To Be Continued... Or Not

Erase yourself,
and then...
silence.
   - mce

Daunting Task

To restart
the clock,
you must
unlearn
and forget
your entire
life.
  - mce

A Pirate To His Lady

Pour me a drink, lover.
My heart is stricken;
my rage is mounting.
I want to feel my blade
slash the throat of the past.
Pour me a drink, lover;
soothe my anger
with your smiles.
  - mce

Requiem

He knew great joy
and embraced it.
He knew dark despair
and accepted it.
What destroyed him
was the roller-coaster ride
of his helpless mind
careening from one
to the other.
  - mce

Sappho: A Lyric Fragment

   ~ Rendered by mce

The pale moon
and the Pleiades
have dissolved.
In the darkest moments
of the still night,
I lie awake,
sleepless and alone.
  - mce

No Regrets

Only
the young
and
the dead
have
no regrets.
  - mce

The Meaning Of Suffering

This world
was designed
to make sure
we would
never want
to live in it
twice.
  - mce

Linguistic Certainty

In the language
of love
there is no word
for impossible.

Improbable, yes.
Unlikely, yes.
Uncertain, yes.

Impossible, never.
  - mce

Bad Luck

If I began
selling coffins,
people would
stop dying.
  - mce

Guerrilla Epistemology

Although
running short
of ammunition,
he continues
to skirmish
hopelessly with
the unknowable.
  - mce

Woman Of Power

Wild, witchy wench
whirling naked
beneath a full moon,
conjuring me
inevitably
under your spell.
  - mce

Beyond The Veneer Of Reason

Love remains
inscrutable
as prayer;
not something
you understand,
but something
you do.
   _ mce

Egotism

The belief
that even
the weather report
is about you.
  - mce

Sitting

Make a Zendo
of your hovel;
it doesn't matter
where you park
your lonely ass.
  - mce

Hubris

Four years spent
demanding answers
to questions
that have none.

The desire
to know too much
dangerously
transgresses
the territory
of God.

And the world turns,
regardless.
   - mce

Dietary Question

Obviously,
the human heart
can subsist
on hope alone;
the question is:
for how long?
  - mce

Teetering On The Brink

At some point,
either you evolve
your own
private religion
or you risk
falling off
the edge
of the world.
  - mce

Three Days Without Whiskey

Alcohol provides
a place to hide
in a life where
real hiding places
are far between.
  - mce

Dream Lovers

Black silk and white wine;
candlelight and incense.

The secret sounds
that only lovers hear:
the throb of heartbeats
in the velvet night,
silky sighs
and throaty gasps.

Come to me, Love.

We will writhe
like two horny angels
fluttering our hearts
like wings in tandem
as our souls float away.
  - mce

Children

The permanent
scar tissue
left by
a momentary
biological collision.
  - mce

To Do List

Wake up.
Have a drink.
Make coffee.
Smoke some
cigarettes.
Ponder the
vacuum of the
pending day.
Walk out
to face it,
numbness
incarnate.
  - mce

The Futility Of Meeting New People Late In Life

You already
know
they will
abandon you,
betray you,
break your heart
or die.
  - mce

Two Poems By Hermann Hesse

    - Rendered from the German by mce.

The Days Press Down

The days press down.
No fire to warm;
no sun to laugh.
Only barrenness,
chill and unforgiving.
Even the dear,
crystal stars stare
bleakly down
since my heart
discovered that
love can die.


Evil Time

In the silence
there are no songs to sing.
We tread heavily;
this is the inevitable night.

Give me your hand!
We may still have far to go.
Snow and more snow;
hard winter in a strange country.

Where in time
does a bright fire burn for us?
Give me your hand!
We may still have far to go.

Siren Song

 “The thought of suicide is a powerful solace: by means of it one gets through many a bad night” - Nietzsche

He slept alone,
the nights were long;
suicide
sang its song.

Walking in
the light of day,
its melody
seemed far away,

but in the night
the song rang clear,
tantalizing
in his ear,

promises of
rest and peace,
oblivion
and sweet release.

He slept alone,
the nights were long;
suicide
sang its song.
  - mce

Preemptive Strike

Time is
the enemy;
strike first
or all is lost.
  - mce

Melancholy Paradox

The one thing
he wanted
in the world,
the one thing
he could
never have.
  - mce

"Everything's Made To Be Broken"

Saddest
fact
of all.
  - mce

Terminus

Every rope
has an end;
the question is:
do you hold on
once you've
reached it
or do you
make a noose?
  - mce

Dessert

He tried to concoct
a feast of words
from madness,
misery and despair
until he lost
his appetite
for dark vapors,
and tasteless air.

The last course
must be served;
he only got
what he deserved.
  - mce

Ebb Tide

Ounce
by amber
ounce,
the tide
of life
ebbs.
  - mce

Eye-Opener

Thank you,
Evan Williams,
for another day.
  - mce

Safekeeping

If you
gave me
your heart,
I would
tuck it
into mine
and keep
it safe
and warm
and loved
forever.
  - mce

Physicians Know Nothing Of The Soul

My doctors say
I should
give up whiskey,
but I know
I'd rather
give up breathing.
  - mce

The Virus Verdict

The Prison Of Marriage

For most,
a kind
of voluntary
Death Row:
still breathing,
not living.
  - mce

Families

How sad,
to admit
your love
only after
the funeral.
  - mce

The Weight Of Depression

Swallow a loaded
Exxon supertanker;
settle the
Great Pyramid
of Cheops
on your chest;
balance a 747
on it's pinnacle.

Now try
to take a breath.
  - mce

Morning Run

Nothing graceful about it.
I am no fleet-footed Achilles
circling the lofty walls of Troy.
Just a loping, older man
favoring the ankles I destroyed
playing high school football
that remind me with
each awkward stride,
it isn't 1969 anymore.
  - mce

The Shortest Love Poem Ever Written

Us,
together.
   - mce

Whiskey For Breakfast

When you wake up
to a world of dementia,
it's the sanest way
to start the day.
  - mce

Temp Agency

All the women
in his life,
until her,
came from
the same
temp agency.
  - mce

Futility

He was furious
with a world
that no longer
noticed
he was alive.
  - mce

Suburban Morning

Instead,
of birdsong,
the endless,
grating drone
of idiot
homeowners
cutting their
perfect,
unnecessary
lawns:
mindless
masturbation
by mower.
  - mce

Anxiety Attack

swirling
     vertiginous
downward
    tumbling
freezing
    firey
gyre

  - mce

Duet

a small red house

two minds dying

age and disease/
grief and despair

two minds crumbling

a small red house

a slow falling away

faint footsteps
on narrow stairs

the patter of death

a small red house
  - mce

The Ballad of Bedlam Zoo

Bedlam Zoo,
Bedlam Zoo,
start the day
in Bedlam Zoo.

Wake up and face
the madness;
another day
crushed by sadness.

Nowhere to go,
nothing to do,
caged like a bear
in Bedlam Zoo.

In Bedlam Zoo,
the days are long,
time is crooked,
clocks are wrong.

Nowhere to go,
nothing to do,
eternity
in Bedlam Zoo.

In Bedlam Zoo,
the witches fly,
the demons shriek,
the devils cry.

Nowhere to go,
nothing to do,
cacophony
in Bedlam Zoo.

In Bedlam Zoo,
memory weeps,
guilt orates,
madness speaks.

Nowhere to go,
nothing to do,
insanity
in Bedlam Zoo.

Up and down
pace the cage,
an actor on
an empty stage.

Nowhere to go,
nothing to do,
a specter haunting
Bedlam Zoo.

Pace the barren
cage alone,
loneliness
dense as stone.

Nowhere to go,
nothing to do,
the broken man
of Bedlam Zoo.
  - mce

The Attic Of Memory

That's where he lives,
and he spends his days
nailing up perfectly framed
pictures of nothing.
  - mce

Hell

No devils,
no pitchforks,
no screams,
no fire,
no brimstone:
just
another
day.
  - mce

Dramatic Inquiry

Why sit through
an absurdly
tedious
denouement
when the end
is so obvious?
  - mce

The Unraveling

The mind's fabric
begins to fray,
sun at night,
stars by day.
The woven brain
comes undone,
threads peel loose,
one by one.
Madness pulls
the final thread,
light goes out
inside your head.
  - mce

Low Fuel Indicator Light

When
you run out
of hope;
then
you run out
of life.
  - mce

Time and Distance

   ~ for CB

Soon, the birds
will fly,
another year
has passed me by.

The birds will fly,
another year,
and you are there
and I am here.
  - mce

The Curse Of Self-Awareness

He had loser
tattooed in red
on his forehead;
no one else
could see it,
but he could.
  - mce

Agenda

Wake, rise,
stumble away,
into the ruins
for another day.
  - mce

Extremities

He has wandered
through foul darkness
caught in murk
and gloom and shade.

He has burned
with searing brightness
that sliced his world
like an fiery blade.

The center never holds;
the edges tell the tale.

