The End...

3.31  Journey’s End

Rest now sweet muse

whose weary arms

have carried me

have dragged me

have shoved me

all of these days

some more frequent

some less eloquent

to this point

this precipice

of windswept rock

where sheep do not 

dare to graze

I turn to look toward

the beginning

my back to the abyss

my face to 

that bustling month

which stretched on for 

twelve

each endeavor a small flag

stuck wherever it might hold

rock outcropping

clump of heather

barren valley so unwelcoming

a hammer couldn’t have 

planted the flag

and the line of fluttering soldiers

so white

so fragile

could lead me back there

to that mewling pup

whose photo I still carry

instead I turn again

to the wind and the

fury of the sea

before me

and shout back

until I feel my words

gathering like wings

and the lift is so tremendous

so terrifying

so brutal

so beautiful.

###

This marks the end of my year of poetry.  

Out

Home Stretch...

3.1  Crossing Over

Beings on a higher plane

painted on a stone slab

grounded here for service

until spirit shoves wide

the false door

revealing a land to which

we are all bound

and makes our stored jars

of bread and beer and jewels

seem foolish

when all we ever needed

to pack was words.

###

3.2  Prison Break

And even the hyacinth—

that dreadful poeticism—

would be welcomed

like the father and his

only fatted calf

if only this winter

would fling wide the gate

on Spring’s prison and

return her full-bosomed

and smiling as if she had

never been behind those

cold steel bars.

###

3.3  Trucking

Tethered to the machine

by a vague guilt

a “should” like the one scrawled

on the note kept

stuck to the wall

above this battered desk

but this one not stricken

at least not yet

perhaps after twenty-seven

seeds germinate and sprout

then the spring will come

but how can we make it there

without this glorious sun?

###

3.4  Heathers

That razor wire drawl

draws even this man

into the squint

of a gun barrel

to be launched in a twist

directly into the bare chest

of a man who only wanted

what everyone wants

an easy road

and some head—

even if it’s shared.

###