Original Poetry - Chapter Book

Her life is like a chapter book
offering only a little at a time
leaving you wanting more

Yet her coyness is not to tease
it is for her protection
from those who want it all

Her heart has been bended
folded
mutilated

Thrown on a dusty table
leaving it for the next browser
ear-marked at the juicy parts

One day, a kind, old librarian
will find this prized selection
and put it back where it belongs

Behind the protective glass of his love.

Original Poetry - Missing Chapter

Pages ripped from a book
and thrown into the flames
of fear and doubt

Hiding the words that hurt
yet garbled voices echo across
the years and the miles

The manuscript of my heart
still beats with distant memories
like the rhythms of a song long forgotten

One page remains
of a story still being written
one word speaks volumes.

Original Poetry - Confused Memories

Confused scribbles in chalk
on the blackboard of her mind
once erased lost forever
memories of dust floating in the air.

Original Poetry - Hold That Tongue

Holding my tongue
before I say too much
offering my heart to you
like the proverbial lamb
for you to sacrifice
twisting knife of your hatred
oozing emotions
until they dry up
drip drip dripping
onto the floor

Original Poetry - Do The Math

I added you
subtracted things
from my past
my futon beer bong jean shorts too
multiplied our debt
and divided our friends
but one plus one
is greater than me
for I am less than zero
without you

Original Poetry - A Broken Man

She opens her eyes
like the sun breaking through the clouds
and smiles

My heart breaks
because she used to be mine
and I wallow in self pity

Breaking my fast
on stale bread and cold coffee
because I don’t deserve better

Tears fall slowly
like morning dew
on a waking leaf

And I sit
in the broken chair
and stare out the cracked window
of what my life used to be.

Original Poetry - Breaking Bread

Come to my table
and speak of days gone by
before guns and knives
and actions you can’t take back

Come to my table
and speak of a future
of living side by side
and working together

Come to my table
and speak to me
in words I can understand
where forgiveness is an option

Come to my table
and break bread with me
mano y mano
I am the enemy no longer.

Come to my table.

Original Poetry - Autopsy of a Dream

The pages fall
cracked and yellow
from the yearbook

Faded memories
and broken promises
reveal themselves to me

We always said
we’d be together
always

Travel the world
never settle down
and live forever

I sit and stare
as tears fall
onto the page

Like drops of rain
washing away the pain
but the memory remains

Of how we said
we’d be together
always

But not forever.

Original Poetry - Castanets

Is it the liquor
or the movement of her hips
that make my head swim
as she clicks her castanets

Faster and faster she spins
the clickety-clack fills the air
as her skirt twists and turns
the sequins reflecting the light

An ancient dance as old as time
the Mariachi tries to keep up
with her seductive moves
and our eyes meet

She smiles and lowers her gaze
she has me in her spell
of her I am intoxicated
as my heart beats faster

Clickety-clack
go the castanets
speaking to me in Morse code
of an ancient ritual bathed in love.

Original Poetry - Castaway

I am a castaway
on this island called loneliness
burning fires day and night
like so many bridges between you and I
in hope of being saved
but the ships that sail by
only want one thing from me
that which I cannot give
and the sand between my toes
is washed away by the tide
along with my hopes and dreams
my message in a bottle
is a cry for help
and I cast it into the waves of desperation
but every morning, alas
it has washed up on the shore again
unopened and unanswered.