Oranges

She found me in the kitchen

squeezing the life

out of some oranges

and wondered aloud

that perennial why

when there was juice in the fridge

I thought for awhile

my back still turned

my hands still busy

with the business

of such sweet reduction

and had a thought

It isn't the taste

or the texture

or the satisfaction of the work

it's the fact that you're here

and the perennial why

has an answer

So whatever I'm doing

I'm doing because of you

because you're here

and here is better than there

there where you used to be

you who I love or whatever

She found me in the kitchen

and squeezed life

through my midriff

squeezed love

from where her why

had opened me up

Satellite

I've been told that I should be lonely

never quite so directly

but never cleverly enough

to disguise the basic sentiment

the basic resentment

that there's a chance I could happy

without so much human gravity

keeping me tethered to the ground

I want to explain that I'm a satellite

and every night you can tune in

to whatever signal I'm broadcasting

but you have to make the effort

because I'm up here in space

and can't commute to work

so unlike most of humanity

I revolve around the world

Being lonely isn't a problem

when I can wind up in any home

knowing it's where I belong

because someone there needs me

and barring bad weather will find me

will find what they need of me

and release my signal

for others to pick up

Pass me by

I like to smile at the truth
smile and wave
not anything grand
just one of those little salutes
those private smiles
that are familiar stranger's due

It isn't that we couldn't be
something more than we are
it's just a lot of work
it's secret handshakes
and private jokes
and giving up control

So pass me by
smile and wave
or nod your head
and pretend you know
these words were written
expressly for you

I'd send them your way
but I can't seem to reach you
and don't know they'd touch you
so I'll leave them here
where you might find them
as a reminder

The past catches us up
or catches up to us
and we look for the truth
to tell us what is right
as if it will save us
as if it will set us free

There is truth in my smile
in these lines I made for you
there is truth in my wave
with this last greeting that I leave
these truths belong to you now
and are passing me by

Muscle Memory

My hands are knotted

from wringing out memories

putting pen to paper

and inking your outline

so I can remember

what you mean to me

My arms have atrophied

from lack of use

so forgive me

for hugging you so limply

forgetting that some things

are worth holding on to

My love is an ember
in the torch of another
and it's slow in passing
slow in filling out its flame
slow in warming up
the muscle of my heart

Valentine

Be mine

but to thine own self be true

so if that makes you

you

then be you

and let me carry you with

when I go

let me carry you

when I stay

when twilight

turns to candlelight

turns to midnight

turns to dawn

I'd like to find you in my dreams

and find you again

when I wake

I'd like wake up

finding you

not because you are lost

but because I like you better

when you can be found

when you becomes true

and reminds me

that me

is just another you

a first

a second

a third person pronoun

that slips between tenses

so I loved you

and I love you

and best of all

I will love you

because no matter who you are

you are you

and as long as you remember

to be true

I'll carry you with me

I'll carry you

and even if you won't be mine

I'm yours

Wheatstacks - The Art Institute of Chicago

I was back in the Monet room

and I always wind up there

because they were your favorites

because you liked staring at bunches of wheat

I fancy the way they only come together

when you look at them from a certain distance

and even then you aren't sure

kind of like us

We've never made the sort of sense

that most people can appreciate

at any sort of distance

even with the proper perspective

They can't get past the fact

we're content with some wheat

a couple of trees

maybe a little house way in the back

It's as if that isn't enough

that such simple things

lack some necessary dramatic element

we've neglected in our lives

Maybe there's some truth to that

we've been staring at the same things for so long

that it's hard to say for sure

what exactly we're seeing anymore

There's more I could say

but it suddenly doesn't seem so important

it's just nice to know you're here with me

watching paint dry as the seasons change

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I should be up there in the air

but instead I'm here

trying to remember to breathe

telling myself

that there's nothing I could do

no words I could say

that would bring him back again

back from whatever choice

he decided to make

I know you might not need to hear it

but this is my obligation

not of duty

but love

because love is all I'll ever have

and the only way to let you know

is to tell you

that when you need me

I'll be back again