It is always
the peak or the abyss;
the ocean's bottom
or the lightning's kiss.
  - mce

Final Knowledge

The broken
stay broken.
  - mce

Declivity

Ignition, spark,
a turning key,
sets the writhing
serpent free.
Worlds spin,
words collide;
realitas begins
to slide.
Markers
fall away,
lines implode;
unlikely voices
yawn in code.
The palette
melts to a
fluid smear
that  trickles
down a
thirsty ear.
Sounds skew,
scream, resonate
at an inaudibly
alarming rate.
Neither sense
of life nor joys,
only cacophonic noise.
The birds of touch
are flown away,
leaving vacuums
in the day.
The chain-mailed,
twisted, human heart,
tortured from
its fatal start.
Find the answer,
spin the wheel,
stop the madness,
cease to feel.
  - mce

The Febrility Of Imagination

The mind as a lens
concentrating
and focusing
until life sparks,
catches, explodes
and disappears
into smoke and ashes.
   - mce

Implementing Plan B

Eight AM:
liquid amber fire,
harbinger
of respite
and oblivion.
  - mce

The Northampton County Asylum

    ~ for John Clare

Lost
brother:
I know
exactly
how you
 felt.
   - mce

Inverted Karma

The Zen Masters say,
when you reach the top,
keep climbing;
the deeper question is:
what do you do when
you reach the bottom?
  - mce

A Gentle Reminder From Our Sponsor

Time is running out.
Time is running out.
Time is running...
   - mce

The Nothing Poem

Nothing matters
anymore.
  - mce

Redux

Sometimes,
to move forward,
you must go
backward.
  - mce

True Love (Redux)

All the lost loves
of my life
have prepared me
for you.
Isn't it about time
you show up?
- mce

Petition (Redux)

   ~ for CB

Come to me, love.

Put your body in my hands;
let your heart snuggle in mine.
Be the voice in my throat,
my warmth against the chill.

Together holds delights
solitary cannot imagine.

Let us sing, love, a duet
sweet as this morning bird song,
notes intertwined, filling
the day's freshness with harmony.

Only trust, love, and let the music begin.

We will teach each other songs
unimaginable alone.

Only sing with me, love.

All of this and more awaits.
  - mce

"Not Universal Love, But To Be Loved Alone." (Redux)

Be my lover
and I will bring you
blueberries and love songs,
smiles and sunshine.

Let the mad world
spin violently
out of control
as it always has,
as it always will.

Blueberries and love songs,
smiles and sunshine;
respite within chaos.

Only take my hand, love:
no better life is possible.
- mce

Mykonos - for H.M. (Redux)

"Memory is a kind of accomplishment." - William Carlos Williams

Forty years later
I still see you
standing on that
dazzling Greek beach
wearing nothing
but your bikini bottoms
and an innocent grin.
A vision like that
can last a man
a lifetime.
Where are you now
smiling Venus?
- mce

Optimism (Redux)

Place your hand
inside my chest
and touch my heart.
It beats
for the possibility
of you alone.
- mce

The Ex-Wife's Revenge (Redux)

Since
she left me,
I have never
really
been able
to unpack,
not once.
- mce

Coda To The Morning Report (Redux)

A poet writes
what he writes;
the reader reads
what he reads.
The real poem,
the poem
of the mind,
exists when
the two collide
and belongs -
exclusively
- to both
and neither
of them.
- mce

Morning Alba (Redux)

You wake
in a warm bed
and feel her
female presence;
she wakes,
opens her eyes,
and smiles.
What is more
lovely
and reassuring
than waking up
next to a lover
who wakes up
smiling?
The entire
coming day
seems to smile
along with her.
Small instances
like this
make the world
not only bearable,
but beautiful.
- mce

A Tentative Ode To Desire (Redux)

Approaching sixty,
I find that
I still love women,
but not as much
as whiskey and ink.
- mce

Gender Wars (Redux)

I'd like
to get
deeper
inside
your head
she says;
I'd like
to get
deeper
inside you,
he thinks.
-mce

The Clash Of Plato And Aristotle (Redux)

It is easier
to be in love
with the woman
of your dreams,
than with the woman
beside you.
- mce

Valley Song (Redux)

Caress the earth;
it will feed you.
Laugh into the rain;
it will cleanse you.
Study the sky;
it will teach you.
Listen to the wind;
it will whisper wonders.

Open your heart;
quiet your thoughts:
do not be
in the world,
be the world.
-mce

A Short Treatise On Dealing With Loss And Grief (Redux)

Pretend
(a little whiskey
may help
at first)
that you don’t
give a damn.
Eventually,
you won’t.
  - mce

Zazen On Struggle Mountain (Redux)

Only be present
and the world awakens:

colors shout fragrance,

birds recite poetry,

breezes whisper caresses,

light smells of hope.

Consider your past,

but do not dwell there;

consider your future,

but do not expect it.

Now is Is.

Peel away the squawking

layers of your heart

like an onion unwinding,

like a snake molting.

Approaching nothing,

you arrive at everything.
Do this until you think

you will vanish:

the more you lose,

the more you are.
  -mce

Simple Song (Redux)

a wooden room:

waking in the morning light
beside you in a simple bed.

we drink from simple cups
subtle waters.

simple wood and light
simple cup and bread
simple warmth and calm.

difficult -

the simple world
is difficult…

or

simply open the door:

the breeze calls us
the birds sing
our mortal names…

plain table,
subtle fire.

two plates as round
as owl’s eyes.

your heart and mine:

simple,
simply,
beautiful.
  –mce

A Problem Of Perspective (Redux)

At 30,
you could only
look ahead.
At 55,
I could only
look back.
We only looked
in the same direction
when we looked
at each other.
Looking at you
was all my pleasure,
but future and past
pulled too hard
to overcome.
There are lilacs now,
new lovers,
fresh beginnings.
Still,
I remember
your eyes
looking back
at me,
greener
than even this
soft,
new spring.
–mce

The Zone (Redux)

   ~ Laos 1972

known variously as:

Indian Country,

the Shit,

the Jungle
& the Zone.

bloody stumps,
flying metal,

charred flesh,

screaming agony,

cellular fear,

burning choppers,

dying men,
dead eyes

staring,

betrayal.

“Don’t mean fucking nothing.”

not a place
on a map
but a state of mind
-
my mind.

The place vanished,

but the Zone
remains
a jungle
in my head
& some things

return me there.

there i learned
the necessary.

in the Zone,
only predator and prey,
kill or be killed,

win or die,

the quick and the dead.

in the Zone

only survival matters
-
no morality,
no right or wrong

no lies,

no truths,
no fair,
no unfair.

no rules at all.

in the Zone
everything is allowed…

meet the enemy,
destroy him,

maim him,

outsmart him,

walk away
with the blood of others
squishing in your boots

feeling gloriously alive.

friend,

brother,
enemy,

child,

lover,

you do not
- ever -

want to meet me

in the Zone.
–mce

A List Of Joys (Redux)

Blogmeister's note: I was once asked to make a list of things that bring me joy. This is what I came up with. I found it again yesterday. It still holds up. I publish it here especially as a gift for those who knew and sustained me in my bleaker days. These are some of what I found on the other side of all that suffering.

*****

Real work, whether of mind or body. Real work isn't a job or an occupation. It is any effort that occurs when what you know and what you do converge with who you really are.

Mammalian warmth: the touch of human bodies in all it's wonder and pleasure that reminds me of Nietzsche's saying, "First, be a healthy animal."

A cat's purr. It's existence requires no justification; it is complete in itself.

Blueberries, the plants and the fruit. A feast for every sense.

Books, movies, and works of art that are so compelling they take you on a vacation from reality by creating their own more vivid reality.

My white, 1997 Saturn with 200,200 miles on it. A gift from an angel, I call her Moby and together we sail the asphalt seas. She's a real lady.

Birds. They fill the world with color and music and desire no profit in return.

A lovely woman with bare legs in a sun dress. As Wallace Stevens said, "Beauty is momentary in the mind, the fitful tracing of a portal, but in the flesh it is immortal."

The electric charge of lips touching lips, of flesh brushing flesh.

Anything, on a woman, that is made of silk. Silk is exquisite, elegant and erotic.

Weeds that flower, because their beauty is unexpected.

Evan Williams bourbon. Exquisite, distilled napalm that burns and satisfies.

Cool evenings after hot days.

Conversation that sparkles with intelligence, wit and conviviality.

Warren Zevon, Thelonious Monk and Mozart, not necessarily in that order.

True friends. When the chips are down, they are a treasure more valuable than even family.

The magical, healing sound of flowing water.

Trees, especially the deciduous. Their greenness speaks to and cools my spirit.

Writing and reading poetry, my craft and my solace.

Love. It is elusive and difficult and perhaps impossible, but the belief that it may be out there sustains even the jaded, aging life.

The fecundity of the unexpected.

Fireflies. Almost too much beauty for one world.

Sunrises, because they bring the undeserved possibility of another shot at redemption.

Garlic, the spice of the gods.

And on and on...
- mce

Alzheimer's

A seething chaos
of dusk and storms:
the mind adrift,
lost and tossed,
upon the ocean
     of itself
with no hope
     of rescue.
   - mce

Democracy 2010

300 million
petulant toddlers
throwing tantrums
in the dark.
  - mce

Homecoming

Welcome
to Hell;
enjoy
your stay.
  - mce

Invocation At Morning

Mornings are the worst,
dissolution and despair,
the terror of karma
in the pallid, dim air.
Witches of memory
shriek and taunt:
you'll never be free.
The past pukes demons
that chant and moan:
you belong to me.
Oh Muse of light,
protect me from sadness;
Oh Muse of light,
shield me from madness.
Keep my soul safe
for just one more day;
hold my heart in your hands,
keep the past at bay.
  - mce

My Mother's Dementia

A
whirlpool
of
disconnected
dots.
  - mce

The Pain Of Selective Memory

Can't find your glasses;
can't remember
your phone number;
can't forget your failures.
  - mce

A Gardener's Lament

If only I could
    plant myself
deep in the
    perfect earth
of your body
    and grow us
a new life
    together.
  - mce

Procrastination

On my death bed,
I will wryly smile
and think how
I was finally planning
to get my shit together -
next week.
  - mce

Wordless Conversation

Your smile said,
I dare you;
my smile said,
I do.
  - mce

Desire

Open to me, love,
like a rose bud
unfolding,
surround me
with your being,
contain me
in your holding.
  - mce

