Before 9/11

Before 9/11
A night in December
A muffin and coffee
Is what we remember

Peeking past a corner
At Bleecker Street and Sixth
The World Trade Centers stood
All height and little width

When the world mirrors back

When the world mirrors back
Melancholy gray sky
A few trees still holding
Autumn leaves that won’t fly

With small cups of day and
Bottomless bowls of night
Looks like storms coming but
It’s just the winter light

Together forever

Together forever
Only happens in death
Our lives are short races
That leave us out of breath

Happiness rises up
From the deep spring of hope
Kissing the moment raw
And eager to elope

So far from my childhood

So far from my childhood
I should not have worried
Swatches of summers gone
Between winters flurried

Here I am regretful
Yet there’s so much to boast
Love for others and self
Time together, the most

Anger without actions

Anger without actions
Explosions in vacuum
Mushroom clouds contained and
Denied their fullest bloom

Seeking avenues up
Vertical vantage points
But weights of anger weigh
And buckle all the joints

These poems are my breath

These poems are my breath
They are both blood and thought
A daily rhythm of
Emotions getting caught

In the undefined pool
Struggling to stay afloat
With vocabulary
The basis for their boat

Love is a sunflower

Love is a sunflower
It fits like a corn husk
It is lively as day
And more peaceful than dusk

It is the arrival
Without invitation
A gift of heart without
Self-gratification

Not sending up a flare

Not sending up a flare
There’s no need for rescue
Out here without a sign
Of land or birds, just blue

To ask and find answers
Pull them out of thin air
Or from deeper within
Who, what, why, when and where

Determined to propel

Determined to propel
Forward and far beyond
Like a nautilus shell
Or unfurling fern frond

Driven by dreams and fears
Desire, anxiety
'Til intoxication
Is new sobriety

No longer hierarchy

No longer hierarchy
The sources are now gone
No more looking upward
No going back to spawn

Even though I did not
Circle or orbit here
The upper shelf empty
And the steps to it clear

This, a cherished moment

This, a cherished moment 

Diffused November sun

Early evening darkness

No challenge, loss or won

A peaceful twilight sky

Air frozen without pace

Stars slowly appearing

In their autumn checkmate 

Now wise but on old wings

Now wise but on old wings
Here the miraculous
Answers to equations
Not using calculus

The primary colors
Whole number measurements
Off the teeter totter
Balanced temperaments

Autumn clouds are looming

Autumn clouds are looming
Like north facing mountains
Trees once green wallflowers
Are colorful fountains

And before the winter
Plays Moonlight Sonata
All the leaves will fall like
A broken piñata

The distance grows greatly

The distance grows greatly
The past behind mountains
The numbers adding up
Certified accountants

Only our gravity
We can be fog or cloud
Singular momentum
Or the push of a crowd

We are all in motion

We are all in motion
Our gentle flowers wave
But the hands of a few
Will take us to our grave

North Korea and Trump
Syria, Pakistan
Nuclear weapons and
ISIS, the Taliban

This is my Ode to Joy

This is my Ode to Joy
No cliches, just panache
The icing on the cake
Hereinafter ganache

Perpetual daisy
Heroic contentment
Illuminating light
A scepter filament