Prophets

1.      He stood at the murky, oily, smoky dock, his hand raised to shield his eyes from the morning sun. The men he had tried to warn were getting on the ship anyway. He shook his head at the fools, and gave it into the hands of God. Nothing more he could do. Whoever heard of a white whale anyway?

2.      I told you if you left your milk glass on the counter it was going to fall and spill. Nobody ever listens to me.

3.      “You are the one,” he said, his sage tone serious. A score fit for the movies played in the background. “The one to pull the sword from the stone and become a great and powerful king!”

The little boy’s first few dollars crumpled in his hand in his pocket, anxious to spend it on something to worthwhile. He frowned at the bewhiskered man, thoughtfully rolling a piece of candy in his mouth. After a long moment he pulled out the set of three wrinkled dollars and dropped them into the dirty hat at the sage’s feet, flashing a smile before turning and going on down the street.

4.      “No man of woman born.”

A detail. Hah! A riddle! I bet he’ll never even get it.

5.      “You have a great future ahead of you,” my chemistry teacher said, nodding decisively as he looked over the lab report I had turned in the day before. “A great future. I want to see you winning the Nobel Peace Prize, or working like on one of those shows - CSI.” He smiled, and for once I felt good for something other than the minimum wage employee and the C-average student I was. He was right about that great future. Twenty years later the newspaper read “Investigator solves mystery: Illicit drug maker finally caught.” What can I say? That chemistry came in handy.

6.      The wind blew through the white, stringy hair that did not move. Ancient eyes squinted, deepening the myriad of wrinkles on her face. She knew that morning she was going to die. Could feel it in her bones. But on she walked, singular and sacred, across the flat of the desert into her last sunrise.

7.      “Seven is my lucky number,” she informed him, pouring tequila into seven shot glasses which used to be a set of eight.

Untitled - Foreshadowing through Setting

The silence that always came with snow was uncertain. It hung in leafless tress and in cloudless air. The soft, delightful crunch of boots against whitewash ice, if anyone was to come upon the pristine mountainside, was like the satisfaction of breaking tiny bones. Hot breath wisped in the air, even the breath of things that did not breathe. Rocks and trees stood like blind sentinels, and everything was pregnant with thoughts that dared never be spoken.

A patch of pale yellow flowers broke the surface of the snow that wasn’t even broken by human feet. It was a strange little trail, winding unreasonably around trees. It stopped two feet short of a body. It was a fawn, just beginning to lose the white spots like melting snow on its hide. Eyes wide open, it stared across the surgical landscape. Up until the moment of its death, it had been completely unaware of what was happening.

And now its red stained white, stretching toward the misplaced flowers.

Snowflakes

Thank you for


Giving me your Eyes.

I see you only in the worst places

And it’s good.

Because right now

It’s Snow

That’s the thing I’m thankful for

Yes, even the nerves on frozen fire.

Pile me up in true White

Because you can see the Angels dancing.

And when I die,

Bury me in a place where

I grow like roots

A place where

I see the sky and the dancing Angels.

Even if they don’t see with my eyes,

With your Eyes,

The thing is

They see.

Await

This poem is going under rights for Images, the literary magazine on my campus. It'll b e back up when I get rights back! YAY! Happy dance!

Say

I didn’t say I love you


I said pass me the potatoes

I said I have to work late tonight

What I meant was I miss being alone with you

I didn’t say fuck you, go to hell

I said I’m on the toilet

I said where are the kids

I didn’t say let’s have sex

I also didn’t say you’re sexy

I didn’t say I burned my hand on the oven today and nobody was there to kiss it

I said it was about time you got home, supper’s on the table

I didn’t say we never talk any more

I said you’re ignorant

I didn’t say I think the rest of the world has it wrong

I said yes and no and mmhm

What I meant to say was teach me what you know

Let me learn.

Let me speak.

And every night when you go to bed

I don’t say I hope I am in your dreams

I don’t say I am pissed at you for screwing up my life

I don’t say what happened to us

I don’t say please forgive me for anything I’ve ever done wrong

I don’t say shape up or I’m kicking you out

I don’t say I am off my rocker, a total basketcase, crazy lunatic because you’re maddening

I don’t say I’m a better man because of you

I say good night

Sometimes, I say I love you.

Untitled

This poem is going under rights for Images, the literary magazine on my campus. It'll b e back up when I get rights back! YAY! Happy dance!

Rainstorm

Thunder


        Rumble

              Rumble

Sigh

        Pitter

        pat

        pat

pat pat

        pitter

              pat

Groan

       Growl
   
Pitter

pat

       pat pat

CRACK

Shuddershake

Roar

      Rumble

              Rumble

CRACK

      Rumble

ROAR

Rush             whush

PAT pat pat

      patter pitter pat

Shhhhhhhhhh

Rush

     CRACK

Shake shudder tremble

Just give me one more

Shhhhhh

Pat

Pat

Pat

Pitter pat pat pat pat

Pat pitter pat

     God

CRACK

Rock rock shake

     Shudder

           Rumble

                  Rumble

Groan

Screech

POUNCE

Take take

      Pit

      patter

pat

      pitter pat

Mumble rumble

Away, aw –

Shhhhhhh

Pat

Pat



Pat



Sigh


     rumble