Red Ribbon
my fondest memory
as a child, i won
the second place prize
in the county science fair
for my potato project—
that red ribbon,
my proudest possession,
hung over my head
and framed my face
with delight—
who would have known
the meaning of that prize,
the feeling of being
second best at something
i didn’t even like
_
B#4
train stop, stretch, and re-gear
the task of forward unclear
the five o’clock news reported
zero casualties, but failed
to mention the damage done
by the sixty ton wreckage
the young boy watching, too
naïve to understand the impact,
vowed “never again” and hid —
refused to dance in the rain
what was the point if
the link between him and earth
was falling?
_
Snow
It lay in drifted flurries on the barren path,
Covering the stones in silence –
Quieting them.
There’s something special about these monoliths –
Half-eroded, worn-out, and tired-looking…
Like they too have seen too many winters.
You’d have thought the patterned ivy
Would have textured them with twisted shapes by now,
Intertwining the gravity of repose
With the tranquility of respite.
Were their lives faithful to their testaments –
The dead still stones representing life?
Did they truly do them justice?
It settled quietly,
Covering the stones in history,
Clouding the bones in mystery.
_
Unbroken Light
Unbroken light floods
Into endless harmony
Scattering to infinite suns
Of solar orbit flight
And while we’ll never know
If uncertainty is natural
We always knew acceptance
Was simply a way of life
_
B#3
(in the momentary silence) i turned to you
like a lost vessel on a sandy shore
i said some words i didn’t know
(and left things as they were before)
_
Sleepless Nights
there are nights
i walk – uncertain –
on bare hardwood
floors, making those
unsteady prints
of empathy,
regret, longing.
i push up dust
on times long
lost in old books
and cracked tomes,
at times a sigh,
at times a
whisper
in the quiet.
i recall suns
rising and falling.
i have walked —
bewildered,
in sad rain
on countless nights,
in silence,
in a void —
wondering.
_
