There they hang

Displayed for all

The artist experiments

Faces of fellow students

And, not faces

Proportion, off kilter

Reminds one of

              Van Gogh

              Picasso

              Dali

Heads and features separate

Features not in alignment

Yet, for all its bizarreness

They are, undeniably faces

Rendered in darkness

Expressions from the mind’s eye

August 2012

You stand in your world

And I stand in mine

Separated completely

By the dotted line

I watch you on your side

Loving you, feeling alone

I cannot turn to another

For I love you only

Wondering if you could love me

Being so different from you

As I see you pass on by

I can't figure out what to do

If opposites were meant to attract

Then you are my perfect mate

Yet we stand apart from each other

As if it were some cruel trick of fate

I should give you up

Let you go on your way

But it's hard to let you go

And find the right things to say

-Good-bye love

I'll set myself free

Hoping for the day

You'll come to me

Jan ‘87

I lay myself at you mercy

You through me to the ground

I placed you on a pedestal

It only came crashing down

I put my love out on the line

All you could do is take what is mine

I gave you my heart

You tore it to shreds

I gave you my affection

I saw returned not a thread

I cried enough tears to fill a pool

All you could do is make me the fool

I showed you my concern

You gave me no consideration

I tried to make us work

You ran for isolation

I gave you it all

All you could do is let me fall

October 1986

Rain falling

Lightly stepping

On the ground below

From the clouds

Reaching down

To touch the earth below

Calm storm

Posing no threat

Upon God’s creation

January 1987

Slipping away in the back of my mind,

Are the memories of you and the love we once had

Far away have you gone in your secret journeys

And I am left to grieve and wait in the morning sun

Its warmth does nothing for my unrest soul

As I try to recapture some of the happiness of past times

Do nothing to comfort my slow drying heart

Say nothing to take away the bitterness and pain

Try nothing to make me smile in this life

Write nothing of the sentimental moments

Just wander back to my waiting arms

I feel you straying further away from me

Each day passes without signs of gentle compassion

All is lost in the grand old folds of time

To show no more emotion is to bare no more pain

Oh, how I suffer in this hazy twilight

Lonely is the one who's left with no one to hold

Do nothing to bring a joy into my life

Say nothing to calm the ragging ocean within

Try nothing to chase away my sorrows

Write nothing of a sacred emotion

Just return to kiss my yearning lips

January 1986

The sound of heartbreak fills the halls

It slowly drains my loving cup

Till not a drop is left for me

Slowly my heart bleeds for the past

When these walls held security within them

Certain were the emotions I held inside

Now my broken heart is all I can see

Time, the healer, is the only cure

As I piece my emotions together as one

Love dwells not anywhere in my body

Instead, it’s an empty, hollow shell

Where once emotions ran free

Everything was so alive

Now, nothing seems to live when all seems dead

Pain takes its toll on the most likely in love

For they are the most vulnerable

Spite turns passion into the knife

To kill and deceive

Leaving the victim helplessly wondering, “Why?”

For remembrance, the scar sits upon my heart

Fear holds in the personality of a once joyous person

March 1987

When your days are empty

         And your loving cup drained

                            I will be here for you

                                      Whenever you call

                            I will be your comfort

         And your rock to lean on

When your strength is gone

May 1989

I look out my window

I see the bluebirds fly

Looking at the world below

I begin to wonder, “Why?”

Why do we fill the air with smog?

A gray pollution to hide the blue

Killing all the green plants

That collect the morning dew

Why do we cut down trees

That clean out all our air?

Leaving us to poison ourselves

Or do we really care?

Why do we product atom bombs

To blow us from existence?

Do you realize we could die

Because of one man’s persistence?

Our whole world could come to an end

All because of human ignorance

Why do we all act like this?

The motives make no sense

May 1987

Within my mind’s eye

I remember days gone by

A time to laugh, a time to cry

A time to live, a time to die

Within my body’s soul

I can feel the call

Bringing my out of my hole

Catching me when I fall

Within myself I see

My personality

Freeing myself with the key

Allowing myself to be

November 1985

Time elapses so slow

Now I sit and watch you go

It feels like a lifetime ago I met you

Now I sit watching you leave like you do

Too deep in sorrow

To run after you

Not looking for tomorrow

And all the heartache it brings

Hiding in the shell I created

Falling out of touch with life

Daring not to care this way again

Becoming a hollow structure of a person

The rain falls hard on the ground

And my soul cries out for you

But my agonizing voice is stopped

By the wall you build between us

Now I search for perfect insanity

And learning to love my misery

Suffering a death within a life

Thriving on a disastrous love

January 1986

Could I make you love me

If I were someone else?

By rewinding the hands of time

To re-beautify myself

I love you madly

But, somehow, you don’t see

How fond I am of you

And what you mean to me

Now I’ll hide behind my other face

In this real life masquerade

And hope you fall for me

Somewhere along the charade

September 1986

I sit all alone

Watching all the little flowers dying

Why?

As the life leaves this delicate beauty

Something dies inside me

This planet holds little wonders

Mostly death and destruction present

Leaving nothing left

As little flower dies

Something dies inside me

All around is heartbreak

Broken affairs and lover’s lies

Passion without emotion

As death comes to little flower

Something dies inside me

No one loves his fellow man

Everything is take what you can get

Never once to give

While little flower withers

Something dies inside me

For she is a reminder

Of life on this planet in the modern world

The negatives dominate

So as little flower lies dead

Something dies inside me

April 1987

What is

The definition of a child…

Is it how they came to be-

Biological?

