Random Vandalism

A thoughtless trespass
               moved to piqued esteem
no harm intended, minding not
               another’s deep despair
like random keys plucked
               from school laptops
just to make a word
               to put in his pocket

“buck up, pal” the
               minor indiscretions
mean no harm
               do not intend to injure
only careless words and deeds
               that damage nonetheless
and so defend against this
               formless threat of danger

the snide, the trite, the insincere
               that brew and bubble
one day may
               no longer be repaired

i need a day

i once was as the morning
               breaking through the night
and singing like the sun
i never reached the mid-day
               never noon
my sunset rests
               on someone’s dark horizon

go ahead and light those matches
               you can burn them all and
all night long to keep from sleeping
short and quick
               they’re tossed away
they’re only matches
               i need a day

The wood burning kit

I got a wood burning kit for Christmas
        one year, long ago
        meant for searing names,
        designs and numbers
This plug-in, electric art/craft wonder
        occupied childhood time
        now spent with computers
        and video games
S.S. Kresge Five and Dime
        sold trinkets and
        affordable diversions
        like birdhouse kits and bookends
And small plastic soldiers and dinosaurs
        which, in early adolescence,
        offered up their heads
        to my wood burning kit
I kept Glenn’s bookends
        the set he made for ma
        with his kit many years before
        they were pretty special
        to ma and me

for empty lines

one line left
     the closet running
as another line
     entered singing

a simple image up
     and down
again it comes
     and goes

two with-
     out one line
both not withstanding
     one another

not tolerating
     as one line leaves
is one line lost
     and now returning

a simple image
     up and down
and so again it comes
     and goes