AM Lottery

Some mornings
life is a hangover
you wake up to
wondering what
you did to deserve
such pain;
sometimes it
is a spring day
and you wake
to cool breezes,
sunlight and smiles.
The only way
you can know
which it will be
is to take
the chance,
open your eyes
and see.
  - mce

Tennessee

Verdant, lush,
green paradise:
I will miss you.
  - mce

Coda

The road;
    one
         more
             time.
- mce

Ode To Odie

I have a dog friend
named Odie.
Odie lives
with a nice woman.
He is often petted
and spoken to
endearingly.
He eats well
and regularly.
He doesn't work.
He sees a doctor
when he's ill.
He sleeps
in air-conditioning.
He even gets treats!
Odie's dog life
is much better
than my man life.
How I aspire
to be Odie.
  - mce

Green Whispers

He sat in a green world
of good green things.
They whispered to him,
those good green things.
They said to him:
put your pain away,
place it in a drawer.
Visit it when you must,
but do not carry it with you.
It will always be yours.
You will not forget it,
but it won't own you.
The time has come
to return to the green world
of good green things.
The time has come
to be green again,
to breath and to live again.
The time has come
to be green and to grow.
Open your heart;
take a chance;
do as we ask.
  - mce

Climbing Mount Essig

All these years
of toil and pain,
I have finally
reached
the summit
of my life.
The trick now:
figure out
how to keep
on climbing.
  - mce

Mountain Wisdom

Nothing is
ever given,
or taken,
that doesn't
have its price.
  - mce

The Last Poem

The last poem
will be written
in blood,

but that time
is not yet.

Smiles, tears
and wonder
remain;
hangovers,
laughter
and joy
as well.

Not just yet.

When the time
is right
he will open
a vein
and write
that last
bloody poem.

Until then,
he will live
and breathe
and love
in his painful,
imperfect
human world.

Until then,
until that
last poem
is written
in blood.
  - mce

A Terrifying Question

If my heart
should stop
soon;
is there
anyone who
will remember me
(even one
person)
and smile?
  - mce

Self-Knowledge

One thing
for sure:
I am an
easy man
to forget.
  - mce

The Comforts Of Logic

An evil man
cannot be loved.
I am loved.
Therefore,
I cannot be
an evil man.
Sweetest
syllogism
of the soul.
  - mce

How I Know What I Don't Know

Facts are light;
sometimes photons,
sometimes waves,
always dancing,
never for certain,
purely the creation
of the observer,
only the stories
we tell ourselves
about what is,
the dramas
we act out
on the stages
of imagination,
in the theaters
of our hearts.
  - mce

Whiskey In The AM

There are
some mornings
when it is
drink or die.
This morning,
he chooses drink.
He makes
no promises
about tomorrow,
but he hopes.
  - mce

Upon Hearing Of My Ex-Wife's Marriage

    ~ for Uli

I loved you
with the purity of
a young man's heart;
I truly believed
we would never part.
The vows were broken,
that love died;
the wife that was
is another man's bride.
The unanswered questions
we will never know:
how did love die,
where did it go,
do not matter anymore,
love your new life,
be happy, soar.
  - mce

The Friend

   ~ for WHS

Not born
     of the same
         blood,
but knitted
     into one bone
by the breaks
     of life.
Friends to
     the death;
friends beyond.
  - mce

"For My Sins, They Gave Me A Mission..."

Everyone has
a unique mission
in the world;
mine seems to be
to determine
how many times
one heart can break.
How I hope the limit
has been reached.
  - mce

The Troubles: Four Years On

Somewhere
beyond
the ocean
of suffering
must be
a land
where rest,
relaxation
and perhaps
redemption
are possible
for even
the most
broken
Pirate.
  - mce

Local Passport

When you are
able to discern
the marvelous
in the familiar,
travel becomes
unnecessary.
  - mce

"Suffering Is Caused By Attachment."

Eighty-three degrees
inside my stuffy cabin
at eight in the morning.
All winter I cursed the cold;
now I curse the heat.
The grasping Monkey Mind,
never content to just be.
  - mce

The Calculus Of Failure

Apparently,
there exists
an infinity
of ways
to disappoint
yourself
in any given
lifetime.
  - mce

Perceptions

At fifty-eight,
I understand
I can drop dead
at any moment.
Somehow,
this only makes
the trees
look greener.
  - mce

The Price

It has cost
21,464 nights
to buy
this sunrise.
The price
of morning,
greater
every day.
  - mce

Mulligan

Every do over,
increasingly
difficult to take.
  - mce

Redemption Song

The morning
after the day
you didn't die
seems bright
and shiny
indeed.
- mce

Inversion

For the longest time,
it was all about the future;
then, there came that
strange, unexpected
and terrible moment
when the past began.
  - mce

Illness

Early in the day,
     it's an
          interruption:

later in the day,
     it's an
          omen.

Early and late
     the mortality worm
                    chews.

Early or late,
     it will have
          the last
                    bite.
  - mce

For Men Who Fantasize Insatiable Lovers

You should
meet the Muse;
she'll wear
your ass out.
She never takes no
for an answer.
Sure, when
she comes
she screams
out poems.
That's fine, but
her demands
will leave you
limp and gasping.
It's not all
sighs and play.
Be careful what
you wish for.
  - mce

Thunderstorm

The rumble
of the gods
making love
in the sky.
  - mce

An Open Invitation

This bed
is narrow,
but my arms
are wide;
you are
always
welcome
here inside.
  - mce

Triumph

Writing poems
to a body
that can never
be touched.
  - mce

Nip And Tuck

Love is a force that transforms.
It is the unsteady hand
of a drunken plastic surgeon
who badly needs a drink;
sometimes the results
are beautiful; sometimes
they are ugly. You can't know
until the bandages come off.
  - mce

The Lost Drawer

In it, all the debris of a life:

lost loves, pieces of
a broken heart, the smiles
of friends since gone,
a marriage, children,
jobs, cars, houses,
the shards of dreams,
various rainbows, sunsets,
thunderstorms, poems
never to be finished,
the chaos of battle,
squandered opportunities,
misplaced lusts,
the best orgasms,
the deepest kisses,
the worst disappointments,
betrayals, dashed hopes,
many resurrections,
bundles of broken promises,
and endless other items,
large and small.

It is the messy drawer
of a very messy man,
rarely opened anymore.
   - mce

Always Pack Bread-Crumbs

At six I went
out to play
in the forest
of the world;
fifty-two
years later,
I'm still lost.
What did
I forget?
  - mce

The Disturbance In The Field

Sex, violence,
food, drink
and, of course,
love.

It's so easy
to be a man
until you
get to
that last
word.
  - mce

Why Poets Disdain Eternity

So much effort
is required
to capture one night
of moans and sighs;
leave eternity to God
who owns time
and never dies.
  - mce

Demise Delayed

At twenty, even as
bullets and shrapnel
sizzle your ears,
you trust in your
immortality beyond
any doubt.

Nearing sixty,
death has become
a dark lover
whose possibility
you take to your bed
every mortal evening.

Opening your eyes
to a new morning:
the least certain,
sweetest gift of all.
  - mce

The Cosmic Significance Of The Simplest Gesture

Only lean back
into my arms.
Life is short;
the day is long.
Together, both
become possible.
  - mce

Barred Vista

The buzz
   of madness
       in the
          cicadas' whir;
insanity in
   the manic
      croak of
         tree frogs.

No quiet;
   never quiet;
        no quiet.

How fragile
   the fabric
        of personality;
how easily
   it rends, frays
       and tears

until what remains
   are loose threads
       blown randomly
           by howling wind

twirling within
   the whir
       of cicadas,
          the croak
             of tree frogs.
  - mce

Aries Thanks Daddy

The clash of arms,
the screams of pain,
the groans of death:
Thank you, Father Zeus,
for the mortal toy
of human breath.
  - mce

Guide Wanted, Apply Within

The soul's disquiet
singes the fabric
of the human day.

The heart grown brittle
forgets how to sing,
forgets how to play.

There must be a path
leading back to hope
and away from pain,

a path where birds sing,
the world exalts,
the faltering brain

knows rest and repose;
a path to a place
like a still bower

where spirit and flesh
are reconciled
in the human hour.

Lead me, Love, to that
simple, quiet place
where the human heart
dares to show its face.
  - mce

Landfall

Seven years
of open sea,
a Pirate
badly battered,

seeks a harbor
to repair
the dreams
life's storms
have shattered.

Loose your limbs,
envelope him;
say, rest awhile
within my smile.

Be the harbor
of his dreams,
the end
of voyaging
and schemes.

If you allow him
to sail in,
he may not
seek the sea
again.
  _ mce

Doubt As A Practice

Certainty:
not sure
what that
means.
  - mce

Tin Roof Blues

Rain,
new day
gray;
Muse,
sing my
blues
away.
  - mce

Dream Fragment - After Sappho

She writhes
         in a slither
                of dyed silk
rending
         the darkness
                with her sighs.
   - mce

Meaning That Inheres

shabby
    broken deck

aging man
    softly smoking

stained
    blue rocker

laughing song
    of birds

dripping green
    of trees

nothing more
    to know

nothing that can
    be known

  - mce

Further Instructions

Nature contains
the elements;

where nothing
is forbidden,
beauty blossoms.

The world exists
because it
sounds and shines.

The Vortex
remains
and reappears
unbidden.

Part your thighs;
open your mind:

the numinous
exists to find.
  - mce

"Le Paradis N'est Pas Artificiel"

Join me
between
pillow
and sheet,
the bower
where soul
and body
meet.
  - mce

A Discourse On Method

The artist is made
to pick and choose.

No turning back.

