did the wall really come down?

woke up at 5 in the morning
a sad dream still in my eyes

people laughing
colors changing
faces dissolving
music fading

eyes averted, eye brows
raised and whispers waning.

us and them replace you and me.
small words become bigger walls as
meanings …

up ahead

spring is coming; you just can't see it quite yet. but........

up ahead the the road will swerve wide and green, and the sky will open just above our heads.

up ahead, I see you in a hammock. I see a breeze taking you in. birds aflutter, and croon the songs you …

thank you

i had passed tired some time ago, having been out the night before, so i excused myself from the strained faces of those comforting my extended family, and drove back to the apartment.

all of the sounds, smells, and textures of the living room coalesced into one …

her stare

through the kitchen window I could see her clinging to the side of the car for support. her feet shuffled across the driveway, as she reached for one of the black poles holding up the carport. the wood paneling inside the house shook upon her success. it must have been …

absence

the feeling of yearning is disguised as grief, though we are no less for it. week by week we dig up our various longings. a zigzag of roads and mountains traversing the distance. that morning insists on seeing through things. when a fraction of a second creates a moment …

the photograph

for weeks the mid-size black and white photo hung with a sense of ostentatiousness on the fridge. i would pass it every morning on my way to get a protein bar. i remember the photograph with a hint of nostalgia. i use this term loosely, because we have only known each …

chalk

i remember drawing her face on the driveway with some chalk i stole from school. the porous texture of the concrete captured her layers of sorrow, and the rustling leaves at the foot of the driveway epitomize her dark brown hair, which has now become brittle and frail. …

mending

we have seen the lives of others, trapped inside
their destination. setting forth to the nearest
shore, intent on being safe. half guessed and
with poor pretense they slowly die in a whisper
of shame and regret. i too was bound for such remorse,
but passion has …

fabric of my heart

it is the absent hand
that, with tapered fingers,
gently dances across my neck.

Breathe deep of night's cool air,
with titled head allow the soft songs,
arising, as if mists,
to embrace, to be embraced.

And in solitude I begin to dance.

A madman in the …