Sweet Beth Ann

She was my darling.

She was my own.

And this was where the seeds of

Our love was sewn.

On the beaches, along the sea

Is where my lover

Gave herself

Only to me.

I loved her purely.

My love was true

When the blossom

Of our love was new.

But my sweet one

My dear Beth Ann

Gave herself

To another man.

I saw her strolling 

In the fading light

With that wicked villain

Out in plain sight.

He had taken 

Beth Ann from me.

I had a plan

It was clear to see

Many nights I waited

Behind the dune.

Where we loved together

In early June.

But the winds of October

Blew off the coast

And I planned the death of

The one I loved the most.

I shot that wicked 

Evil man

And buried his body

Deep in the sand.

Then I forced my own love

My dear Beth Ann

Taking her roughly

By her gentle hand.

We were waist high

Out in the surf

And declared she would now receive

What her love was worth.

I kissed her harshly

On her traitorous lips

Then kicked her feet from beneath her

Watching her slip.

I held her under 

The angry waves

And fashioned for Beth Ann

A watery grave.

The tide then washed her

Far out to sea

And she was done

Making a fool of me.

Now I'm an old man

Sworn off romance.

I never married.

Never took the chance.

And I don't go

Down to the sea no more.

All I hear is

What she implored.

Please, my darling

Don't take my life.

I always intended

To be your wife.

You shot the reverend 

Writing our sacred vows.

Her death plea numbs me

Down the years, till now.

Dear Readers~~~

Life has been complicated. It appears I am returning to police work, 👮 at the invitation of the Deputy Chief. It will include I prepare and provide some training for those younger than myself, as well as occasionally taking a seat in a patrol car. 🚓 I often remarked that I got out of law enforcement just in time. But when they offered I could not say 'yes!' fast enough. It's a new department, somewhat smaller than my last one, but still a Chicago suburb. I start on October 14, and am ready to roll! 🚨 I'm not leaving here. That's non-negotiable. 🚔

She Said

She Said

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

Words have power.
They bring reality to hopes
Animation to concepts
And power to life.

Words charm and thrill.

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

I believed her
Trusted her lovely words.

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

How could I know
To her
Words were
“take-back-able”
The way children take back words
Play with power
And tease with intentions.

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

But she took it back
The way Lucy jerks back the football
Just as Charlie Brown runs in for the kick.

You are the breath in my lungs
She said.

Just kidding.

 

Legion

It has been a long while 

Since this pervasive gloom

Has returned to infest

Our national backbone. 

No need to recount the multitude

Of dangers.

They are Legion.

Every evening I sit doing 

Risk Assessment. 

It may not help that recently

In the midst of a sleepy Sunday

Two men attempted to break through

Both my front and back doors

Simultaneously.

It was damn unnerving.

Thundering slams onto 

My locked doors.

Screams from the intruders

Threats from myself.

I was prepared to kill them.

Nothing I've experienced 

Is more sobering than 

Centering your blade site

On center mass

With the intent to forever stop

A beating heart.

Yes.

..the Afghani sun boils the concrete

On the streets and tarmac in Kabul.

Possibly the blood of the Innocents

Will bake into sticky reminders

Of those murdered.

.....

Night breezes stir river grasses

And chills the bodies of the hopeful minions

At our borderless south

Replete with disease and covert terrorists

Not to mention the tens of thousands

Simply searching out a dream.

.....

California is on fire.

.....

West of Nashville, bodies float

Face down 

Over what once were blueline highways.

.....

Where went our sleepy dreams?

The warm embrace of children?

The sparkling midnight eyes of lovers?

Lazy, meandering drives 

Through the heartland?

I know where mine went.

They all dissolved into  

A universe narrowed

By the laser point of my pistol

Centered on the chest of the man

I meant to kill.

The Inhalation of Skies

 

  i am Wind!

i am the inhalation of skies
lungs of terrible draft
and willful fury.

i am Tornado!
i spin with hell's
centrifugal anger
and i will sweep far
your most worthy foundation.
i will lift high and dash your infants
with more ferocity
than Herod
stripping away every
cherished
prize.

i am Hurricane!
i will level your cities
break your levees
and forbid your populace
to return
rebuild
re-begin.

i am Wind.
i am deaf to
cantons of mercy.

when you believe you are safe
build monuments to the slain.

        But
I WILL RETURN!

I am Destroyer Wind.

