Shivaree

Gather round now friends and kin,

A celebration is at hand.

Bang the cymbals, tap the tins,

Lasting long past setting sun.

 

Starting on a lifelong journey,

Set a mark to state your case.

There’s no resting for the weary

In this helter-skelter pace.

 

Kiss your partner. Kiss again.

Fill your glasses to the top.

Turn your faces to the wind,

Forever after has begun.

 

Still outside the noise continues.

There will be no sleep tonight.

Only visionary vistas,

Dreams of heaven wrapped in lace.

 

Compunction

Couldn’t help it.

Had to have it.

Wouldn’t think to give it back.

Only felt a slight regret.

Hardly overcome with guilt.

 

It was there for anyone

To come and fill its melting pot

Then scurry off with their reward

Before the door was firmly shut.

 

It was you who was afraid

To break the rules that you had set,

Take a chance that someone else

Could read the patchwork of your quilt.

 

I was firmly on your side,

Ready to defy the hoards,

To overcome the obstacles,

Heal each little nick and cut.

 

Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be.

Suppose we both are better served.

Time will count our history to

Give us both what we deserve.

 

Sashay

I could quote Carly Simon

From her song on vanity,

Visioning her subject as he

Strolls into a crowded room.

 

Or picture Dolly Levi

At the posh Harmonia Gardens

As she artfully descends the stairs

And grown men stop to stare and swoon.

 

Picture in your mind as

Travolta struts on Saturday.

All the ladies salivate

Just wishing he would look their way.

 

I had thought I’d seen it all

When Tyra hit the runway stage,

Made the perfect sashay statement.

Surely there was no mistake.

 

Then I see you tilt your hip,

Toss your hair, wink an eye,

Take a step into the room to

Leave all others in your wake.

Proclivity

“If you’re so inclined”, he uttered,

“You’ll find happiness on the edge.”

Though living on the darker side

Presents more problems than it solves.

 

Tried to answer, only stuttered,

Felt the leverage of the wedge.

Turned civility aside to

See what alternates evolved.

 

Winced a little, then I shuddered.

Should I step out on the ledge?

Put aside all guilt and pride?

Throw my life to angry wolves?

 

Should my mind be blank or cluttered?

I’ve a tendency to hedge.

This proclivity inside me

Does not have a strong resolve.

 

Lead instead into the light.

I will make the right decision,

Battle through the fiery fight,

View the world with perfect vision.

 

Emancipation

So, you think that you want to be free of me,

Believe that you’ve finally found the key,

Started to view things with clarity.

Well, that may all be very true.

 

I had been thinking along the same line,

Wond’ring about you and me for some time,

Thinking how everything used to be fine

Until somebody changed.

Was it you?

 

I didn’t think there was ever a doubt

What this relationship was all about.

When we began we were both so devout,

Committed to making it work.

 

You could have told me when things went awry.

I had no reason for questioning why.

We just sat back and let time go by.

No wonder I feel like a jerk.

 

You want your freedom?

Take it and run.

No one is stopping you.

Face it, you’ve won.

 

Ensconced

I’m not going anywhere.

This is much too comfortable

Sitting here like limp spaghetti

Waiting for the day to end.

A day from hell that took so long

Trying to unfold itself,

Now that it has trickled down

I’ve no desire to start again.

 

Perhaps a bit of mindless drivel.

Television, there’s the trick.

Or I could just drift into doze mode

Trying to read Harry Potter,

Sip a touch of pinot noir

To smooth the edges, soothe the soul.

I just refuse to add another

Single burden to my blotter.

 

You may think me selfish,

Even lazy to react this way.

Do not care.

Will not give in.

I am settled for the day.

 

Harbinger

Let the bells ring loud, ring clear

Heralding the crimson news.

Headlines speak in bold reviews

Announcing your arrival.

 

Flower petals pave the way,

Their luscious fragrance to allay

The subtle fears that fill your ears

And threaten your survival.

 

Be it known throughout the land

That tolerance has met its match,

Opened doors, removed the latch

That held it fast so long.

 

Free the light so it may shine

In places it has never been,

Set it free to sing again

And right unending wrongs.

 

You are just the harbinger

Searching, seeking out the truth;

All the lost imaginings

Forgotten in your youth.

