Shadows in the Banquet Hall

Wolftrap and Fireflies 

Transport me and quarintine
This feeling that is seldom scene
I'm curious and fevers peaked
Delirious with this mystique
Soaked in a blanket's warm
Ember glow
Freer now than I've ever know
I dance the fire with a crazy glaze
And juxtapose to coin this haze
Wolftrap and Fireflies
What does it mean?
Oh, the image sticks like glue to me
Is this to make some sense
Some evening
Quiet with a candle. Cheat to bring them near
Oh, silent, I the hunter, til the answers clear
I tried hard to peg this feel
The catch proved much too big to reel
You blink, you miss and bliss is dead
Playing spotlight with my head
Pop up unannounced, take aim
Snap the traps (and start again)
Quill-dip and adjustaprose
Snap-shot record what image glows
I know their eyes follow me
Track my prints, encircle me
Taste. Touch. Smell. Sight. Sound
Eyes look up, ears to the ground
Soaked in a blanket's warm ebb and flow
Freer now? I just don't know
Slate-gray sky meets musty green
Can you smell the mossy world machine?
Cunning and captured...free and endangered

Attica's Flower Box Window

She broached again and again
over the careful morning scones
that she adored all too quickly
as he cranked up his jaw and turned off his ear.
And she reminded they were his favorites and...

"Could we please consider for our morning view
that flower box window with the three sides of glass?
(like in the magazines)."

"Consider it I will," he said, 
"Consider it gone from your head
as it is I'm late and not in need of a view.
And you will idle your time away
like a bird perched at the window sill.
So off I go and I'm gonna auction you off
if you insist my little gem,
my little hen to persist with this mentality."

"No more of this!" she said, 
"Living in the shadow of my other."
Sledgehammer, Saw - hacked away at the wall.
Giggles, Fear and Dust.
She chipped away and punched a hole
and the sun winked through
with its artist eye as if to say,
"Where've you been Attica!?
Break the Seal of your conventionality..."

Not used to this Awakening in you
Stash your dreams up in the cupboard bare
You Know your name...

She made her way to see that sun
and headed out the door with a wide stride
to attack it from the other side.
She ripped away! She talked aloud,
belly laughed, and one by one
the bottled spirits came to the curb
to see what was goin' on.
"Attica, my dear," they said,
"have you gone and lost your head?"

"Here's a magazine,
now go and find me that window frame.
And to the nursery with you,
we've got alot to do.
You can help or get out of my way..."

Not used to this Awakening in you
Drink your tea in the same way
(same time each day)
You know your name. And you know who you are...

Well the spirit caught like wildfire
and she had a crew and between them all
her flower box window was installed after all.
Fanfare from the kitchen,
street bazaar in the yard
("I see you! You see me!")
Bottles uncorked.
Wildflowers free.

Come Again?

Please break away
Afraid you'll fray out on the game to shake change
They turn to graze and chase their shadows straight out of town
Grab a seat, here's a retreat to reckon with
Please raise your glass. Season's come again.
At long last, I'm long lost (but it won't last)
Minions cast opinions as they crowd outside my getaway
Hooray! Toast today! Begin this Social Event of the Century
Odd Scenery
Around in vain, I'll catch my tail
I missed your point, but anyway...
Shadows in the banquet hall recall the dance that did them in
Shins, oh so thin. Should you not feel a part of anything?
Are these not the colorful lives we intended them to be?
Freedom painted me. Begin this Social Event of the Century
Odd Scenery
I'll catch my tail. Conversation failed
I missed your point, but anyway
Come again? Come again
Social epithets fly. Arms dig deep to rake this muck
Plague me for the fool. This rendesvous must self-destruct
Time to clear! The end is near! Too late, roll in Catastrophe
Blame me, it's Chaos Carnival of the Century
Odd Scenery
I'll catch my tail. Celebration failed
Come again. Come again?
Water off a duck's back (yet, your still on my lawn)