 Ready for the Lacquer 

The veins in my hands

Are blue-line highways.

The timepiece on my wrist

Will endure

Long after the bones beneath

Lie in gloom and dust.

 

The flag I now salute

Will add stars to its constellation

Long after those I know by heart

Are lost to memory.

 

Those who find my marker

Cannot know my love

For cherry pie

Baseball

Bright red pickup trucks

And dark silken hair cascading

Like waterfalls

Around soft shoulders.

Even if they did

What profit is there to the sleeper

Or the waked?

 

Even now the tree

From which they make my

Future container

May have been cut, planed and sanded

Ready for the lacquer.

 

That is as it should be.

One more trip around the sun

May exact more toll

Than I am prepared to pay.

 

My body has served me well

In its course of years.

It is good to not step a moment

Beyond that which will

Gather me to my fathers.

 

For everything there is a season

And a time to every purpose

Under Heaven.

 

The Plow and the Reaper

Moonlight on the wide prairie

Lightly kissed the perfectly still wheat land.

Preternatural powder

Had fallen as snow.

In the distance farm houses glowed

From within.

Brilliant security lights blazed

Illuminating barns and outbuildings

Like sanctuaries of humanity

In starlit seas.

 

Silent in the midnight sky

A New Corn Moon

Settled in the palms of the Milky Way

Promising the eagerly hoped-for harvest.

 

A chill climbed my back

Spreading into the ladder

Of my ribs and chest

Settling below my sternum.

 

Who am I that this sacred mystery

Should embrace me here?

Neither friend nor lover

Has touched me as did this moment.

 

In the gasp of a spinning atom

I felt, all at once, the wink

Of the Divine.

 

In my body is the promise of generations.

The blend of my planting

With the seed of my sowing

Future eyes will open to this amazing mystery.

 

Other New Corn Moons will illumine children

Grandchildren, and their children

Warming their now un-birthed bodies

Whispering into their yet un-opened ears

The holy secret.

The secret that knows no words

Lives beyond nouns and verbs

Without structure

Yet strong with hope

Widely smiling at both

The coming of the plow

And the gathering of the reaper.

A Note for my faithful few...

I have been resting in  the silence of summer heat, listening to the universe and the cadence of my own heart. Something will bud soon (a belated spring time) and I will return to more purposeful writing. Please wait for me. I believe it will be worth your patience. 

~ James

I'm On This Road*

This road doesn't bend often.

Mostly, it runs straight and true.

Therein lies the problem...

Consistency can be as bad

As it may be good.

Constancy lulls me to sleep

Thinking there are no surprises ahead.

No challenges or dangers.

This is, of course, a lie.

Breakdowns happen on straight roads

As much as on curves.

They occur as certain on level terrain

As mountainous inclines.

Perhaps the help lies in that 

Old Scout adage...

Be Prepared.

But a road that pretends

360 degrees visibility is likely 

More dangerous than any other.

We fall asleep at the wheel.

But I can promise you

With full assurance

That trouble awaits 

Each of us.

Before you damn me

As a negative spirit

Or false prophet

I offer this single truth

In my defense

And I pose it as a question...

Who do you want on your side

The liar who steadily grins 😁

Or the one who prods you

Into wakefulness? 👀

Maybe all is well.

But maybe the bridge is out ahead. 💥

Which friend will help you to

Safely arrive at home? 👌

Heads up, my friend.

(Jesus) ☝

Make wise choices.

(Jesus) 👆

Well considered actions.

(Jesus) 👼

Be careful out there. 💀

Sometimes, the choice you make

Is the last choice you will ever make. 👻

* I do not offer this as a poem, but as a heartfelt caution. These are perilous times. Too many guns. Too many drugs. Too many distractions. Too many lies and false promises. Only the very alert will overcome these tremulous days. I hope you are one of those. But the "herd" is being culled. Stay awake, stay aware, and for God's sake, stay ALIVE! 

 Dear Readers,

I am compiling around 50-60 of my favorite love poems to be assembled in a book of poetry I hope to publish. As I comb through 11 years of entries (and 40 years of writing!) I find I love far fewer than I had hoped. If you find one or two, or so, you like, please tell me which they are by leaving  a comment following this post. I'm "all ears" to discover your selection(s).  I hope somebody...anybody...has some favorites!

~~ James  (My Favorite? RED BALLOON ======>🎈)