heart beating like a drum
afraid of acting dumb
at my first dance
a chance
of romance
with lips dry
from being shy
she caught my eye
with a coy smile
a promise to comply
when my lips apply
young bliss
I’ll always miss
that first kiss
Month: April 2019
April Offerings
Aprilis – aka April – arrives every year
with rainy benedictions
for the atmosphere
it’s showers
bring flowers
and empowers
nature to revive
to survive
and thrive
awakening the land
to expand
nature’s grandstand
Epiphanies Don’t Always Please
sudden revelations and insights can be stifled by stupidity and jealousy
there’s always doubters that don’t see what others see
new ideas are often met with controversy
the sceptics scorn unaplogetically
visions kicked aside like debris
in human history
only
there will always be
a person with a sense of destiny
who will have an epiphany
that will set us free
Desert of Deceit
Burnt sands cover the liescape stretching between truth and deceit buried deep in a person’s mind. A desert of deceit. Unhindered by any convention, yet still possessing a conscience that sometimes asks questions about morality and sensuality.
Falsehoods, like scorpions and snakes, strike swiftly in the seething sands of a liar’s mind whose mission is to deceive. The liar’s soul, burnt by dwelling in the bronzed wasteland of duplicity, is shriveled and crispy.
There are those who dwell in this sandy hell by choice. Content to wander dunes of deceit. Content to live a lie. Content to vilify. Souls that were born bone dry. For these nomads in society, I have no pity.
Marijuana Strong
it’s been used for at least 5,000 years
around the time people first drank beers
used in China and Egypt to heal
ingesting pot was no big deal
cultures worldwide harvest weed
with hemp and flower they succeed
what was once illegal in the USA
a green market now here to stay
people use weed to fight depression
and PTSD regression
then there’s one of the best reasons why
people really like to get pleasantly high!
Deep Sea Melody
deep deep deep in the vast sea
a melody
bubbles up pleasantly
emanating a complexity
of sounds and serenity
soothing southing southing
merrily merrily
the sound goes on endlessly
from the deep deep deep
restless sea
The Coyote’s Mistake
Flash Fiction -260 words
They crossed over to the Texas border on a moonless night. Six immigrants hailing from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador bearing backpacks. The coyote, who name was Carlos, urged them to move faster.
“Estoy exenuado!” a young man from Guatemala complained.
“Seguier avanzando!” Carlos warned him not to stop.
The four men and two women who followed Carlos were silent after that, not wanting to anger the coyote and be left to die in the Rio Grande Valley’s harsh environment.
Just before daylight Carlos led them to a wooden shack that was almost entirely concealed by clusters of small barrel cactus and honey mesquite. The one room shack was just big enough for the tiny group.
“Descansa y duerme,” he advised the immigrants, knowing they would need all the rest they could get, because the next night was the most perilous part of the journey.
The next night the moon crept up over the horizon like a silver ball as Carlos looked out the one window in the shack. A full moon. How could that be, he wondered? He checked the almanac, and the national weather service. It was supposed to be a quarter moon tonight!
His perfect record of delivering his cargo to a safe haven on the other side of the border was going to be ruined. He hoped he wouldn’t get a bad reputation. There weren’t too many jobs for werewolves these days.
As his body morphed into a mass of muscle and hair he briefly felt sorry for the group. Then he let out a howl!
In Praise of Puppets
stings attached
dolls with big eyes
in disguise
one expression forever frozen
in a grimace or a wide smile
meant to beguile
watch the puppets dance
take a chance
enjoy the performance
and suspend reality
to watch their story
Tourist Attraction
colored chunks of glass on the shore
smooth from the waves undulations
pulled up from the ocean floor
gleaming like jewels in the sun
in what appears to be a pristine beach
but isn’t, it’s littered with trash
a picturesque setting with broken glass
marred by the reality of the incongruity
of the dumped glass’s original source
trash heap to attraction for tourists
who have no remorse
Tammy McGee
(Editor’s note: apologies to Edgar Allen Poe for this updated adaptation of Annabel Lee)
It was many, and many a month ago
in a city called Miami
there was a woman living there who you may know
by the name of Tammy McGee
and this woman spent her time
loving and being loved by me
I was retired and so was she
living on the beaches of Miami
and we loved one another madly
I, and my Tammy McGee
with a love the world envied
her, and me
and this was the reason
she was killed by a Nazi
on the beaches of Miami
my gorgeous Tammy McGee
Her family came
and bore her away from me,
burying her in secrecy
the relatives were never happy with me
Yes! That is the reason, as all people know,
they took her away from Miami
hiding my beloved Tammy McGee
but our love continues on in eternity
and nothing can take away her love from me
she appears to me every night in my dreams
my darling Tammy McGee
and not a day goes by
when the sun raises high
when I don’t want to die
The Creative Chronicles of Dave Stancliff 