 

Nexus

In our quest for common ground

Differences are often found

Too much to bear or overcome

Til all negotiation fails.

 

Like Montague to Capulet

The nexus was sweet Juliet,

Or at least she should have been

If better winds had filled her sails.

 

All can end so tragically

When clans or nations disagree.

Words and actions fail to grasp

The gist of commonality.

 

Warped opinion often lies,

Views the world with blinded eyes,

Leading lemmings to the edge

Where hope and reason all but dies.

 

It is you and you alone

Must solve this bitter mystery.

See the nexus. Find the link

Connecting destiny.

 

Serendipity

My good fortune

Finding you.

Sweet-souled serendipity

Smiling softly in your eyes with

Soothing sounds of sultry sighs.

 

Singing such seductive songs

Of milk and honey

Come what may.

Getting lost along the way

We stumble to our precious prize.

 

Seeking someday,

Stopping by to

Savor every saucy spice.

Happy growing old together.

Content in knowing

All is right.

 

Superfluous

Let’s stop all this drivel,

It’s just kibble for the addle-brained.

Try to simplify the mix

Without the tricks that drone and drain.

 

Finding words

Far less absurd

That will not curdle on the tongue.

Gently croon

A simple tune

That lingers after being sung.

 

Choosing words and actions

Built on traction,

Never slip or slide.

Keeping sails trimmed lively

Til arriving

On the other side.

 

Hack the excess, cut the blubber

Right down to the bone.

State the facts with certainty,

Leave the rest alone.

 

Uncouth

No sooner had his footfall played

Upon the threshold of the room

The truth smacked of the obvious,

This common soul did not belong.

 

I might have felt remorse about

His awkward and ungainly tone,

But feelings were all swept away

When first words formed upon his tongue.

 

Ravings of uncultured thought from

Such a boorish little mind.

Spewing crude and clumsy voice to  

Fill the room with fetid air.

 

Turn away and find a corner,

Hope that soon he’ll go away.

Growing small out on a ledge

Trapped in just my underwear.

 

Wilting from embarrassment.

Denying any blame.

Don’t know who invited him.

Don’t know why I came.

 

Phantasmagoria

Magic lanterns in a dream

Bending, blending, changing shapes

And sizes til they run together

Feather-lite and then to naught.

 

Bits and pieces, this and that,

Can’t remember all the story,

Scattered treasures buried deep

Beneath the sands of afterthought.

 

Rapidly the scenes are changing,

Grand illusions on display.

Heavily they layer one on one

Forever asking more.

 

Was it real or just imagined?

Will it ever come again?

Fearless flight of fantasy

Mesmerizing every pore.

 

Sleepless phantom of the night

Keeping dreams alive,

Dancing freely through my mind

That hope may long survive.

 

Nefarious

Feel the caustic wickedness

That sallies forth from fiery eyes.

Cage the beast before it flies

To dust the souls of piety.

 

Demons breathing firebrand

Nefarious in their delight

To capture unsuspecting minds

And bend them into shapes of fear.

 

Plotting as the village sleeps,

Plodding through the endless night

To land on open windowsills,

Set to pounce before the dawn.

 

Preying on the innocents

Who fail to recognize their fate,

Who sadly fain to raise their shields,

Never reach to draw their swords.

 

Praying for a silver knight to

Cleanse the stale and fetid air,

To quell the dread iniquity

And save the maiden fair.

 

Eclectic

Mix and match in hopeless hodgepodge,

Sight and source as yet unknown.

Blended bites, so eclectic,

Puzzle pieces don’t connect.

 

Must use high imagination

Linking up the scattered dots

To form a shape so unfamiliar

No one feels the full effect.

 

Riding winds of wanderlust to

Wild exotic wonderlands,

Seek the secrets of the ages

Though they may not match your dreams.

 

Widely scattered, wildly different,

Children of diversity.

Nothing matches,

Nothing matters,

Nothing is quite as it seems.

 

Donnybrook

Where were you when the fight broke out?

Under a table?

Out on the edge?

I was flat-footed, smack dab in the middle,

Caught in the melee,

Stuck on a ledge.

 

Tried to play peacemaker. Nobody listened.

Tried to back out but

The exit was blocked.

Vainly attempted to punch my way clear.

Only succeeded in

Getting cold-cocked.

