A Woman's Smile

Fulfilling her duty...
she lit her candle

...and the sun rose.

An Ill-Timed Epiphany

Blink....

... recognize THAT precise
inopportune moment of regrettable
Awareness;
that singularly timeless second you realize
it's too late
... that on the other side of
THIS useless epiphany is an
End Game.

Breath... 

and fear the moment when ...
reborn with the irrefutable knowledge that
beyond this eleventh hour
the descent begun,
karmic dealers show their last hand
during your final thrashing seconds,
... as your last thought is
a match struck
too late.

Children of Divorce

Tongue tied by familial semantics and intentions
it is hard to be a bridge
when both sides are burning.

Meat Bags' Remorse

We are all merely collections of
learned affectations and fears
rotting in flesh
because we've forgotten we're spirit.

Dementia

I watched you drown
years deep
beneath murky memories, plexiglas regrets
and unspoken fears;

as rotted roots and mental mulch mercilessly dragged at your limbs
though without invitation, insidiously insistent;
entitled by mere chemistry.

I watched you forget the common place from one moment to the next
A desperate  manic glean to your eye as you fought for SELF recognition
moment to moment...
your mirror broken...

and I watched you
grip a quarter inch of straw above the water line
to tell me you love me
your eyes daring me to forget
what you knew you would in moments...

the message delivered
your momentary peace found
until the need for shoes confounded you once more.