melting

popsicles haven't been what they used to be,
sweet and sticky:
I can lick the sicle
while the pop melts
and my tongue finds the stick.
and I know they're still sticky

but popsicles haven't been what they used to be

letters

origami heart
folding paper heart
stamped
and
sealed

forty-four cents
of a flattened
paper heart
folded
and
sealed

hollow paper heart
unfolded origami
eyes
and
words

origami heart
folding paper heart
stamped
and
torn

I Found a Poem in the Sunday Post

April is national poetry month, and I've decided, thanks to one of my readers, to challenge myself to post a poem every day for the rest of the month. Today I have two poems because that's how resolutions and challenges go; they start out running on a tank full of enthusiasm, and by the end, they're running on pure endurance. I just hope I get to May before I get to Empty.

Snob in the Morning

Still
And I'll look at you now
But I'm still -removed
Quiet
And my eyes could be marbles
My arms lock me into my chest
Still
It's 9 in the morning
Too early to move my stiff neck
Quiet
But my nose says a lot
From it's perch above my stone chin
Still
And I'll look at you now
But I'm still,
Removed

Original Sun

Sunlight.
Same as the light of the morning
that carried my heart and my eyes
from sleep
Sunlight.
The sun is the same as it was
when the sand burned the soles of
my feet
Sunlight.
How it changes my mood-
changes the feel of
a room
Sunlight.
Oh but I can't have enough
of that succulent, savory
fruit

Lifeboat

I captained a ship that tides had washed
A pale and feeble gray
I made my men to wash the deck
Every single day

And so my ship, though pale and old
Was always known as clean
We worked so hard, my men and me
We'd never even seen

The vastness of the ocean
Or the stones of foreign shores
The lifeboat was un-needed
And never used, its oars

Match

Here’s the problem:

We probably won’t

ever match.

Even if you’re green

and I’m red, and we go together

and we look nice together

and I enjoy looking at you and you at me

and we play together beautifully,

you’ll never be red and

I’ll never be green and

that’s just the way it’s going to be.