Einsamkeit

The mortal heart
was never meant
to beat alone.
  - mce

Suffering

It becomes a tool
in the practiced hand
of an expert.
  - mce

Owl/Moon

At three AM, on the deck
gathering stove wood,
the air is as cold
as an ex-wife's heart,
the looming full moon
drips luminescence
through stark black branches
onto perfect new snow,
and the only sound
is one lonely owl
asking his eternal question.
  - mce

Apparently, Charity Does Not Begin At Home

In eastern-Kentucky
children huddle
in tar paper shacks
and never see a dentist.
In Baltimore,
among the ruins,
girls sell themselves
for crack while their
HIV infected kids watch.
In South Dakota,
on the Pine Ridge,
fetal alcohol syndrome
and despair are rampant.
Meanwhile, all the dollars,
doctors and do-gooders
head for Haiti.
 - mce

Curse You, Jack Frost!

Five inches
of icy, granular snow;
middle-Tennessee
is closed
for the duration.
  - mce

Gender Divergence

Men are simple:
hungry and horny.
Women:
God only knows.
What do they want?
That eternal
and unanswerable
question.
  - mce

The Secret Of Life

The trick
(and it can be
a bitch)
is to wake up
every day
brand new.
  - mce

Avian Necessity

Eastern Towhees,
Tufted Titmouses,
Pileated Woodpeckers,
Northern Mockingbirds
Painted Buntings,
Tennessee Warblers:
this much senseless beauty
absolutely requires a God.
  - mce

Communitas

Leith's Thursday night soirée:
valley faces all around.
Old hippies, new hippies,
never were hippies at all;
lots of refugees from
many times and places.
Laughing, drinking, talking,
maybe a little bud,
making music on a cold night,
enjoying each other.
Individuality is sweet,
but community trumps it
every single time.
  - mce

Snow On The Blueberry Patch

Like Tabasco Sauce on ice-cream;
somehow, it just doesn't seem right.
   - mce

What's That I Hear?

In the still evenings
I watch movies,
read, write, think,
and listen to music
waiting for true love
to knock on my door.
She never does.
But I am patiently
waiting yet
and never totally
without hope.
  - mce

Another Of Life's Mysteries

Exactly how does
a Mozart aria
transform a shack
into a cathedral?
  - mce

Humility

Taking a short walk last night
in the cold, along Spring Creek,
caught up in my mortal woes,
I looked up and remembered
millions of stars glisten above,
twinkling out their beauty,
oblivious that I am even breathing.
  - mce

My New Couch

Like me, it was discarded
by its family and consigned
to the trash heap, alone.
Like me, it is a little
worn, torn and beaten,
but may still have
a few good years left.
Like me, it was rescued
from oblivion by friends.
Like me, it is out of fashion
and left behind by time.
Like me, it is a rescued relic.
Kiss my ass, Ikea:
it's perfect. I love it! It's me.
  - mce

Winter Storm Warning

Laying in survival supplies
for the impending snowstorm
(six inches forecast,
an apocalypse
in middle-Tennessee).

A quart of bourbon,
four cans of Hormel chili,
six packs of cigarettes,
Triscuits and cheese,
a twelve pack of Yuengling,
a novel to read,
a mountain of wood,
pirated movies to watch
and plenty of poetry.

Gather, oh ye winds of doom!
I've got you covered,
before you cover me.
  - mce

Unimaginable

I own a huge,
blue emu egg
given me
by two lovely
young women
who used to make
omelets for lions.
  - mce

Pantheon

The writers
I have admired
my whole life
are getting old
and dying.
At least
we have that
in common.
  - mce

The Inevitable Upside

Gut-churning nightmares
are cheaper than Netflix.
  - mce

Dawn Patrol

Eleven wild turkeys
threading their way
across the frozen meadow.
  - mce

Romance

Just another phone call
I no longer answer.
  - mce

Hard Winter

Even the tufted titmouse
comes to the bird feeder.
  - mce

Gratitude

Fever, fatigue and nausea:
the wages of hepatitis,
too much whiskey
and too little will to live.
Yet friends brought me
piles of dry wood
to build a good fire
and get really warm.
What undeserved luxury.
  - mce

In Memory Yet Green

Her bare breasts
and big smile.
A beach on Mykonos,
forty years ago.
Gone but not gone.
I remember it all
better than yesterday.
Time destroys,
but memory preserves.
Nothing beautiful
ever dies.
  - mce

Returning To Pain

My tongue keeps
compulsively probing
my sore tooth;
so hard not to revisit
the source of our pain.
  - mce

A Divine Question

When I was little
there were so many gods;
where did they all go?
  - mce

Another Justification For Summer

The glory of her bare legs
flirting beneath a sun dress
swaying in a warm breeze.
  - mce

Spare Change

Life turns on a dime,
usually at just the moment
when I have no change.
  - mce

American History

Visiting Wounded Knee
at dusk on a day of showers,
voices of pain screamed
in the gathering gloom.
  - mce

Who Are We?

The grand sweep
of the mind
swelling to fill
space and time:
we are only what
we can imagine.
  - mce

Canoe Trip

Paddling slowly
in the river of things,
intently going nowhere.
  - mce

Zen Rebuttal

OK, the road is walking too,
but where is it going?
  - mce

Reflection

Looking in the mirror,
I see the other,
that others see,
the man they know
who is not me.
  - mce

The Protestant Ethic

It's always darkest
before it gets darker.
  - mce

Delusion

Without love,
life is merely activity:
so many busy people.
  - mce

Oops!

The hardest life to bear
is the one you didn't live,
but should have.
  - mce

Trifecta

Love, pain and beauty
always seem to show up together:
such a bundle for the heart to tote.
  - mce

Tune

Poetry: mostly,
just whistling
in the dark.
  - mce

Purpose

Just a collection of random aphorisms. A place to store short observations frozen in words until my brain thaws and longer, more serious work becomes possible again. Feel free to comment. It doesn't hurt and no information about you is disclosed. Enjoy while you can. This probably won't last long.
  mce