our private joy

Not stolen in secret or coerced

But freely given beneath the sun

eyes are open
open, open, open
and we are talking
calling one-another
to share
experiences
you are there
and
i am here
and
all is as it has been
until the switch flips
and the lights go out
with no explanation
with no warning;
now
you live in the dark

the kicker is
we knew it was coming
we all know
this one truth –
that every light goes out
yet still it shocks
and catches us off guard;
we live as though
we’ll last forever
with thoughts of

“one day we will do this together
just not today…tomorrow”

this belief that there is time;
the things we’re missing now
will happen someday
if we just wait long enough
and then a heart stops
a brain explodes
an ill-timed car swerves
and the switch –
it flips
and nothing we planned
ever gets to happen
because we were fools
living in the dream of future
instead of this present reality;
look at what we lost.

and listen,
can you hear the cries of
“I wanted more…”
drifting into the distance
like echoes fading to silence?

When the cats are away

The mice will play

In the full burning sun

Of the bright blue day

But when the cats come back

Mice prepare for attack

Hiding in the shadows

Of night’s deepest black