Darkness on the Edge of a Spring Day

Darkness on the edge of a spring day,
The creek rages in a rainstorm,
And I'm caught outside,
Caught and I can't get out,
Caught in a sleepless night,
Caught out in the cold,
Colder than anyone could have known,
And I have no hat,
No hand to hold along the pines,

Save yourself they say,
But everyone needs saving now and then,

Even Wonder Woman in her black boots could use a shoulder to lean on, an ear to bend, a smile to welcome, an embrace to call home.

Out there in the darkness,
She carries the world.

A Quiet Night

Trees etched against a dark grey sky,
A moment to stop and wonder,
What piece of the heavens is lucky enough to catch your eye,
Which stars will see your smile,
A glow that rivals the sun,
The formidable moon is tucked away.

Wonder Woman's Got a Brand New Pair of Boots

Wonder Woman’s got a brand new pair of boots,
They’re brown with spike heels,
Done up in disguise,
She can kill with her smile,
Dressed in pink she’s gone in a flash,
The invisible plane throttled to the max,
She’ll set your soul on fire,
Hurtling through the air,
Gasping and laughing,
Wanting more… if you dare,
In an instant back on firm ground,
And it’s all in my head,
A lingering vapor trail of an extraordinary girl,
The smell of pure sunshine permeates the air.

May flowers and golden sun...

May flowers and golden sun,
A rush of wind and the warbling finch,
Follow me down the rocky path,
And with each glint of fading sun,
A crush of delight draws the calming moon.

An Opening...

There are few things that make you stop and take into account life’s options - a beautiful woman with a returned smile, or... waking to a gun pointed in your face with the barrel up your nose.

Gets you thinking doesn’t it? Mind you, I’d rather wake to the weight of a beautiful woman perched on my chest. I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad if she had a gun, right? Perhaps she merely woke, nude of course, and wanted me to take closer examination of her recently purchased firearm? Sure, happens all the time.

No. For on this evening, the weight on my chest was Cal, my neighbor and all-around whack job.

“Dude, I heard someone rustlin’ ‘round out back and came straight over,” he said.

Most times Cal was your normal, creepy guy on the block who joined me for drinks on the back porch when I got home from work. I often wondered if he even owned a fridge.

Yours truly was a transplant from the north, a lost and love-sick dufus from New Jersey. A smile, a kind word, and a kiss... I’m yours. Perhaps not that easy, but didn’t seem far from the truth.

In the whole scheme of things, some girl I fell for up north wound up being nothing. But, at the time when I put the Garden State in my rearview, it felt like a big ball of pain took root in my belly and started to bloom. I tried to kill it with beer and booze, but somehow I think it only grew bigger.

This however, was not the weight pressing down on me. Mostly I was trying to figure out what the hell I was doing with my life. I had no answer for this. When Cal suggested we investigate the strange noise behind the house at 3:17 a.m., that sounded like a good enough plan for the time being.

7:14 a.m. - Not sure if it was a raccoon or opossum we had on the run, but waking up outside in my bathrobe was not part of the plan. Great, Cal was gone, which meant he at least had some smarts to go home and find his bed.

Me... I felt like Laverne DeFazio in her robe taking the “walk of shame” on a very special episode of “Laverne & Shirley.”

That’s when I thought, what harm could it be to retrieve the morning paper seeing as I was already outside. Harm is a strong word, and who expects to run into a woman who is well above a "10" at that time of the morning, but there she was.

She usually wore high heels, but when I saw her striding across the street in flip flops I couldn’t help but take notice. She was a few inches shorter than how I normally saw her and bathed in morning sun. It was then I realized she wasn’t cute. She wasn’t attractive or sexy. She was beautiful, and it had nothing to do with her footwear or the sunlight. It just was. Granted she was young, but I could tell 10 or 20 years from now... beautiful she’d remain.

She had a great smile accented by a small mole just above the left side of her lip, and curled up when she spoke excitedly. It was all I could do to keep from embracing her every time we spoke.

Sorrow of a Super Hero's Spouse

The white elephant was just a dream,
A dream we could not save, not from the balcony, not from anywhere,
The white elephant was our last hope,
But that was before Spider Man turned into The Hulk and the world exploded in a fantastic fireball,
We watched the world burn from the spaceship window taking us to our new home,
Goodbye Earth, you were good to us,
We let you down.

We could bring one possession to our new home,
Some had photos, keepsakes, whatever they held near and dear to their hearts,
I clutched one thing in my hand,
And though I squeezed it as hard as I could,
I could not make you appear next to me,
You had chosen to stay and fight,
"Your duty," you said,
It was my lament,
A piece of your cape to keep me warm,
It was all I brought with me.


Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
"Falling or Flying"

An Unexpected Day

Inspiration comes in all forms, shapes and sizes... and can even come in the gaze and friendship of a beautiful young woman. I had a surprise lunch today with the aforementioned young woman. I was a little nervous at first as we've only had brief in-person chats in the office, but have texted and instant messaged a good deal.

She's so full of life and energy. She has a real hunger and passion for taking in as much of the world as she can. She's funny and smart, and I'm thinking why would she want to talk to me? Kidding of course, because I'm an amazing individual... now that's funny! Self-deprecation humor aside, you still wonder... at least I do.

Anyway... she inspired me to get back into my writing. She claims to not be a writer, but has taken up her own blog. She has good writer instincts. She starts off with the lead that grabs the reader and then fills in the details from there.

I keep thinking how can we have anything in common with our age difference, but we fell into a conversation that felt so natural like we had known each other for much longer. Toward the end of lunch I felt more comfortable, and we joked and talked like two old friends. It was nice.

She has a way about her that makes you feel... not to over use the word, but comfortable. And she smells pretty darn good too.

We became friends a few weeks ago when I "accidentally" instant messaged her... OK I did it on purpose, but she didn't need to know that at the time and I told her later. Regardless, we fell into a conversation that just seems to continue from day to day.

I realize I don't usually bring things up like this on the blog or Facebook or anywhere. I'm not even sure I should post this.

This post, if nothing else, was meant to capture this day... this moment in time. And perhaps, as a thank you to her for a great, unexpected day.

"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour."
- William Blake