He lives in
the world of flesh,
or he doesn't
live at all.
  - mce

Abendlied

Another evening alone:
not quite in this world,
not yet in the other.
  - mce

A Dark And Horrible Confession

I love Hawaiian shirts,
the louder the better.
I wear them every
chance I get.
I'd wear them in winter,
if it weren't too cold.
There, I've admitted it
to the whole world.
Truly, I have no shame.
I know women hate them,
but I can't help myself.
They are so garishly male,
as I am so garishly male.
OK, now you know the worst.
I'll understand,
if you decide to leave.
  - mce

Periplum

   ~ for E.P.

Find the facets,
the sharpness,
the clarity of line:

    on the edges,
    on the faces,
    on the boundaries
    and frontiers

that is where
the poem awaits
the touch
of your tongue.

Not to see this
is not to see;
not to be this
is not to be.
  - mce

Nomina Sunt Consequentia Rerum

If I say out loud
that I love you,
do our names
and beings change
or do our names
and beings define,
in the first place,
the simple phrase,
I love you?

What can we be
without each other?

Breath without lungs,
kisses without lips,
fingers without touch.

To name it is to be it;
to say it is to birth it
in the world of flesh.

Less than that,
only silence;
less than that,
nothing at all.
  - mce

It's A Simple Enough Offer

Take my hand
And walk with me
All the unfinished way.

Death is long;
Life is what we have;
Take my hand and stay

To celebrate
The fragile moments
Of each remaining day.
  - mce

Anticipation

This morning
portends storms;
the air,
thick and damp
as lovers' breath,
hovers just
on the cusp
of release,
just the instant
before the peal
of thunder,
the slash
of lightning,
the hot, wet
moment
of surrender
and rain.
  - mce

Scansion

The
line
shortens,
collapses,
falls
inevitably
inward
upon
itself,
exactly
like
life.
  - mce

Not Impossible

Even Odysseus
made it home
eventually.
  - mce

Hush

Words falter,
but silence
never does.
Reduce
your noise
to nothing.
There
you are.
  - mce

Can't Get This At Starbucks

Into my
morning coffee
I stir sunlight,
birdsong, Mozart
and thoughts
of you.
Sweetest mixture
to begin a day.
Think I'll take
another sip.
How lovely,
a cup full
of smiles.
  - mce

The Poem

A dappled fawn
leaping through
green undergrowth:
glimpsed in an instant,
remembered forever.
  - mce

Ah, Alliteration

Silk's
soft
sound,
slowly
sliding
skin:
sensual,
sexual,
sensuous,
stirring
song.
  - mce

Not Quite Yet

The descending gyre
of vultures whirling
above my deck
reminds me,
it can be dangerous
to sit still for too long.
  - mce

A Journey Of A Thousand Miles

You drop your dress
like a bouquet
and step like a bride,
naked and trembling,
brave and eager,
onto a new path,
into a new world.
 - mce

Against The Current

The vortex of this
endless silence
must be resisted.
Too soon to slip
beneath the water.
  - mce

Complementarity

I am the particle,
you are the wave;
two natures,
one substance:
always and forever
a single light.
  - mce

July 4th, 1776 - July 4th, 2010

So many
           broken
and unkept
           promises.
  - mce

Stunde Null

   ~ "A man of no fortune, and with a name to come."  - E.P. Canto I

My ship becalmed in this dying day;
the sun that warmed now fails;
the constant wind now falls away;
cold, my bones; empty, my sails.
  - mce

Musing

I found a note
from the Muse
this morning.

It read:

I've gone to Aruba
to work on my tan;
you're on your own,
do the best you can.

Capricious bitch.

She knows
I'll wait for her;
I always do.

How very like
a woman;
so certain
of her charms.

But I don't have
to like it.

When she returns,
I'll sulk a bit.

It stings to be so
taken for granted,
even by a goddess.
  - mce

Morning Dream

Deep kisses
in the cool
of morning
breathe life
into the day;
nowhere
to go, Love,
kiss me again,
and stay.
  - mce

Muse

The Missing Piece

The persistent,
menial tasks
are completed.

Papers graded,
supplies bought,
kitchen cleaned.

Time snuggles up.

I have a deck;
I have birdsong;
I have sunlight;
I have bourbon;
I have beer;
I have Vivaldi.

I have time.

What I
don't have
is you.

Why not
complete
the puzzle?

Everything
I do have,
I will gladly
share.

Stop by;
let us spend
some time
together.

Don't worry,
I've got
plenty.
  - mce

Slow Learner

The best lesson
to learn
from the past:
pleasure
is fragile,
but pain,
built to last.
  - mce

Birthday Poem

   - for Bear

Every action
is a sound
released
to resonate
throughout
your life
in ways
you cannot
imagine
or hope
to know.
May all
your notes
culminate
in sweetest
harmonies.
  - mce

Terra Incognita

Prepare the ship,
plot the course,
sail away;
all you can do.
Beyond that,
none can say.
  - mce

Curious Ibid

One morning
he woke up
disconcerted
to discover
that overnight
he had become
a merely
ambulant footnote
to his own life.
  - mce

Fortunate Coincidence

Drink might
have ruined
his life;
fortunately,
his life
was ruined
before
he began
to drink.
  - mce

Dichotomy

Heaven drifts
aimlessly around;
Hell, much more
easily found.
 - mce

Forget Wheelbarrows

So much
depends upon
a 1997 Saturn
firing up
when I turn
the key.
  - mce

Ephemera

I was born on Friday
October 19, 1951.

As of this day,
I am 21,438 days old.

I inhabit an Earth.

The actuarial tables
say I will live to be 70.

Soiled auditory scraps
barely overheard
in a random room
filled with grunts,
resonating nothing;
dry sounds for deaf ears.

Think about it:
nothing in this poem
means anything.

Born, live, die;
all commonplace.

Something is missing:
can you fill in the blank?
  - mce

A Pirate's Dilemma

Life, to be authentic,
demands roots;
rootless adventure
provides none;
you are bound
for Ithaca,
or you are bound
for nowhere.
  - mce

Apotheosis

When the veil
of the temple
is rent, only
the flawed man
of pure heart
dares enter.
  - mce

Blues, How Do You Do

If you have
the blues,
only hum them;
no one really
wants to hear
those words
sung out loud.
  - mce

Listen

Enlightenment
explodes in
an instant;
an ear pressed
against a shell
knows everything
the sea can tell.
  - mce

Too Much Of Silence

He knew
too much
of silence.
The flood
that issued
from his pen
sprang from
a deep well
of hush.
To hear
nothing
for too long
can become
a deadly
weight
to bear.
Solitude
and madness
coexist
uneasily;
a line emerges
one dare
not cross,
and yet... .
The endless
conversation
within
his head
cried out
for flesh.
Where
are the
living ears
for the
human word
that demands
resonance
in the physical
world?
Where is
the body
for the breath?
He knew
too much
of silence.
  - mce

Wonder

Strange,
how much
pleasure
your little
hands
can hold.
  - mce

On The Teleology Of Identity

The only truth
a wave can know
is how to break.
  - mce

The Nowhere Paradox

   ~ "A man goes far to find out what he is." - Theodore Roethke

It takes
a long time
and much pain
to get to nowhere,
but believe me,
it's not worth
the effort.
  - mce

Not So Unusual

I only want
what you want;
to be rescued
from life.
  - mce

Death Dropped By

Death dropped by last night. I didn't expect him, but he was lonely and I was available.

What's up, I asked.

Same old shit, he said. You have no idea how hard this job is. Absolutely no one wants to see me. Ever.

Must be lonely.

Lonely, he said, you can't imagine. Most of them die as soon as they see me. Do you know hard that makes it to have a meaningful relationship? Or even get a date?

Oh, I can imagine.

Well, let me tell you; it's damned frustrating. Sometimes, I'd just like to cuddle, but I'm not into corpses. Yuck.

Death isn't much of a conversationalist. Mostly he just whines. It's all about him. He tends to ramble.

I just quietly let him talk.

Have to be going, he said finally. Must meet the soon to be dead. Rush, rush, rush... and Santa Claus thinks he has it bad. Thanks for listening. See you soon.

No hurry, I replied.

I swear his lipless face smiled as he turned and left.

It took awhile before I realized I had just been spared.

Sometimes, it pays to be a good listener.

 - mce

Traveling Shoes

Sometimes,
my shoes will
suddenly decide
to go for a walk
without me.
See you later,
they say;
so long,
I reply.
I never worry
about them.
They know
the way home.
  - mce

Profound Playfulness

Of course, he would like to utter words so dizzyingly profound that she would be compelled by passion to step out of her dress without even being asked. Sadly, he is a playful sort of fellow, a distinct drawback where profundity and passion are pursued. Guess she'll have to make up her own mind about that dress.
  - mce

Blind Prosperity

Ah, the daily vagaries
of poverty, life as
a churning succession
of uncertainties.
Will my old car die?
Will I break a tooth?
Will my appendix
suddenly rupture?
Will my creditors
never stop calling?
Will I manage to eat
more than once today?
These questions
(and many others),
so common
for so many of us
and so easily ignored
by so many more.
How casually
we choose
what not to see.
  - mce

Deepest Kiss

Let my
tongue
touch the
very why
of you
so that
I can
hear your
soul
make its
sounds
out loud
in the
world.
  - mce

Thanatos

The hard part
is not that
we must all die;
the hard part
is that so many
must die
more than once.
  - mce

Erato Redux

Kiss me hard
on the mouth,
Muse.
Your breath,
my inspiration.
  - mce

Secret Negotiation

I have made
a separate peace
with reality.
I accept it;
It ignores me.
I call that
a useful treaty.
  - mce

Summer Gifts

The light
drips golden
down your breasts
and thighs;
the sun exhales
in your gasps
and sighs.
  - mce

