Dusk

Dusk

The light,

With soft embrace

Flirting with the angels

Billows forth from westward window

And dims. 

Relatively You

Relatively You

When I first met you

I felt that your radiance was addictive

I know now that it is the established order

When you emerge, nothing else matters

The earth spins properly on its axis

Because you would have it no other way

With but a flick of your delicate wrist

You dazzle, shimmer, fashion impossibility

When my heart skips beats in your light

It is required to keep pace with your rhythm

A fine wife, a fierce mother, both true

Yet neither fully captures the sum of your glow.

Midday, Mid-spring, Downtown Seattle

Midday, Mid-spring, Downtown Seattle

The forecast was for rain

and so, comes the sun

briefly poking through the clouds

                a fleeting hug

                a welcome flirtation

not quite warm enough to ditch the hoodie

a chill wind pierces it

                a tap on the shoulder

                an affirmation

around the corner, the irate man shouts warnings

the government is spying on its people

with something called T-1’s

just read the papers and open your eyes, sheep-le!

anyone with half a brain can see them!

no one really notices

most ignore his abrasive counsel

his sniper fire ricocheting off the walls

into the back of the hoodie

slowing melting into kettledrums

a lively Caribbean beat near the crosswalk

its molasses and rum, an unlikely pairing

with crab cakes and lattes

but the mellow vibes flow unimpeded

a small girl upside-down on a jungle gym

bets her mommy she can trick her

she does, and no one knows how

further down

a man with jet-black eyes

and a black heart

defies anyone to challenge his sagging pants

                everyone notices, no one disputes,

and he is left to his demons

as he swaggers away

a boat drives through the intersection

its occupants waving their hands

dancing to the helmsman’s commands

a lady disembarks the boat

and gets everyone’s lunch order wrong

she just doesn’t have it together today

but it’s cool, no one does

just down the road

a veteran panhandler posts watch

with his veteran duffle bag

and his veteran hat held outstretched

in the exact same spot and position

every single day, for at least a season

perhaps even two

he is more fixture than person, now

he should be shouting warnings

he probably already is

only no one notices

another sun-break strikes the white banner

of the striking theater workers,

creating an uncomfortable glare

their grievances are unreadable

the sun-break also hits the pavement

in front of the convention center

the ground sparkles

as if embedded with gemstones

with all the suits scurrying back to work

no one notices.

Deviled Curl

Deviled Curl

Feel the wanton glare

Kiss the melted swirl

Share her heaving air

Trace the deviled curl

Touch imperfect form

Feel perfection’s skin

Brave her perfect storm

Pierce the squall within

Let the madness mesh

Ride the midnight flight

Taste her buttered flesh

Feel the divine bite

Twist the spiny stair

Steal the marbled pearl

Share her heaving air

Trace the deviled curl

Red Routine

Red Routine

Red is the dawning sky at my arrival home

An hour sooner, the black of night, and

Dawn’s cherry-flavored, goodbye kiss

It smears my face and shirt with our shame

I’m tickled-pink from red wine and taboos

Blood flow, almost too toxic to function

Staggering through the reddish-blackness

To wipe away the ruby scandal

I pause, as a familiar fear speeds my heartbeat

I feel my wife’s eyes

Burning through me from our bed

As the dark room slowly reddens

Knowing she is pretending to be asleep

But also, knowing

Her breathing is not easy, like slumber

It is shallow, and rough, like red river rapids

And though I cannot see her flushed face

I know that she is raw and wounded

I can’t explain my weekly scarlet addiction

Any more than her capacity for enduring it

Yet we both continue our rose-colored roles

The sun always finds us in happily wedded bliss

But the dark-red shadows of pre-dawn witness

Our weekly lie, and each time, at that fervid moment,

Like a shameless phoenix rising from disgrace’s ashes

I am immolated on that very dark spot

By the vows I so brazenly incinerated

Consumed within her scarlet fire

Her quiet rage and seething humiliation

I slink away to clean dawn’s cherry stench

Before the rose filter falls from the room

Hater

Hater

you, who could have any man rushing to your whim

are seemingly, the last person on earth aware of your charms

and you cast your line with an obvious hair-flip

you bat your pretty, vacant eyes at whoever’s in range

the gentleman with the tiffany wedding band

the poser with the iced-out tiffany Folex

they all smile and blush, despite themselves, and their dates

but their women are haters, they wish they were you

you, who could have any man rushing to your whim

are seemingly, the last person on earth to return home alone

and you straighten your seams with an indifferent hair-flip

you claw at your colored, phony lenses, eyes dry and reddened

the man you waited for while flirting with other men all night

has already come and gone home to the wife he’ll never leave

though never believing, you accepted his lie again because

his woman is a hater, she wishes she was you

Crime of Redemption

Crime of Redemption

Retribution fueled my ignorance of youth

I relished hurting as much as I hurt

Blind to the fact that inflicting pain

Never cancelled out my own; they magnified

Each cruelty accumulated upon my chest

Like glass-filled volcano ash

Vengeance, a delicious, irresistible poison

Choking, gorging myself, choking again

 On the bile of my own rage and spite

Having nearly destroyed myself

I know now the nature of this self-destruction

This emotional mutilation cannot endure

Grotesque compensation is not justice

A vengeance leveled leaves all lonely

If an eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind

Then I see things much clearer now

If barbarism rules the day, and is policy of the night

Then my crime shall be mercy

Life can be and has been most unkind,

But I will choose kindness, all the same