For a Stranger

at some point
cells decided
to divide;
a greedy,
molecular army

knives and hands
do battle against
what is unseen;
an invisible
invasive foe

Thursday came

he was happy
just to get out of -
his four walls
the new battle

it didn't matter
that no one knew
what to say

drugs numb
the skin, tender
around the incision

but are worthless
at helping him
maintain small talk,
make conversation

his mind walks
the line inside -
pacing with anger,
dread, fear, and
resolve at better
moments

again, intangible

I visualize the
small army
disintegrating

moving away,
pulling back,
dissolving

it's the least I can do

:hrr

No Title

I am trying to draw;

post cards and layers of scribbled
mess and paper cover the table -
there for inspiration as if
it were easy, as if its what I do
every day

four days I have thought and worked;
no closer to a decision than I was a week ago

poetry is nothing like this; it invades me -
a possessive lover sneaking up behind

words fall through the top of my head
like coffee drip-drip-dripping
into my morning pot

they hang heavy in the steam
of my morning shower,
taunting me

I capture them on the mirror,
half-wet and shivering,
only to lose them by the time
I’ve dressed

words are my art

traveling through me like
a brush or pencil put to paper

breaking through to my finger tips,
like tears, lightening bolts, or flowers

I wish I could draw them

Rapture

lips soft small smile

sweetly kiss fingers 

your mouth whispers 

here love 

any words are 

everything to set me 

smiling larger as I melt 

like smiles in eyes 

that see me as 

Botticelli may have 

your laugh as beauteous a sound 

as the prayer he made on wood