Flight

There is always
another landing zone.
Will you touch down safely
or will you crash and die?
No way to know
until you get there.
Suck it up; we're going in.
  - mce

Free Offering

My hands are
always empty;
nothing to offer
but these words.
Not much of a gift
in a world that craves
material blessings.
I am seeking
the someone
who will accept
that nothing
and return it
with a smile.
  - mce

Relief

First cool morning
after days of heat.
The breeze gently
kisses my skin
like an absent lover
unexpectedly returned.
Such an intimate,
delightful surprise.
  - mce

The Physics Of Lust

Your body
clamps to mine
like a magnet.
Feel the electric
current flow.
No where else
to be but here;
nowhere else
you need to go.
 - mce

The Knight's Desire

He wants
so much
to remove
his armor
and rest
awhile
in arms
safer than
steel.
  - mce

Two Backs, One Being

Lift your dress,
and let me in;
the lure of flesh,
the song of skin,
calls each of us
back again
to seek the One:
not a sin.
  - mce

Anthropomorphically Speaking

A big snapping turtle
seeking living water
struggles slowly across
the rough gravel road
toward a dry creek bed
filled with rocks and sand:
Human, all too human.
  - mce

Playing The Odds

So many
kinds of light,
but only one
darkness.
  - mce

The Eternal Grammar Of Failure

I fall; I fell;
I have fallen;
I am falling;
I will fall again:
this is the root
conjugation
of despair.
  - mce

Sonnet Upon Waking

Waking to birdsong and morning's promise,
the whispering breeze and murmuring light
dispels the fog of the evening's gloom,
the shaking terrors of the dreaming night.
Ghosts visit in the trembling darkness
and remain until they are chased away
by a soft explosion of solar hope,
by the advent of an untouched day.
To wake is to make a fresh pact with life,
to attempt to find a new way to see,
to take up the journey once again,
to struggle for another day to be.
Like the helpless moth to the fire drawn,
I cannot say no to the voice of dawn.
  - mce

Father's Day

Now, it's just
another
empty space
to be filled
with a bottle
of whiskey.
  - mce

Empty Echoes

The words
you'll never hear
are the one's
you already
miss the most.
  - mce

Ultimate Lingerie

Slip into
my soul
naked
and let me
drape you
delicately
in the silk
of my heart.
  - mce

Exile

Not a place,
but a state
of mind
where you
dwell
in the midst
of everything,
alone.
  - mce

Turn Left At Woe And Then Make A Hard Right At Misery...

On the other side of suffering
must be something complete,
sustaining and whole;
but that path is always up,
mad, lonely and dangerous;
the destination may be worthwhile,
if only you can survive the journey
which is never, ever for certain.
Perhaps, one day, with luck,
I will meet you there.
  - mce

The Poems Of Yesterday

A tear rends the blue world,
the green words leak away;
the magick of this place has gone
there's nothing left to say.
Pack it up, grab your things,
be out and on your way;
a poet cannot live upon
the poems of yesterday.
  - mce

Morning Smiles

On the best days,
the world is a lover,
not an opponent.
  - mce

How Very Human

On the inky
black velvet
of the ridge,
thousands
of fireflies
blink out
a primordial
message of
incandescent,
luminous lust;
endless
points of light
signaling:
choose me,
choose me,
oh please,
choose me.
  - mce

The Ninety-Five Percent Excuse

If you spent
ninety-five percent
of your time alone,
you would be
ninety-five percent
crazy too.
  - mce

A Morning After

This old body
needs a
healing touch:
oh where
are the hands
that soothe?
   - mce

Locking The Garage

   - for Anne Sexton

The flag of loneliness
whips in the air
signaling torpid,
static despair.
Where are the smiles
of yesterday?
Decamped and gone,
gone to stay.
Bullets and pills
whisper, follow me;
how much is left
remains to see.
Better to slip
into the night,
embrace the silence,
ease from sight
beneath the wave
that leads (or might)
to the welcoming
and peaceful grave.
  - mce

Reading Lesson

The I in the poem
is the eye
of beauty and terror,
loneliness and regret,
hope and wonder.
It is not simply my eye.
If you cannot
come to understand
this distinction
you will never learn
how to read
with your heart.
  - mce

Tennessee Portrait

It is always fifty feet
to the outhouse
in the pouring rain.
  - mce

No Question, No Answer

There's really nothing to say, he said. Then don't, she laughed, just come to bed.
  - mce

Marital Explosion

For decades
our mutual
disappointment
sat between us
like a case
of lonely
dynamite
just waiting
to meet
a friendly match.
  - mce

Poetry

  - for Theodore Roethke

It is dipsetic work,
a gasping kind
of mental sweating,
that takes its toll,
requires forgetting;
the work of words
will drain you dry,
leave you thirsty,
make you cry;
that withered husk,
the writer's soul,
requires fluids
to make it whole;
the desiccated,
wilted heart
craves a drink
to mend its art;
and this is why,
I've come to think,
in vats of whiskey
poets sink.
  - mce

Silent Articulation

Sometimes, he said, your silence speaks directly to my heart. Well, she smiled, as conversations go, that's a promising start.
  - mce

Critical Couplets

When I read Blake,
I begin to quake;
my mind as frail
as a skink's tail;
for in that grain
of sand I see,
not the beginning,
but the end of me.
  - mce

A Drink With John Berryman

How many poets,
by alcohol and despair,
choose to depart
this living air?

The muse can be
an evil bitch:
she'll suck your brain,
she'll make you twitch.

With her it's not
a casual roll,
she wants your balls,
she'll eat you whole.

You strive to strike
the head of the nail;
one blow comes home,
but dozens fail.

Soon you despair
to ever succeed:
you open your veins,
commence to bleed.

You give to her,
and give and give,
until it's just
too hard to live.

Then in the bottle
you sadly seek
another day,
another week.

It isn't pretty,
it isn't fair,
and so you depart
this living air.
  - mce

The Mike Essig Memorial Library

It contains
many volumes.
Women show up,
check them out,
but never
return them.
I keep hoping
one will
come back
and say,
do you have
anything else
by this author?
She will be
the reader
of my heart.
  - mce

Morning Swim

Waking up every morning
to what might have been
is to awaken into a dream.
Pinch yourself. Rouse the now.
Get your bearings. Blink.
The today that really is
must trump the yesterday
that never happened.
You must swim in that river of today
no matter how cold and lonely.
Take a breath and plunge in,
take a stroke, feel the possibilities,
exalt in the water of where you are,
then pull yourself up on a new shore
and let the sun dry your worries.
It is impossible to swim backwards.
  - mce

Squeaky Nicotine Free Whimper

I contrive
to quit smoking
(poverty the motive,
not health).
It sucks. It hurts.
I don't like it.
The odds do not
look good
for success.
This is not a poem,
it is a whine.
So unless you are
a connoisseur
of fine whines,
there is no reason
to read it at all.
  - mce

The Death Of The Past

Soon enough,
these wars
of memory
must end.
It is one thing
to engage
in battle
with the living,
quite another
to quarrel
with the dead.
  - mce

Matrimonial Fault Line

I demanded
the entire
topography of life
which is why
I no longer
have a wife.
  - mce

Flight Of Fancy

This morning,
I saw a bird
that doesn't exit.
It vibrated one
pregnant instant
in my fluttering head
and vanished;
by far the loveliest
I have never seen.
  - mce

I'll Meet You There

When I think of you,
I imagine a place
where thighs
converge in heaven.
  - mce

Transmutation

I thought of you in bed alone last night, she said. My words, he asked? Those too, she smiled. Well then, he conjured, I can only hope the words became flesh.

A Jolt Of Lava

Tease me to
a surge of utterance:
these words
you slowly entice
to eruption
belong in
your mouth alone,
swallow them
as you like.
  - mce

A Waltz Of Yearning

How we yearn
(in the space
between is
and could
have been)
for the unlikely
second chance:
for a new partner,
for a new gasp,
for a new world,
for another,
better way
to dance.
  - mce

Blind Observation

The man with no eyes
fixed his vacant gaze
hard upon me and said,
You don't look so well
today, my friend.
Suddenly, I replied,
I do feel a bit blank.
 - mce

The Geography Lesson

If I touch you here, will you touch me there, she said? Here, there, everywhere, he replied, and a delightfully dangerous voyage of exploration began.

Oh Well, What's In A Name?

