Word Doodles
I am trying.
Like old tired legs
struggling to get anywhere
Words bubbling up
But I can't arrange them
to decorate my thoughts
They fill me with dread being stuck like that
I am trying
Like spinning wheels
and no road to grip
Round and round with no distance to show
Going going nowhere
inspirations abound
Making the words swirl
But no place to put them
No poem to call home
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Legacy
I see it. I can’t remember when I didn’t.
The time, written on my hands, like my mother’s.
They were always like hers. Even when I was decades ago.
But I’ve grown up into them. They now fit my number.
I see them every time I bake.
Every Friday I light Shabbos candles.
Every time I hold others.
No need for other reminders.
I carry mine in my hands.
I see it. And I remember.
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Somewhere somebody's child died tonight.
Not here.
Not mine.
Thank God.
We were supposed to make it better
Supposed to make it right
Celebrate the difference
Not arm it for the fight
No shots that rob youth
Or blasts that steal souls.
No taking from the other
what we thought makes us whole
Left with just words
Filled with regret
that we've not found a better way
To disagree
And argue
Who's right.
Somewhere somebody's child died tonight.
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do you want to dance?
we can go far away
for just a few moments
we’ll go wherever you say
we can forget everything else
just live in the beat
get lost in our selves
just follow my feet
our bodies know to move
to the rhythm of what’s in the air
our hearts beating to the same groove
harmony carrying us anywhere
do you want to dance?
just live in the beat
get lost is our selves
just follow my feet
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Outside they celebrate craziness
Inside they're watching the news
The boardwalk is planning their blast
While the T.V. is filled with the blues
Another black man gets shot while a plane crashed in Peru
The earth is slowly dying while the Pope has a bout with the flu
A flood of blasters
A flood of disasters
What's real?
What is ?
What's not?
Hoops and calls
Wall Street falls
What's right?
What's wrong?
What's not?
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The Weekend
It's the weekend again which brings along
My habitual right to his company
The guaranteed hours I've grown to expect
The hollow days in between
Weekly futures of wanting and waiting
Arrival
A greeting
A touch.
His callous hands my only hint to where he spends other time.
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Now and then
the door is left unlocked
and she ventures out from her world
to face all that she has forgot
she knows the visit will haunt her
always delivering her pain
but she prefers this to her emptiness
so she steps over the threshold again.
Instinctively reaching up to the sky
To make sure the sun is still there
The warmth begins to thaw her soul
Her staleness melts away
And she begins to see it clearly
All that she lacks
It's everywhere
She asks what does nothing and everything add up to?
The answer is always the same.
"Not enough" comes the echo
"Not enough" spoke her pain
of once upon a times that never came true
and treasures of wishes spent.
One last wish she should have saved
To share with her former self
that hope doesn't create life
It only feeds it once it's made.
Not to spoil her reunion with all that could have been
She waits until she's behind her door
To scream "Life's killing me"
and she is alone again.
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A friend of God lived down the street from me
I know because I knew him well.
With a God sent voice and a heart that comforts
he made you more whole by breathing his air.
He could take you places with his song that you never wanted to leave
And he could bring you comfort with his answers that answered every question.
A friend of God lived down the street from me
I know because I knew him well.
​
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My first Masterpiece
I remember like it was yesterday
The pain of letting you go
Knowing I would have to now share you with the world
But I wanted to keep you inside forever
Untouched by anything but our love and hopes and dreams.
But love and hopes and dreams need to breathe.
So I cut the tether and let you go
so all the world could see
My first masterpiece
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Navigating training wheel adventures and
Let's make a deal friendships.
Finally soaring and finding your way.
Growing to want keys to freedom rides and fairy tale love
And finally learning the rules to protect yourself from both
Moving on and letting go
Sometimes returning but just for a bit
Each time a bigger fuller self
Made from failures and growing and
Stretching and goodness.
And we never stop holding our breath