rawhide

I’ve tried on many different skins

and ended up in this one,

stretched at the waist

twisted and torn

ready and willingly

back for more, more, and more

staples and stitches

dimples for dimes

tenderly oiling this rawhide of mine.

Alvaro my friend

Alvaro
my friend
you left too soon
but what about
today
has me
thinking of you
is it Jimmies guitar
or my faded tattoo
perhaps it’s the night
as I howl at the moon.

Alvaro
my friend
you left too soon
and I never
got the chance
to say
thank-you
for all the nights
you offered your friendship
wanting nothing more
than good conversation.

Alvaro
my friend
you left too soon
but your spirit
it seems
continues to bloom
within my soul
like divine intervention
so my life is yours
solely by extension.

Which brings me
now
to think of you
how if you were here
you’d tell me to
let go this dirge
and create something new
Alvaro
my friend
we’ve got work to do.

swimming circles

like a goldfish in their bowl

you don’t ever get to leave

staying where they keep you

what a pity or relief?

hell I don’t know the difference

between seeing and belief

but that fishbowl you’ve been swimming

looks far too small for me.

so if you’ve thought what I am saying

half a dozen times

your chances of remembering

are just as good as mine.

like a goldfish in their bowl

I don’t ever get to leave

still I keep on swimming circles

headed for the sea.

when the earth quakes

When the earth quakes

I learned the other day

that people become

very much equal

looking for a doorway

and having no clue

what to do next.

Better

We’re going to make this better,

for whatever that may mean.

Alone — Separate — Together

Better has many names.

July 4th 2019

July 4th 2019

in a room

with the morning

by my bedside

waking to the light

of emptiness,

looking

west.

on the mountaintop

We spoke a lot out there about how different folks live their lives,

about the idea of success and what it really means to feel comfortable in circumstance,

about family and virtue,

giving back and taking more consciously.

We say the things up there

on the mountaintop,

which are hard to say among the crowds and noise of the working world’s downturned head,

but no less we come back down renewed.

Bohemian Blue

Scott wouldn’t let me leave

he said

where do you have to go?

Stay, have another

we’re your friends you know.

How much cash you got?

That’s it, no more

21 dollars even

and thanks for being here.

I keep wondering

I keep wondering

whether it’s

right or wrong

but I keep coming back to

the fact that

it is what it is

and that’s it?

That’s it,

I keep wondering.

we shot to kill

It sucks

it’s burnt

it’s hard to swallow.

I chew the fat

then choke down

bile.

For now

mouthfuls

of blood and oil.

As I spit flesh

it stinks

of sorrow.

A few more bites

just choke

and swallow.

For what it’s worth

we shot to kill

and did.