Give Me A Bite Of That Apple

because I’m definitely outside the garden.

I’m out in the carb jungle and it shows.

Where can I buy fig leaves with spandex?

I know why A and E hid.

I know why I want to hide.

My pants don’t fit right, I mean,

I don’t mean to sag, that’s not how I

usually roll, but now I have a roll and

it sags and my buttocks are packing

their bags and heading northeast.

I used to have a button on my belly and

now there’s just a button hole.

I have to think about how I tie my shoes.

A short chair is best or

I come up with no air in my chest.

Hand me that apple so

I can bite it to the core.

I’ll have it bronzed and stick it

on my dash to remind me

of my core within.

Maybe an apple a day

will make my belly go away.

Maybe.

What Goes Up

hold on tight
to aire is human

a cliche' dropping
like a lead balloon

no sense in riding the
fence or being fenced in

can't step on the crack when
you rise above circumstance

you didn't click your heels thrice
shall I cut you loose to watch you

fly the friendly skies to infinity and
beyond what dreams may come in

different shapes and sizes you up
as head in the clouds oblivious

walking on air you step down
the stairway to heaven and

catch your breath waiting
to exhale a collapsed

iron lung contraction
if you only had a

heart of stone &
ruby slippers


Photo by Lauren Randolph
for One Shoot Sunday

Real Time

That afternoon there were moments

Time outs from speaking, breathing

All that surfaced was a ticking

A tocking like a heartbeat

Thump, thump, thump

Like a metronome keeping pace

And we submitted to it

for what else was there

There was no DVD

there was no DVR

There was only us and him

and thoughts and prayers floating

He once again suspended future

and past and invited  present

Oh what a gift it was

like eating breakfast on the beach

after a long arduous night

and light came softly

and spilled on us

through that window of

real time

For Dan Webb in the loss of his son.

Ventrical Lenses

Beauty is fleeting
a lens winks and
sucks in an image
and lays it down
like oil on canvas

and there you were
holding, leaning into
the future days where
your beauty is sucked
into your soul where
it is destined to rest

So the hours like
lens' opening and
blinking shut
do their time as
a heart's ventricular
cadence shutters


Photo by India Hobson, interviewed for One Shoot Sunday

Camisole Stroll

Photo by Jessica Szopinski


covered like a camisole
the day hung on light and loosely

I walked through with you
our hearts decomposing

and composting a path
on which to lay our souls

steps light as aire
lent us bent on humid

baselines from edge to edge
and life lifted and burned



Submitted to One Shot Poetry....

Untitled

These frozen brain waves

catching tides crystalline edges

a hard death

cold enough to absorb sweat

and tears

and years

will melt with the remembering

synapses and synopsis’ of love

on cold fronts

frontal lobes

laden with icicles

that hang like suspended drops

of undone things

which brings

us cold on cold

together

on thoughts

of melting

layers

Sociopaths and Narcissists

 

Lewis made mention of the exceptions to those who strive to adhere to the laws of human nature.

“Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.”

or

Do unto others as they do to you.

or

There ain’t no others, there is only you.

With a house full of kids, the beginning of Lewis’ chapter caught my attention.   Those verbal exchanges happen every day in the kitchen, “living” room, bathroom, etc.  Citations are given out daily from mother and father for infractions ad infinitum.  My wife and I adopted children to add to our biological crew.  The bios understand the laws of human nature and conscience is called up when they violate these natural laws.  The adopted children, however, have undergone mom’s boot camp instruction for years now and have “talks” on a daily basis on how to do the right thing by others.

We, as parents, understand where these children come from…the abuse, neglect, abandonment…we know their stories.   It seems at times that their DNA is “every man for themselves”.   Even after years of the same discussion about the same issues they still often default into sociopathic or narcissistic tendencies.  Fetal Alcohol Syndrome often gives us real life examples of a world without natural law as Lewis puts it. 

Some have FAS but others only have attachment issues from neglect and abandonment which present in very interesting ways.   A liar would lie to get another liar in trouble.  Both are characterized by lying so the case is thrown out by consequences for both…which isn’t “fair” but telling the truth to own up to one own quilt and saving the other from loss of freedom is out of the question.

My wife could tell detailed events of perplexity.  Often when I return home she is emotionally exhausted from trying to instill the laws of human nature into our children.  Lewis indeed rang true in his opening chapter. 

This was submitted to Between The Lineshttp://bit.ly/fqIJZ4 book reading.  Mere Christianity is the current read. Comments are for chapter one.