Head

"Use your head," they say...

bloody and sore, it's tired.
I stay with the test
Skin and bone against bloody concrete

until one of us (me) is bested
And retires from the game.

Years later I realize the test
of head pushed hard and hard again
will never win
against concrete's physical abuse

or mental gain
win
when
a thinking game is used to take the place
of spirit and juice:

the soul's main frame

Just ice

January may not be the coldest month

but it follows the warmth of December



The fires, the drinks, the cheer

recede below consciousness



Winter is now

with ice fairies

furled just so



Twinkling snow

sublime



lifts moods

slows time



to shiver

would be a crime

Janis

A Happy New Year

Two faced Janis comes again

January is sure queer

April is the cruelest month

or so they say

but I find January a mix of relief,

sadness, hope, and exhaustion

Thank goodness for Groundhog Day!

Hands

Hands of a writer

gentle, soft and manicured

Find my soul in bed

Home

"I'm coming home."

"Jesus I'm coming home."

Dying, my great grandmother

sat up

said her piece


and stopped mid air


collapsing down into

her final rest,

after fifteen years

in a wheeled chair.

The family came to see

what all the commotion was about