 

I don’t remember just how it all ended

Since I was unconscious,

Senses askew.

No one would even say how it all started.

I was blind-sided.

Were you?

 

Collage

Picture, if you dare, every

Memory you had today,

Capsulate the fragments into

Micro-mini retrospect.

Paste the pieces in a jumble

Overlapping, intersecting,

Introspecting to a point of peace

Reflecting yesterday.

 

Is it odd?

This sanctuary no one else can understand.

Only you can tell its glory,

Only you can touch its flesh.

Flashcards of imagination

Reach across an empty room

To hand you salty memories

Never to be swept away.

 

Gloaming

Standing watch… No fear,

No trepidation for the passing years.

Could not stop them anyway,

Would not even if I could.

 

Weary and yet satisfied,

Sliding into destinies to

Meet the gloaming eye to eye,

Riding high on memories.

 

Seems like only yesterday when

Nimble youth was much engaged.

How delightful are the smiles

That greet me as I reminisce.

 

Happy to have come this far,

Hopeful to go farther still.

Helpful the experience

Accumulated on the way.

 

Now that twilight dips its head

To touch the tops of tireless trees

I lift up a silent prayer,

Thankful for the gifts received.

 

Heretic

Do you believe in anything?

Does anything believe in you?

Does conscience march on heavy hooves

Storming through your restless nights.

 

Looking for the mood to swing

From amber bright to shades of blue.

Wait in dread the pack of wolves

Who rage to slaughter helpless sheep.

 

Can you face your audience,

Bow expecting loud applause?

Is your ego so intense

It flies alone without a cause?

 

A simple member of the cast,

Lines learned early in your youth.

Good and evil intersect

Leaving just a single thread.

 

Heed the echoes from the past.

Search your soul to know the truth.

You won’t have to hesitate or

Live your life in mournful dread.

 

Malarkey

Starts with just a single statement,

Point of fact,

Simple truth.

Magnified a thousand fold,

Growing feet,

Begins to stroll.

 

Stretched to realms of disbelief,

Drawing back,

Moving on.

Beating brows adnauseam til

Backs are turned,

Heels are shown.

 

Knowing that the truth is lost.

Treasure the

Epiphany.

Moving out and moving on,

Better done and

Better off.

 

Mayhap

It may happen

         Somewhere far into the future.

         Who can know?

         Who can see what miracle of happenstance

         Might cause two paths to intersect?

         Not you…

                        And certainly not me.

 

It may happen.

         Lives can crumble in the jumble

         Ending up so tragically.

         Basic instinct of survival

         Kicking into overdrive will

         Still the pain…

                  Compensate to some degree.

 

What may happen?

         No one knows.

         Mysteries of life and living

         Vex our days, haunt the night.

         Keeping caution as our guide

         Makes us vigilant and wary

         Of the dangers.

         Keeps us reaching for the light.

 

Prelude

Trying hard to work up nerve,

Wake up feelings dormant for

So long that they are near forgotten

In this mad chaotic rush.

 

Tempt me with your sultry smile.

Beckon with a wink and nod,

A sly come-hither interlude

That speaks in volumes understood.

 

Coming just before the touch;

The first of many, hopefully.

Prelude to a memory,

Memento for ten thousand nights.

 

Save this moment. Hold it close.

Press the rose inside your book of

Heather-scented memories

To keep forever and a day.

 

Reprobate

Rejected as an outcast…

Lost soul searching for a home,

Damned and duly destitute,

Despised and wholly victimized.

 

Seen through sad judgmental eyes that

Never seek to look within.

Disapproval driving home a

Wall of censure full of hate.

 

Lost to stroll the streets in silence,

Walk among the heinous hoards

Sowing seeds of condemnation

In a garden so corrupt.

 

Gypsy bands play gaily

Til the fall from grace is absolute,

 Dance around the fire until

The gloom of Lucifer appears.

 

Who are these unprincipled?

These hail and hearty sideshow freaks?

Watching as their numbers grow

Until damnation is complete.

 

Flimflam

You can’t sell that nonsense here.

This is not some backdoor scam,

A bait and switch to flim the flam on

Some poor unsuspecting dupe.

 

Break the chain so much reviled

That preys upon the meek and mild

With unrelenting painful force and

Knocks the victim for a loop.

