There’s no match
to being hatched
by a cat on your lap.
 
Your thighs get hotter
as the purring squatter
renders you trapped.
 
Immobilized,
you realize
the comfort passed on
 
by each committing--
One to sitting,
One to being sat on.

A buffer between
this world and the next
must suffer extremes
and relish the test.
 
          A guardian am I
          of nascent souls
          among us,
          fresh to living,
          soft to sharp edges
          in a barb-wired world.
          New souls are loaned
          to me to love.
          It’s what I do.
          I’m the fluffy cloud
          that they fall into.
 
          Even so, to spare them
          of the earth’s intensity,
          the universe soon reclaims
          their energy,
          while the guardian
          with nothing to protect,
          is left
          with devastation and despair –
          An angel’s cross to bear.
​
Erase wings from your mind,
as if not within our leagues.
Angels walk by our side,
and endure equally the fatigue.

I hear ringing, ringing,
a thousand crickets singing.
Nonstop the cabaret,
every second of every day.

My Quiet forever lost
among the resounding chorus.
No pause to take applause.
No silence on the concourse.

I rest my head to sleep
to the drilling pitch of C.
Goodnite tormentors, Goodnite friends,
tomorrow I wake to you again.

My skin’s so tight,
it doesn’t fit.
Yet I keep growing
in spite of it.
 
I’ve got to go.
 
I’ll leave the shell behind
for another to use,
while I find
more space to move
(why not? –
other slowpokes do).
 
Silly, sweet,
expandable me,
dreams of shedding the coat
stained with ennui.

You will sense me in strangers
as you catch your breath and pause.
You will find me in places
where you never thought I was.
You will hear me in music
and in the laugh of passers-by,
flickers of familiar comfort
that make you stop and sigh.
You may sadly shake your head
and admonish how you long,
but don’t dismiss your instinct yet
-- You may not be wrong.
What if I am there
in the instant earth can’t grasp?
The smell of fragrance in the air,
a tender shoulder pat…
Trust your heart that it is me,
no matter who believes you.
The simple truth as we both know –
I would never leave you.

I loved you
with wild abandon.
Your fire, so hot,
and I walked right in
without a thought
for my safety.
I was happy
to be fuel for you.
Perhaps you burned
a little brighter
because of me.
But you were starved
of oxygen
and there was nothing
I could do.
Oh, how I wished
that I could breathe for you.
So fleeting was your glow,
now where am I to go?
I see the other flames,
they’re not the same.
My source of heat
extinguished,
I’m cold to the core
of my soul.
Another says I’m not finished.
She has hope for this lump of coal?
A million lifetimes more
before I transform
into that diamond
sparkling with the lost fires
it has known.
A gem exquisitely cut
from the embers of your love.

Our words are old and tired,
from a lesser being’s brain,
human-born and wired,
sub-optimally arranged.
 
No AI would imitate
an origin so flawed.
No reward to duplicate
the dearth of knowledge stored.
 
The people’s evolution
seems like it may have peaked
with the robot revolution,
leaving nothing else unique.
 
They think, they create, they emote
to faultless execution.
So embrace your remodeled role
and your edge as imperfect human.

Look at yourself and tell me –
Do you know why you’re here?
Remember, objects in the mirror
are larger than they appear.
 
          Your microcosm has you fixated
          too close to notice you’re pixelated.
 
Look again, now tell me –
Do you know who you are?
Once you felt connected,
but did you know how far?
 
          Unfurl your antennae and feel around,
          there’s so much more of you to be found.
 
Resist the urge to introspect,
Zoom out to the widest view.
The mosaic that appears will show
you are ALL, you’re not just you.

Change is certain.
Change is constant.
With our blessing
or without our consent,
it comes both planned
and without notice.
Only Change is sure
of its next move,
then looks at you to say
“Now what will you do?”
And carbon must become
more fluid to endure the ride,
or else stand still as stone –
Petrified.

I’ve misplaced my mind,
I haven’t lost it yet.
I had it here a moment ago,
but where I put it, I forget.
 
Must check the recycling bin
and the drawer beneath the stove.
Here it is!  It’s in the oven!
Damn, where’s the meatloaf?