Flood

Over Prudence Hall we fall. Unassuming, quiet all.
Peaceful town square. We float in on streams of air.
(if you take note don't stop and stare)
White steepled church we perch upon
the fenceposts, trees, poles wirelines
We stay up high
Birds eye View
Silly Humans, why burn your bridges down?
Should you go with the flow? (Drip dry)
Quick, kick your feet around
Should you never condone flash flood for medicine?
Live where you don't belong.
Just Cause. Don't judge your weatherman
Every year convention here. One by one we come

Survey the quality of your damage done
Bluejayjackdawloggerheadkingbirdwhipporwillblackbirdblackbilled
magpiefinchravenhermitthrushblackcrow

CRUSH FLOW
FLOODS come from RAIN falls from the SKY drinks back the FLOOD
It cycles like the leaves (and so do we)
Silly Humans... Concientious Objectors.
(but we have no conscience and we won't object...
'cause we're as right as rain)
We know it's only human nature is not kind
Even birds must take their bath sometimes
(too much oil on the wings is a dangerous thing)
We're your bitter partisan. Familiar, welcome enemy
Devoted couriers. Cleanse and drain. Binge and purge.

Reunion Monticello

Raise your family of ghosts and spirits, Sir,
we really need to drink from your wine.
And yes, your skeletons in the closets
(might I bring a few of mine?).
Let's see what we can't see,
unlock your books for a change.
Glass excavated... bits of china... 
Mulberry Row scars still remain.

Bones are everywhere, aren't they?
Our families spring from their graves.
Their Sunday Best don't fit them bones
the same way and wine is seeping from
the barrel staves...again.

I'm in your tea room toasting lives unchanged
(while music's playing by the garden's edge).
Outside rusted joints prove souls asleep
can flowers blooms from this vintage?
Relative Skeletons nervously shuffle,
we glance around community of our own.
Quiet valley drips with hints of laughter.
Mr. Jefferson, can we slip these bones?

And bones are everywhere, aren't they?
What do you think they'd see through those trees?
"Resurrected Spirits Dancing," you don't say!?
(The minstrel's new arrangement of History).

We danced and drank the sun!
It over flowed and washed the past away.
We roamed! Echo! Laughter!
Spirits danced a jig around their graves...
...Then came the rain.

A garden craves a balance of both (I guess so).
From the garden, they're all running from the garden,
we're all looking for the garden. So much to maintain.
Bones are everywhere aren't they?
Ghosty spirits dash right past me.
Finding hidden spaces, favored places.
Families disperse to there graves.
Bones are here to stay aren't they?
We cultivate the bones that we're of.
Sir, if you caught me drunk on wisdom,
would you say I've had enough?

November (Makebelieve)

Board the windows, winterize...recess with my mind
I have some in-between time...recess with my mind
Quilt of voices, piecemeal scenes...shutters clack
Hush. muffle time
Painting of a different stream...recess with my mind
Jack Frost taps the window sill
William Tell atop the hill
Dreaming arrows shoot the hay
Autumn's color wheel will fade
Stones thrown to blown spun glass...recess with my mind
Re-invention. Nurture Past...recess with my mind
Escape our Independence Day
(Battle in decline)
Correspondence won't relay...recess with my mind
Redcoats raid the Raincoats' space
Soul to storm upon each face
Clouds with roving eyes set sail
Cannon cottonballs of hail
Autumn raged the skeleton trees
Kings and queens and squires flee
Chessboard battlements ablaze
Battle photo bleached away
Lonely with the company
But when November calls me
Creation melt my enemies
Hibernation. Silencing
Makebelieve
Memory just short of what it could've been
It didn't last, it went away
Always knew it would.
It's good to leave, it's sad to leave
There

Summer Song

Soak the sun
Cinnamon
What went wrong
Summer Song
Splinter snag
windvein ragged
Faded trends
Summer ends

What's that I thought I heard you say?
Lunarscape and cold winds on their way
Whistling banshee through the screen
Salt air and isolation sting

Melon seed-spitting wars
Toys lost in the sand
Innocence is scorched
Summer leaves its brand

