All In

Awake and dreaming
I made the truth
Of a lot of friendly faces
If some were grim
A face behind the face
Letting me be
Calm acceptance
Carried for humanity
I dreamed it there
Behind my own face
A sound lack of disgrace

JM

Waves

Coffee dried in afternoon cup
Subtle goal of giving up
The jacked-up state
The State requires
Awake for a while
Then everyone expires

JM

Silent Walk

A well worn path
From your padding feet
Winds around a mini-woods.
An island in yard town
Without "landscaping" or golf grass.
Meticulously tended, though,
Gleaned of twigs.
Invisible wishes surround,
On the path, a prayer, too.
Leaving the dust of thought
In the care of trees.

JM

Embers

Sound in the wood
Came creeping out
Pounded in for years
Like a ghost revived

A groaning and snap
A mumbled promise
Someday a fire
That already was

Targeting oblivion
A listener wanders
Harkening strangers
Grow with orchestra

JM

Without Chills

Add sunlight
To a soft breeze
In Spring-time trees
That whisper sweetly
Before Summers hiss.
Lighter green and fresh
And time out combine
To breathe and wish

JM

Poem Lite

It's the time of night
When I like the slanting rays
Coming over before sunset
Through the window
Across my plants
Onto the doorway normally dark

It's the time to step outside
Or go for a ride
But today I write this poem
Sipping water, chewing greens
This form is right it seems
On lines of paper normally white

JM

One Meal

Dinner on a plate
Nevermind I made it
Sitting by my face
Now in my mouth
Pleasure comes in small bites
But no delirium
No ecstacy or oblivion
This time

JM

Weight

A light touch is enough
When spotting a tuft
Of crowded green tips
In some temporary sun
Just a soft grazing of sight
A sustained glance, one eyed
Lest comprehension spoil the moss
Tenderly leaning in Spring

JM

Mildly Perverse

A round wire sang
Under her bow
Her fingers touched the strings
Lit fires in me below
And desire to be
The elegant wood
Held between her knees

JM

Informer

A ghost on the edge
Of an open drawer
A sock top dangles
The ghost doesn't move
There was nowhere else
And no other time
To be a ghost on the edge
Of a drawer half closed
With absence required
I was away but heard,
On my return, of a ghost
Alight on my open drawer
Which now again half closed
Supported my talking sock

JM

Tragedy

I forgot to dance
Then when I remembered
I was too self-concious
And a string of logistical excuses...
I didn't dance
Now my flinty gaze
Is fixed on the place
Just in front of my feet
Still not dancing

JM

Head Bound

To calm and contrast
An abstract attic of
Spilling thoughts, branches
Of trees reach out.
With leaves or without
A pattern or chaos of twigs
Satisfies a balance sheet.
When thoughts go scattering
These tall plants can ease
The speed of not quite real.

JM

For A Spell

Surprise Revision visited
Everything was fine.
None the less a change has come
I need a new design.
Sun is moon so
Day is night.
I was only joking, but
Started a genuine fight.
Letters come in bundles
Wrapped in bar code lines.
I tore into mine
Before it arrived.
A lower case "i"
Deceived the lette M
With a false apostrophe.
I had to make a better plan.
With letters on their own
My watercolors ran.
In time the visitation left
Revision took it's leave
Everything was fine again
At least so I believe.

JM

Into The Air To Look

Nothing unexpected,
That would be impossible.
Surprises are allowed,
Wonder, awe, revulsion...
What is impassable waits
On the lip of vision
To be taken as needed.

JM

Bounce

At a wall, unpainted
This terminus hurt.
My headlong down
Was shortened up.
With a bit of hair,
Some blood, I marked
My non-return.

JM

Thanks for reading
I'm taking a vacation

Melted

This mud, covered by Winter grass
Like a trap
Sucked at my sole
And dirtied my uppers

Two steps in, the damage was done
Maybe big steps or run
My path was ragged
From avoiding deep spots

The other side and concrete
Stomp, stomp
Doing a shuffle foot
Still some chunks for home

JM

Phase

I was back to myself again
After a strange vacation
Guided by lazy usurpers
Governing by comittee
From my abdicated station

Vacation isn't quite right
A period of exile
Banishment by wandering
Into odd velocity
Out of synch for a while

More about that later
I was feeling over-confident
For what the situation required
Not my element, but, still me
A gradually perceiving monument

Onward to distraction
Humbled by constant variation
Last thing I remember
The ride was smooth and driverless
Then re-gaining my orientation

JM

Threat

Big tree Depression
I have your axe in my belt
Don't lean your leaves
Too close to my path
Cracking a branch won't sadden me
I know about Ecology
That plea won't shelter you
If your trunk impedes
My blade succeeds
Where you, not I, Shall cease

JM