Side Lines 4/29/18

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photo by Rosie DeGennaro

To learn that I will not be the one
To take you across the finish line.

And life can even be better with a bum knee.
Unlocking the heeling properties of ice

At this point I’d take a satisfying bowl movement
Over a drink any day.
Who am I kidding,
It was always this way.
My father never talked to me about sex.
But, since I was seven,
I had my own bathroom.

And what a beautiful discovery
That it is okay to cheat
When the rules are there
Just to keep the lights on.

Where water collects
On an oily pan.
The similarities between
A monk and a clown.

Walking a dog through the
Blooming buds
I have learned my role
In this love affair.

I am not the one
Taking you across the finish line.
I am the one cheering you on
From the side lines.

It’s time

The light changes things
Three weeks is a long time

The rock changes
No connection to history
It’s just the wind
The midpoint
A scab on a knuckle
Word of the day

The rock changes
So unfimiliar with real love
It doesn’t move or try.

Maybe I am the first to notice
An astronaut of rocks
I see the dents, soften

They are like I was
I am like them.

The paper lives 

The paper lives
We take it seriously
Or not

The sticks we sit on
In in waiting room

Wet leaves
Beneath  our
Hospital beds

The art work drips
From the side of the staircase

Keep us from falling out

We decorate with rocks
And native grasses
The dog smells the day
From the back steps

The millions of coffee mugs
Not properly washed
When the work creates
Dirty dishes serve many purposes

Middle ground

Some say you can never go home
But if you are born in Kansas
A part of you will never leave.

The sky is painting
The essence of flatness.
Everything else
Fancy words,
Games of light and color.

Always look outward
Out, out, out.
We are not beginning or ending
All the time.

Mystery is everywhere
We hold it in cracked hands.
Steamy machines on cold mornings.
We take in beauty,
Share it in a carving on a picnic bench.

Wave in passing,
Compare notes about the work
On the way home.