Two Five Three Six

Letters from my ancestors
Have each spelled out ten names
Two to be used in case of emergency
Five for female spawn
Three for patriarchal ties
And six as shadows of mine own heart.

I love each one as any man can
I’ve researched each story true,
Chosen from my memory
I’ve drawn each one out, too.
I hold my head up high for them;
Each they’ve passed to me their secrets.
In my hands I see their scars
So, too, I see their years.

Through their streets I have sure walked
I’ve also gone for a ride
Sitting in the back seat
Of a stuffed full 1965 Studebaker
Heading out on summer vacation.
I’ve opened the door on Union Street
To taste homemade crabcakes and beans,
I’ve rode the long trail home
Passed Devick Lake out on the range.

So each of the names I keep at the helm
Awaiting imminent deployment,
Like roses saved in a jar
A timeless memorial stored as fondness,
An old lined sheet of blank paper
Found in the desk of y’or.

Wander To Withdraw (day 3049)

I wandered here as if lost
One eye on the path
The other asking my Gods
What makes a Man a Man.
I saw sunlight between the boughs
I saw spiders in their webs
I saw the great Fir’s bark
So cavernous and traversed.
I felt deep inside my heart
The partridge that took flight;
So close and thunderous,
So quickly she was off.
I saw the dam the busy Beaver built
Saw his second one too
Which made me feel like an invader
A secret nest so wild.
Then I turned at a landmark
Headed towards where I knew
And back to my familiar trail
To home I then withdrew.

Ending Sky (day 3013)

This is how I cried within,
But there was no trail to follow
So I held my breath
With open eyes,
And still goodbye came too soon
In my never ending sky.
A love letter unmarked;
I never found the start
Of the train I had so always yearned,
Watching dullening lines down
My mirrored window,
And I’ll walk home tonight
For I can see you tonight
In the sky so high above.

No Words (day 2839)

Did you listen when I spoke no words?
I could hardly lean to take flight
Soar away, hide away
Aloof my trail ablaze.

I woke up from a foggy bliss
Tended to my flock,
Stepped into a day of glass
Dew upon my shoe.

When I carried over my heart,
Sealed with each singing bird’s note,
T’was then I had no words to share
No sound to match such pure delight.

Raindrops (day 2708)

Sounds of raindrops break my consciousness
For I want to explore your body as if I’m exploring the forest
I want to bend underneath your limbs
And with my eyes search for usnea that grows so delicately from your branches.
As I step into a clearing, my nose so inspired
I will smell each of your scents, one by one
Until I can recognize, sight unseen, your every emotion.
I want to feel the damp moss growing around your belly
And tug gently so I can hear little tendons flexing at my pull.
I want to squeeze when I find your roots
For they shall startle me with rawness and give me cause to lift my knees,
And here, as I squeeze so gently, I shall watch your lips as they subtly quiver
As if blowing wildly in gusts of wind.
And then I shall fall gently into the sweet creek flowing from your nether regions
That shall sweep me away down a trail I have never explored before.

Wildflowers (day 2614)

I broke into a heart today
That screamed a coyote song
An echo to my own demand
A lonesome trail seemed forever run

There was no point I could reach out
For inside this cavernous land
Ten thousand Oak stood tall and proud
Which no touch could penetrate

But she, alone, took me at last
Like wind takes up a sail
Spring at last in to this land
Where wild flowers planted in pasture.