POETRY

NEW YEAR'S ANTI-RESOLUTION, 2016:
You aren't broken
Sit quietly
The realization will come in stealth
The striving to mend and healing fix
Will fall away and
What is left is your life
You might as well
Pick it up, give it a kiss
And proceed with love
Today

.
SEARCHING FOR SAFE HARBOR:
3/23/15 (Perigee, Equinox, Solar eclipse)

Moon-child awash with tidal emotion
Swimming toward a notion of land
In unfathomable stellar oceans
Knowing somewhere the shore exists
Knowing the universe expands

MELANOMA, WLE (Wide Local Excision)
How can I regret summer joys
Excised from warm tanned memory,
Salted lips, dancing on the seashore
Each love recalled and removed
One by one. This scarred skin a
Testament to my fanciful story
Knowing I will make ever wiser
Choices, but never forget those
Lovely foolish days in the sun.
~ cfd, 9/30/15

NOT ENOUGH:
Seashell strung on a chain of gold.
In that moment his love felt real.
I wasn't wrong to hold out hope
Nor was I wrong to leave.

HELD AT ARM'S LENGTH
(a song)
For years I flew five longing hours to be with you
Hungry to see you again when we'd part
I told you I'd give up my west coast home for you
You shook you head, things were fine as they are

Well, babe, that changes everything
I'm gone
That changes everything
Your loss
That changes everything
For me.

You never emptied a drawer or made room in your closet
No dreams of a future together one day
Our love was enough to keep me hanging on maybe
But never enough to keep your fears at bay

Well, babe, that changes everything
I'm gone
That changes everything
Your loss
That changes everything
For me.

Don't cry at the airport if you don't want to keep me
Don't try to be my long lost friend
Good luck finding a patient replacement
Just tell her up front you won't hold up your end

Baby, that changes everything
I'm gone
That changes everything
Your loss
That changes everything
For me.

THE GIRLFRIEND:
Sixty-two and he says
He has a GIRL friend?
Oh, baby...
An impossible investment
What he really wants is a
Girlfriend Service
To ring his bell
Twice a month
And dust off his ego

WASTING TIME:
I struggle to find meaning in absurd cliché
He loves me, he loves me not
Why waste time spelunking loss
When there is so much more to say?

THE ROCK CLIMBING WALL:
With the futility of
A rock climbing wall
I want him
There is no explanation
That could possibly
Justify the longing climb
Nor coercion
That could rock my
Resolve to slide down
This stupid rope
In search of
Real mountains

MATCH.COM:
They charged me again for another month
I didn't sign up for this much work
Too many emails, hurt feelings,
Combed-over profiles, that bombastic jerk
Seekers like me, successful retirees
Widowers, wags, a few old hippies
This love business stirs up strife

Old age peeks around the corner
And I certainly didn't sign up for this
Alone in my sixties, would I ever find love
Or at least meet a man who could be a companion
Sit by my side watching TV
Oh, come on, who am I kidding?
I would have been an unhappy wife

Eating dinner alone again tonight
No, I didn't sign up for this
But there's room to grow in my open journey
And now friends I wouldn't have loved had I settled
Call me, insisting I hike or go dancing
Matched, at last, with a person of mettle
No romance, but falling in love with my life

The Buddha:
Why is it
All Good Things
Lie just out of reach?
We are travelers on a road
That circles endlessly
Sucking our marrow
Hollowing our bones
Until we stop
And look up
Oh!

ITALIAN ICE VS. VANILLA ICE CREAM:
Sweet Italian Ice bites at my lips
I remember when you did, too
This tastes better

BROKEN LOVERS:
(a Country Western Song)
I attract broken lovers
In need of my healing
I soothe all their wounds
With the balm of my love
I attract broken lovers
Who stare at the ceiling
Expecting devotion
Not giving a fuck

From now on, avoid
Mr. Uncertain Feelings
And look for a man
With a will of his own
I'll revel instead in
Luxurious pleasing
With generous love
Sprung from seeds that he's sown

I will wait for a lover
Who wants to believe in me
Come in, my suitor
My equal, my one.
I have plenty of time
And the sweet wine of teasing
You have open-armed playfulness
Come see me home
~ cfd 2/18/15

FREE VERSE:
free verse is a construct
above all not free
but relentless voice
terse recollection
overspilling mental boundaries
compelling words down
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