My Tree
You might have a house
But I have a tree.
I am a tree in a forest
And my roots are touching
My friends
Who drank the same rain.
I have a patch of forest
Occupied by myself
And my friends.
We face the same draught
We move to the same wind.
I happen to be a pine tree
Next to a maple.
I have birds that the maple
Does not have.
I have cones that fall
And are like nothing other trees make.
I smell different than a maple tree.
You would like for my birds
To fly into your house,
To stay within your house,
Not realizing that birds
Live in their trees.
So are you a tree
Or a house?
How can you tell?
Well a tree is a living thing
That grows
And drinks the rain and the sun.
A house is a thing
That is built by the mind of a man.
A house does not grow as a tree,
Following the math of god.
It might grow larger with additional rooms,
Created by the math of a man.
If you force a bird to live in a house
It will be removed from God.
If you try to take a tree and turn it into a house
It will be removed from God.
Please do not turn my tree into your house
And please do not try to cage my birds.
Come Away
Come away from that driver.
Take the reins.
The feel of that ear is gone,
Belonging to the head of one insane:
That jockey who refuses to serve,
Refuses to see the love that other deserves,
Blind to their name.
Admiration and attention
He will abstain
Toward the head and heart of that animal
He rides to gain.
Just obligations and word play
To trick one another
And blame.
I say he stopped seeing me
As he jumped pole after pole
And I began to disappear
Inside a black hole.
My throat, my chest
Adapted for his soul
Felt no fear of becoming less
For this role
He had me toe.
A disconnected belt
An empty chair for “the maker” to melt
And shape bullets from.
I confess I felt vaguely safe and numb
Behind that gun
And used his shadow to hide from the sun.
Abuse is no ruse
Beware.
The horse left,
Don’t chase him
If you care.
Dumplings
The day of a single beauty
How serene and thoughtful
Responsible enough to take
A cup full of water
At every suggested
Thirst
When the tea is made
The cleansing begins
A burst of zen
And then a grin
Even when the time
Is still caught in
The lot of the drunken user within
Let the abuser feel the wall
He knows she left it all
But the taking of a gift
Into her hall of shrines
Is hope enough
To enable a crawl
Towards freedom
A climb
Her presence sees him
Who wonders why and which he left
Was it the East or was it the West?
She can at least
Remember best
The beast that numbed him
With its eye for chess,
And think of him less
So he might cut the tie.
Bless.
The Disconnected Soul
Dim eyes
Failure to thrive
Climb on top of me
To love a lie
Take a drink
Take a drive
Live long and prosper
From a hive.
Wasps spoke to me
I went dry
Listened to a song
Thieving pie
Started to smoke
Cooling high
Lost the warmth
Sigh no cry.
Feel the weight
Heaven’s gate
Closing doors to cussing
Hatred fussing
Spirit stuffing
A sock in my mouth
Feel the drought
No light
Lives in doubt.
We don’t
Come out
Alive.
Body & Soul
Is my soul leaving my body
Or is my body leaving my soul?
Is my soul dead?
My soul disconnected from my body
And my body walks as a shell?
A longing.
I long for my body to hold my soul
But it captivates it
No longer
In the chest area
Where the lungs don’t feel
The warmth of a good heart
And feet are detached
Dangling into an icy pond.
I am chilled to the bone
My back curling around
Tired distress.
My soul responds
With recognition of
An inability to hold
Any water in my eyes
As it has been cried
For a snake.
I feel love trying to push her back in,
My soul,
But she has become forlorn
Alienated and manipulated,
No longer a part of my frame,
The frame I had adorned lovingly
Over years of joyous, reckless abandon.
Had I known it was actually abandonment
I would have been less joyous
And more careful with her.
I always thought she would come back.
O my soul
How I long for thee.