We fall and forget more than we once could explain, Searching for a sign or phrase to remind our hazy brains, We should beware trumpets bellowing to proclaim, The arrival to our era’s great error and his killing reign. Feeble opposing deliberations between factions follow, Too late come the arguments that anyways fall hollow, Like …
Chipmunk’s Gambit
When I let Cinco out the front door, He pauses at the porch steps, firmly planted on all four. Cinco surveys the garden below, Where lilies, hydrangeas, and a rose of sharon grow. He listens for the crackle from a fallen birch leaf, And for the footfalls of tiny paws within the walls of his …
Talking With Cinco
I love talking with my dog Cinco. He may not understand many more words than a toddler, it is true. But when I add his vocabulary to his reading of body language and behavior patterns, he analyzes people in a quite sophisticated way. I haven’t yet figured out how much he really knows. For …
Teenage Wasteland, not by The Who
Crash splash, broken glass, These are memories hard to get past. Pitching coins before classes, Vice Principals braying like asses. Sharp edged and skinny, Wearing worn dirty jeans. Thin-skinned and pimply, Living mostly in dreams. Drinking cheap beer and stolen wine. Crime and punishment entwined. Bags of Columbian Gold bought for a dime. Trying to …
Living With Paranoia
Living with paranoia means living in a world of suspicion, guilt, and secret fear. I’m not sure if the word, “fear,” should be plural to represent many distinct events or singular because paranoia casts a shadow which covers and darkens everything it looms over. It is a general malaise that twists each event as …
This Is Me
Sometimes I cry while watching tv. I can feel the progress of the tears begin at the top of my head. My brain tissue, which is suspended in liquid, suddenly gets infused with chemicals which flood that critical organ. This usually occurs when something sentimental and sappy happens on the television program. Then, as quickly …
Walking Angry
Angry and I were taking a turn around our block of square brick houses. I was thinking of the sun and about being back in Texas. Shadows pooled and flowed beneath our feet like mercury. My dog’s steady pull drew us to a site of nature’s furious activity. We had come to a bush …
A Cool War
I called my dad this morning. He didn’t pick up and I left no message. This calling dad thing is new to us. I think he will call back when he sees that I called. I think he values speaking with me almost as much as I do with him. It wasn’t always …
Demons and Dogs
At night my dogs are shadows, merely lumps on the bed. They know nothing of the lingering ghosts in my head. My warm-blooded friends remain close by. Others, colder and closer still, watch all through my own eyes. The ghosts, repugnant and vengeful, are at last at rest. They will rise and faith shall again be …
A Winter Story
Gales of sleet and snow raced wildly, To say it was cold was to put it too mildly. Ice covered branches snapped and fell to the ground. Some hardy squirrels searched, but scarcely a nut could be found. Gus walked huddled and prayed for an end to winter’s cold. It struck deep into his bones …
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