for the film "In the Land Of Blood And Honey"

Do you think I'll perish if you'll squeeze the metal

In name of God or heritage

All in vain all the same

I will blink one last time

But will remain as alive as I ever been

You see my dear comrade

I have died many winters ago

My blood isn't red nor blue

I am the quiet in your mind

There in the church you won't bomb

I'm the statue with no arms

Waiting, wanting, wishing

To hug the devil out of you.

Squeeze and see.

1/9/12

THE S STANDS FOR THE SUN

Light feet, muscles tensed, into a grandstand,

You and I stand proud; we are nothing short of a dream team

To my surprise I can hear all the shuffling you do

Miles away or two feet apart from me.

During the height of a day or in the low of the night.

Run, walk and gallop, again and again, with you atop I loved it all the more,

Green or blue, pastures, beaches or roadways, you and I ran as one till we stole dust!

Till the sweat was all we could feel.

Your braids caressed the wind, and my mane split it in half.

I am behind the rainbow now, looking back.

Knowing my life was grand though cut short.  -- I bear no regrets, none.

I thank you for the blessed times and for the joyous rides.

Fear not, I was always happy, and now you too must be.

Now the S now stands for the Sun.

Keep looking for me, when it’s warm, I am here and I am Smiling.

Nostril to nostril… ears perked; ready to carry you

Past the rainbows and the sun lines.

on 7.23.2012 for Sade and Sammy, the horse.

Plant A Tree, Bird Free

Strange you may seem; wings open entering at dusk

I’ve seen a million faces

Been a several places

Your visage shares commonalities

With the earth, water and the glaring sun

Your hair is the wild wind behind a sailboat

Pottery-full hands slide slowly

Down the sides, along the crevices of an oblique

What’s in your heart,

And what’s in your hands?

The loss I read in your blues

Is just as my own

Written it is across your chest

Free as a bird

Over the gold coast

Plant a grand tree, one, two or three

Bird free, bird gone.

The long road lined with candles flickering

The wings flutter the fire

In each glass

Two flights forward

One flight back

Plant a tree with roots that are miles long

Branches that reach the top of Kilimanjaro

Free bird, sly and soar up to the gray sky

Carry all the wisdom and shed

It onto us once in a while

When we stand under your tree.

Plant a tree, Bird Free.

Inspired by Stu M. “FreeBird”

May 31, 2012

THE GOOD EARTH

Two silhouettes sit side by side

Watching the wild dogs

Running across the red rocks  

Holding onto what is dearest

Not the hand of another

But the heart, the soul chain,

The secret handshake

Will flatter anyone near and far

To the left and to the right

Up and down

Never below yet always above

Bound by good earth

In God’s country you fan the clouds

For eternity known only to mankind

Lifelong, endless, the essence of the whole kit and caboodle

LOVE

You’ve been bitten by it,

Experience it in all its might, thousands of rays

Today and every day here on out

Whether in God’s Country or on Mars

You are bound by good earth.

Prosper and smile ear to ear

Sway side to side together

For now and ever more

Both of you bound by all that you are.

Two hearts beating slow and steady, as one.

For Shayne & Glen by Lucie Teichmann on 5^th of May 2012

I am looking down, You are looking Up

You are looking up and I am looking down, at you.

One look and I am breathless

I can't but say I love you over and over

Because you are and will be my rock

You fought for me when I could not

You've said the words

When I wasn't old enough

Today I have but one small wish

That you wake up from your dream

And hear me sing:

You've made me who I am

You've cradled me and I thank you

You are and will always remain my lifeline

My equilibrium, my way to know what's right

Boldly and selflessly you have altered my fate

I am here to forever express my gratitude

You are looking up and I am looking down

I'll hold your hand until the ground separates us

And even beyond

Your glowing skin and gentle ways

Cannot escape me

I'll wipe your tears

Don't be afraid

I am here and you can fly,

I am here to set you a flight

Bear no fear my dearest, my queen of hearts

As my heart flutters I caress your forehead

Into what will unfold,

One last time

This morning I heard the birds sing for the first time

This very spring

They welcome you; they open their wings to carry you

Go on in peace, and I shall live to uphold your ways

My light, my prayer, my Abuela.

3-31-12 &  4-1-12

Upper East Side

My dearest upper east side
the bright teal pool you offered me
Will always mean a beginning
Brand new world
The end of innocence
The river, the park
The $2 an hour job
All that you've given
As much you've taken away
Ghosts running up and down your blocks
Two decades of slow motion
Knowing this way is not all it may be
Dear upper east side
More often than not
You provide me with creeps, bones deep
I say mr skeleton let's do the dance
Take the stage, I'll even shake your hand
My dearest upper east side
The childhood days of walking in solitude
My only company, a bright yellow sony walkman
Here you still are
I don't make a move without music in my ears.
My world. My heart.
Riverside park, the afternoon I'll never forget
I sit by the river, when I want to remember
The wholeness of life
The circles we play
The beginning
The end
My dear upper east side
Let me go, I beg.

3-30-12

MEMORY (SET)

If you heard it just once

You would give up all that you are

For one night, for one set of this

Memory riddle if you please

If you saw it, glanced at it

It would take you and squeeze all there ever was

Within you and beyond your draw of comprehension

If you understood it

It would betray your usual sense of self

The oddity in all you seen with your pretty brown eyes

Tonight as if any other is going to arrive

It shall confess into the crowds

What is glaringly crystal and smoky and ever more to you and all present

If you offered it a day and grew with it

It would ride you like a hurricane

If you felt it a pinch longer, the longest 15 minutes known to man

It would punch you to your knees & happily you’d kneel

As if receiving knight's honor and grade
This set of pulses will alter tomorrow, today.

3.26.12 

Blood-Line

Children of men we are

Water brothers by time

I could not tell whether it was just yesterday

When we learned our first knot

Push and pull, see and halt right there

What is a bloodline?

It snakes through many mountains

Reaches the sea, holds in a barrel

Steams a shirt and makes a cup of tea

For every moment we laughed, shared and sailed

I thank you and hold you against the sun

In each drip I know you are there,

In all that was, is and will be, a part of you exists

Life is but a moment we get to live,

I stand tall; I knee to the cold ground and fold a flag.

You taught me how

From across the state line, I am there

Man of honor, heavens wait

Our last hoorah hasn’t rung

The silk in the bloodline is now and always

Below a vessel, underneath my eyes
Life is but a moment that I saw through your mind.

12-27-11

For Eda, when his friend passed.

Tremor (Subway poetry)

In a moment in which I can count to five
I saw your eyes flicker they minced me into a tree trunk
Stepping down from a height now only known
As cloud nine and so it is
Feet on the ground, again
I remember the next day, morning after
The tremor that ran through me
Like a knife through water
I move into the next eve
Knowing it’s full of heart.

11-30-2011

Untitled

Here and now I stroke your hair

Slowly as if to memorize each strand

I run the tips of my fingers down your back
Kiss your lips for the last time
Help you into the canoe that awaits
Push you off into the water and turn away
I can hear you saying "take care"
I cry and say to the one inside

"I will always love you but run on, your life is elsewhere"
I will keep a piece of you that the water will not wash away
I stand at the ocean for what seems to liken to years
Turning around, seeing your boat clinking the horizon
Now it's just a boat
An hour ago it was my life.
Live, let live
Love, endure, and let go.

9/2011