The Steeple

There’s a mystery in the steeple
that looks down upon the town
it keeps watch on all the people
but it never makes a sound.

The eyes of my soul
seem to recognize its face
it seems to know its role
to the human race.

The courtyard is where 
they used to bury the dead
the steeple is away there
its belief in their stead.

There is a sign on the narthex
the church is permanently closed
I  pay my respects for which
I’m predisposed

The Laughing

Suddenly, he started laughing.
He wasn’t laughing because of a joke.
He wasn’t laughing because he was nervous.
He wasn’t laughing because he was broke.

He couldn’t stop his laughing,
like he couldn’t stop drinking all night,
like he couldn’t stop her from moving out,
like he couldn’t change what’s wrong to right.

He was laughing as he left his house.
He was laughing as he drove his car.
He was laughing in the parking lot.
He was laughing when he entered the bar.

Suddenly, the bar patrons were laughing.
They weren’t laughing because of a joke.
They weren’t laughing because they were nervous.
They weren’t laughing because they were broke.

They couldn’t stop their laughing,
like they couldn’t stop drinking all night,
like they couldn’t stop her from moving out,
like they couldn’t change what’s wrong to right.

The laughing left the bar.
The laughing spread to the streets.
The laughing climbed the apartment houses.
The laughing was loud and didn’t cease.

All Night Long 

What er up
What be sayin’
Down my luck
Where you stayin’  

Got me 
Realin’ in my head
Realin’ in my head
Tossin’ in my bed
Tossin’ in my bed  

All night long.  

Yo,flirt
Where you…

Read more

A Song of Love to Someone I Don’t Know

I see you standing there fearlessly
like an actor accustomed to her stage
your story is being written ,
while never appearing on a page.

I want to be embraced…

Read more

Waking Night

We barefooted the hot sand 
to the cool water by the bay.
We all had pink toenails then,
the sky was deeper blue, less gray.

Merging stories in finite spaces.
they come and go, some ne…

Read more

The Smile

These short days prevail upon my soul, 
forcing me into dark corners of my being,
playing like an actor forced into a role
when I stumbled on this reward from seeing. 

It was like a flick…

Read more

The Forest Spirit

It’s something I sensed
saught to understand
this morning felt different
like a mother’s hand

This silence heralded
winter’s spell broken.
Snows were abating.
The trees had awoken…

Read more

Watching Charlie Parker on the TV

Maybe I’ll go down to the corner bar
and share a cold beer with a stranger.
I get the ones with the longest story
about how something was a life changer.

Sitting o…

Read more

The Blue Garden

On the dark side of old,
a place young and new
Life is serene and lunar
in my garden of blue.

The morning sun trips
across the  glistening dew.
So my lachrymose mind 
in my garden o…

Read more

Girl in the Caldwell Basement

I was turning twenty and had a job at the mall
that I took over the summer and kept through the fall.
I was taking college classes one day a week.
The wind turned cold,…

Read more

Somewhere in the Middle

We were no longer kids 
but we weren’t grown up.
We wanted something
So we piled in the truck.

In early the evening
we reached the lake,
and the July heat
was about to break…

Read more

Hey, Tom

Hey, Tom, where have you been.
The rain is dripping down your face
Hey Tom, why don’t you come in.
I took out a extra towel just in case.

I’ve got a pot of coffee brewing,
some toast and b…

Read more

Waitress with the Rose Tattoos

Jim was living in a rooming house in Jersey,
with all his books and the peeling paint,
reminding me of the writer Ishmael Reed—
how life was good, knowing full well it…

Read more

Gypsy Queen

She says she was a long-lost cousin,
but she looked like a gypsy queen.
She said she bathed in the morning
and that she was really clean.

She normally takes one hundred
but shed make an…

Read more

Ragweed Blues

The winds start blowin’
across the plains,
through  the mountain trees.
I know it’s a comin’
‘cause I’m startin’ to wheeze.

I take a tea with honey
And a jigger of some booze
I be pop…

Read more

Licked and Smoothed Away

I watched the white butterflies on the hill
as the morning breeze turned the grass.
I saw the yard of the golden cathedral
where the saints and parishioners pass.

I watch…

Read more

It’s This Spring, It’s This May

Some have secondhand
that spins around the dial.
Some count off in digits.
You can set the style.

What we see in the present
was the future, now the past.
Time’s alw…

Read more

Some People

We’ve got these bodies, 
and we walk them around. 
We put shoes on its feet.
We’ve all got these things.
We named them a hearts,
and all our lives they beat.

Some people have minds in t…

Read more

Untitled 304

The news and the politicians
are comfortable with their lies,
just another passing day,
someone born, someone dies.

I’m not expecting nothing, no,
better to live life that way.
I’m hap…

Read more

Summer in Poughkeepsie.

Lucia enters social services
with some papers in her hand
It’s all in English
She cannot understand.

Standing by the door
letting the time pass,
Diego spends his day
smoking…

Read more