Standing up for myself

Standing up for myself

Boundaries being built

Pulling up the doormat

And shaking out the silt

Protecting and striving

To be firm but not hard

Play fair not for winning

But not show every card

Dreams on paper airplanes

Dreams on paper airplanes 

Not traveling too far

Just a tad further than

My short reach for a star

Content without curtains

Excitement in quiet

The compass needle fixed

Regimented diet

Thinking of an ago

Thinking of an ago

When our faces were young

In silent Hopper light

Knowledge had not begun

The emotional whelm

Your pirate ship offshore

Demanding we anchor

And surrender our oars

Preparing for a storm

Preparing for a storm

Taking inventory

Bracing for moments of

Unknown category

Quickly maneuvering

Building walls to protect

Waiting for an impact

And its after effect

This, my invitation

This, my invitation

My hand is out to share

How did we both arrive

Here, long journey I dare

Say, we are in one place

An opportunity

To understand others

Of our community

Swirling in surreal

Swirling in surreal

A wind sweeping Chagall

In a Dali desert

On a de Stael seagull

The Art of painting dreams

Into reality

Capturing the abstract

And not banality

The scientific proof

The scientific proof

Ignored by flat earthers

Climate change deniers

Presidential birthers

JFK Jr in

Remote Pennsylvania

Jewish space lasers and

"Stop the Steal" mania

Lacking intensity

Lacking intensity

Moth seeking brighter light

An exhausted comet

A falling windless kite

In a searching scurry

Seeking definition

Discarding synonyms

And forms of rendition

Giving more time to time

Giving more time to time

The bad haircut grows out

Allowing the balance

To reach level throughout

To stand and keep standing

Without lighthouse or torch

Resting on foundation

To survive any scorch

Images becoming

Images becoming

A weathered totem pole

Years, faces and places

Now glimpses of their soul

The softening edges

The blurring of the lines

Moments, only moments

Just essence and outlines

The pendulum is back

The pendulum is back

More frequent, less impact

Once it left me broken

Now staying more intact

Recovering, to heal

Take one step forward, stop

Finally out of range

And the target zone spot

Words only for the head

Words only for the head

Blood clots that never bled

Knots forming that won't thread

These sleepless thoughts are mute

Facing daunting oceans

Ever present notions

Their sneaker wave motions

Yet our shoreline is moot

All of our souvenirs

All of our souvenirs

The worthless we cherish

Cat whiskers, ticket stubs

All destined to perish

Kept in a stunning box

An unburied coffin

A perpetual wake

With us viewing often

A sense of completion

A sense of completion

Reaching an outer point

Reflecting the journey

Absence of disappoint

Knowing the act is done

Without any award

Just closure and triumph

The finish, my reward

Immersing in others

Immersing in others

Drowning myself in days

Threading my own fabric

With blues and greens, their grays

Seeing as they see and

Feeling the Joy, the strife

Understanding their path

Living what's not my Life

Shoveling in circles

Shoveling in circles

Wanting the whole root ball

Leaving the bonsai dish

For the wide open All

Bound up and self-tangled

Octopus in a jar

Now stretching for all shores

Here and near, long and far

Regret and no forget

Regret and no forget

Tattoo already inked

My lassoed legs are tied

The rings of chain are linked

Roadkill scraped and shoveled

Shoes changed, blood on the feet

Each time I revisit

It plays out in repeat

The eloquent cockney

The eloquent cockney

The inner voice refined

The meaning of Life is

Independent defined

Seeking an aquarelle

Tree rings transparent

Age overlapping youth

Fails and strengths apparent

Here at the Life exchange

Here at the Life exchange

Giving only to gain

Wanting sunflowers so

Bartering sun for rain

Others not letting go

Protecting, not giving

Unwillingness to trade

And therefore not living

Emotions traveler

Emotions traveler

The next leg of the trip

Requires light packing

To gain citizenship

Minimalist beauty

Serenity surprise

Lines of sight unbroken

With happiness apprize

Accept the Whatever

Accept the Whatever

Mysteries abounding

Knowns unknown to me are

Waiting and astounding

Better to make better

Use of my time and thoughts

Abandon the abstract

And connect all the dots

No tension, suspended

No tension, suspended

Waves acting as cradle

Trying to deepen sleep

In the last full ladle

In water refractions

Accepting to let go

Death, the release of time

That briefly let us grow

Sun imprinted by its

Sun imprinted by its

Position in the sky

Unchanged by landscape or

The years still passing by

A sense of time ago

Knowledge of future be

Stand here as others have

And will for greater We

Too many hearts buried

Too many hearts buried

Fertile soil without pulse

Are earthquakes collections

Of their final impulse

Beloved animals

The faces of sharing

The sadness of flowers

They too, in time bearing

A celebration here

A celebration here

In a winter stark white

Streamers and sentiments

Of happiness, delight

Living golden in time

A moment miracle

A melody of notes

Uttered and lyrical

This tree of heaven grows

This tree of heaven grows

Where base nutrients lack

Between foundation stones 

Or in a sidewalk crack

Surely not for trying

In a void, a blackhole

I withered and weakened

At most, there must be soul

Longing for an unknown

Longing for an unknown

Hiraeth or saudade

Not mirage oasis

A soul not effigy

Sense of grace and goodwill

White light immensity

A seat in its front row

Of great intensity

Not near shiny enough

Not near shiny enough

Dropped by the crow in flight

Who prefers to be fed

Than clutching a non-bright

Discarded down below 

Not feathering their nest

Or used as promotion

They are above the rest