Lycanthrope

your sense of scents
is too intense

you sent me away
for I will always smell of dog

.

.

Au and C, meet H₂O

the willow weeps but not for me
unless they’re tears of joy
I rest in its shade
beside the pond and toss
a trinket toward the deepest water
Au and C, meet H₂O
tiny ripples race each other
to opposite banks
a chorus of frogs announce
the winner is me
when the water is still again
I leave with empty hands
but a full heart

Elpis Has Left the Building

Abandon hope,
dash the spirit,
leave faith defeated
in the dust.
Foolish soul
that dared believe,
wither now
like faded flowers.
Whither now?
This road is ended.

.

.

.
Note: In Greek mythology, Elpis was the personification of hope.

Road Rash

too many miles between us
so we blame the road
at least I think we agreed
it was the asphalt

NPM Wrap-up

National Poetry Month is nearly at an end. I’ll still be writing [and posting] of course, but here is a list of links to the poems I posted this month. Comments are closed on the older ones, but feel free to leave a note here if you like.

Hand in Hand

Arthritis has bent our hands
from the supple petals
they used to be
into gnarled root-like clubs.
Our fingers
no longer intertwine.
It doesn’t feel the same.
Of course,
it doesn’t feel the same.
We are not the same.
We are older,
and weaker and stronger.
And still we hold
on to each other.
We can not
we will not
ever let go.

Wild Blue

Love arrived
from out of the blue
danced a while
and sang

Love departed
leaving
only the blue

Smiles

I smile when

*she is my first thought of the day
*birds turn worms into music
*the sun sneaks above the horizon
*I see dew on flowers
*I feel her hand in mine
[even when she's not really here]
*a kid says something wise
[or funny... or funny AND wise]
*I read something we really must share
*I beat Word Warp on my iPod
*I feel the sun [or the wind or the rain] on my face
*my puppies are SO glad to see me
*my fluffy puppy pokes me with her nose
*I fall asleep watching Castle again
*I hear one of those songs
*I dance [when no one's watching]
*I sing [when no one's listening]
*I walk barefoot
*I smell lilac
*I taste honeysuckle
*her voice is the last thing I hear at night

Driven

It’s National Poetry Month and here is a new poem that I turned into this little multimedia project.

Rattler

It rattles.
When I shake my head
something in there rattles.
I don’t know what it is.
Odd.
You’d think
that with its proximity
to my brain
I must know.
[What if it is my brain?]

Sometimes my pen
turns rattles in my head
into smudges on a page.