Beyond
the inevitable
ravages
of time
all he can
remember
is the vision
of her slip
drifting
like a soft
white cloud
to the ground
and that
is enough.
  - mce

The Machu Picchu Of Possibility

They made love
like two archaeologists
uncovering the secrets
of what might have been,
but never really was.
  - mce

Falling Away

Words
sometimes
dissolve
into silence
like drizzle
into mist.
  - mce

The Vanity Of Agendas

Three crows
perched above
the newly
planted corn;
how the world
mocks our plans.
  - mce

It's Not A Math Problem

Some questions
just hang in the air
and probably
should not
be answered.
  - mce

Stepping Up To The Checkout Counter

Each shot
of whiskey,
another amber,
liquid bullet.
  - mce

Memorial Day

  - for Paul Brandt and Patrick Dunnigan

Somewhere,
the choppers
still beat
the air.
  - mce

Dangerous Symbiosis

If you make yourself
as tough as a nail,
you become a nail,
and should be very
wary of hammers.
  - mce

Rising

Lover,
I wake
to you
and
I ache
for you.
  - mce

Time Won't Tell

I have bartered my life
for handfuls of pretty words.
Bargain or folly?
Every new day
tells a different lie.
  - mce

Solar Flare

He imagined her smile
and the sun exploded
the morning gloom.
- mce

Why Drink Is Futile

Even the smallest life
won't fit inside a bottle.
  - mce

Ambitious Mirror

An ambitious mirror
can never reflect
even one true thing.
  - mce

Short Changing Eternity

How foolish I was
to think this whiskey
would last forever
  - mce

Road Trip

Always, in the before,
he managed to find
a way, if not the way.
Now, the interstate
is dark and he can't
make out the exit signs.
Driving, driving, driving...
endless black the road.
Oh when is the city
of his heart?
  - mce

The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break

The dark enigma
of the human heart:
we look so simple
on the outside,
but such a twisted
and undetected
labyrinth within.
 - mce

What A Difference A Year Makes

Serenity has fled this place.
The filigree of sunlight
through green leaves
falls across my legs
in no recognizable pattern.
Birdsong is just cacophony.
The breeze that used
to whisper to me
has nothing to say.
The blueberries no longer
want me to pick them.
Magick has divorced the creek.
Everything remains beautiful,
but provides no answers.
And yet, that's OK.
Few questions and
little time remain.
  - mce

Zen Cavalry

Forget it;
help is not
on the way.
  - mce

Negative Epistemology

To accept that there
is nothing to learn:
hardest lesson of all.
  - mce

Thank You, Stephen Daedalus

The past is
the nightmare
from which
I keep trying
to awaken,
but can't
quite.
  - mce

Why Won't The Dead Stay Dead?

The trees are full of ghosts today.
I wish that they would go away,
But all they do is stay and stay.
The trees are full of ghosts today.
  - mce

Dream Lovers

Sometimes dream lovers,
if not the best, are very good.

Someone with whom
you can get
metaphorically naked
and roll around
in a big imaginary bed
without having to worry
about your blemishes
or the inevitable
effects of gravity
or bad hair
in the morning
or what they will
want for breakfast
or having to say
that you love them,
when you don't.

Someone with whom
there are no sad residuals
or lingering consequences.

The living flesh is best of all,
but, still, sometimes
dream lovers are very good.

Would you like to slip
into my bed of dreams?

We can do anything
we can imagine
for as long as you like.

You are welcome there.
  - mce

The Simplest Reason To Keep Breathing

Sometimes,
the morning sun
just sings out:
Yes!
  - mce

Good, Better, Best

Dreaming
is good;
living
is better;
waking up
is best of all.
  - mce

Yes, There Is A Difference...

Lying is
tedious
and
difficult,
which
is why
I prefer
to  invent
the truth.
  - mce

4000 Hits

Thank you all
so much
for reading;
your visits
help me
to continue
breathing.
  - mce

Investment Advice I Should Have Taken

If only I had
saved a dollar
for each
hangover
in my life,
I'd be quite
well off.
  - mce

Imagined Conversation

Aren't I a nice girl, she said? You are, he whispered, and when you stop trying so hard to be so nice, you'll be a nice woman.
  -mce

But Will She Respect Me In The Morning?

Just when
I am about
to give up,
the Muse
glides up
silently
and blows
seductively
in my ear.
God, I am
so easy.
  - mce

The Ultimate Self-Help Book In Seven Sentences

Stop craving things and people.
Assume that what will come will come.
Don't expect to be happy.
Watch where you put your feet.
Hope for good luck.
Try not to fuck up too often.
Be prepared to die at any moment.
  - mce

Karma Promethean

He tried
to remember
nothing;
instead, he
remembered
everything.
Make one
mistake
and time
becomes
an eagle
that gnaws
on your liver
forever.
  - mce

Dream Secrets

He dreamed
of a woman
who could
read his heart,
but he blushed
when one
finally did.
  - mce

Rest Awhile In My Heart

Rest awhile in my heart.
It has been empty
a very long time
so there is lots of space.
Drop your burden
of shoulds and musts.
Accept this repose
beyond the chaos
of the day.
I will watch over you
and keep you safe.
I ask nothing of you,
not your body,
not your love,
not your future.
I know how weary
it is to be
too wanted,
too needed,
too necessary.
Be at your ease,
there is as much time
as you can spare.
Curl up and dream
softly as the little girl
you once were,
innocent dreams
of ponies yet to come.
Be soothed.
Rest awhile in my heart.
  - mce

I Can See Right Through Me

I have been
a ghost
for a very
long time;
it takes
practice,
but you
get used
to it.
  - mce

Never Fall In Love With An Angel

I can heal your heart, she said, only I can't give you mine. She touched me then, and I was filled with joy, but when I reached out for her, she was gone.
  - mce

My Old Buddy

If you can't learn
to make a friend
of your suffering,
you will lead
a very lonely life.
  - mce

Just Another Day

In the late night darkness
William Carlos Williams
delivered a baby;
this morning I heard Pound
rant on the radio;
I had lunch with HD,
(notoriously easy)
but didn't get lucky;
later, Wallace Stevens
penned beauty on the back
of a voided insurance policy;
as the day ended, Eliot
closed up the bank office
put on his bowler and left.
In the world of poetry
these are not people who were,
they remain people who are.
   - mce

Offerings

Planting beans and squash:
each seed pressed into earth
a simple act of faith;
not much to offer up,
but the most my frail spirit
can manage these days.
When they ripen, (if they ripen),
even should it sojourn elsewhere,
some part of my heart will too.
  - mce

Morning Kiss

Even when
there's no one
to kiss good morning
but the sun,
it's still a new day
worth another try.
  - mce

What We Leave Behind

A poem is
a hand traced
on a cave wall
that finally says,
"I was here,"
that's all.
  - mce

Lost Days

If you ever
think that
it is sometimes
hard to live
with the past,
consider
how lonely
it would be
to live
without one.
  - mce

Void

Suppose
the word
home
was erased
from your
lexicon,
what exactly
would be left
to say?
  - mce

The Morning Rain

"What harm have I done to all the gods?" - Fernando Pessoa

The morning rain
wants to tell me something;
the morning rain
says I have been a fool;
the morning rain
says I will always be a fool;
the morning rain
is no friend of mine.
  - mce

Possible Palliative

If only
I could feel
the whisper
of your breath
on the back
of my neck,
this emptiness
might abate.
  - mce

A Matter Of Volume

He tried to fill
the caverns
of memory
with whiskey,
but they
were too large
and he
was too small.
  - mce

Better Than Reality

I dreamed
that your lips
were tracing
the curve
of my spine
and woke up
smiling.
  - mce

Merger Without Acquisition

When
neither
of us
can tell
where
we end
and the
other
begins
then
we are
both
exactly
there.
  - mce

Poet For Hire

Let me write
the secret story
you can't tell
and publish it
in my heart.
 - mce

A Pirate Comments On Poverty

Life's a bitch, Matey:
tonight, I had
to eat my parrot.
  - mce

What All Poets Know

When the Muse
throws off her clothes,
bares her teeth,
and gestures you
towards her bed
only a damned fool
says no.
  - mce

Five Erotic Fragments

   - after Sappho

I

The sound of silk
sliding softly
off your skin:
simply sublime
alliteration.

II

Rest your legs
on my shoulders,
Love;
let us begin
a deep
conversation.

III

The pressure
of your hands
on the small
of my back
urges me
to speak faster.

IV

Let me
kiss you
until we
dissolve
and blend.

V

Where do you go
in that moment
when you disappear?
  - mce

Robinson Crusoe Considers His Audience

Last night a stranger
in El Reno, Oklahoma
hit this blog twenty-two times.
I don't know a soul in that state.
The endless mystery of it.
I sit in Tennessee
stuffing messages into bottles
and throw them willy-nilly
into a virtual ocean
never knowing whose hands
will find and pick them up
or what they will make of them
when they do.
Who are these strangers
who bother to read
these simple laundry lists
of my heart?
I rarely know.
Sometimes, you must
simply trust in the tides
and let your words
float away.
  - mce

The Solution To This Endless Tennessee Rain

Soon,
I will simply
grow gills
and swim
away.
  - mce

How Right You Were Wallace Stevens

The poem of the heart
must be the poem of the body.
The imagination of the flesh
contains the pure source
of all poetry.
You must touch yourself
in silence and gasp
your words into the world.
  - mce

The Pleasure Of Your Company

Waking up alone
here,
I imagine you
waking up alone
there.
It's so much warmer
to wake up alone
together.
Though we
are distant,
yet we
are near.
Snuggle up, Love,
wherever
you are.
  - mce

The Girl Next Door

Every man has one. You notice her when you are sixteen and she still inhabits your heart at sixty. She is the angel always just out of reach. Her scent is of Ivory Soap and lilacs and spring and youth. You never quite forget her. She becomes the template of desire. You tremble for her flesh, but wouldn't know how to touch it.You spend your life wishing she would invite you up to her room to play, knowing that she never will. You want to embrace the texture of her being. You want to brush your tongue along the thighs of her most secret longings. You want to hear her moans echo in your own throat. You measure all the women you stumble into against her. Some fit; most don't. You believe she holds the answers to all your unasked questions, the dark ones your soul is afraid to speak out loud even to itself. Sometimes you wish she would release you, but that can never be. She is the Queen of your dreams. You are her subject. You will always kneel before her. You will always believe that her touch could heal your deepest wounds. You will be her Fool forever and be glad of it. On your deathbed you will catch her scent one last time, smile and carry her with you into infinity. Every man has one.
  - mce

A Heart Full Of Water

Fill me with you
until I overflow,
until I leap
my banks,
until I flood
like a river,
like a torrent
back into you
and satisfied,
you are filled,
too.
  - mce

Talent

Oh, he was
a clever fellow.
How clever?
Clever enough
to bite himself
in the ass
repeatedly.
That takes
real talent
and diligent
practice.
Try it yourself.
Not as easy
as it looks,
is it?
  - mce

Drinking With Marcel

Someday
I will write
a history of
hangovers.
It will go on
for volumes.
It will be
Proustian
in detail
and duration.
Readers
will despair
of living
long enough
to reach
the end.
It will
drive them
to drink.
Finally,
they will
have to
construct
their own
chronicles.
Better
stock up
on aspirin
before
you begin
to read.
  - mce

The Physics Of Hope

Infinity extends
in every direction;
there is no once;
in an endless
universe
there can be no
unique occurrences:
one day love
must come again.
  - mce

Death Is A Sheriff

Death is a sheriff
who knocks
unexpectedly
on your door
with a warrant
to arrest you
for a crime
you never knew
you had committed.
  - mce

In Which, Preparatory To Leaving TN, I Take A Complete Inventory Of My Permanent Possessions...

