Time

At night

Deep in thought

I feel

Your gentle touch

A subtle reminder

More time has passed

Than lays before me

Cherish those little moments

A little deeper

The rush to reach 

Soul soothing goals

Be tempered

Fully enjoy

Each that come to pass

Create full memories

To hold

As the clock ticks

Commuter Truth

Truth

Got lost

On the train of convenience

If you missed it

The next one leaves

On platform B

In ten minutes

Stand clear of the doors please

The Endless Road

Winter roads

That most do fear

Long black nights

That never end

Those dirty dangerous areas

Where others never tread

Separated from family

And friends

Lost in the background

Of daily life

Taken for granted

By one and all

While people commute in cars

Delivered

Grocery shop in stores

Stocked

Everything in a normal life

Is touched by

Those that ride 

The endless road 

The photo is interstate 80 in Wyoming a route I used hundreds of time

Abstract Tones

It might be the whiskey

Or it might be the mood

Here you come dancing

Across my mind's stage

Bringing back those complications

I still don't understand

Life was pretty simple

Until you drew me in

 The abstract tones

Of your soul

Then turned me inside out

I still don't understand

It was probably me

Or maybe not

Time says

I will never know for sure

Those abstract tones

Left a mark

I carry to this day

A Whim

Bought as is

On a whim

Triggered by childhood memories

The heady aroma

Dad's Erinmore pipe tobacco

The feel of vinyl seats

Mom fussing over

This and that

Sunday drives to no where

Windows down

Letting the wind

Ruffle your hair 

Family picnics at the lake

Hours spent down

Memory lane

 Endless tinkering

It is a happy place

To linger

Keeping yesterday alive

Maze of Thorns

It can be a journey

The path treacherous

Missteps will draw blood
Each prick
A drain on your desire
Will you cower in retreat
Or plod forward
Where daylight is lit by dragon fire
The nights filled
With black thundering hoofs
Ghostly guardians on the prowl
Lost you will be
If you find the sea
Where Neptune's devil sleeps
Day one ,day two
Day three do pass
Fatigue rides you hard
Clouding your mind
In a dirty fog
Making choices
A jury trial of voices
Until the Gods smile
And you reach the hub
To grasp the scroll
In shaking hands
To afraid to read the script
 

Spirit of the Lake

Soft sensual whispers
Across clear water
Touching me lightly

As I tread carefully

In your domain

"take only what you need"

"my bounty is free"

"it gives life"

"preserve that delicate balance"

"so all kingdoms thrive"

I hear you and take heed

Spirit of the lake

At One Time

The Cup - Adolf de Meyer (1912)

You offer from

A chalice of mystery

Alluring aroma

Shields intent 

From my soul

At one time

The fiery ego of youth

Would sip

Not now

For time has mellowed

Muting my thirst

Pride's Tomb

Words reached out

Creating a Spring

Blossoming

Leading to a summer

Of lust and love

But our sins

Bore fruit on Autumn winds

Until we crumbled

Upon the steps

Of pride's tomb

Retreat to 1956

Surrounded by concrete canyons

Flying SUV's going nowhere really

Chirping cell phones

An unending tide of humanity

Shots fired News at six

Yet another protest about who knows what

Headline News blaring 24/7

Snake oil politicians of all stripes

Like portly carnival barkers

Casting for votes
 I have been here to long

Sanity preserved by escape

Just a few days

None of it invades this private place

 In these woods

It's decades ago time travel backwards

Filled with mementos from an era

My soul remains to this day

The old kitchen table

Arborite top and chrome metal legs

Vinyl covered chairs slightly tattered

Frigidaire icebox still going strong 

Walls adorned with pictures and signs

Flying A gas, Burma Shave here

The old Blaupunkt HiFi plays records
I have stashed away
On couch in the evening Scotch in my hand
Letting the music take me back
To a place I understand

 The stress drains away
Basking in the glow
Of the wagon wheel chandelier
Thought, memories
And a reinvention of my inner self
Flows freely
As the calendar steps back reading 1956

Thirty Six

Running hard
Thirty six straight hours
Blizzards on Wyoming winds
Slowed me down

Salt Lake in the mirror
Thirty six straight hours
Running on adrenaline and desire
South on I 15

Las Vegas in the morning
Thirty six straight hours
Singing with all my heart
Willie, Waylon and the boys

