Libretto Of Suspended Animation

 

One stifling moment you are 

Here, the other else- 

Where, the persistent 

 

Question of why remains 

Hanging, ambivalent 

In the unmoving 

 

Liberating air. 

 

 

 

 

 

Empathetic Interior Landscape

 

Deep down 

 

In the terrified heart, 

Suffering festers and hides, 

 

And everybody wants it 

Ripped out and out 

 

Into the open without wounding 

The innocent beast 

 

Cowering inside. 

 

 

Real Heavy Stuff, This Gardening

 

Another morning out here well- 

Spent watching drunken bees staggering 

 

From one pollen-filled flower 

To the other while inside I bet 

 

You’re wondering again how it is 

I’m always stupefied from taking all this in 

 

In what might pass as a stupor 

Yet clearly mistaken 

 

Light. 

 

Hard Offering From A Despondent Nihilist

 

No matter what

You feel nothing will

Tender the something

You lack.

 

 

Tongue In Cheek, The Poet Addresses His Other Self

 

Janus, so many poems

 

I know you know 

It would take me two 

Lifetimes to share 

Them all with you— 

 

So forgive me 

If I end up choosing 

Only the choicest few— 

 

On the other hand, I’m sure 

It’ll come as no surprise 

They’re all about 

 

My reluctance to chew 

And spit out—what else?— 

 

A most vexing attachment

To a double-faced you.