Simple Fears

It hasn’t got much better
Since you went away
We often worry you died for naught
And this is hard to say.

I know we won’t
And we’ll hope it’s true
Our silence is a sign of faith
But you’re not here
And this is all
We have to replay.

To Be Touched

I just want to connect
And words are how I feel
Someone please just touch me
Touch me anywhere.

I cannot bear the disconnect
The isolation rots my soul
And every cry I make out loud
Seems to fall away.

Tell me something real
It doesn’t have to be so nice
It doesn’t have to be quite right
Tell me I’m not the only one.

I just want to feel
Not so all alone
Someone take my hand and speak
Touch me till I breathe again.

Mike

I’m going running today
again
I’m guessing you don’t really care
wherever you are
in heaven
or in hell
But I’m going running
I can’t run anywhere near as fast as you did
but then I never could quite catch you even on my fastest day
I wish you could have seen your family
and been with your child
but death did not cooperate
And time did not allow
And now you have a widow
But I’m going running today
Like we always did
And just like then
you finished first
I’ll look for you up ahead.

The Ice-Cream Girl With Big Large Breasts

remember that time we went out for thai food
and you had just found out
that you had to turn around
and go right back
to the sand
remember how cute the girl was?
the one at the ice cream stand afterwards?
they told me about your dreams
your nightmares
the ones that came true
they told me how the second time,
he didn’t miss.
I got the call
the telling me you were dead
not too long after that
I was in an airport
Everything went silent
I only heard my heart
and I just wanted to scream
and the beating wouldn’t stop
It continues even now…

On the Desert Abbey II

For the next installment of the Desert Abbey (Desert Abbey II) the theme will be connections. If you are interested in submitting a poem for Desert Abbey II I suggest you begin thinking/searching/writing now. People need other people. Those connections are very important. And why would we not want to write about what is important to us? This gathering is open to anyone and I encourage all types of verse. Poets, let us get to the heart of it– it is, after all, what we do best, is it not?

Memorial Day

They put a rifle in my hand
but I never thought that I would make
friends.
They sent us here and sent us there
but I never thought when wars broke out
they would keep me home
They told us all so many things
But not how we could carry on
when we didn’t have
each other.
Every time I see a sale
I want to burn the fucking building down
That isn’t a memorial
but flames might make it so.

I Love To Hear You Speak

I know I will dream of you
I do not know where it will take me
I know that deep hot desires
once aroused
take on a life
a life of their own.
I know I will think of you
All of you
Every last drop of sweat
and every sweet scent
And some not so sweet
I know I will remember you
Remember that night
And long for it again
For better or for worse
The lost light awakened
And though it found itself in battle
It remembered it was alive.
I will cling to the light
When I should
And when I shouldn’t
I love to not feel dead.
I love to dream of love.
I love the pull of your words.
Speak to me again in the night
Set my heart on fire
Make me dream of hope
With all your hot desire.
I do not know to say the things
The things that you might wish to hear
But I know when your words come home
They wake me from my slumber dear.