Vacant Mirror Redux

 friend(s) on a cold december morning mourning  that period of life those memories like  many dog eared pages  in a well loved book now all that is left is time and silence wondering where all those people went why I wasn't enough to remember or check up on that's not right because checking up on feels like a task i never wanted to be a task or burden i thought i held some value as a friend maybe  maybe i'm too old with too much responsibility to think back so much when there is less time in front of me why should i care right? stoicism is served up liked happy meals at mcdonalds no buyers regret when it comes to friendship  you leave with a box full of empty calories and if you're lucky a valuable and nostalgic toy to look at gathering dust on the shelf you'll eventually forget about

 Place and Palette The voice of  Dallas Green Is like the last hug  You’ll ever receive  From a loved one You’ll never see Again

 Winter nights I long to stay inside On these long winter nights Tucked away in my tiny house With weathered green shingles  And the draft that slowly  Creeps in  From beneath the window sill I sit in a rocker recliner Well broken in With a digital book at the ready When I’ve neglected my weekly  Visit to the town’s local library I like to lose myself  In someone else’s story Forgetting the dropping temps outside Those temps I’ve known since birth The cold that silences the world As you move slower  And your bones creak stepping off The deck’s old steps in the morning  This year’s winter feels Darker somehow Sunlight evaporating by 4 It’s endless and it’s only Dec. 2 All ambition from Halloween to Thanksgiving is gone Now it’s time for self preservation Four months of temps anywhere from 0-30 degrees at best It’s brings new worries An aging car An aging house Do not take kindly  To accumulating snow Wood splits as my mind waits For necessary ...

 Run We all of a certain generation Run like the hunted Stuck between the late 70’s and the present Old enough to remember Turning the dial Old enough to remember The quiet comfort Of not knowing the opinions Of a billion people Old enough to remember the beginning Of a new society/civilization When we became socially aware Not just about worldly explorations Aware about our own need to speak and to be heard Our thoughts  All of our thoughts  On topics That were usually reserved  For the barbershop The grocery store aisle Between two purple haired Ninnies  Their displeasure For anyone that  Spoke or looked different Celebrities who were once  Mythic and undeniable Now with shaved heads Slamming paparazzi with Umbrellas No one was safe

 “Blue” I’ll call him blue Found him in between the pages He was new to my school This is where the “watching out” And “looking after” began I was new to this I was a shadow that clung to Those high school walls Those lockers with combinations That frightened me Always forgetting daily The combinations He looked in my direction  He probably said hello He was new around here He didn’t have the built up hate for me Like the majority of the rancid ass holes I was at the end of my leash I suppose Had to be junior year My first car and second job had given me some distance An old friend gave me the heads up  Of Blue’s arrival “Kids a good kid, a little strange” “Watch out for him” The irony that I was also a good kid, a little strange wasn’t lost on me I was a little lost myself All the unrequited crushes  All the dumb mistakes and Man if there was a chance of me making one I was gonna do it on the grandest scale Blue didn’t notice He would pop in and out from time to tim...

 Comfort wind I sit here  Holding onto  The glimpses of trees  Swaying in the wind A snow storm that went north but  Left us with a nice Bit of rain And the wind That spits  Hard At your skin Gives me comfort