Highway Hymn VII

...Driving into the setting sun
watch it rise again
in the rearview
hours fly by
miles roll on
destination always the same
an escape
an arrival
hellos and goodbyes
always connected
but slightly removed
watching myself...

Highway Hymn VI

Tongues of orange flame shine, showing the way
glowing little sprites
of argon headlights
peirouette off trees 'til the break of day

Feet must be tired from dancing all night
soon the sun will shine
on the yellow line
chariot of Helios soon in sight

Your nocturnal performance almost done
your legs must be sore
my weary escort

On blacktop dance floor
the last steps cut short
by the curtain call of the rising sun

Highway Hymn V

Telephone wires race along
whispering their electric song
tires on the road quietly hum
Silence is my only friend
when their songs saddly end
fingers on the wheel begin to drum

my solitary soulful song
only I know how to hum
I've never told my best friend
only my fingers know the end
and slowly they rest upon my drum
the rhythm of the road carries along

Flip on the radio, voices hum
the sound becomes my friend
I like this song, hope it won't end
raindrops on cartops start to drum
radio cuts out, I keep driving along
stuck in my head, the words to a song

Looking back, recall a friend
a time when summer refused to end
crickets keep the rhythm like a drum
who would've known how far along
I would have gotten without her song
the one I always secretly hum

I've no idea if she met her end
wether her heart refused to drum
when the river of life swpt her along
and all I can remember is her song
that long ago she taught me to hum
a cherished gift from a misplaced friend

Radio comes back, loud as a drum
with resurrected sounds, I sing along
raindrops still tap dancing their subtle song
tires on wet blacktop continue to hum
these sources of music a constant friend
hoping their companionship will never end

This journey has no definate end
so long as tires always hum
and blacktop is there to carry along

Miss you

Seven simple numbers
and I could hear your voice
It's all I want right now
but my fingers are frozen
on the last digit

Highway Hymn IV

The girl in the beat-up blue Volvo
riding my bumper, keeping up
face in the rearview a friendly reminder
that I'm not alone on this road
The double straight line showing the way
suddenly shifts to a broken yellow
triangular sign shouting "Pass with care"
She flies by me at 80 mph
window down, blows me a kiss
a strange helloless goodbye
Again I'm alone on this road
tail lights slowly fading
to matchstick pinpoints
snuffed out by the horizon

Highway Hymn III

There is a certain joy
in the fear of being lost
with no map to guide
There was a time (oh yes)
when stars could tell
that arcane knowledge lost
instead of constellations
substitute road signs
man relying on man
to show the way
But pay them no heed
we've truely no need
to be told where we're going
when we long to be lost

Highway Hymn II

The road is dark
headlights barely show
the empty cold blacktop
stretched miles ahead
stretched miles behind
This road is not traveled
except by the weary
for it truely leads nowhere
where few seek to go

Highway Hymn I

The double yellow line
pulls the car along
like a fish on a hook
towards the ice chest
lured by the bait
of the lonely escape

Unification

In the city of Marble everything
makes sense; the people know the rules and laws.
The citizens can see the hand keeping
balance; the equations reveal no flaws.
There also exists a city of wood
where chaos is a way of life; town's folk
do what they please. In here anything could
happen; actions random as clouds of smoke.
Though these two cities' behaviors oppose
and these metropoleis violently fight,
blind to the common seed from which they rose;
their fundamental disagreement right.
By ascending, their ways become the same,
the rules are revealed to this cosmic game.

(A version of this poem is being published in the Millersville literary journal, The George Street Carnival)

Flower Girl

Remember how he used to bring candy?
Gorging himself, belt undone, Thanksgiving
Stormed in wearing a beard of shaving cream
Fight back the urge to laugh, swallow it down

How he used to call me his favorite
his little princess, his bright shining star
I'd giggle as his wiskers touched my cheek
Swallow it down, fight back the urge to laugh

His sea-green eyes always danced with mischief
some juvenile prank ready to be sprung
Squirting flowers, whoopy cusions, buzz rings
Fight back the urge to laugh, swallow it down

His waxen lips hold a devious smile
his eyes still sparkling under closed lids
Wishing he'll sit up, say it's all a joke
Swallow it down, fight back the urge to cry

My Father's Father's House

Tearing the building down
silently mourn the passing
stood here for seventy years
housed three generations
used to be rural, out of the way
now propped between
two brand new stop lights
on a traffic laden road
This place is too furtile
to waste on delapidation
but who will mourn the passing?
The bulldozer won't
not a single oily tear
It has to go, like everything
tear it down to build again
this house like a pheonix
a stripmall born from the ashes
Not as aesthetically pleasing
but better for the community
Tear it down, make it new
okay, but mourn the passing

Marriage in Miniture

touch on the hand
knowing smile
twinkle in the eye
both parties know
how this night will end
after the dinner
the movie
the drinks
the laughs
it comes back
to the bed
pulling straws for position
after the act
his chest rising and falling
her head doing the same
kiss on the check
caress on the arm
drifting off to sleep
day's over, problems forgotten
they turn out the lights

Beachhead

Keep the frost out, bury it six feet deep
build the cage, lock it up, and toss the key
hide it now (in a tree, under a bush?)
push it down below, we've no need to see

They make their moves, and still they chip away
lips cold, trying to lick the meaty core
Finally the walls of Troy have been breached
while ten thousand ships leave the blood stained shore

Winks and whispers again, out of the blue
the surprise attack no one expected
Lightning finger tips caressing the brain
of the watchman asleep, his task neglected

She dances to me, a thief in the night
in an old abandoned jewelry shop
that ever houses the one priceless gem
this crime we're all destined never to stop

The one fatal flaw, it came from the act
of hiding this thing so deep in the earth
though we never watered or tended it
divine intervention gave the seed birth

Bliss

Atom bomb sing songs
play through the mind
searching for answers
to questions undefined

There is always solace
in blissful solitude
folding into the self
come out refreshed, renewed

She told me once
to find my bliss
only to be realized
in a brief stolen kiss