 

Is this some vast eBay scheme?

A slice of toast, an image seen

By someone whose imagination

Casts a wide suspicious net.

 

Should I bite and make a bid?

Cast my lot across the grid?

Forsaking common sense and logic,

Take a chance on what I get?

 

Can I beat the flimflam man?

Will I lose and be the dope?

Taking chances,

Dancing dances,

Holding out eternal hope.

 

Torque

Hunker up and make me spin.

Hunker down and twist again.

Keep the pressure turning in

So we can glide into the wind.

 

Twisted with a finger wrench,

Not a worry, not a pinch,

Feather light, intent to quench,

Fulfilling every measured inch.

 

Every moment hand in hand

Seals the bond so neatly planned,

Tightening our troubled band

Into a strong united stand.

 

We have been and yet will be

Purveyors of utility.

Wheels revolve eternally

To make us one,

To set us free.

 

Accolades

Praise upon prolific praise

Heaped up to the hilt,

An avalanche of accolades

Falling from the sky.

A maraschino cherry topping

Mounds of whipping cream,

Tickles of a Ferris wheel

Twenty stories high.

 

Beat the drum for all who come

To sing their heroes praise.

Shine the subtle spotlight

On the golden haloed hair.

Tell the hallowed haunting tale

That led to paths of glory,

Trials and tribulations overcome

To get to there.

 

Will you find it difficult

Accepting tributes prize?

Have you earned the worshiping

Reflected in their eyes?

We are but mere mortals

Acting out our escapades,

Hoping to be worthy

Of accepting accolades.

 

Bamboozled

What say we go dupe the dope?

Give him just enough of the

Unwinding rope to satisfy, mollify,

Catch his eye and offer hope

Where hopelessness alone prevails.

Hear the senseless plaintive wails

Softly as they emanate

But fail to reach the ears of fate,

Gasping as they grope.

 

Pray! Who are these bamboozlers?

These plausible confuselers,

These hearty, hateful handlers,

These unexcused excuselers

Who prey on pretty pitifuls

With easily committables,

Trancing and then trampling

The lame and limping snoozelers.

 

Must the weary always be

The victims of such piracy?

Failing to transcend the

Vague illusion of transparency.

Open eyes can catch the prize

And yet avoid bamboozlement,

If only they are tuned and wise;

If only they are meant to see.

 

Contiguous

As nighttime follows daylight,

As sidewalks hug the street,

As fingers fold to handshakes

And the music forms a beat,

 

The second hand sweeps constantly

Erasing yesterday.

And who will know the overflow

That swiftly slips away.

 

Is it not all connected

In some melancholy rhyme?

Are we to be suspected of

Diminishing in time?

 

And there are lessons to be learned,

And patterns to obey

In skillfully connected

Interactive interplay.

 

And daylight yields to nighttime,

And the street is sidewalk’s friend.

Our hands enfold in friendship

And the music never ends.

 

Dilatory

Putting on the putting off

Leads to yet another story,

While the moans of lazy bones

Speaks in volumes dilatory.

 

If the season captures reason

In the rhythm of the rhyme,

Chances are the pithy plan will

Meet demand to end on time.

 

But if sidetracks switch the cargo

And the focus goes awry,

Who is left the beastly burden?

Who explains the where and why?

 

Let me be the fiend of focus,

Crack the whip and set the course,

Dash the dilatory demon,

Banish him with lethal force.

 

Heroes haunt the halls of rescue

Never seeking fame or glory,

Always in the nick of time,

Never late or dilatory.

 

Oxymoron

It’s been a long-short, easy-hard,

Noisy-quiet time since the

Frizzy-frazzle, paddy-paddle

Came-went away.

And the clearly muddled message

Of our logical-nonsensical

Led us all to follow

What unspoken words can say.

 

And the moving stillness calls us

In a voice we cannot hear

With a razor dullness sharper

Than the blunt end of a spear.

Come and heed the mute rendition

Of a song no one is singing.

Come and wrap your restless arms

Around the nothing that is there.

 

We will win the losers battle.

We will fight them in retreat,

Run to cover with a vengeance,

Raise our flag in proud defeat.

They shall feel our passive anger,

The grave weakness of our might.

We will teach an unlearned lesson

In surrendering to fight.