Transcendent

 

Lamar - the sky belonged to him 

for as long as there was “The Spring”. …

and wide center to roam to . 

Playin' toss, nice and easy. 

Before lightning strikes 

with the whack 

of a blistering bat!

 

He  had truly found his peace. 

His grass...

...his grace, 

his peace.

 

But you know the game, 

and before he goes lame, 

or contract makes claims

...they may not shoot you, 

but your ticket's punched 

just the same.

 

 

V

 

UNKEPT

 

 

 

If I disclose any of my party of clowns they will drown me in a pool of ping pong balls.

Somewhere, lodged like a tumor in the back of my mind, was a baseball play-by-play Announcer, and a voice of his time. 

Someplace there was a ruckus, I don’t know where the pummeling came from, but I heard them throughout. And someone was getting pummeled.

 Apparently I clung to life, long enough to hang on. 

Not conscious of breathing…or conscious of reality, It was a ghostly mystery to me, phasing in and out, and with each nod, a new mystery.

The clowns visit me at night and pummel me with pool noodles. A thousand lashes…never more. As a result, I drift into a comma.

The nurses call it “nodding off”...

(Drug-induced…at eternity’s ledge…but we’ll call it  - “dozing” – for billing purposes).  

 But, I'm gonna call it "Noodling off."

 

OH LORD! 

“…if I should die before I wake I pray the Lord knows his mistake.”

 

 

V

In Her Proximity

 

 

Diane on the other hand had different ideas. She’d related stories of coming back. Not that anyone believed her, but it still gave them room to bounce the thought around and ruminate on what that might include. 

Just when they thought she was in Toledo, she’d show up 3 miles away, downtown in a bar, then be gone by morning before sunrise. So ‘the morning after’ does no one any good. Too late. She fled like fluid, ran with the current, and flowed downriver. 

The ache that comes with knowin’ her eventually leaves you numb from the sheer weight of her proximity. It passes, but not entirely, because it's always on "Pause".

 

V

that skunk

 

Lord Jesus scatter me into the universe

I’ve been doin’ my chores…

and cleanin’ up whiskey stains

burn marks

and water rings,

which ain’t mine

…not a one.

But you see they’re on my headboard, Lord

The very bed, where I lay my head

So It’ll take some time

But I got no claims

can’t afford to believe

in any particular woman 

unless she’s willing 

to lay claim to me                                                                                                    

…and no one is claimin’ me,

so I guess we’re fine…before...

 

well hell, it’s just that it's MY bed…

they’re sweatin' and stenchin'

while I’m sleeping with 

the brutal stank 

of the skunk

they left 

behind.

 

 

 

 V

tumble

 

 

Dorwood expected the worst and boy did he not see it coming. His situation is…was…very tenuous, but the push...hardly a nudge... sends him into the chasm...a long way down, deep shaft with a variety of protrusions.... rocks, roots, and such rough stuff.... and it's walls, narrow tight, ripping and tearing at cloth and flesh, on his endless tumble, never reaching the ground, but shredded instead.

 

 

V

Degraze

 

When I have a drink at night,

 

and just a splash at that

 

I prefer to refer to it as

“de-glazing 

an old pot, 

that's worth 

holding on to."

 

 

V

Peaches

 

There was no fruit in the fruit bowl left 

except for a stone someone 

had sucked and chewed on, 

chipped, and abused 

then spit out

...front and center of said bowl,

  and they left

 leaving it otherwise empty…

‘Cept for that pit.

Such a crass, crude, and thoughtless act,

bearing no fruit whatsoever… 

the crime before the fall

pits and all.

 

 

V