Only my imperishable stupidity
and two eyes that see
deep, clearly and through;
not so much to pack
after fifty-eight years.
  - mce

Motto

Nothing
is what
it appears
to be.
  -mce

Don't Deny It

Culture paints only
the thinnest veneer
from beneath which
we still want to howl.
  - mce

Marriage

What puzzling
creatures
we become
after love flees.
  - mce

Even Witches Get The Blues

"Maybe I've had
my happiness."
The most
terrifyingly sad
thought of all.
  -mce

Contrition

Confessing
your sins
to another
person
makes him
anxious
and God
jealous.
Some things
must not
be said
out loud.
  - mce

Not Unlike Gregor Samsa

Errands to run
decisions to make;
clothes to wash:
the endless
trivial particulars
that weigh life down.
Where is my
personal assistant,
my life coach,
my hot French maid?
Damn, once again
I've woken up
in the wrong life.
  - mce

Just Flip The Damned Switch

Looking at my stuff,
trying to figure out
what to do with it
as I depart this place
engenders vertiginous
uncertainty, like when you
lift your foot on a dark
stairway and step out
into nothing you can see.
Six years of stepping off
into the darkness;
won't somebody, please,
turn on the lights;
I can't make out
the next step.
  - mce

Why It Is So Difficult For A Man To Be A Romantic In America

    "Helen, the radiance of women..." - Homer

Had Helen of Troy been a modern American woman,
she would have checked her email, called her boss,
updated her Facebook page, looked at her calendar,
gone to the gym and talked with her therapist
before running away with Paris.
She would also have consulted her girlfriends
to determine if he was really that into her
and examined a bevy of relationship
self-help books just to make sure.
Certainly, she would have googled him,
had a friend perform a credit check,
and demanded an STD clearance from his doctor.
When the ships and soldiers arrived
to redeem her honor and rescue her,
she would have told them in a huff
that she was an independent woman
quite capable of taking care of herself
and didn't need the help of any men,
before stepping over the dead male bodies
and accepting a free ride home.
Later she would write a wildly popular
estrogen drenched memoir about her trials
filled with spiritual advice, travel notes and recipes.
Paris, of course, would be conveniently dead.
Some stories do not improve when updated.
  - mce

Unlikeliest Woman

I remember you for a moment
standing on my shabby steps,
your stabbing green eyes,
your long hair blowing,
the tilt of your perfect hips,
the uplift of your breasts
and your crooked, distant smile;
in that moment you return to me,
but only for an instant
until you fade back
into the eternity
of everything that no longer is
and never could have been.
  - mce

Trekking The Regions Of The Heart

I used to try
to shape
the journey;
now I know
the journey
shapes me.
No footsteps
will be
left behind.
The jungle
always wins
in the end.
  - mce

Now I Understand

A Zen Drill Sergeant
once told me,
you always got to have
a fall back position, boy.
I asked what happens
if you don't.
He said, you don't
want to know that,
shit for brains.
  - mce

Salome Redux

Drop your veils,
lover, allow me
to see the body
beneath the flesh.
  - mce

Body Count

Liver shot,
heart fluttering,
lungs questionable,
brain fried:
tag me and bag me, Doc,
I'm headed home.
  - mce

Developing Good listening Skills

Just beyond
the sound
comes
the silence
that unfolds
the meaning.
  - mce

Too Close To Home

I have always
disliked the phrase,
"damaged goods,"
probably because
it so perfectly
describes me.
  - mce

The Uncertain Spring Creek Valley Wind

It used to whisper:
stay, stay, stay;
now it murmurs:
go, go, go...
but it never says
where to or how.
  - mce

A Brief Course On Writing Erotic Poetry

 "The greatest poverty is not to live
In a physical world..." - Wallace Stevens

Craft it oblique,
nearly opaque.
English lacks an
erotic vocabulary
and the merely
clinical or brutal
fail to convey
the delicate
butterfly kisses
two human hearts
caught up in
the dance of desire
hope to bestow
upon each the other's
fragile essence
as they briefly
touch, embrace
and release
in a physical world
that is so much more
than flesh and facts.
  - mce

Sung Coversation

Let your
thighs open
softly
and sing
to me, lover;
my mouth
will listen,
open,
and whisper
back its
own song.
  - mce

There Must Be Some Kind Of Way Out Of Here...

The minefield
of Karma;
cruelest judge
of all.
Be careful
where you put
each thought,
every action.
One wrong move
and you are
sentenced
to do it all
over again.
  - mce

The Inherent Irony Of Getting What You Want

You finally
did turn out
to be
the woman
of my dreams:
fleeting, elusive,
increasingly
difficult
to remember.
  - mce

Another Dawn Patrol

Nine dead soldiers
in loose formation
on the coffee table.
A long night
of empty bottles
and broken dreams.
Sometimes
the soul sings,
sometimes
it suffers.
Where has dawn's
promise fled?
Even the light breaks
empty and cold.
Pick up your weapons
and fall in for more.
  - mce

The Well Of Silence At 4 AM

Four in the morning
and sleep has gone.
Four in the morning
and nothing to say.
Four in the morning
and too many ghosts.
Four in the morning,
just another day.
   - mce

Roadkill

I saw
an old man
kneeling
on the side
of the road
the other day.

I stopped
to ask
if I could
help in
any way.

I could
see him
flap his arms,
hear him
mutter
and pray.

"There is
no help,"
he shouted.
"Be on
your way!"

I left then
because
I was afraid
that should
I stay,

I might begin
to kneel,
to flap
my arms,
to mutter
and to pray.
  - mce

A Little Friendly Advice

What is missing
often contains
the subtlest
portion
of the poem;
learn to look
for it.
  - mce

Why It Is Dangerous To Love A Poet

You must give him your life.
He won't settle for less.
He will turn it into poetry
and become you
for a little while.
He will wear your skin
next to his own
and feel your darkest pains,
your most exquisite pleasures.
He will finally understand
your definition of love
and why you will leave him.
He will steal the secret
of your deepest longing
and know how to satisfy you.
Perhaps he will make
a few subtle alterations.
Then he will return it
as something different
from who you were
and hope that it
still makes a good fit,
but it never really will
again.
  - mce

A Trade Secret Disclosed For The Benefit Of My Female Readership

Mostly,
the poems
are much more
interesting
than the poet.
  - mce

A Serious Question For Unemployed Philosophers

OK,
smart guys...
is there
too much
whiskey
or just
not enough
world?
  - mce

The Point Of It

Tremble me,
lover, and I
will flutter you.
Your tiny gasps
awaken me.
Your secret sighs
lift up my soul.
I will melt
within you.
At just that
moment,
we become
two dancers,
but one dance,
two hearts,
but one beat,
two streams,
but one river.
Come, lover,
let us merge
and flow
together
into ecstasy.
Best destination
of all.
  - mce

Loneliness Epidemic

Someone recently
said to me,
"there is an epidemic
of loneliness."

There it is!

Now I know why
my heart flutters
when dusk approaches
and my soul
shivers at dawn.

I forgot to get
vaccinated.
  - mce

Mock Memory Soup

The memory
of your beauty
mocks these
groping words.
  - mce

Not Rocket Science

If you wanted me,
I would come to you.

There you go.

That is the shortest
love song that I
know how to sing
and I just sang it,
for your heart alone.
  -mce

Too Much Rain

The two foot long snake
dead on the branch
twisting in the current
doesn't appear to be
enjoying this weather
and neither am I.
  - mce

"Sing, Muse..."

Invoke her as you will:
sometimes the Muse
is generous and loving;
sometimes, just another
mean-spirited bitch.
As is so often
the case with females,
you never know which
version will show up.
  - mce

How Come?

