Selections from The College Notebook

The following are selected poems from my second collection, "The College Notebook". If you are interested in reading more, please see my store for the Amazon link or click the "Let's Connect" button on the homepage.

You Turned To Me

I have women like you

in my life,

like a light unlike

the light in bulbs.

You play

like the light in flame,

your eyes swaying,

your heart smoking

like a dragon’s mouth.

Afternoon twilight

licks the room like

the sun licks the evening

shadows-

mellow, tranquil.

In a five o’clock classroom,

you turned to me

and my heart ignited with fire

as if the coming night

had found its first star.

Wild

We let the saliva drip from our incisors. Our jaws

are evolved for grinding, for tearing flesh from bone.

We arch our backs when we see our prey. Our spines

are filled with primal energy.

All of us came here to get close to beasts. To dance

an insane dance. Our language is primitive and consists

of meaningless slurs. We grunt and make gestures and

laugh our stupid laugh. We feel at home here, among

people who wouldn’t recognize their parents’ scorn,

or their friends’ love and memory.

We even made this bar feel like a jungle. We sweat and

hunt for mates and beat up the weak. We loathe the idea

of thinking intelligent thoughts, or remembering our obligations.

We shout and scream and worship destruction. We take on the

form of monsters.

Who can control us? We reject authority. The powers that be

have failed to serve us. So we betray our friends and remain

unfaithful. That’s the culture of the jungle. To grow backwards.

To repress. Our objective is to devolve. To forget what it means

to be human.

The Diamonds in Paris

They shine behind glass cases. They decorate

crowns, dresses and earrings. They hang

from ceilings in cordial ballrooms. They glow

around the necks of elegant women with fair skin,

given to them by austere husbands.

All of me was there. My heart, mind and body

burned beneath the Eiffel Tower. That city

wept and told me its history with every brick and

stone that made the foundation of each building.

The lights that illuminated the evening streets

were diamonds guiding us through the city.

We rode the ferry on the River Seine. Some of our

group danced on the upper deck, but I stayed on

the lower deck watching the water pass. This ferry

was shepherding me to my next revelation.

This giant world contains such small beauties.

I can go anywhere, now. I don’t know what to do

with all this freedom.

The diamonds in Paris sparkle in unexpected places.

They were shining in the eyes of the couples at

evening restaurants. They glowed in the hearts

of my mother and grandmother, who dreamed of

airplanes and oceans. They shined in the chamber of

my thoughts that night.

The sky was an evening dress that the city wore,

and the stars were the diamonds that complimented

her smile. We walked around the town and watched

the world turn. We were really looking inward.

We were Paris. She smiled, and we smiled back, and

everything suddenly seemed so simple in that quiet city,

us just sighing and resting in the night.