Tag Archives: Love

FROST BITE

Audio Recordings, Cowboy Poetry, Relationships / tagged , , , / / by

FROST BITE

On the prairies they know
that you have to use snow

In January on the Wood River
the laces got wet and then stiff
and could not be untied

Walked the whimpering long mile home
in one frozen skate and one warm boot
part of my foot and all my toes
numb and milky white

On the prairies they know
that you have to use snow

Too much warmth all at once
can bring the feeling rushing back
with more pain than you can stand

I have since learned
and this is the sad part
It is the same way with the heart

A BOAT CALLED TRUTH

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , / / by

A BOAT CALLED TRUTH

We have known and loved each other
deeply all these years

Each one or both always honouring some
relationship with someone else

So we never quite say it
and we never quite do it

One sunny day in Santa Barbara harbour
we see the name “TRUTH” on a pretty boat

We take each other’s pictures by the stern
but we never get on the boat

LULLABY TO POLARITY

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth / tagged , , , / / by

LULLABY TO POLARITY

The more the more you are woman
the more I am man

The more you rest soft in my arms
the stronger they become

The more the more I am man
the more you are woman

The more the strength
in the shape of the spoon

The more the more even in sleep
you curl up and melt
into sugar and good medicine

YOU ARE THE U IN HOUSTON TO ME

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Travel / tagged , / / by

YOU ARE THE U IN HOUSTON TO ME

How could I ever leave you love
if you didn’t live in Houston

If it wasn’t for the humid swamp
and the trash along the bayou
how could I say good-bye to you

You know I love you dearly
and it ain’t you that makes me run
but Houston traffic’s far from fun
and every Bubba’s got a gun

Yet even with all of that
and the country’s worst damn air
you know that I’ll keep coming back
as long as you are there

And I’ll keep leaving Houston too
after a muggy smoggy day or two

One of these days I hope you know
I’ll take you with me when I go

LOUIS AND SUZANNE

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , , , / / by

LOUIS AND SUZANNE

Suzanne gets cancer
she gets cancer real bad

The doctors get out their big guns
They wage war with everything they’ve got

The cancer laughs at the doctors
It breaks out on many new fronts

The doctors, defeated, suggest surrender
Louis and Suzanne go to Mexico instead

Suzanne drinks fresh juices and does cleanses
Louis quits his job and takes care of Suzanne

Suzanne gets well

Louis takes care of many people
He took care of people in asbestos mines

For years he has not slept well
and he does not breathe well in the mornings

The doctors are treating him for sleep apnoea
Early this year he has a bad cough

The doctors do X-rays, Louis has cancer
Too much asbestos, ten years growing

It is too late for the doctors, or Mexico
Louis dies, life is funny

FOR DEBBIE AND DAD

Relationships / tagged , , / / by

FOR DEBBIE AND DAD
– by Carolyn Meili

As America reeled
in its new found vulnerability
Its myths exploding over and over
on wide-screen TV

You found a friend
perhaps the only one I have ever seen
who demanded your best
but not your sympathy

Now, in her absence
we discover our own vulnerability

and the strength in it

I watched the moon tonight
and she is full
Beaming among us

(written by my daughter Carolyn Meili, who met Debbie a week before Debbie’s death. Said she had never made and lost a friend so fast)

DEBBIE OH DEBBIE

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , , , / / by

DEBBIE OH DEBBIE

Debbie oh Debbie
are you thinking of going away
because no one ever asked you
hard enough to stay

Debbie oh Debbie
were you always so beautiful strong
that no one ever thought to carry you along

Debbie oh Debbie
the brave wolf that still shows its throat
and bleeds inside of its coat

Debbie oh Debbie had we but loved
less wisely, but more well
who can tell who can tell

Debbie oh Debbie
are you thinking of going away
because I never asked you hard enough to stay

FEEDING THE SOUL AT VARGOS

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , , / / by

FEEDING THE SOUL AT VARGOS
(for Debbie)

The soul is fed in many ways

Walking
on a sunny Easter Sunday
in Vargos gardens with the one you love

Marveling as peacocks surround us
and salute that love

Meeting by chance
your surgeon ally in the cancer fight

Sitting by the window
breaking bread in gratitude for it all

JUDY

Poems about Poetry, Relationships / tagged , , , , , / / by

JUDY

Judy was a beauty
tall and blonde and shy
early this month she decided to die

The soft wise eyes, the curling lashes
all now ashes

We have been friends for twenty years
hugs and coffee when in town, cards when far away

And always the latest poetry

She said it was important, and it touched her
in places nothing and no one else could reach

Three years ago
I put my neck in a green eyed noose

I sent no cards, I did not call

I do not know if I could have saved her
though touch and poetry have been known to

I only know I hate what I did and didn’t do
I only know that she drowned out there alone
I only know it was a long time since I had thrown her a line