Guitar Riff

Music became life
On a full-size bed where dance
Was called by my brother
On his electric blue Fender
With white highlights and magic.
I was just little
He was my hero, and is,
Though we had our downs,
He has gone ahead, but I
Think of him often and all
The talent carried
In someone I could see, touch,
Have play songs for me,
I guess he jams with those who
He could play in such detail.
I still love the sound
Of music turned up a bit loud
My dancing is less
Beautiful and precise, but
The songs bring me back to life.

Non-Abatable

The faces we love
Fade into phase states we wish
Could still be ignored,
But our aching hearts cannot
Deny time passes, a storm.
Every day we vow
We will remain strong, no tears,
But memory prods
At us, pushing emotion
Beyond reasonable limits.
Believing we were
Through strident protests, prayers,
To stay the Lord’s hand;
Knowing He controlled each death
We thought God might longer spare.
Cries, tears, squalls befall,
We again wonder more than
Is our given right,
Why, oh why, go they forward
Leave us wallowing, deep night?

Sometimes I am shaken to the core.

Five Tanka

Five lines written in the syllabic pattern of 5-7-5-7-7. Here I have five of them to be read, each, as a standalone. Prompt: If you like simplicity, you should try your hand at the form. Tanka are an excellent warm-up for any writing you wish.

Lost in and out of
Times relativity and
Space’s imposition.
Where can I wander without
Myself, who finds me yonder?

//////////

You dance me around
Margins following the lines
Imagining we
Return to those moments when
We were one, reality.

//////////

We thought we could learn
To live without each other,
But storms battered us
Until we came back calling
For the people we once were.

//////////

Touch is mystery
Boldly original with
No filters, constructs;
It is always what is, no
Denying precedence, no.

//////////

Love is like ice cream,
A tasty high calorie
Treat, providing energy,
Delighting all our senses,
Yet trickles away with ease.

Standard Deviation

How is one exact,
But
Also outside, in doubt?
The mind is never
A closed system,
It knows those things,
But
It allows room for fault.
Variables inject deviation
From what seems inevitable,
This present; what we, as humans
Know
Here is subject to unmaking.
Change is a complete
Norm, though norms, might
Be terms to use most
Sparingly,
Because difference is
Encountered in everything.
Each creation of God –
Is fashioned unique;
All
We see, know, are, have,
Is individual, ours here
To experience within
The sampling being
We
Are and constant construct.
When we awake, rise,
We are like the day, beginning
Anew, potential
Envelopes
Us in endless possibility,
Loved, creative, free.
Nothing is beyond our
Capacity to learn,
But
Scattered uncertainty
Grows wild as weeds in
Gardens of delighted insight
A misstep, an accident,
Suddenly,
We are gone –
All we gathered, amassed,
Lost as if,
We never even happened.

Eschew/Renew

We sketch our lives in
Invisible ink on these walls
Of air, earth, fire, flesh;
We pass like roses, beauty,
Only present a short while.
Our hands busy, selves,
Creating foundations for
Futures never ours,
Generations we offer
Our best gifts, accomplishments.
Now, we sing against
Doubt, fear, insecurity –
Fighting shadow blight
Where the fruit will flourish, brave,
In gardens of delight, saved
From degradations,
We erase with consistent
Labor over years
Paying in earnest, never
Letting faith, hope, slip away.
Love, our guiding light
Though we fade in brightest glare,
Almost completely
Unknown, contributing hearts
To lives, we wish to see free.
Words cannot bring
Every dream into being,
But speaking, a tool,
Purpose-built to encourage
Change within lives reached, inspired.
Plentiful, we, examples
Scattered over time, what minds
Mend, creating more sublime,
Love, part an art, taught hands-on
Driving history toward grace
Still, counting every life, face,
A precious gift to embrace,
With confidence, each person
Has meaning, purpose, reason,
Position in time and space.