Abuser

I learned at your feet
what should
and should not
be.
 
Then you gave me
what you should not have
and would not stop.

Imagine, then,
my surprise
when you insisted
I capitulate
to what which
you insisted
I should
not.

Imagine, then,

my surprise

when you flunked me

even though

I learned the lesson.

Et tu, brute?

Harbinger

After The Big Terrible,

I understood

victory lie

in remaining.

Comfortable

in my survival

I would not be

Lot’s Wife.

Determined to be content

with my narrow escape,

I prayed for others

whose Fates were worse.

Grateful to be in the nadir

and not somewhere darker.

Then you spoke

for the first time.

Of beer and chocolate

and poetry.

You spoke with passion

for things I loved

from a place

I’d never sought them.

The Sun rose

the sky cleared

the fairies danced

the flowers bloomed.

YOU are the harbinger of restoration.

It is for YOU I wrote this poem.

Everything that comes after --

Joy

Hope

Abundance

Peace

Love

will be

because

of YOU.

Third Thursday Poets Returns! Again!

I am tickled pink to announce that Third Thursday Poets returns to the very spot it left:  The second floor theater in The Reed Opera House in downtown Salem, Oregon.  I do hope you'll be able to join us on Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. in the Cyrus Reed Theater in The Reed Opera House.

The theme of the reading is "Resilience."  

Wah-hoo!

That's a Great Idea. No One Will Show Up.

Hello.

Yes, I know; it's been a while. What's new with you?

I've spent the last year and a half or so re-configuring Third Thursday Poets in one way or another. I know TTP has bounced around a lot; chaos and instability are part of the creative process. As is dedication.

TTP is nothing if not creative.

I am nothing if not dedicated.

Still, I did get tired of getting kicked out of places. We're poets for God's sake, not anarchists.

Well.

Most of us.

Not wanting another move for at least a year, I opened Brigadoon Books in the basement of The Reed Opera House in beautiful downtown Salem, Oregon.

A crazy venture during these times, I know.

However, the best way to combat crazy is with more crazy, only in a different direction. I am just the person to do it.

Plus, all of the poets and writers who have supported Third Thursday Poets for 77 READINGS need a place for their work in the capital of Oregon. TTP has been blessed with such an embarrassment of riches it's a crime to keep it all to ourselves.

This is a long way of saying I am resuscitating TTP's blog. Please check back often as I will post information about upcoming readings, TTPer news, my own poetry, etc.

And please, do visit Brigadoon. It's real.

Depression

I.
I'd better get up off the floor;
I'm starting to scare the cats.

II.
In a desparate attempt to feel better,
I cleaned the house.

III.
As soon as I started organizing things,
it all got so much messier.

Love Poem

I will keep you in the chokehold of my brilliance
until you acknowledge
that I am
The Other.

I will pour stars into your flowers
until you bloom
into the bliss
of our love.

I will lay at your feet
and wash away
the sins of the world
you carry in your heart.

I will sing your song
into your soul
until you forget the cruelty
and rejoice once again.

I will burn for you
long after the embers
of civilization
blow away.

I will walk in the snow
with holes in my shoes
happy that we are rich
in each other.

I will breathe every breath into you
until the last gasp
we take
from each other’s mouths.

Aplomb (Cat Poem)

It’s the way that they look at you,
as if where else would they be
but sitting upon the roof?