Bat away a hurricane's eyelash
Ushering by the season past
Hinting, dapples pinching through my sleeve
Intimating that I leave

Hurricane remember me
Hurricane watch over me
From this point we roll along
Without a trace of summer song

Blind Session Eye

Run away hindsight
You've shown my shrine of
Priceless regrets
I'll stay. Shame me
Naked in my Open House gallery
Why do I pull it away from me?
Thrown away my eyesight
Get away. Embrace me
Push away
Gouge out me eye
Come and play cliché
Dance and prance
Make fun of me
Blind eye tempting
Afraid of my fun house
Laugh at me
How I pull it away from me
Thrown away my eyesight
Me, I'd like not to see them weep
They blind my eye
I Spy life passing by
Carve a niche
Eyes draw, I resist

Message to Me

Where, oh, where is that little child that used to play?
Another turning of the page, another churning of the day
Are you tired of the same? To much flower dulls the brain
(your rhyming's stale again)
I was hoping to be wise. Vision is two realeyes
I've read a lot of How-To books on how to take action
(If you would kindly lift the blanket from my eyes)
Appalachian woman is a century plus old
Is there something to be said here? Hope you
Realize
Few and Far between are these rocks to hop
So set up shop and get to work
No such thing as a living room
When you sit around.
Streaked a frozen lake just to test testosterone
Message to me (did a world of good)
Lost eleven pounds to the tracks in Ireland
Never bet on the likes of a horse named
Robin Hood
I would give anything to visit History.
Anything to replant History
Oh, to dig for parts of me
Stem to branch-trunk-seed
Caught the theme of just what life's to be
The specters speculate
With their pounding on my head
They're rattling my bed
The slumber sucks you in
I didn't hear from you
And you and you on my birthday
Message to me? (I'm quite the same way)
Building new boats instead of Raising Titanics
What am I trying to say?
We swim or die. We sink or burn
We try and fail (but try)
This message sent to me is that
This picture ain't complete
Run along, live. Don't sit around

For the Girl

What's best to show? Testline. Treasure trove.
Fountain, flood me. Barmaid, this stings me
I've spent years for the...
What's best to show? Testline. Treasure trove
Fountain, faster. Tavern master this brings me here
I've spent years for the...

Kept in this box is a key to a myth
Have you words? I have searched
For The Girl
"Yeah boy, she said 'Truth has a fair skin'
To the docks, gone away, gone away..."

What's best to show? Testline. Treasure trove.
Fisher, feed me. Wiseman pour into me
I've spent years for the...
What's best to show? Testline treasure trove
Fisher four-seasoned, oh wiseman,
The reason this brings me here
I've spent years for the...

Kept in this box is a sweater cured in salt
Have you words? I have warmth
For The Girl
"Yeah boy, she said 'Hope is a landscape that kills'
Ship to sea, gone away, gone away..."

Everything Changes. Everything Comes And Goes.
What's best to show? Testline treasure trove
Whip post. Salt mast. Deep Sea Cross Stained Glass
I've spent years for the...
What's best? Let go. Cut lose treasure trove
God House. Far coast. Preach, Sir, please Far Ghost
I've spent years for the...
Kept in this box is a key to protect her
Have you words? I have shelter
For The Girl
"Ah! Your the boy whose youth she has wasted,
To the world, gone away, gone away..."

Dusk

It's dusk, y'know?

It's a purple sky...cold air...woodsmoke...pinestraw smell
I really like you. Can we play tomorrow?
I really like you. Can we play tomorrow?
But it's dusk, y'know...and I'm goin' home
It's dusk, y'know...and I'm goin' home
It's a purple sky. And the trees bow for us
Chain saw burrs...somewhere...way away
I really like you. Can we play tomorrow?
I really like you. Can we play tomorrow?
But it's dusk, y'know...and I'm goin' home
It's dusk, y'know...and I'm goin' home
Home...it's a purple sky...window light...warm light
And I'm goin'...home
home
home