Open - Three Erotic Shorts, my first foray into the world of online publishing, is now live on the Amazon Kindle site. I have to shake my head when I think how long I dithered and agonized about doing this and, in the end, how relatively easy it was to do. Hopefully the next one will be angst-free.

Echoes of Places

I thought I heard the

Whistle of a far off train

And winding down my

Pace I looked and listened

For its swift approach

But it must have been

My memory or

My heart that

Pealed its approach

For I reached my

Destination

Without crossing its path

Yes, it’s funny how

Echoes of things

Remembered

Reverb with such clarity

Through the chambers of

My mind

To bring me here

Again and again

Waiting for a

Train

I think is on its way

But, never mind for

Trains have taken me

Places

I wanted to be and

Echoes of their coming

Will always be met

With sweet anticipation

Of the journey

To come

Boxcars

Railcars

Sleeper and coach

Rolling by in silver

And blue

Brown and gray

On and on through

Open landscapes

And cluttered cities

With only a blaring

Whistle

To mark its coming and

A clatter of metal wheels

On metal rails

To say 

"So Long!"

Well Dressed Young Men

Cloudy days and
well dressed young men
remind me of
buildings tall and
narrow
red-bricked plastered
and corniced
columns framing wide
open porches
lakes of gray with
green scum and
lily pads floating
next to white swans
and woodsy ducks
from stands of trees
thin and darkly
green
nestled below hills
carved to granite
crags overlooking
the old mill where
once the business
was of powder and
guns and fortunes
made
shaped a city by a
harbor where gothic
fantasies
live on

You

It is you I swim to
in these moments
when darkness
threatens and
the pulse of blood
through my veins
is an escalating roar
like the vertiginous
waterfall I am swept
toward

You I swim to when
intellect leaves and
I am again just
a frightened child
in a world gone
gone gone away
leaving me alone in
its crashing silence

It is you I swim to
because God is good
and the universe is a
budding yellow rose
waiting to release its
fragrance upon us
and the gifts of life
are numerous and
endless

Yes, it is you I swim to
because loving you
is the best of me and
your love is the
water and the sun
the moon the stars
and all the planets in
between as I raise
my face I raise my
arms to the soaring
sky and say again
and yet again
Thank you

Another Ocean

Across the land
a continent away
On the shores of
another ocean
My love speaks
to me

Louie Boy

Today has been one of those days when I had a long list of things I wanted to accomplish and now, at sundown, almost none of them has. Yet, it has been a busy and productive day. Go figure!

Anyway, during one of my day's errands, I found myself looking at construction work taking place on our local railroad tracks and remembered that - over the years - I have scribbled (I won't say "written" because that sounds final and everything I've put on paper is always subject to change) a number of poems with a railroad theme. So, here's one I wrote in honor of a friend - a very sweet and generous man who had a way of making every party more fun - who was dying of AIDS. This was back in the days when there really was no treatment. His name was Joey, and it pains me still that he is gone. Once again...this is for you, Joey!


Louie Boy

Once I saw a train pass by

With the words Louie Boy

Splashed in yellow upon

Its red side

Yellow and red are my

Colors for you

Yellow for sunshine

Red for the passion of a

Courage smoldering deep

Trains and dreams glide on

Tracks connected to obscure

Stations

One of life’s fragments

Set before us

For a nicer view

We observe then forget

For waking dreams are still

Just dreams 

With no beginnings

And so no ends

Where is the notice for

Small moments...

Unless it’s splashed

With colors screaming

Here is a tribute to a friend

Be he fragment or a boxcar on

Clattering wheels

Gliding the connections

Between somewhere and elsewhere

He’ll be remembered for the yellow

Of the sun that lights

The red of embers

Glowing for Louie

Louie Boy

Show Me

One of my "works in progress." Each time I look at what I have written, I find something to change. The work never ends, really! TC

Show Me

Show me my heart

And all its feelings

Show me my blood

As it runs its quicksilver

Path to you

Show me my soul

In all its colors

That deepen and glow

With knowledge of you

Look at me

A supplicant - member of

An ancient order - awash

In this symphony

That is you in all

Your supple grace

Transported on a

Billowing wave

That roars its name

And sighs its purpose

With each rise

And fall

For it is love that

Rests before you

Love Love and Love

Again