Fissures in family

Fissures in family

DNA is not glue

A swamp oak in dry soil

It cannot, will not do

Too many clay pigeons

And constant contradict

Their deaths are not sainthood

And surely not verdict

Truthful root, no grafting

Truthful roots, no grafting

Strange flower, stranger fruit

Nothing falling far from

And not following suit

I see you seeing me

Like birds without feathers

As if we too are marked

Promising togethers

Half moon and northern star

Half moon and northern star

Memorial weekend

Soldier Michael Bouchard 

An undying beacon

This Vietnam bracelet

Reminds us to embrace

The fallen, the many

Their names we won’t erase

Easy to see foolish

Easy to see foolish

My own ways corrected

Drawn conclusions sketchy

Right answers rejected

And the heart blundering

For invasive flowers

Experience masters

Gained wisdom empowers

We’re braided together

We’re braided together

Our ends apart then meet

Both loosely and tightly 

A wave or handshake greet

Like Pachelbel’s canon 

Or Ravel’s bolero

We venture and not coil

Forward and not narrow

How did I end up here

How did I end up here

Do all the roads converge

A funnel or black hole 

Or the great water merge

Is it all a circle

Denominator one

Arriving again here

Regardless of begun

Finite in this Ever

Finite in this Ever

Loose threads becoming knots

Tomorrows not todays

Anew amid forgots

All my love to my loves

Our hearts color blending

We were brave together 

Our borrowed time spending

On a day inside out

On a day inside out

Vines and sunshine curling

Paintings without frames and

Troubles dropping pearling

The body dam breaking

Arms branching, legs stemming

The wind in the ruffles

The Earth’s skirt unhemming

New York City sinking

New York City sinking

An Atlantis again

Atlas shrugging lower

An Atlantic mayhem

The hopeless Rapunzels

Scrapers scraping too high 

Poseidon in subways

Cab drivers Captain Bligh

Adjacent to this thought

Adjacent to this thought

Is a heartfelt meaning

Compassion on compass

On point, open, leaning

Flowers bending for sun

And saturated roots

Weather variations

From sandals to rain boots 

In the Greater, there’s time

In the Greater, there’s time

Why does it mean so much

Big Bang to climate change

The Universe and touch

Close and growing closer

Scratching, has it sped up

Glass half full or empty

When it feels like a cup

Cleansing my own soapbox

Cleansing my own soapbox 

Wishes becoming welts

Detecting obvious

Like missing loops for belts

Chasing imperfections 

My own flaws, evidence

Yet there is always Hope

Achieving elegance 

After the lever pull

After the lever pull

Destiny dictator

Irreversible go

No sooner or later

Without my permission 

Swim parallel to beach

No survival servants

Existence is an each

On a plateau hoping

On a plateau hoping

The plain remains a plain

No mountain climb or mind

Unable to explain

In this generous now

The albatross alive

The Red Sea walls apart 

And Moby Dick survives

Ephemera hoarding

Ephemera hoarding

Someone else sought beauty

Pulling the cart forward

And passing it to me

Delighting in glimpses

Like sunken Titanics 

These frozen timepieces

Once living gigantics 

In darkness feeling light

In darkness feeling light

Tomorrow still folded

Today without tumult

No marker, unbolded

This overture to sleep

A deeper darkness waits

A lapping night ocean

That a dreamscape creates

Visit a hospital

Visit a hospital

Gain a new perspective 

So many suffer more

Pain is not selective 

The whoosh of emotions

My getting in their heads

I want to hold their hands

And crawl inside their beds

Chase the impossible

Chase the impossible

Paradise in peril

Fragility ego

Niag’ra Falls barrel

Reality checkered

Single lane renaissance 

Heaven until it’s not

Then moving van response

The years in the attic

The years in the attic

Anger in the basement 

My foundation is strong

My heart an encasement

Front door, back door, window

Exits out, the chimney

Squeeze beneath the woodwork

Self-propel is in me

Somewhere in the swirling

Somewhere in the swirling

Between pigeons and saints

Sunlight briefly breaks through 

And outshines the complaints 

Victims or praise seekers

Either gauze or applause

The survivalist says

Sense of self the one cause

Empathy confluence

Empathy confluence

Watercolors or paint

Purple, orange or green and

Boldly vibrant, not faint

The continuous mix

Celebrating the blend

Primary is primal

And modernism the end

Borrowed false happiness

Borrowed false happiness

Returns empty handed 

Chatter louder than truth 

The rough wood needs sanded

Wants grossly exceeding 

Normal Goldilocks craves

Imitators are not

Free from others but slaves

Into the greener grass

Into the greener grass

Sparrows for moments land

Then gone like lost buttons

Clouds clearly understand

A kiss is all and much

My wrinkled heart I press 

And words speaking forward

Letters without address