The Diner
Found this little ol diner
Tell ya friend aint none finer
Slip on down the road
Sit down take off a load
Waitress name is Red
Bun of hair high on her head
Can I get you some coffee?
Or a hot cup of Tea?
She says with a wink of her eye
How about it Sweetie Pie?
I smile and play our game
Every day it goes just the same
Today is like all the rest
I say a "sheepherders breakfast"
Don't bother me with a menu
Just a coffee and a piece of ewe
Her eyes twinkle, smile really big
Her cheeks blush red like her wig
She brings my regular plate
And not a second too late
Open up, slide down the hatch
Home cookin, there aint no match
Bacons a bit greasy
2 brown eggs over easy
Sourdough toast with melted butter
My heart slows to a sputter
But I feel real content
My pants big and baggy as a tent
One more cup of Joe
To gulp as I go
A wink to Big Red
And a tip of my head
She knows I'll be back
Cause she has that knack
Of a smile when it's right
And keepin it light
A warm friendly face
In this cute little place
No son there ain't no finer
Than my favorite diner
Starting to look over this way
The other way interests no more
I don’t even want to look at it
There is darkness and danger everywhere
This new path is shiny and enticing
Pretense of grand things ahead
I know this will lead where I’m going
Away from a past that is dead
Haunting things over my shoulder
Footsteps echo and resound
Things are beginning to approach
My body begins to pound
There’s light at the end of the tunnel
Where it’s from I can’t tell
I only know to keep on running
Away from my own private hell
My rainbow touches out there
Out in a distance unknown
Oh, where is my pot gold?
What happens if I can’t go home?
A breeze sweeps over the meadow
Mist strikes out cool and loud
Noise from a brook running by
Sun streaks slip out of a cloud
An awareness makes its way in
It’s not somewhere else I’m wise
Standing here, absorbing it all
Is my entire life before my eyes
Things appear as I look around
Beholding what I can see
It all is, but I haven’t cared
To see how these things can be
Walk on and take some time
To experience whatever is me
What lies ahead and falls behind
Can’t replace what now can be
It is a dark place that hides here
Lurking in dense bushes, behind trees
Peeking out through narrowed eyes
Slits of yellow green scanning opportunity
An insatiable blood thirst compels
Well fed hunger ever empty
Driven by forces deep within
Never to be satisfied
Silent padded feet move swift
Covering lethal ground with ease
Hidden are talons of death
Waiting to find unsuspecting prey
Predator weaves in and around unseen
Silently, dangerously, darting amidst
Always on alert, ever ready
For a chance to feast on weakness
Conscious to avoid strong and wary
Sinister blend feint normalcy
Strike at victims unrelenting
Another kill atop gluttonous belly
Quickly back to calm tenseness
Lest true intention be revealed
Slit yellow green eyes searching
To fill relentless unquenched hunger
Thinking of “takers” in the world, who pretend and steal. 9/07
Twinkling lights shine beautiful
It is your smile beaming radiant
Sun sparkles across a calm lake
It is your eyes looking at me
A thousand church bells ring in harmony
It is your laughter sweet to my ears
There is warm blanket and hot cocoa
When your arms wrap around me
Awesome seashores with crashing waves
When you make love to me
Admiration and intrigue of fine art
As I gaze across the room at you
Alabaster and rose color sensuous curves
My eyes caress you sleeping in early light
Walk with me to the sunset
Lovely lady of my heart
Sitting on the couch at the farm, just risen, and thinking of watching her sleep, writing down what I was thinking. 9/07
Struggle
Footsteps pound the street
Splashing droplets fly
Can this really be
A way to stay dry?
Run as fast as you can
Outpace the chasing wet
Or is this all delusion
Have you ever controlled it yet?
An argument begins
I really don’t know why
Down below the shins
The feet begin to defy
The shoes look toward the future
The feet won’t even move
The first looks to mature
The second wants to groove
Fly as quicksilver, FLY!
The shoes scream at the feet
If I don’t stay dry
I won’t look very neat
Oh just feel the wet
The toes are heard to say
More fun we cannot get
We really want to play!
Feet, I have things to do
Places to go, people to see
I want to move the world
So sloshed I cannot be
Shoes, we’ll move you as we feel
And take our own sweet time
Don’t be such a heel
Doesn’t this feel sublime?
Will this ever end?
This funny little spat
An agreement ‘round the bend
Or will it be that….