Everyone
seems to want
to be young again,
but me;
I want to be old
with a vengeance.
  - mce

Massively Dysfunctional Morning

It is a morning in 2010.
Last night I dreamed
my cabin was crawling
with insects and when
I woke up the invasion
had already begun.
It is a morning in 2010.
A shrink once called me
Massively Dysfunctional.
I didn't know what
she meant and still don't
but aren't the sounds
and syllables of it lovely?
It is a morning in 2010.
I am receiving your signals,
but can't quite make them out.
It is a morning in 2010.
I am just trying
to breathe out and in.
It is a morning in 2010.
I don't want to know
the stories of your
vital organs or the depth
of your suffering.
We all suffer and healthy
livers are ever rare.
It is a morning in 2010.
Many are called,
but few are chosen
and most of them fail.
It is a morning in 2010.
The memory of her mouth
on my flesh sustains me.
It is a morning in 2010.
Two days of pouring rain
and irritable wind
have made this forest
a roiling angry ocean
where trees crash
around me like breakers.
It is a morning in 2010.
The thought of her naked
beneath that sun dress
is making me even crazier.
It is a morning in 2010.
I am baffled and dismayed
that my children disappeared.
It is a morning in 2010.
I am drinking myself
into productive oblivion.
It is a morning in 2010.
I wonder why it is always easier
to write with a hangover.
I wonder if I will see
a hummingbird today.
I wonder if she will love me
when my words are gone.
I wonder if my ship sank
before it could come in.
I wonder at the deep
wetness of her kisses.
I wonder why I wasn't born
beautiful and rich
and famous and brave.
I wonder if today is the day.
But mostly I wonder
how it ever came to be
this morning in 2010.
  - mce

Train Station In The Rain

Damn, it's so quiet:
my heart feels like
an abandoned
railway station
rusting in the rain
that no one visits
anymore because
it's so much
easier to fly.
  - mce

Freedom

It's just a
shinier name
for loneliness.
  - mce

Guilty As Charged

Three words
that summed up
an entire life.
  - mce

Add To Wish List

A watch
that tells
exactly
how much
time
remains.
  - mce

An Honorable Death

He would
have been
quite
satisfied
to sink
between
her thighs
and drown
within
her sighs.
  - mce

Sorry, Woody Allen

It is not
always about
Love and Death;
sometimes,
it is about
Love and Betrayal.
  - mce

Containment Vessel

Her iron-bound heart
was a cauldron
simmering full
of lust and desire
that she never quite
allowed to boil over.
  - mce

Calling In Well

If you submitted
to a moment of sanity,
tore off your clothes,
removed your mask
and stood boldly,
for just an instant -
glorious, trembling
and naked -
before another
human heart,
who would you be?
  - mce

Behind The Mirror

Ever the lady,
she neatly weaves
the tattered threads
of her torn life
into a pattern
of false smiles
displayed
convincingly
so that no one
will notice
she is just barely
holding it together
  - mce

A Brief Existentialist Discourse On A Nonexistent Volume Of Unpublished Poems

   - for Richard Brautigan

I would like
to self-publish
a book
of poems
for my friends.

You know
who you are.

If you aren't
my friend,
you won't get
a book.

That is the
simplest explanation
of existentialism
that I know.
  - mce

The Eternal Question At Five AM

What exactly
does a good
night's sleep
feel like?
  - mce

War Or Love

Not much
difference,
really;
at some
point,
you can
be sure
that blood
will run.
  - mce

Countdown

Writhe for me,
my love,
like an eel
in ecstasy.
Do not
hesitate.
After all,
how many
such moments,
do you suppose,
remain?
  - mce

Birdie Wisdom

The Red-breasted Nuthatch
sits on my deck railing
looking at me as if
he knows I don't belong here.

He's right. Smart bird,
he recognizes a refugee
when he sees one.
  - mce

Between Heartbeats

Light streaming
through a
billion leaves;
wind sighing
through a
million trees:
that rare
and exquisite
moment
when you
don't want
to be anyone
or anywhere
else.
  - mce

Vain Ambition

To craft
just one poem
as lovely
as the horizon
of her breasts.
  - mce

Naked Drama

Each time
he removed
her clothes,
she imagined
herself
a different
woman,
only
more so.
  -  mce

Cardiac Catastrophe

His heart was like a person
crushed in many car wrecks,
broken in many places,
then wired back together,
trying hard to heal,
whole, but still crippled.
  - mce

Ocular Regeneration

He couldn't see
a better day coming
until she lent him
her lovely, green eyes.
  - mce

The Curse Of Aging

You get old;
you get honest.
How I miss
my lost ability
to rationalize
everything.
  - mce

Damn That Monkey!

The chattering mind
explodes into silence
if you just shut up
and stop listening.
  - mce

The Daughters Of Eve

each one,
a mystery

(yielding
inviting
opening)

each one,
a portal

(warm
wet
dark)

each one,
a disaster

(sultry
siren
song)

oh when
will I learn
to just
say no...
  - mce

Why You Never See A Married Pirate In The Movies

Pirates
are fun
to bed,
but woe
to wed.
  - mce

Poems

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me." Psalm 22:14

From his life
of sorrow,
they pour out.
From the well
of his heart,
they rise.
From the spring
of his soul,
they flow.
They are tears
that seep
from his eyes.

Like water,
he pours out
with them.
From his
sunken heart,
they go.
Like streams
they disappear.
Where they run,
he does not know.
  - mce

Transience

This slow rain
washes away
the vain colors
of the day.

Spring, which exists
only in the eye,
vanishes beneath
this dripping sky.

Tomorrow spring
may reappear,
but, oh, today
looms deadly drear.
  - mce

Final Conflagration

Be my
funeral pyre,
baby;
together
we shall
inflame
the world,
one last time.
  - mce

The Mad Poet Of The Glade

The mad poet of the glade
sits at leisure in the shade.

He spends the measure of his day
recalling women gone away.

Women dressed in barbed wire
who set his anxious heart on fire.

Women in satin, women in jeans,
women far beyond his means.

Women who sang, women who swore,
each the virgin, each the whore.

Women of flesh, women of soul,
who touched his life, who made him whole.

Women of mind, women of heart,
all a mystery at the start.

Women who loved the words he said
and fell like blossoms on his bed.

Women whose dresses slid to the floor,
he lifted them up, he made them soar.

Women who sighed, trembled and came,
each one different, each the same.

Women lovely as springtime flowers
with silken skin and magick powers.

Women who lusted, women who dreamed,
women who loved him, women who schemed.

Women who broke his willing heart,
caressed his flesh, inhaled his art.

Women who finally came to fear
the cost of keeping him too near.

Women who all loved to play,
but could not bring themselves to stay.

Now he dreams those bygone times
and turns them into lines of rhymes.

Oh, the mad poet of the glade
he sits at leisure in the shade.
  - mce

Abjuring Teleology

In the glory
of this morning,
on my deck,
the sun stirs
my old bones.

The birds quote
a departed lover
who used to say,
"show up
for life, Mike,
just show up
for life."

I take heed.

To live
while we live:
all that is given,
little enough,
but something,
something
indeed.
  - mce

A Tract Against Despair

   - for C. B.

Death lurks in
every shadow;
in the end
the light
must fail;
this battle
cannot be won.

But between
that and now,
remain moments
glowing like pearls,
radiant, numinous
and satisfying.

Hold them
in your hands,
let them touch
your body
and your heart,
embrace them
like the child
who must leave,
like the lover
who will depart.

We cannot
defeat death,
but we can
stand for life,
if only
a little while,
in the shining
human moments
that remain.
  - mce

Writer/Reader

Writing,
I weep
these words
into the world.
Reading,
you kiss
those tears
from my cheeks.
  - mce

Bourbon Sūtra

On the fourth
painful morning
after the fourth
drunken night,
he merged
with Reality
and achieved
Enlightenment:
he no longer
had a hangover;
he was a hangover.
  - mce

Departure

Some die of boredom,
others of money or lust;
the really tragic
get strangled off the earth
still trying to gasp out
their unwelcome truths.
  - mce

The Roads Of Jackson County

Each gravel truck
that blows by my cabin
raises a cloud of dust
that settles on the deck
where I read
making me look like
a smudged knickknack
on a shelf
in dire need
of a housewife's feathers.

Pointless to complain.

The road needs it
and, besides,
it's an election year
and better roads
mean more votes.

Oh, Shine On
Imperishable Republic!

Not just another dusting:
this is the Dust-Storm
of Democracy in Action.
  - mce

Alterity

Awoke this morning,
saw his old body
still upon the bed,
entered into it,
sat, swung his legs
over the edge
and stood up.

An aging man
looked back
from a mirror.

What happened?
Where is the boy
he expected to see?

The naked glass
reflects
the stark truth
of what remains.

Beware...

The deck of time
is cruelly stacked
against who
you like to think
you are.
  - mce

Mission Statement

Many folks
wouldn't read
a poem
unless you put
a gun
to their heads.

I am that gun;
these words
are my bullets;
exactly
those people,
my target
of choice.
  - mce

Heraclitus In Tennessee

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus

Hidden springs
engender
tiny branches
that trickle into
Spring Creek
that feeds into
the Roaring River
that meets
the Cumberland
that finds
the Mississippi
that meanders
to the Gulf
that opens
into a world
of oceans.

Nothing still, ever;
no return, never.

Life, a string
of moments,
engendering,
that trickle, feed,
meet, find,
meander and open
into the final ocean.

Everything,
a flowing,
always...
yes.
  - mce

Inhalation Therapy

Breathe into me,
love, and I
will inhale you.
Let us be
a single gasp
floating gently
in eternity.
 - mce

Remembering A Simpler Time

In war
life is simple
as death:
live or die,
the only question.
  - mce

Who, What, When, Where, Why

If only I knew
the who of affection,
the what of desire,
the when of devotion,
the where of love,
I might understand,
after all this time,
why I still miss you.
so much.
  - mce

Morning Minuet

The vivid new air
of morning
speaks a language
of possibilities,
seeks the steps
appropriate for
the unknown day.

Birdsong; leaf-light:
creation fresh,
scrubbed and combed.

It whispers
an invitation
in a lover's voice,
low and full:

"dance with me,
dance with me
dance with me;

oh take me
in your human arms
and lead me
into tomorrow."

Each new day,
we partner
with eternity

and onward,
into the unknown,

we dance.
  - mce

Denouement

One evening,
very soon,
the shadows
at dusk
will lengthen,
embrace,
and merge
into total,
final darkness:

no dawn
will break.
  - mce

Late Breaking Chaucerian Update

I am
the childless
father
of two
fine sons.
How is
this possible?
Oh, speak
of the woe
that is
in marriage.
  - mce

Domestic Violence

The hand
of the past
throttles
the throat
of the present:
each day
a new victim.
  - mce

Omen

I found
a bloody
turkey foot
in the dust
along the
creek road
today.

Portent;
portend;
portentous...

The signs
bode ill.
  -mce