still

still
despite the thinning gray
the aches and creaks
the tarnish on the armor
which stands not quite as straight
to you I'd take a knee
driven by a lithesome blow
that leaves me without breath hollow

let it be
the opportunity
to pass a word or three
provide a helping hand
or try
beget a smile
establish repartee
a surrogate intimacy
that I alone will see

still
a part of me
wishes to unravel you
to threadbare
where all of your enticings
remain barely out of view
and touching
in the mind's eye is
as close as a suggested
double meaning left alone

let it be
the electricity
between you and me
never stated
and at least
from where I stand
never invisible

still
there is some relevance
some vigor some desire
which expressed off hand
may be accepted

let it be
graciously
between you and me
a silent understanding
had the tides aligned
what isn't
could have been
still

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

sundaes

i love the way the fudge explores
the ice cream as it melts
all in
no spin
when all is said and done
the meld complete
breathless
and bittersweet
enticing
just another taste
a spooning
or a finger dipped
where heat and flavors
run together

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

new england appreciation

it's pretty but it's cold
though upon waking former holds
won't be long before that's old
and latter fills the stage

along with memories of the dream
shorts barefeet and sunshine seem
to fill the waking hours

there was a time not long ago
SoCal weather had no fro
and to that made it extra sweet
when viewed from other end of street
'cause both were just alike

summer and the early fall
the sweet spot found amidst it all
the mud the snow and ice

let's not forget the freezing rain
nor'east driven sideways pain
slick roadways no brakes can tame

grateful for my oil bill
and frozen hands October until
May when I begin to drift
to slumber brief
when dream's alive
warm and sweeter than this winter jive

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

dark matters

why does she crave the darkness so
eschew the heights for deep below
the thermocline where sound and light
refuse to go and let the night
hold onto its eternal sway

she cherishes the could have beens
if caution had been thrown to winds
and hungers dark given the chance
to be unbridled and to dance
' til sated then to slumber

like embers in the woodstove cold
and dark before the passion's breath
awakens red and hot and bold
the darkness held within

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by a post by Lori Carnegie Ryan

over done

my very soul
it aches
from so much overarching over use
my very heart
my very being
similarly so very over done
like Captain Kirk intoning Klingonese intransigence

I'd rather much explore
the varied flavors of
my berry soul
and all the fruit concoctions
it implies

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

shaken

juniper lantern suffuses the day
with a kaleidoscopic'ly crystal display
from start of the ritual
'til warmth fades away

juniper lantern your light gives me pause
shoos the wolves from my door
wraps my eyes with warm gauze
that softens the world and the sleights she's imposed
gives illusory strength and a masterful pose
to one who would otherwise fall through the cracks
relegated to shadow filed away in the stacks

in the glow of that lantern he's graceful and lithe
intelligent pithy attractive alive
a beacon the comely young moths can't ignore
even though in the darkness they'd quickly abhor
the tarnish his armor has gathered of late
the creak of its hinges his lumbering gait

juniper lantern suffuses the day
with a warm gentle light
that keeps harsh truths at bay
and allows hope to burn
an exquisite display

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

couple

sculpted into resonance
by time and will to bond
ego is irrelevant
your heart and soul respond
to nothing save the wants and needs
your better half makes clear
until the line between you
fades and all but disappears

the time it takes
to reach this state
at once eternity
and just a blink
no more I think
enough
but never done

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by You are humming some song ... by Poet Desh.

will

oh how we love to beat the drum
taste the rhythm feel the thrum
of sonic waves pulsating
to the core of our desire

eliciting both fast and hard
repeated climax epic
in proportions and sustained
a veritable flood of riches
destined to defame
degrade
into so much ichor

hero worship feeds the tide
their suffering a tragic ride
but glorious
the single handed mastery
of crisis
allowing us to celebrate
and live to beat another day

their cult of personality at play
a drug our adoration
as with their every move
we swing and sway
believing our excesses right and good
while they protect our neighborhood
above all others

imagine there's another way
thoughtful a compendium
of parts achievable
and small
designed to be maintained
for the long haul

in harmony
if you will

embracing all the textures
contributing in time
without a spill

percussion's not to be eschewed
entirely
but as a sauce
not the main course
heightened impact realized
from rarity

while constant strain
of all the voices
in refrain
ensures longevity
of all the neighborhoods and species

in harmony
if you will

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

dojo shadorma II

stem to stern
he attends to each
and ev'ry
tactile inch
lingering where needs and wants
sing in resonance

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

unspoken

her taut confidence
just inflames his attitude
not so subtly
her smile reveals the pleasure
his discomfort lets them share

©2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

terpsichore

what used to be
a stylish dance
of give and take
has more than less
devolved into
a kickbox match
consummated
with a rape

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by one of RC deWinter's shorties with selfies.

rainy Sunday

deck woodgrain revealed
circles - linear array
raindrops from the roof

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

unequalled tide

been digging with impunity
through toxic spoil of war
I'm finely marbled with its rash
where innocence before
allowed me to believe a dream
of tides that lifted free
all watercraft both sound and whole
a flotilla marvelous to see

but eyes aloft see warring moons
demanding that we choose
and damn half of that wondrous fleet
pound them until they lose
all buoyancy
all pride and hope
and in despair they'll cease to float

will we be any higher

those moons with all their gravity
should feel the gaze from you and me
and each and every ship at sea
and focus on reality
enhancing opportunity
for each and every craft

