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

_

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.

_