Sliding through Mesquite
Thirty six straight hours
Hoping I don't hit
The wall of fatigue

As I crest Railway Pass
Thirty six straight hours
The Valley of Fire
Lays before me

Ls Vegas in the morning
Thirty six straight hours
Before I rest
Once again

Ghost

You came again at the darkest hour

It has been so long

Foolishly I thought you had been banished

Are you beckoning me yet again

Even though I am bent from road weariness

The desire for journeys

Now just an old whisper in my soul

Despite this your voice

Still rings the bells in my mind
Trying to draw me back
With watery images of high times
A narrow vision of decades gone by
Hope comes at dawn
And a harsh light of reality
That will push your influence
Into the background  of the past
Where you belong

Silly Game

Silly it seemed from afar

People chasing a ball in the grass

Until cajoled gently

To try my hand

Leading to a discovery of sorts

There is more to this silly game

Than I had realized

Wrapped up

In a small white ball

Fourteen clubs and eighteen holes

A little slice of life

With all the human emotion

One could want

While walking with

The joys that nature has to offer

The senses are fueled

By sight,sound and smell

The soul fed

By companionship,accomplishment,frustration 

And yes I confess 

The occasional little tantrum

Laughter a steady ingredient

The seed for stories to be told

At future gatherings

(yes my ball did land in that moose pie 

so kindly deposited that morning)

The game doesn't seem so silly now

It's a release

A haven from the hectic world

And makes tomorrow a little brighter

I am quite obsessed

With that silly game

Alone But Never Lonely

Even in the body of a child

Arms length he kept all

There was comfort there

Where no one encroached upon his mind space

Crowded playground avoided

Hidden places in the woods embraced

They zigged while he zagged

Through life and times
Gypsy of the road it was ordained
Where days and weeks
The only company
His mind, his soul
The hum of eighteen wheels
Riding past populated concrete canyons
Always moving
Until tired he could move no more
Coming to rest
In his private place
Well beyond the surging crowds

The Beginning of a Journey

Barely an adult

At least in years

Full of bravado, little else

Armed with a lack of knowledge

That could fill a book

Running on borrowed money

Stepping on to an endless

Ribbon of asphalt
Beginning a journey of years
Good times, hard times
Sights seen , people met
From the seed of a dream
A lifetime of travel

Rain Drops

They come as a gentle touch

Or stinging needles

Driven by the wind

A warm embrace

Cutting cold

They gather as puddles

Run like little rivers

Each one a treasure

Filled with hope

The blood of life
They can wash away 

The blues of winter

Feed the bounty

Which is nature

When angered wipe away

All in its path

This prize we take for granted

Until it rains no more

Signs

The night is pitch black

A natural silence

Absolutely still

 

Settling into a creaky deck chair

I feel the wood stove heat

Wafting through the open cabin widow

 

Sipping whiskey

I hear the crack of shifting ice

Dancing through the dark

A sign

 

In the wounded light

Glowing from the old lantern

Gnats dart here and there

A sign

 

The snow under foot

Has a softness

Saturated

A sign

 

The change of seasons

Slowly creeping

Onward

 

The Trek

It was a trek of treks

North beyond the touch

Of most human influence

Days,hours bumping through endless torture

Along a track now called

The Mackenzie Highway

My truck encrusted

Blasted by a grinding filth

My boots and clothes

Coated with a film

Of sticky muskeg mud

Exposed skin threatened 

By icy cold

To see a performance

Produced by unchecked nature

A swimming sea

Of blues and yellows

Shining in a darkened sky

 

Scream Of Joy

A gem revived from yesteryear

It sat upon iron rails

Majestic steam billowed forth

As the scream of joy

Tore through my soul

A chance discovery

Opening a dam

of childhood memories

As it stood

Before my eyes

With haste I strode
Ticket in hand
As the conductor bellowed
"all aboard"

Ticket punched, up the stairs
I lightly sprang
Settling on a wooden bench with anticipation
For what would transpire

That lovely sound
Of the whistle
Set many things in motion
The train with a "chug chug chug"
And my mind
Down memory lane

As we bumped through
Green country scenes
In a cloud of steam and cinders
All with sooty smiles

A Dollar Bill

 A dollar bill

Thin printed paper
A simple object
That can be a home
Of hopes and dreams
Or a devil
Bent upon
A path of destruction
It all depends
On the hand that holds it