Hopelessness

For Sunday's Whirligig who gives us words like clay to shape any way we please

Palm pressed
against windows
lifts unmarked

Pantry of friends
born pure
paint brown and white sins

Consonants without vowels
have burnt
the good in some

Say The Names

Sing the names
the forgotten
the fallen
the gone ones

Sing them loud
without prejudice
without rancor
with pride

Say the names of those
who could not choose
those who rose
for causes and fell

Do not sing in color
do not sing for sides
do not sing madly
sing for honor

Sing the names
fly their flags
remember them
say their names

History cannot be rewritten
nor the slate of atrocities
wiped clean
we must say their names

Allow them to live
in us in humanity
say the names
sing the truth

For Poets United

Controversy and Culture

The Big C

A man drives up
drawing deeply on
his last cigarette
before he joins
the room of people
with one thing in common
The Big C

From young to old
they sit as if alone
not sharing
No comradery here

Angiosarcoma
Testicular
Ovarian
Melanoma
Colorectal
The words lay
in the middle of the room
no one wants to own them

I imagine
what might be said
"I lost my breast"
"Damn stuff took my balls"
"With only one lung I still smoke,
yep, one after another"
"Gotta die some way.."

They didn't get to choose their death
unlike suicides of great variety
Through little fault of their own
Cancer chooses them
as if a Grim Reaper's
bony finger of death
points
you by cancer
  and you
     and you
        and you

The room of silent people
solemnly wait for their trials
and their sentences
"Two months"
"Nothing we can do"
"Remission"
The Grim Reaper
stands here unseen
but they know
his name is Cancer

Poets United

The Skull and The Lady

dVerse~Poets Pub

The skull asked

As the lady turned

How came you here?

I will not be spurned 

It's rude to peer

Up a lady's dress

Unless you ask

You meatless mess

The eyeless skull exclaimed

I did not would not look

Without

Being ashamed

The pastel paint

Blushed

And apologized 

then she hushed

Why are we here?

I am dead

You glow with beauty

Where's the common thread?

The owner of here 

Without consent

Placed beauty by a skull

Contradiction to the extreme extent

Enjoy our time

We'll never know

What pieces she keeps

Or what she will throw

dVerse~Poets Pub The Old House

THE OLD HOUSE

The old house sat without a care

Drops floated on liquid air

The night sky empty except for fog

Held no sound, no monologue

The old house stood strong and fair.

We stood where our ancestors dared

We sang their praises, said a prayer,

And stumbled lost into the bog

The old house sat.

We suddenly became aware

The porch held a rocking chair

The eyes saw not where the feet could slog

We whispered a dialogue

To remind us, Beware!

The old house sat.

Written for dVerse~Poets Pub Form For All

Poetry Jam Mirrors...

Dad stood in the mirror
With Alzheimer's in his head
He smiled, tipped his hat
"See that old man," he said.

Dad stood in the mirror
I stood with him hiding tears
Trying to share his world
As I had throughout the years.

Dad stood in the mirror
Where time moves too fast
Oh, Dad, how I loved you
From the beginning to the last.

For Poetry Jam