Poem : The Fox

One morning I see two eyes peering my way

Glowing bright from the dull gray cast of my headlights

Illuminating the dark shadows of winter

Much like the glow of two fireflies chasing one another

Through the hot humidity of southern summer nights    

Yes, the eyes of a fox glowed that morning

Pinning me with her gentle gaze she did

As I drew closer

She stood motionless underneath the undergrowth

Of lime green leaves now frosted

From winter’s white wind wiping their surface with ice  

Her breath shows in the cool air escaping through flared nostrils

The fox seems unbothered, yet keenly aware of my presence

Her gaze, piercing, as if she knows me

Like she’s carrying a message

Then my mind wanders for a moment

I think of my friend from a faraway land

She’s been there for me when I was alone

I reached out with my tattered life

She listened then sewed my frayed existence with kind words

Holding me together with strings from her heart

With positive energy

She cast a stone ever so softly

Into the dark waters that had become my life

Making these waters ripple with hope

With understanding

With support

With friendship

With kindness  

Good energy transferred through time and space to heal

So I thought, as the fox broke from her cover  

Her tail wildly whipping in the wind

Could the feelings and support of another

Be transferred through the sighting of a fox

Or a hawk calling overhead

With its speckled wing mass cutting the blue skyline in two

These creatures crossing our path to remind us of the ones

That send positive thoughts our way

Their words and feelings carried from a faraway land

To ours on the backs of these wild messengers

Yes, I believe so

Poem : Marilyn

Oh Marilyn with your sweet stare so sad

Oh how you put on a show for us all

Your lips were the color of

Red twisted licorice

Your skin so soft

Like silk

As you lay stretched across the flip page of a centerfold

Your body

Your breast

Your hips so curvy

Your legs dressed with stretched diamond netting

You were every man’s perfect obsession

But it was your eyes that told your true story

The gaze of the lonely never lies

You knew, your bargaining chips of beauty would fade with time

Old age slips into our lives like a thief

Steals what once was

The fear that comes from not being loved

To becoming the most loved

Then knowing old age would eventually take it away

Had to be a burden to carry

A weight, unbearable to lift

For rejection is a demon that haunts with great regularity

Spreading his fear in your mind like a wildfire spreads through the forest

Engulfing all of your thoughts if you’re not careful

So you fought these feelings of fear 

The pills and smooth swigs of whiskey work well at first

Like candy they comfort

With their sweet outer shell they slide down with ease

They made your worries slip away for a moment

But the pressures of the past always come back

Abandonment is a scar that runs deep

After your mother left for the asylum

Life was never the same

Walking out of your world

Your mother would eventually walk the streets of my home town

Walking the streets of Gainesville

Listening to the voices in her head

Oh Marilyn, I understand your frustration

My sister and grandmother heard the same voices

Maybe there’s more voices to hear in this town

Or maybe some are chosen to hear the ones no one has time for

Oh Marilyn, with your sweet smile and beauty

I can see why it was easier to be numb to the demands of the world

Numb to your past

Living life in the flash of a camera could not have been easy

Trading one lonely world for another

It all takes a toll in the end

A pill to wake up, a pill to fall asleep

A pill for the everyday demands

If two pills fix what’s wrong on Monday

Three surely will fix Tuesday’s problems

This thinking catches even the beautiful

Oh Marilyn, at least you’ll never grow old

And have to listen to the voices of the city

You’ll live on, young, in still photos

With a smile and loneliness clouding your eyes