Take Off

 I love take offs. 
come to think of it, I love beginnings. 
the beginning of baba o’riley, 
the beginning of school, 
the beginning of paradise city, 
and the beginning of plane rides...
 There is just so much promise at the start
of something, so much unknown, so much is still 
a mystery...

-excerpt from a 2005 travel journal

Montecito

These rocks look like they’re weeping. 

The shell has some flare,

this glass I rub between my fingers - 

the ocean, and now my hands, in its wear. 

The iridescence of abalone, my God! 

I’ll always stop to stare. 

Even retracted anemones 

look more like the trunks of elephants

than creatures of the sea. 

At times, I’m blinded by the sun 

when I look down at the low tide sand, 

and wonder at the transience of my footsteps, at the path to where I stand. 

There’s a decomposing history 

as I compose these words.

There’s a song in the solitary windswept tree 

up on the promontory -

a music in its roar.

Even after all these years

even after all these years
my heart, it skips,
when I spy your face in this crowded place

through all that sadness
my heart could still
swell in my chest with all the memories I liked best

your body, your voice
felt like pieces
of a puzzled past that still make my heart beat fast

I can't help but think that you're the one
who got away
I can't help but think of all the things I shouldn't say

I can't help but hope that I catch your eye
when you look back at your life
and when you tangle your fingers in her red hair
it's sometimes me you picture there. 

What he told me tonight

He told me tonight that he thought
I hadn’t meant what I said
That love was supposed to be enough
That over the last six years he listened 
But he didn’t hear
Because love was supposed to be enough. 
I told him I didn’t think that was love . 

Who walks in Crocs?

Who walks in Crocs?
 Sue walks in Crocs.
Sue walks in Crocs?
 Sue walks in socks in Crocs on rocks!
Please say no sir, it can't be so sir, Sue cannot sway all day in Crocs and socks sir!
 Yes. To my dismay, Sue sways in socks in Crocs on rocks for fun sir!
What does this say about her, Sue, sir? That she sways all day in socks in Crocs on rocks, sir?
 I'd say it means she gives no fucks sir, about the looks from driver-side trucks sir.  It'd seem Sue is no sitting duck sir, for judgements laid by little shmucks sir and as you are a little cuck sir, judging by your wall-mounted buck sir, I'd say it's time to just fuck off, sir. 

handled.

 i miss your hands
on pickle jars, 
on pesky seams.
 i miss your hands
and what they meant to me
 i miss your hands
though in my heart
 i know, i no
longer want your hands
on me.

The heart breaks

The heart breaks in waves, unending.  
It swells, it falls, it crashes and crushes
and pulls and rises again.