We’ve come a long way baby
Long way ‘round
To get where we are
To be heard in this town

Suffered long & hard
War torn & abused
Obscure & acclaimed
Applauded & used

Booze, drugs & ladies
It gave us clout
Excess felt good
Without a doubt

Pounded & pushed
Our way thru the door
A groundswell arose
The crowd screamed for more

Power it up-
Rip it in two-
It ain’t over ‘till
We say we’re thru

Pic: Flickr/Chris J.

Before I knew you, truly knew you
I knew you love
The unsubtle longing of my heart
Decidedly unquiet, the passionate leaning into the
Landscape of your soul

I could hear your heart beating
Against mine
Oh great impossibility made possible
Transcending all rational thought
Meant to govern such things

For the heart concerns itself little for the confines
Of propriety and reasoning
It knows not, nor cares of “cannot be’s” remaining
Fixed in its path to fulfillment

And much like my heart
I care not to unravel the mysteries
Of our love, and of why it is that
Amongst all men, it is only within your presence,
That I am undone, and

Although so few words have passed between us
Little matter, for within
The tenor of your voice
I live and die
A thousand times
And where you go, I shall follow
And when we are apart, your song within my depths
Sustains and keeps me
Until I return to you and
Find once again, my breath

Pic: Nicole Kidman/Cold Mountain

Worlds Apart

My heart has spirited away
Taking it's leave, without consult
Traveling over great distance
Oceans away
To be near you,
My love

Running off, rushing ahead
Anxious for your voice, your arms
Gathering me up, once again

For my heart has a mind of it’s own
And who can blame it
When it comes to you-

One look from you and I am
Instantly consumed, caught up
As a wave moving across
Those deep stirring waters, over which
I have long traveled

The depths of which, seem unending

Photo: Flickr/Orange Acid

"To love another is something like prayer and can't be planned, you just fall into its arms because your belief undoes your disbelief."

Anne Sexton – “Admonitions to a Special Person” 1974

Photo: Flickr/Rogiro

MY HEMINGWAY

I can see you, bar side
Hoisting whiskey to song
Irish celebration
You turned into week-long

Four Green Fields
Back alley door, swimming within a sea
Of Guinness and laughter
And that Irish band, you had sing, to me

Your life much like that weeklong revelry
An open dance of party and song
And ladies, ladies, ladies
You did not discriminate, it would have been wrong

Your easy going way
All yes, yes and yes – a welcome sound
Larger than life
My Hemingway I’d found

More David Bourne with a touch of Nick Adams
Thrown in as oversight
Like pen to a page
You did write yourself into my life

In 2005 Detroit lost it's historic Studebaker Piquette avenue plant, built in 1904, to a devastating fire.

PIQUETTE LOST

Constructed on dreams
Ten-sized grander
A signpost of success realized
Length and depth filled to overflowing
With passion, voices & expectancy

Apparitions walk-through memories,
Of cars constructed,
Wartime assistance, of unity
Bound in cause, to
Shelter-less, hopeless modern men lying
Achingly cold against warn timbers
Amidst shards of broken pane
Unable to hear those 1904 voices of hope,
Success and prosperity

Voices now slight, distant
As crackling joist collide with
Once unyielding brick
Breaking out violently street-side

Phosphorescent flames raging,
Seeking exit, freedom
Smoke permeating night air against sapphire sky

A century of history and city pride, erased in hours,
Extinguishing voices softened,
Then silenced forever

Photo: Eddie Ballots/Detroit News

It all appeared so well ordered
A family – a household really
A fully functional, well-oiled machine

From outside looking in, there was even
A perceived warmth
A polite, comfortable life
There were disagreements, sure
It wasn’t fake, plastic or cold
Don’t think that

But those eyes looking in were not the only ones
Who fell prey to the deception
The family itself and even the traitor in their midst
Had been taken in by the belief
That this home’s foundations would hold up
Against those treacherous winds

But in truth this foundation
Was not built upon anything substantial
Merely routines, smoke and mirrors
So much so
That when the duplicitous actions of one of it’s members
Was exposed
It fell like a house of cards

Photo: Flickr/Rene S.