poetry

Q.R.V.

Oh, I would scale back to the start

Of our failed recipe

I’d crack an egg and break my heart

And serve with Q.R.V.

J. Barnes

Jake Barnes, I know your name

But his affliction suffered same

The will to love, the want to lust

He surely might, he shouldn’t must

And now a spine on my bookshelf

You blame the war? You shot yourself

Quiet Moments (2)

In these quiet moments,

You and I are home at sea

We’ve surrendered to the rhythm

Of a tidal reverie

And yet we still swim forward

In the pulse between each crest

For in each of life’s contractions

You and I are doubly blessed

Sunset

Her golden poison, our calming cure

She’s died for countless days

The only thing I know for sure:

The times I’ve looked away

This Time

This time, someone else’s night

Won’t keep me from my moon

This time, the sun will sing me songs

Each day she’ll give me June

This time, when I’m falling

I’m only rising up

This time, when I’m pouring

I’ll drink from both our cups

This time, I won’t be paying

No matter what the cost

This time, when I find it

I’m never getting lost

This time, I’ve got a place to land

Before I take the leap

This time, when I roll the die

It’ll be for keeps

Petrichor

I’ll write a song called Petrichor

With words you’ll swear you’ve heard before

I’ll dabble dew-drop harmonies

Into an earthy-bass reprise

And by its sweet saturation,

The sound will rise in ovation

I See Myself

I see myself on every street

Each pair of brightly sneakered feet

Each warm hand clasping onto love

Each bareboned branch trembling above

Faith

Of all the ends

And all the starts

And every in-between

I asked the moon

To give me faith

And here is what I gleaned:

She lured the waves

To sandy shores

And set the wind at ease

She asked me, she said,

‘Go to water

Wade out past your knees.’

Beyond the breaks

Close to my heart

The peaks and troughs grew wider

I balanced on my tippy toes

As though on a wire

Standing up

Against the waves

I swallowed my own wraith

Surrendering

To something else

Now that was having faith

Halfway

Meet me halfway, darling

Come at your leisure

Halfway is a point

That we needn’t measure

It may change in time,

Or under life’s pressures

Wherever it lies,

Halfway is my pleasure

Something New

You, You

Always you

My old-fashioned

Something new