writing

Let’s All Build Forts

As a tot I built forts up on my bed

Then Bedtime took them away

as a kid built castles in the sand

Tides washed those away

*

As a teen built hideouts in snow

The sun melted all away

As a young man built other‘s dreams

While mine were slipping away

*

Now I build wordtopias that I call my own

A place where imagination’s never outgrown

In these stories are steps with no ends

There’s a place big enough for all my friends

*

With paper tents and pencil posts

we’ll grab some time and share a toast

so if you’re ever passing by this way

Come enjoy a fort that’s building a sunny day

*

Sck010815

Gigawhat

It might be age, I really don’t know,
but I liked it better when things were slow.
Cars are too fast and so is the news.
Just to keep up we wear running shoes.
~
Everybody’s rushing but never in time,
pushing and shoving, no reason or rhyme.
We hustle and bustle to make others rich.
Then we get a slogan: “Ain’t life a bitch”.
~
The economy’s crazy and DC’s a joke.
The great halls filled with mirrors and smoke.
Yet time’s the same as it always was,
long before smartphones and the digital buzz.
~
Peaks are reached, valleys to follow,
real intelligence needed surviving tomorrow.
As the pendulum swings to and fro;
balls get slammed, this I know.

~*~
SCK071925

Heartache, Headache, Backache and Optimism

I need to write something to cheer me up,
maybe a fairy tale, a trip or new pup.
But no love stories, not any more.
I failed at that before.
~
Now something brighter, no emotion at all.
I won’t have to see it if I write really small.
Perhaps of worlds unknown, can’t be wrong,
something airy and mellow maybe a song.
~
I’ll write of the stars and space beyond,
or of rippled reflections of ducks on a pond.
Or I won’t write at all, I’ll learn the fiddle!
Nah, I’m just kidding and cheered up a little.

~*~
SCK110318

Sandpaper

I know not how this came to be

Or when the sun shall rise

Or how the glowing sunset

Disappeared before my eyes

~

The streets are full of evil

The dead roam the night

Whilst the darkest of the darkness

Survive till mornings light

~

With every passing cloud

Across the lunar face

I step into the shadows

Leaving not a trace

~

Yet tread I must

Feeling blind

Touch is unfamiliar

Fearing those of kind

~

Where all are equal

When none’s to gain

We all are free

To share the pain

~

All paths uncertain

When never to be seen

All life is questioned

When living in the mean

~

Colors may return

To these blackened eyes

Head facing upwards

Awaiting bluer skies

~

And in the hour-glass

The sands of time do fall

Space above buries the low

Lest the destiny of all?

~

Rushing to an end

That is but a taper

Slipping into despair

To bleed on sandpaper

~*~

Sck080715

It’s Time

Lifelong habits surely die hard;
new routines are an old canard.
But time for now is all my own,
a new sensation since I’ve grown.
~
I’m gonna ride my bike and stay up late.
I’ll play my guitar until I’m great.
Ice cream for lunch at four o’clock.
Then feed some gulls at the dock.
~
With walks to the hill for sublime sunsets,
life will be as good as it gets.
Plans for the future now fill my head.
But all that’s tomorrow, it’s time for bed.

~*~
SCK070625

What A Day

In the still of a new day’s dawn,
quiet of mind and blissfully drawn,
all’s free when darkness gone.
~
Sun’s arisen, shadows loom,
sounds of day muffle the gloom,
stones to turn, bloom or doom.
~
The hour golden, day’s soon to fade,
moments collected, time’s paid,
life’s spent, remains made.
~
Day concedes, moon’s on the rise,
countless stars fill endless eyes,
space between kept wise.
~
Dreams await, troubles naught,
loops thrown, catches caught,
my day was what was thought.

~*~
SCK062825

Forgotten

Was a cold winter’s day and there’s nothing to do.

Same as yesterday, nothing’s new.

So I took a trip to the attic to look for words and a view.

The crisp winter color of sky and water, reflected in deep icy blue.

 ~

The cobwebs hang heavy, there’s nothing new to explore.

Cold and flustered I stumbled back to the steps and slammed the door.

I went back downstairs and took some time to reflect.

Those things worth finding shouldn’t be that hard to detect.

~

Unless of course what seems lost, was never really had.

Though loses always remembered, it’s the forgotten that make us sad.

 ~

I went back upstairs where memories go to rest.

Pushing through the spider’s webs, to that place I like best.

It’s just a seldom seen pane of glass that compares to no other.

It’s a picture perfect painting, painted in the seasons changing color.

 ~

I sat upon a shaky box hiding something long forgot.

Steamy breath fogged the glass creating what can’t be bought

I viewed the shifting shades of pinks and blues that end every day.

Then I shared the chill with the fading sun falling into the bay.

~

Turning from dusk to shades of infinite grays with shadows intertwined.

I lightly step, hands outstretched and leave my little pane behind.

*

Sck011815

WOW!

I started today with “WOW!”, though I don’t know how it ends.
I’ll have a stress-free day and share some time with friends.
I coulda started the day with “Aw sh*t, here we go again”
But we all know what’s gonna happen then.
~
I’m gonna live my life the way I live in my dreams.
But the life of a dreamer’s not always as it seems.
I’m gonna do something that makes me feel smart.
And a well-chosen word’s the perfect place to start.

~*~
SCK061925

What a Rush

I want to write more love poems
and I want to do it soon.
I don’t want to write of heartache.
I want to snuggle beneath the moon.
~
I want to write more love poems
and express the love in my heart.
I want them to inspire
and be reminders when apart.
~
I want to write more love poems
and share one each and every day.
I want to write more love poems,
but to rush is not the way.

