excerpt from "the bluebird"

"there's a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out
but, i'm too clever
i only let him out at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep
i say, i know that you're there, so don't be sad.

then i put him back..
but he's singing a little in there
i haven't quite let him die
and we sleep together like that
with our secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man weep, but i don't
weep
do you?

Chuck Bukowski ~~ 1991

---

the undeniable

crisp white sheets
tossed crumpled to the floor
show words.... leave the scent,
the writing is on the wall.
paper and linen...
words and kisses...
you've shared the white piano with me.
.
greatest lovers have gone mad
over paper and linen
stained or torn.
the journey,
leaving trails of crumpled sheets...
paper and linen...
white rooms in full sunlight..
we can smell every sigh.
music played within
and without
white linens and paper
crumpled and worn....

---

treading water

blackened depth,
swirling hard and cold
i'm engulfed
i'm treading your sea.
.
saline sting gulps my breath..
my eyes burn without vision
heart pumping to blue veins.
treading to save our life.
.
a teasing warm current hits,
but it rushes to me, then away
within one gasp of air
and i tread harder still.
.
dark night skies
moonless and chilled in my face
panic numbs my legs as i
tread without thought.
.
i tread your sea
drowning in the salt
coughing,
in the wake of my loss.

---

....... addiction.......

my veins run on the sweet flavor
gushing into the core
in waves of psychedelic hues.
without your fix, gray collapses me.
there is no yesterday
it's here and now and salty tears.
i'm waiting at the foot of the moon.

---

     hhmmm, having been put in the position of "trying" to be clever with the content of this bio, i find myself at a loss. i'm better at the impromptu i believe. anyway, i write "poetry" which my family and friends patronizingly say is fine. however, the professor at our local college, (Bucks County, Pa. Poet Laureate for several years) seemed to have quite a different and less complimentary opinion. (smile).. i write for therapy which is more than any person should expect. it seems to be safer than medication and a lot less expensive.
     i'm not an artist, a photographer, a musician, or a math teacher. i do APPRECIATE art, film, music and i like math. (smile).. i travel the highway and i have 13 earrings in my left ear. that's all i can think of that's "clever".