Matinee

My only misstep
was always looking
for the perfect role.
Walk outs
plagued my second acts.
Sensing disappointment 
in my direction,
I sought something
more compelling,
better-suited
to the crowd's immediate needs,
like playing death:
a ruthless, ambitious portrayal, 
rendering the audience speechless,
producing a hit beyond review,
full of high-priced seats.
I craved such a lead
and waited
in the wings, until finally,
my big chance came
to show everyone
I was really just
the ticket,
after all.

5/23/12

Big Bang

I have become
the person
I thought I'd never be.
The one who laughed
before he met you,
pretends he
is still a lot like me,
doesn't know 
he became someone
else, a forgetful
version of myself,
prone to error,
especially
when glancing
in my rearview mirror,
not noticing
your memory 
gaining on me today,
the past receding 
at warp speed, 
like distant galaxies 
from the big bang, 
accelerating away.

5/24/12

Dark Matter

That unknown
stuff between the stars
they say exists,
is so far invisible
but does its damage still,
must be the reason
I don't see you
even on nights
you say you will,
cannot hear your voice
when you pick up,
or feel your touch
when nothing
is between us.
The universe
was not so big
when you were mine,
before dark matter
began to change your mind.

5/27/12

Shadow

I see her coming
from a long way off,
a speck on the horizon
beneath a cone of dust.
I'm sure she sees me, too,
looking much the same.
Long ago, when I
was young, we agreed
to play this game,
we both know
what to do.
Now it's her turn
to follow me, as I
have followed back,
she draws closer
in the dark, to take
me by surprise. But
she knows I'm ever
watchful, hear her
every sigh.
We meet again,
under the morning sun,
I have become her shadow,
and so must follow then,
get used to her new
disguise. She says
we must go right now,
and will not compromise.

5/25/12

Anchorage

I will not wake
the sleeping dead,
when I walk on by,
they will not know I see
their beds so well-made,
the messy rooms
they left behind
now cleaned
by someone else.
They will not feel
the warm sun
rise and set
upon their stones,
read the date
marking time
since they have gone.
Only in the names
cut into my soul,
do I know how
deep they really
are, pulling me
along the path
that brought them here,
they do not
know how far.

5/21/12

Exile

After years abroad
I exit the plane, eager
for my awaited return.
In the terminal,
travelers stream past
my expectant face,
rushing to the places
I've been, heedless
of my warning
to wait, go back home,
look deeply
into the mirror.
Do not hurry, like me,
anxious I would
run out of time. Instead,
I am here, punishment served,
ready to start over again.

5/17/12

Heart

I gave it to you,
you seemed so pleased,
though I could see
you left it alone.
You held yours close
when we went around,
telling how mine
was something you'd found.
Now it's come back
no return address,
so poorly used
I'm not impressed.
I always looked hard
for a trace of yours,
forgetting it wasn't
really mine to lose.

4/17/12

Soaps

On the big screen TV
in the nursing home
the young and the restless
do their best
not to be alone,
playing to a gathering
of the wheel-chair bound,
left in this corner
of the lost and found.
When pushed past doors
down the darkening hall,
they look to each bed
for one who always
was there before,
who waits even now
on some other shore.

5/13/12

Reservation

Now I'm packed,
taxi on its way,
carry-on waiting
by the door,
just not sure what
I'm leaving you for.
The driver comes,
takes my bag in hand,
maybe he
would understand.
Don't know what
I'm supposed to say,
I had not planned
to end this way.
The plane flies over
your house below,
you're still looking
for all I know.
Far above,
in those trails you see,
you might guess
which one
belongs to me.
My bag and I
have slipped on by,
but there's no way
you'd know why.

5/10/12

Not There

I called,
but you were never there,
no one ever could say where,
no message
would be waiting
when I returned.
I looked into the mirror,
remembering I once
had seen you
there, but I never learned.
You beckoned in a dream
from another time.
Following, I would
finally make you mine.
And when I despaired,
you filled my midnight eye,
asking if still
I was satisfied.

4/26/12

Oasis

The bed is now
an empty desert,
my hand searches
the space
you left behind.
The wind carries me
off to sleep, cast adrift
on endless time.
I've lost my way,
your signposts gone,
tracks disappearing
into sand. I awaken
to the ringing phone,
it says you're thinking
of coming home.
You will bring
some rain, some sorrow,
sleeping here
again tomorrow.

5/2/12

Big Game

As I circle my prey
I see he's out there
circling me,
we play this game
of certainty.
I know what
he's hungry for,
he's been way down
this path before.
I'm not so sure
he would agree,
but all my life
he's followed me,
devouring
friends, lovers, too.
When done with me
he'll come for you.
Caught so many
by surprise, though
they all knew
how time flies.
I know they did not
wait for him,
though more than one
invited him in.

5/7/12