Hope

And as I wondered what fears I was about to face When I peered over the ledge Of my own dark and troubled heart And leaned over to look inside I heard a quiet voice speak these words   “Do not be afraid, Whatever you find here Is only a mirror with which To see yourself more clearly”   After an awkward moment of silence I ventured my reply   “Well, I found YOU here...”...

What was it? I’ll tell you what it was It was a dragon A fire-of-hell-breathing dragon A black beast of death-muscle-and-teeth dragon   And I was no hero I was a child Afraid of the night So I fled from that beast   I buried myself in the earth And deep under the sea I built my own prison And bore the darkened marks On my flesh Where the concrete walls Taught me with their...

Baptism 1: 1975 Born of Machine At the gates of the Magic Kingdom In a room with a view Disneyland across the street But after nine months in line The ride malfunctioned Lungs not working No time to linger in my mother’s arms To be held close I would have died then and there Without the second womb Made of metal And oxygen   Baptism 2: 1980 Born of Freshwater When I was held At...

Humboldt County The house we call our own Her laughter now fills this home It defies logic and reason And all good doctrine It sets sharply against The crushing weight of debt And doubt It ripples down the hall Like waves that dance On an ocean that will drown you Without thinking twice   From the depths I think about thirty different things All at once I should have painted more often And maybe wrote...

Oxidizing minerals form A pattern of Rorschach tests Across my chiseled face As I lay here quietly Holding the roof over our heads And the seven miles of air above it While you raise the family In the home beneath Where I am overlooked Not as warm as the bones of trees Nor as pure as the crushed bones of cattle I long to be seen To be read like a book A favorite novel...

As you know We held your memorial last weekend While your laughter still hung in the air Like chandeliers From the heavy wooden beams Of the empty sanctuary You’ve left us   Where we reminded ourselves For a time, times, and half a time again That you would have heard by now “Well done, good and faithful servant…” Words of acceptance Approval Even affection That we all so long to hear   Yes, there were...

You always had a way with words Man, you could ramble a story Like Johnny Appleseed across an entire conversation Quips loaded like hippies into hatchbacks Looking for a place to crash With eyes full of wonder One thing you knew The Truth is not a “What” But a “Who”   We go back lifetimes And then some But never all that close Until we shared beers on the deck under a hot sun And...

I was made in California Born in Disneyland With a busted lung And a broken set of wings So it’s been foot on the ground And wheel on the road Up and down In exile ever since To a cold and distant shore Far from the evening palms And citrus mornings Roots bound In the floor of the van Stunted growth With a beautiful view Has been my holy rolling   Double yellow Single broken...

It’s not every day we wake up to find the world around us burned to the ground while we were sleeping No, not every day But it was today And we hate it when this happens Loved ones pass Nothing lasts It was too much to ask And yet here we remain… unanswered Our voice in the darkest night… unanswered Our screams from that hill out in the wind… unanswered The promise of an answer...

They say time is a wheel And we’ve gone around the bend Water spills out And down the creek To the oceans to the clouds And back for another spin A generational cycle To end and begin Looks like we’ve got a whole new year To do it all again   The last year was dripping Into an empty bucket Full of holes And wholly new ways To put each other down Busted neon And...