~*~
SCK120118

Can’t Write *ove No More

A stack of sonnets,
but nowhere to send,
their beginning was joyous.
I wept at the end.
~
This stack of sonnets,
sit lonely by my side.
Paper thin memories,
time I’d rather hide.
~
My stack of sonnets,
never to be read.
A future seen,
then instantly shred.
~
A stack of sonnets,
were drawn from my heart.
Now I feel empty.
And wish I didn’t start.

~*~
SCK120918

Re-Pair

While bending over backwards to hold my tongue,
my head touched the dirt, and I twisted my lung.
My body flipped over, my knees smashed on the ground.
Pain then followed and a loud cracking sound.
~
I rose to my feet or so I had planned.
The pain overcame and my plan was panned.
Back on the ground writhing in disgust,
I choose expediency over timely self-trust.
~
One word unsaid was then none to follow,
my tongue now mends, yet heart remains hollow.

~*~
SCK061525

The Ends

Circumstances change and change again.
So I’m not really sure how this poem’s to end.
What is real is unknown till done,
but time imagined has already begun.
~
The stars shine bright until the dawn.
The future awaits and then it’s gone.
Thoughts and visions obscure the truth;
a lack of years isn’t youth.
~
Recollections and experience color our days.
Points of view shade our ways.
Life’s the sonnet never ending,
verses abound, conclusions ever-pending.
~
If to see music and feel hues,
you’re gonna pay your f’n dues.
Reality’s then plain to see,
for the muse love’s too easy.
~
A note received punctuation’s unknown,
another twist with a faceless tone.
But all the words used then rearranged again.
And this too will be rewritten because there is no end.

~*~
SCK032819

Ain’t Never

I ain’t never wrote a blues song
Don’ think it sound too good
But my baby did just leave me
And not the way she should
~
Our spring blossomed bright
Our summer was hot
But with those dyin’ leaves
I was forgot
~
I was tossed to the curb
like yesterday’s waste
Now just her memory
I’m forever to taste
~
Love was shared in our hearts
A future’s gone before a start
My baby just left me
And not the way she should
~
I didn’t get call
there was no little fight
I got shot a quick text
on a Tuesday night
~
Her “baggage too great”
to groove with me
Just a couple of words
and that’s all I’d see
~
That’s how she left me
Not the way she should
Cos these blues I’m now feelin’
sure ain’t soundin’ good

~*~
SCK111118

Poet-Tree

Seeds afloat seeking unfamiliar ground

A mother’s warmth to be found

Love is rained from parental cloud

Bed is rich beneath the shroud

*

Father’s push from dark to light

Growth by day and shadows of night

Journeys upward to infinite skies

A world anew to saplings eyes

*

Soaring towards the sun-gods call

Arms outstretched embracing all

Colors change, soon to flee

Naked spires looming free

*

Twigs share times weighty strife.

A forest of one can have no life

Seasoned words of maturity

Nature’s view atop the poet tree

*

The End

Sck101814

Chronic-call

~

Horrors penned in tomes of fear
Words unseen in a shadows lair
Forever night when cover’s tight
Wings blossom in morning light

Rolling stones gathering moss
When time renders motions loss
Unknown saints wear heavy cross
Unbound future our only boss

Times absorbed in a sponge
Fills the well to take the plunge
Return from pleasure, pre-desire
Or the heat of ice and frozen fire

Air-less caverns running swift
Bloodied quill the only gift
Flightless birds soaring high
Pages fluttering in endless sky

Spiraling upward for the crest
Touching down – needed rest
Sleepless specter, broken spine calls back
Ink floods lines, sheets fill black

Dark and light fill lengthy fall
Return we must to journey’s all
To do what’s right, a writers call
Recording all, big and small

~*~

sck101614

Spare Me

The waiting’s over, my time is here.
The day is new, let’s spread the cheer.
The sky’s blue and the grass is green.
The birds are singing, the future’s seen.
~
The morning began much the same.
Yesterday’s wishes never came.
Dreams of the night faded away.
Eyes now open to yet another day.
~
Something’s different, I don’t know why.
Perhaps it’s the cloudless, deep blue sky.
Maybe springtime has filled my head.
Or could my head is done with the dread.
~
I don’t know how much time I’ve to live.
I don’t know how much more I can give.
I don’t know and I don’t much care.
This feels so good I’d love a spare.
~
I do know how much more I can take.
But today’s the day that I would make.
Then make more for all to enjoy.
Peace and love to all us hoi polloi.

~*~
SCK060125

A Vision Revision

I’ve come to notice a problem today.
The problem’s a word that poets say.
It’s actually a word we all overuse.
So I’ll create a new one as I choose.
~
This word, off course, is love you see.
It should be precise, but it’s used differently.
We all can love many, many things,
like puppies and babies and backyard swings.
~
But love is different when shared by two.
When the love you give comes back to you.
When every kiss is whole body felt,
when making love makes your mind melt.
~
When saying goodbye you can’t let go.
And time apart passes far too slow.
When holding each other’s hand feels just right.
And you fall asleep cuddling every night.
~
Now this poem’s getting long and I’ve still no clue.
But my time’s now for pondering, that’s what I do.
So I’ll share this thought with my lovely sweetheart.
And we’ll kiss and giggle then it’s back to the start.

~*~
SCK093019

In the Clear

Today I’m lost and can’t find my way.
I look toward the sky to guide the day.
The sky was blue; I shared a smile.
Still, I’m lost but gained a mile.
~
I look to the ground; I’ve a path to find.
The ground was hard; my steps were kind.
Yet still I wander, walking on air.
My head’s in the clouds, inward stare.
~
I look straight ahead, my path’s now known.
Each step forward is another step grown.
Journeys all end, destination’s the same.
Directions clear, be glad you came.

~*~
SCK051125