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

One Two

We are the factory making
Hand made days
Counting on our fingers
Soaking up the rays

We are the watch dogs
Taking time away
Like a load but lighter
On our back to stay

JM

Standing Still There

It was early evening
But December was dark
With no wind blowing
All was still outside

No snowfall was laying
Over Autumn leaves
All swirled into corners
From another season

A clear moon overhead
Caused light shadows
Away from street clatter
Peaceful without cars

But not silent, really,
Echoes from city sounds
A critter noise or two
And there was my breath

JM
Merry Season to all!

Bouyant

I floated on a borrowed raft
Words of other writers
Beauty on a placid lake
Words of other writers

I took my time and stopped a lot
Pages turn forever
Patient waiting joy to take
Pages turn forever

My senses finally had enough
Drifting from the shore
Thinking of a poem to make
Drifting from the shore

JM

Collapse

Memory completes change
And it holds still for analysis
To a point
Which is the recent now
Still sloshing with life
In half-formed reality

JM

Your Absence

I can tell our being
Together
Is a wonderful time
By when we are
Apart
Not simply memories
Find a place inside
But desire to share with
You
What happens from time
To time with
Me

JM

Short Satisfaction

I stared at a tree trunk
Thinking about connection
Of this to that and everything.
This self a living extremity
Of Earth alive.
My one big job; to be
Just me, happily.
The short eternity of now.

JM

Return

I thought if I closed the door
On what led me here
I could escape
That I might go backwards
Unlearning what damned me
To compassion for idiocy
My own and others'
I could escape illusion
To stand tall in stark Reality
No longer complicated
With the dreams and desires
For a newer, better prison

JM

Leaves

Fall leaves not fallen
Hang on the trees in color.
When morning skies are blue
And temperatures are cool
I trample the ground leaves,
Themselves at peaking beauty,
To watch upward as others launch.
With a breeze they flutter
But in wind they fly;
Swirling in yellow, orange and red
Swarming my squinting eyes,
Surrounded as I feel another
Autumn creep deep inside.