Talk to Me

Talk to me.
Tell me your story
Your ragged tale
Of gain and loss.

Show me your wounds
Those angry slashes
On your soul
Untended and unhealed.

What beach sands 
Swallowed your blood?

Into whose arms did you fall
When pelted by stones?

Talk to me
So I understand.

People like us
Are known by our scars.

Like Chaff

There is wind at my back
I have not seen
Though I have felt
Its irresistible blow.

I cling to places
And people
But the force is stronger
Than my desire to stay.

Sometimes it keens
Other times it moans
But is always consistent
In its purpose to push me on.

Were it a sentient being
I would try reason
Anything to create dialogue
But it is a powerful, controlling force.

It moved me beyond you
Out of range of your arms
Your kiss
Your sweet voice.

It blows through the craggy places
In my soul
And the howling you hear is not the wind
But the sorrow that sifts me like chaff.

Between the Minutes

When I go to slumber
In the evening’s first stillness
You are there
Waiting
Your smile an inquiry
And I assure you
I am now with you.

All is as it should be.

Tell me please
How is it
I still smell the sweetness
Of your perfume
Take in the fragrance
I have never known
From any other’s body
But yours?

You're only seen
With eyes wide shut
Perceived as a ghost
An ethereal image
Haunting my silent world
A memory of times ago
The life left me
After goodbye.

So I hurry to sleep
Hoping to find you
Between the minutes
As one might hide
In gangways
Waiting.

Waiting.

And so you linger
Secreted between the minutes
Of darkness and dawn.

Maybe...

.....perhaps it's time to step back a bit. Refresh. Get a new perspective. Just thinkin'. 

james

Seriously....

Is anybody really reading this stuff? I gotta wonder. (It's been a hard day).

james

Perceptions

Strange how shifting light
Alters the world
And it’s never the same.
Every moment
Presents a new observation
On an old theme.

Subtle refractions
Of light
And shadow
Change everything.

If you’re not looking
You’ll miss it.

You handed me coffee
This morning
Smiling
But the slightest curl
On your lip
Was a new take
On an old message.

I saw it.

How many things
Of great importance
Have I missed
Because I wasn’t looking?

Light alters perceptions
Constantly
Scrambling everything
From my environment
To matters of the heart.

I miss
What I swore I never would.

At day's end
The parade will have
Passed
While I was gazing at
Debris
In the gutter.

Sanded Teak

Sanded Teak

Your legs curl beneath you
And I imagine roots
Anchored in the banks of the Nile
Firm
Luxurious.

My hands glide your thigh
Smooth
Like teak
Planed, sanded
Oiled with touch
An anointing
Sanctified
Redemptive.

You smell of earth.
The tangy scent of growing things
Of the Africa I will never know
The Serengeti’s wild heat
Growling in hunger and pleasure.

Reclining, I map your face
In rays dappled, through palm fronds
I see the glory of the lioness
Proud
Untamed.

I cannot stay.
I am not equal to your heart
No match for your fire
Though I want to be.

I lay in your lap

Admiring the craft

Of your form...
Full of promise
With legs of sanded teak.