The Breeze is Absent

Sun wrecks my view of trees
Squinting only brings tears,
A loss of good moisture.
Wanting to see leaves move,
An arm casts a shadow
across my eyes,
A defensive posture
Like the sun is attacking.
A harsh lack of clouds.
Some waving humidity rises
From lawns too hot to mow.
It's not yet noon,
Maybe the forecast holds afternoon clouds,
A pop up thunderstorm?
The birds now quiet
Would chatter gratefully
For a mid-day shower.
Even a hot breeze
Would give relief.

JM

4th Of July

Independance night broke
With unscripted laughter from a balcony.
Triple X's on dead bottles,
Some were still alive.
The toiling sun was out of work
The shadowy trees a canvas
For front yard sparklers,
Kids writing their names.
All directions offered pops and
Crackles with occasional booms.
Store bought fireflies, lightining bugs
Whistled and sputtered
Among the real ones.
Sidewalks smiled outside the blues bar
Echoeing off the silent buildings
Closed for the holiday.
Whoops of approval
Applauded the amateur fireworks.
Unrestrained children spun themselves
Dizzy as the parents drank.
Unscripted laughter rang
In the early independance night.

JM

   Landscape




Half the trees have lost

Their leaves to October breezes

Trunks and branches re-appear

I remember fresh green buds

Some of a few were snowed on

A perfect close up photo

A bud with melting snow crystals

A mental image to keep

Simple sample to enjoy

The crunch of leaves

Soon muted by snow



JM

Not Magic

There is work to do
 With these easy words
 A path in the darkness
 Is only good in the dark
Still, best to keep a map
Just in case

 With these easy words
 Just in case
 There might be a revival
 Of good old penmanship
A reinvention of the page
The art of writing letters


 Just in case
 The art of writing letters
The motion of creation
Not yet landed
 Will need this repetition
 Will need this repetition

JM

Invite The Bell

All the people came around
Love had struck again
This was not the first time
Wholly unverified
Yet testified beyond words
A reverberation of change
Passed and past alone
Into a low large bell
Not hiding or silent
Unfolding compassion tones

JM

Curtains Up

Cool for the real show
Steady as a rock
Slipping through calendars
Picking my own lock

Seventy or eighty numbers
Stood surrounding me
No order I could cipher
Would make them really be

Some now will come soon
Again some voice will tell
Confusion has an ending
A beginning just as well

I do go slow, though
Faster in my brain
Cool for the real show
Starting over again

JM

Funeral

My body slowed like a rock
The clock crawled to a stop
Simple pounding thoughts played
The cadence over riding the phrase
Doom of a bad news day loomed
How soon will it go, and where?
The scene of a roomful of people
Saying good bye to one

JM

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