Night Dreams

I heard the banjo in the breeze

Wafting gently on the Tennessee wind…

Crickets played the rye grass harps,

I dreamed of moving south again.

Sometimes I hear a Chinese gong,

Keeping rhythm in Kowloon…

Last night a skate blade cutting ice,

Split a frozen lake in Saskatoon.

These dreams occur more often now,

As the expiration dates draw near…

How would my life be different,

Had I settled anywhere but here?

The farmhouse in the San Joaquin,

Still the dream I miss the most…

The one reality I gave up,

While migrating towards the coast.

I miss those glorious yesterdays,

My incredible golden past…

Yet my life on the cliff on Penn Cove,

Is a true glory that also won’t last.

Past the 70's Into the 70's

The 60’s were rebellious years,

Questioning how I was raised…

Driving drunk, through mail boxes,

Awaking lost, but still unphased.

The 70’s were enlightened years,

I was incredibly young and hip…

We crowded around the piano,

My ashtray, the Guacamole dip.

The 80’s were the “first class” years,

Art galleries with a full wine glass…

High bidder I won the center piece,

Sliding home on my drunken  ass.

The 90’s were productive years,

Good jobs, and a paid off home…

Best dogs, bad relationships,

I found myself happy and alone.

Looking back in this new century,

I am amazed I lived this long;

How everything turned out so right,

In spite of everything done wrong.  

Estate in Time

I bought this house, a youthful dream,

Remodeling with care, room by room…

One board at a time, well over my head,

I could barely afford a broom.

I never thought a ten room house,

Let alone on a private beach,

Would be a part of my future,

A project well beyond my reach.

I gambled and won.

After twenty years of sailboat races,

Ducking and waving at float planes

Walking three generations of dogs,

I sit on the precipice of change.

The rooms all need repainting,

The Iron filigree’s turned to rust…

The furnishings now have value,

Although covered with memories and dust.  

When does one liquidate an estate?

Or try surviving another charmed ten?

I have decided to get out the vacuum,

And perhaps paint each room once again.

The Crow Knows

The shortest distance between two points,

Is a straight, unwavering line…

A theory related to travel,

Can now be applied to time.

I frequently moved in my early years,

Avoiding commitments and family ties…

Finding the one time I settled down,

Trapped and aging; now time flies.

The crows leave this place in the winter,

Zigzagging south again, to warm weather…

Reminding me of my dismal straight line, 
Dropping one mocking black wing feather.

Sarajevo Rose

I wrapped my soul in a concrete block,

Unbreakable by any song or prose,

My heart broken on the battlefield,

To become a Sarajevo Rose.

A painful landmark in my life, I

Still have my fingers and ten toes;

My heart now a bittersweet sidewalk,

Often stepped on, Sarajevo Rose…

The loss will not be forgotten.

Steady pain, like a river flows…

Eroding the earth it passes through,

Sprouting another Sarajevo rose.

When Hats Were Hula Hoops

In the My Space World. RIP

Unfurrowed

Life, a too fast written journal,

Love but a grand game of tag!

Time on this planet, my country;

My face is the wrinkled flag…

Planted to conquer this world,

Won from yet one more war…

The youth control the universe,

The old question its mysteries more.

No Baggage

She was on a jet to Malta

On the eve her mother died…

She Facebooked, “Message, not received”,

To her relatives, she lied.

She never spent a day at work,

Opting to follow every whim.

Her nights, spent at the discotheques,

Afternoons, sweating at Gold’s gym.

Invited to every one man show,

“Worship me”, she thought aloud…

Celebrating her life, alone,

While embracing the entire crowd.

She made new friends in every town,

They entertained her day and night…

We all carried her emotional baggage,

So she could travel the world light.

Life as Film

White is the blend of all colors,

Black, the absence of color and light…

Life is a series of photos,

Some in color, most black and white.

Death, betrayal, loss of hope,

Fade into the black of night…

Memories of a love or joy,

Show in vibrant shades of white.