Christmas Archangel

Small talk potluck smiles Clench my jaws tight Just like stage fright An hour of social delight In a less-traveled corner My weathered friend I finally gird myself With long laces Of furry boots Where are you going? You ask with sorrow A three-year-old Wingless Christmas archangel With unclouded eyes I’m going home Is all [...]

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The Way We Were

Long after we are gone They will unearth our bones From beneath warm glaciers Or cold ashes of extinct volcanoes They will store our frail artifacts In hermetic containers And date them Somewhere between Pre and Post With an acceptable margin of error We will be a topic Of someone’s dissertation They will chart our [...]

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Timing

Once upon a time Or maybe today Their paths crossed Or maybe they didn’t At the main entrance Or maybe on the fifth floor It was the beginning Or the end of all things He was late for the meeting She was early for the train Warm wind was sweeping Empty streets Or maybe it [...]

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Wanting

Most wanted is Most wanting Nothing more Nothing less Less is more More is never enough Enough already Happiness is wanting What you already have Everything you want Is straight ahead And behind But the road Keeps turning So much less So much more Difficult Do you know What you want Will it be Enough [...]

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Mysteries

Mysteries are unpolished gems Unapprised treasures For a discerning collector incognito Everyone else Wants a piece of the pie But he deciphers The recipe for its fragrance Once a year the coveted flower Blooms in secret He will risk his life to find it Those who know everything Know nothing at all Those who know [...]

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Unknown

The thrill and the agony Of a blank page Not quite the eternal no Not yet a sweeping yes A sketchy maybe Possibly perhaps Adorned with uncertainty And thirdguessing The thunderbolts of heaven Turned into dim flickering Prone to misinterpretation A one way ticket to Unknown And a head full of perishable thoughts Doesn’t seem [...]

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Emerging

All my days have been written In your book Before any came to be And then you gave me The chisel and a hammer To carve them out From the silence of a boulder I am weighed down By the gravel in my pockets Dust mingles with sweat I can no longer see Or hear [...]

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Writing

Why couldn’t life be A multiple choice test? That way you could get it right Most of the time If you had The faintest idea And a sense of direction But alas They want you To write an essay A novel even Introduction is easy It writes itself But then the plot takes An unexpected [...]

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Unfurling

Be still my soul What is your unfurling? Your trembling Your flutter? What is your ache? A void that’s ever empty What is your shape That I may fill it? Chords unstrummed? Songs unsung? Words unspoken? Colors unseen? A flock of geese Captured in perpetual takeoff You have startled The stillness of the pond Marred [...]

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The Calling

You used to know everything In even rows and columns Effort times distance equals destination Page eighty nine The second paragraph on the right In black and white Exhibit A illustrates A median average Expected outcome Law and order Fill the prescription And choose to be Somewhat satisfied Mostly satisfied Totally satisfied Now you don’t [...]

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