telltales

When I knock

on your dreams
scrape 
what I can
from your thoughts
will it matter
that I'm not
alone?

Am I stealing
your heart 
or are you 
holding it in,
there must be 
telltales that
somehow 
don't show.

-dp-
7-14-14

a part of tomorrow

   Visiting what might be tomorrow

I thought briefly of you, as though
blowing a dandelion too hard, watching 
its seeds scatter with the  breeze.
I thought of you, of us, dancing, 
spinning inside a crowd, drifting 
away with indifference.
  The music played on ever louder,
echoing as though the ballroom
were empty, but it was full. Full
of masked faces, and we were
ourselves masked, and costumed,
unable to recognize one another.
  We may have been close, perhaps,
or one of us may have left early,
thinking the other had gone
ahead, only to wind up lost 
on foggy streets, the hallow glow 
of street lamps and somber instinct 
to guide. Still, was it you, or I, 
who left first...
had we parted at all?

-dp-
6-3-14

whisper

I want to hear you 

whisper
ever so softly

are you asleep?
   
and know 
should I reply
it means bliss 

-dp-
5-25-14

four play

you could ride 

my tricycle
me on my
little red fire truck
pedal, pedal
round and round  
the driveway
circling and giggling
giggling and circling
closer and closer
around and around
until we
crash
softly
and play
another game


-dp- 
3-27-14
R5-11-14/Rattle-flintridge

scraps

I feel the edges

as I tear up
your letters, watch
pieces fall to the floor

where scraps scatter
below and about
some face up, but
most settle down  
                          
I gather them later
to rekindle
the fire we built
not so long ago
                        
but the embers
are cold and black 
and the ashes
have all blown away

only these scraps
in my fingers
remain, nothing
to bear but waste.
                      

-dp-
 5-9-14

routine

it was routine

I lacked 

before.

mixing oatmeal,

slicing apples 

peeling boiled eggs

for lunch.

slipping 

frozen dinners

into the microwave.

doing my laundry.

perpetual 

terminal

laundry.

Once 
I walked into 

the mississippi

and almost drowned,

like my father did

and his father did

but without intent
battling different

sorts of storms.

But a red moon

saved me.

lead me

from that torrent.

brought me home 

wet and tired,

scared and 
scarred, and

terminally

cautious.

Then,

I met you,

and still there
is routine.  

routine,

and waiting.

waiting for you

to show me

that hope 

is eternal

and love is

hardly routine 

-dp-
4-28-14

am I

am i happy 

as a question
or a statement
plaintive
or sarcastic

who's to say
or ask
the difference
from inside
without

commitment
contentment
confinement
conclusion
confusion

state of mind
or being
a hopeful
or helpless
situation

pliable
pleasurable
predictable
programmable
pitiful 

some projection
of inner light
forgone
forgotten
foreboding

a summation 
or goal
some state of
consciousnesses
or subtle choice

-dp-
4-12-14