Adopted?

Step?

Is it their height-

Tall?

Short?

Is it there species-

Human?

Furry?

Is it there gender-

Male?

Female?

They are all this

And more

Defined by

Unconditional love

August 2012

In the classroom

There sat a girl

Behind her

There sat a boy

The girl saw them as equals

The boy did not share that view

The day of the test results

Was upon them

The boy did well

The girl did better

The boy, enraged

Brought his textbook

Down upon her

The girl, shocked

Saw blackness, then

Briefly lost time

The boy felt injustice

As he should have

Been the better

The girl felt injustice

That her brilliance

Could be dismissed

October 2012

They Say,

Those talking heads

On the television…

There is no war on women:

      “It’s lies!”

      “It’s the twisting of words!”

      “It’s your imagination!”

If all they say is true,

Then why don’t I believe them?

The redefining of rape…

Should I not be offended?

The restricting of contraception…

Am I not to control my body?

The recall of Roe vs. Wade…

Isn’t this my choice?

My daughters look to me

For endless inspiration

For standing for what’s right

For continuing the fight

I look to my daughters

For remembering the past

For honoring those before them

For continuing our progress

October 2012

The foundation was of caring

Trusting held it together

With acres and acres of love

In the house I built for us

I placed it in the sunshine

Beautiful songs and sweet sounds

And stars from Heaven above

In the house I built for us

It’s rooms were filled with sweetness

To cherish for all out days

Each designed with tenderness

In the house I built for us

It’s basis was the sensation

Your kisses gave to me

And the warmth in your caresses

In the house I built for us

I’ve been searching all my life

For creative perfection

And I gave that all to you

In the house I built for us

The walls have seen for years

The memories we now hold

Of all that we’ve been through

In the house I built for us

The time we spent together

Was something great indeed

The special relationship we shared

In the house I built for us

You were my only love

The one I gave my life

And I knew there was someone who cared

In the house I built for us

Now you’ve left my life completely

As you journey somewhere new

And I stay here growing old

In the house I built for us

The rooms all have been emptied

Of the gentleness they held

And the walls are stony cold

In the house I built for us

August 1987

The skies opened up

As if to say

“No pleasant drive for you.

Let’s see you pass this trial.”

Water falling from

The heavens

Coming hard and heavy

Forming fluid walls

Outside the window it

Appears as if you’re underwater

There is light

Yet, no visibility

Choice: to stop and wait

Or continue on a wing and a prayer

Finally arrived

Placed in park

Sigh of relief

This trial is over

August 2012

I am the All-American Heard!

And I am looking down from Mt. Olympus

To let you all know

Now that I have existed in this world,

My voice will live on for all eternity-

It will never be silenced.

And it will haunt forever

All the oppressors

All the haters

For I am on the side of right

Because my message is of love.

And this makes them powerless

In their efforts to exorcize me

From the pages of history.

I am the change I want in the world

As I live my life similar to Gandhi.

And I will not go gently into that goodnight

As I speak eloquently like Frost.

For actions and words are what

Is needed for change in the world.

I am the All-American Heard

…And I approve this message.

March 2013

Night looms loneliness

over my barren bed. I am

lost in the books

languishing across the

bed. They are

my companion

through the endless

evenings while my

beloved drives

throughout the country.

My cat lays

beside me. She purrs

and coos. My confidante

through the solitary

twilight. My fluffy

child, filling in for those

who’ve grown up, moved on.

All of them together

demanding my attention,

offering themselves,

consuming my time,

taking focus off

of my empty nest.

October 2014

Roses in the front yard…

Smoke from the BBQ in the backyard…

Seen through our youthful eyes,

It was never enough.

We would giggle at the potential,

As we sat on the couch and wondered,

That the Blues could lead to Hope.

As Grandpa’s car drove over the gravel

And hit every pot hole in the pavement.

The engine would hiss as it shut down

In the driveway, on the side of the house.

Then the Door would squeal

To cause all to glance in its direction,

To see Grandma in her new glasses.

We would balance on our nose

Robin feathers, fallen from

The backyard tree he claimed,

Trying to keep them from falling off.

These were the games of youth, that

We labored at in those summer days.

When we were blessed with sun

Hiding in the bush was, well,

A good thing.

The dog longing to reach the neighbor’s cat.

I would bare-handle it back to its home

Where one could see the heather in the yard.

In the evening, the crickets would sing

As we listened to the remote voices from the park

Up the street as they speak of baseball;

Pitcher breaking in a new glove,

Cleats ripping up the sod,

The skill of the swing.

…All in the falling darkness of twilight.

Drama, as the autumn leaves browned-

Death was on the landscape.

There was no scene from earlier to prepare us,

To make it disappear behind

A Magicians handkerchief

Or like leaves from the branches.

Adults yelling “Watch the children!”

What a spectacle they made!

As the mourners cast dull eyes

In their direction

And the leaves wanted to join in too

Flying in through the doors,

Into the living room to flutter near

Great Grandma’s coffin

Where she lay smiling.

I would rather see her

Dancing again.

I was just a girl when the shadows

Would make leaps into the future.

We were just kids as the shadows

Pushed us toward the future.

We were young.

Nights in my Apartment-

Remembering, as evening lingers,

While listening to the old 45s

And wonder at this time of love.

Unforgettable yet forgotten,

Time marched, bringing to an end the

Patented cries from the past that

Made it true.

June 2014