CATERPILLAR

It seems safer to inch along a proven way,

refusing to look up, refusing to hope.

I can expect nods of approval

if I stay inside comfortable lines.

Others might favour me

with a smile and ‘thank you’

if I follow instructions.

It seems expedient to gorge

and keep busy

spinning a silken cradle

to hide my unkempt self.

 

Death awaits, a soothing resolution

to unanswered questions and puzzles never attempted.

But some insist it is a door to Mystery –

not restful sleep, but psychedelic dreams,

unanticipated reconstruction.

 

When I awake, must I begin again?

Biting and pushing

to release my wet, uncertain wings

to unknown winds?

                                       February 2014

FIRST LOVE

First love,
however ill-advised,
is a gift
that never comes again.

It shimmers like a dewdrop,
vanishes too soon.
We move on,
older, wiser,
chasing sparkles
dancing in our memories.

What might have been
is a potential nightmare,
but cold, hard facts
are powerless to change
our dreams of retrospective bliss.

                                            Northern Ontario Speaks
                                                                  Northern Ontario Poetry Collection
                                                                  Volume 19, 2014.

ELEVATORS

They go up,
they go down,
tirelessly,
pausing politely
at the push of a button.

Then, without warning,
FAILURE.
FULTILITY.  MALFUNCTION.
All the ups and downs of life
cease
in the blink of an eye.

Chaos.  Plans awry.
Useless rituals.
Hope deferred.
Predictability hangs suspended,
waiting for the crash.

                                   Northern Ontario Speaks
                                                     Northern Ontario Poetry Collection
                                                      Volume 19, 2014

IN MY DREAMS

In my dreams
I stand, naked, at the window,
a parched desert,
waiting for you.

We are young again,
eager to touch
and re-arrange
shimmering prisms
of passion and hope.

"As long as we have each other --"
you told me whenever thunderclouds
darkened our horizon.
As long as we had each other,
no loss was final.

In my dreams
I understand
you are still here,
wanting me,
dancing in my heart.

                          published in "Northern Ontario Speaks"
                                        Northern Ontario Poetry Collection
                                        Volume 19, 2014.