Forever they will juggle
Much effort down the hole
In this wondrous struggle
Between the flesh and soleJ
Riding my bicycle ¼ mile back from a class at the gym to the “crustic” Lake George cabin we were in. It was some of the hardest rain I’ve ever been in and I was instantly soaked to the bone. Laughing all the way back, I was roaring over my urge to ride fast versus my humor of the moment riding soaking in warm rain and just enjoying it. Lake George 8/07
Approach
They gather to see “what can I do”
Readying for an exploration of ability
Shapes, sizes, reasons all may differ
For each on brings forth different colors
Bolting out quickly, some jump ahead
Others follow in an attempt to keep up
Some are looking for where to start
And some seem unable to begin
Eventually they all make their way
Across wide expanses of windswept life
All holding true to their reasons whey they do
And struggling to see where they are
Virtually seamless skills executed swiftly
A few galloping, running just behind
Some as if they are beginning to walk
Others avoiding drowning as in slow crawl
What they have learned will go on forever
Because they fully participate in life
And each has learned anew
What they can and cannot do
I was at the sailing regatta, in the spotter boat, watching the beginning of the race. The struggle of the participants reminded me of how we do our lives. It was amazing to watch even the last to cross the start line and finish line, and how much they were enjoying just being there. Some were scared to death, and probably benefited the most from the experience. Just like we do in all our lives…….. Lake George espian sailing regatta, 9/07
Oh my god
I have to fart
But if I do
I won’t look smart
There are things
You just don’t do
Like take a breath
By my tennis shoe
Some things stink
That’s just the case
Keep my pits far from your face
Garlic for dinner?
My exercise clothes!
Oh please help
Your poor nose
So I hold
My butt cheeks tight
Just clamp them down
With all my might
I do all this
Don’t you see
So you won’t have
To experience me!
I was writing a poem to meet the group, and started laughing at myself. We had been going through some individual explorations in classes building throughout the week, and I found myself very humorous. It is amazing how much we try to repress within ourselves so others don’t see what we consider to be “bad”. At that moment this was very much a poem about holding in my “expression” and emotions. Lake George 9/07
So we met
I didn’t know
What could change
Sparkling eyes
Radiant smile
See the sunshine?
My heart pounds
Aching for closeness
Touch vibrates me
Bounce and laugh
Giggle for fun
Quiver with delight
Stand with me
I’m your rock
With soft heart
You be gentle
But still strong
To hold tight
Change our worlds
Take my hand
Together we venture
Each one great
There’s even more
Beauty of two
To my beautiful wife. This was so easy to write, for the truth was in my vision of you. 9/07 Lake George
Awakening
A snow capped mountain sits on the horizon
Tall peak looking out over the distance
Lying still amidst small movement on cragged slopes
Nature running its' course and chipping away
It has been here a long, long time
Hardening, aging, wearing away
Majestic origins hidden by crumbling edges
A hard topped windswept rock over flowing trees
But there is movement beginning inside
A pulse, evident only in the mountain itself
A rumbling here, a warm spot there
Veins of life moving throughout
Fissures appear, steam vents
Rock ledges tremble and quiver
Movement on the slopes alert inhabitants
Majestic mountain begins to wake
A rumbling occurs, forces impact
How the mountain moves inside
Snow on its ledges begin to melt
Tears of water trickle from thawing ice
A large shift in the rock happens
And lava begins to ooze out here and there
Pieces of the mountain itself are glowing
Molten beginning to peek out of its' shell
An explosion near the peak
Moves everything around
No longer slumbering
There is force within to be realized
Hot lava runs down cragged slopes
Altering the face of the mountain
Tears of water once evident
Long gone from the heat released
The mountain is alive again
No longer pretending to sleep
Beginning from inside itself
The mountain creates new life
My first poem, from meeting Edgar Boone at dinner and reawakening my love of writing. Thanks Edgar. I realized how much it means to me, and how I felt as if I was the mountain awakening to flow with words, melting the hardness I have surrounded myself with. Sitting on the balcony of the "crustic" cabins at Lake George, this flowed as the lava within it. 9/07
The child in me plays on the lawn
Running freely, skipping, jumping high
Rolling around in cool green blades
I stop….and gaze intently at the bug
Something new, it moves funny!
Darting in and out of my sight
Now hidden from me I look even closer
Down deeper I part through the wilderness
I see canyons and valleys and ridges
This must be a hidden forest
What wild things run through here?
Will I find all the animals I love?
There is even more than that!
Gazeebles and boggles and elps
Fascination, amazement and creation
World upon world upon world
Deeper, even deeper I plunge through
An explorer of brave heart and soul
I’ve never been to this part before
Let’s go see what diamonds await
Look over here! Look over there!
Great excitement about such discovery!
I am brimming with all that I find!
Look at my wonderful private world
(pause)
I never left home
I’ve always been here
But by looking deeper
Ever more dear I hold this place
I wrote this while watching children playing on the lawn at Lake George, running from the teepee to explore with the circus performers from Cirque de Soleil. They were joyous and playful, and I remembered what it was like when I was in my own back yard exploring. As I wrote, it was with great joy in myself I realized I was writing about discovering what is inside me, I never have to leave to find amazement. Laurie dozing next to me in a rocking chair on the lodge porch, 9/07
I drift alone at sea
Waves lap my boat
Fall into slumber
Sounds resonant strong
Vastness lulls me
Eons of distance
Haunting, strange, unknown
Where can I reach?
Reflections of surface
Liquid images move
Thoughts crest atop
Sliding quickly away
Past, present future
Shimmer my mind
Darting, hiding, melting
Moistening my eyes
Long moments ripple
Stretch into distance
Where I exist
Reaches everywhere
Alone I am
In my boat
An ocean of world
At my fingertips
Thoughts deep inside
Slowly come awake
Open my eyes
To see ahead
Listening to the rain, thinking about where I am going with my life. At the farm, alone, 9/07
