The house on Marford peaks
above the hedge, shaggy tiles
(dulled to grey from years
in the sun) frown
under the weight of domestic
solitude.
Isolation trickled down the chimney
until the walls began to rot
(like fruit in the sun
too long) until the squat couple
can’t bear to peak
through the window.
The mail carrier doesn’t
even bother anymore.
As I leap into middle age
(knuckles white)
I wonder if the greatest adventure
is merely to breathe
(snow meets altruistic land)
In a world spinning its wheels,
(frigid morning scrubs icy)
the eager sound can’t whine for change,
stale taste of winter
(skin burning with the chill)
The calendar will jump to Spring
(teeth rattle loose)
anticipation blooming every dewy night
I snore away
(gray hair wind-blown)
My murky memory extrapolates the smoke,
pixelated recollections somewhere in the cache
that clears itself (a grasp slackens)
as I hasten to replace lost echoes
with reminiscences to come,
not forgotten among the ash,
rising if we dare stretch hereafter.
The future — always fuzzy like sleep
that won’t rub out of our eyes — changes
every time we look at it, as we push forward
carrying the momentum of those better angels
urging us to grow our own wings
and launch ourselves to join those
refusing to leave progress to others.
Time will tell what tales we create,
Proceeding only where we dare.
I.
Jesus Christ is this growing old?
And what if this is it? And
at the end, is there anything
but the end?
The past gets longer every day
and all the while I look
back and
see more and less,
strange paradox
that slowly makes more sense –
overwhelming and immense
– and still nothing.
II.
Death or something gray came
in with a hint of magnolias
as I forgot why I opened the
window in the first place.
III.
My dad likes to say
in that way only he can
that birthdays come quicker
every year.
Descartes said something once
but now I think he’s dead.
And at the funeral they said
he came and died
and in between did some things that
bear mentioning.
Driving from the funeral
visions of life
(the mighty pine,
the almost-
mighty azalea) and death
(the once-raccoon
pushed to the side, territory
marked in red) just mile
markers passing too
quickly, overlapping
in the rearview mirror.
IV.
Oh my. God throws
his arms up and shuts the door
on his way out. In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God.
sometimes
a word is just a word and in the end
it’s just an end
Often Mumbled Musings