Ante Up Progress

half way home
24x48
oil on canvas

MICHI RIDES (for Lisa)

18x24

Oil on Canvas

2/20/14

Michi Rides

Fool's Heart

Rabbit holes of hope

Learns slow, remembers little

To survive winter

The Ascent Of Emily T. Joy

For Babbie

8x8 Oil on Canvas

REARVIEW CODA

Broadsided by a midnight nostalgia wave

Like a coffee house whiff of song

Scent has nothing on Sound

Replete with the sweet modulation 

A past hope lilting measure

Newness and wonder of foam to float on

Isolated in the chorus of jagged recognition

While I try to shake the jacket sleeve of it off while driving

The verse tugs me like a dog nipping a pant leg

Although half-convinced that I have definitely, possibly

Solidly moved on 

To relative obscurity

My unbroken surface looks back

I feel the hook engage

Sing along even while smoking

And wait for it to end again 

In the parking lot

PUTTING THE POISON DOWN

Sweet fingers lingering in hair

To know the path and remain tactile

Curious still

Tracing the curves of my mountain to it's peak

or the desert of my cracked heart

The gift is not in awakening rain

My reflection could eclipse Narcissus

Thirsty still

In the spot where courage lies

More than mere potential

To be seen and trusted

That's where the music lives

To heal myself, I dream landscapes

Searching still

Putting the poison down

Capable

"Capable" Oil on Canvas 12x24

BREATHING THROUGH THE BANJO

Having been around the block in my underwear

Curled up-and-died karma already

After the time-scab-numb-hardness had dusted off my knees

Standing shaken for longer than can smell up two socks

What now, stirred time?

Two teenagers kissing on a beach

Two old soldiers playing chess

Just keep doing that, please

I, an acquired taste with a hairbrush

Will travel, will wait

Self-sufficiently enough

Breathing through the Banjo

Ease, look upon me