'til then they're naught but warring moons
and I grow tired of their pull

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

social calculus

a smile
way better
than any flipped bird
any day
at all

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

on a molasses sea

Monday afternoon so slow
it shouldn't take this long to go
from lunchtime to the end of shift
feels as if I'm set adrift
upon an ocean bittersweet
viscous well beyond belief
next port of call so far away
many leagues until Friday

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

sterile rapture

chromatically compromised
divinity defined
the rainbow mess essential
to keep heart and mind aligned
with the signals life is beaming
not like sugar - too refined

truth is we need the fiber
to substantiate the weave
and the rhythm of the heartbeat
before we can receive
total spectrum of enlightenment
professing we believe

purity is interim
a step to fully ken
every laboratory aspect
pathway to achieving zen
but the meal is in the milieu
all the flavors gone awry
in the chaos is the wonder
and the love that lets us fly

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by Please Don't Feed the Birds in Heaven or Anywhere Else by My Hashtagged Life

spring once more

in the orchard pastel blooms
as far as one can see
springtime hope for this year's crop
since winter's ceased to be
the bitter damper with her cold
and darkness that seeks to enfold
and quench the life from all of us

clearly blossoms on the tree
signal that fecundity's
return
despite the harsh white mistress
and her chilling interlude
which we've survived
with certitude

save one
in orchard's oldest plot
her gnarléd fingers naked
in the warming sun
so many seasons she has seen
and multitudes of crops have been
her progeny
enjoyed by one and all

winter's chill it seems
pervades her core
and stills the sacred rhythm
but for one small branch defiant
heavy with the pastel hope
and consummated
with a polygamy of bees
orgasmic in her final rite of spring

that is before she blazes forth
in winter's heart
her last defiance
in the hearth

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

bleak

there is no poetry
in me
no meaning in the words
I see
no resonance
no alchemy
or any serendipity
for good

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

ache

the taste
on tip of tongue
teasing
all the rest

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by Jose Coelho's Anatomy of Us

distracted driving

care shifts to individual
the routine becomes the ritual
as intimacy's tried
where feelings once were hot and sweet
the baggage like shellac accretes
as intimacy flies
martini numbness intervenes
creating faux idyllic scenes
as intimacy dies
and though commitment never wanes
attraction physical is strained
by every comely intercession
polite or fueled by indiscretion
like that distinction has any more
than self-delusion at its core
and when the coolness settles in
eternal winter soon begins

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~All Rights Reserved

crossing paths

serendipity
my favorite flavor
never expected
ever hoped for
always a happy surprise

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

shade of enterprise

viewed from aerie gen'rally
the small stuff looks just fine

up close revealed are warts and boils
and other scabrous sign

upon their color length and smell
I often will opine

bird brains in charge they just can't tell
cavorting in their crime

until the gestalt starts to swell
cusp shriveled on the vine

and then the squawking straight from hell
just make it go away

but revelation of the costs
too hard to try and sway

the way the things have always been
another bandage o'er the sin
a song and dance secures the win
until we're truly well done in

and thus the end of day

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved
                                     

stranger

stranger things
i haven't seen
keep coming back for more
a single breath hold
at a time
between i float
and feel sublime
but drawn to dive
beneath the line
divides where i belong
from where i want to be
the price the burn
for breath of life
how alien must seem
to all the fishes
in the dream
of where i want to be

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by one of RC deWinter's shorties with selfies.

knowing when

pay attention to the silence
it is not an invitation
to make echoes of your loneliness
a public supplication

much more likely indication
of desires gone awry
expectation misalignment
nascent friendship going dry

just how long have you poured water
down the throat of that spent well
with the knowledge that fulfillment
has the snowball's chance in hell

and that certainty of motive
is not someplace wise to dwell
for the truth is somewhere in between
a hoped for exothermic dream
with embers guarded jealously

better let the echoes fade
invite silence to pervade
and the embers cool to ash

only then will hope remain
a crystal unexpressed refrain
for which you listen
in knowing silence

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

thirty four

happy reminder
goodness can last a lifetime
anniversary

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

weary

never deep
it seems of late
my visits to the dreamer's realm
initial plunge
a breath's extent
the rest spent floating 'round
the edge of mortal consciousness
where worries do abound
about things artificial
that we've wrought upon ourselves
and though I float
it's not at ease
the water's cold and roiled

I long for depths not tempest tossed
where surface is the myth
a respite from the waking toil
the heart of the abyss
where free from gravity and light
imagination will take flight
and weave me stories
that just might
leave mind and soul refreshed

unlike the zombie I've become
who struggles
with the simplest sums
and wanders graceless
through the day
mumbling incoherencies
instead of cogent themes
though early morning it might be
it seems quite late
for those like me who
never sleep

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

Inspired by an RC deWinter tweet.

behind my eyes

behind my eyes you're warm and free
clear as crystal
strong as can be
graceful lithe and full of life
unencumbered
by doubts or strife
the truth that makes this hard to see
behind your eyes
there is no me

© Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

no surprise

a tad too late he realized
the size of his left left foot
and just how bad the taste it had
like peat moss mixed with soot

the right was sized about the same
but flavor all it's own
used sweat socks soaked in gasoline
one match would send him home

a blaze of glory not deserved
it's best he's left to stew
and rightly he'll just hang his head
cause silence he eschewed

next time he'll shut his stupid mouth
before he makes a sound
who's kidding whom tomorrow could
find him on this same ground

a lesson taught ain't always learned
time and again he's shown
especially when between his ears
naught but testosterone

© Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

tactical advance

ah monday
at least you end
with a martini glass
tuesday appears bearable
better put some olives
on the grocery list
or friday may
remain a myth

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

cud

hope burns bright

2017 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved

straightforward

clinical detachment
professionally cold
no chance of warm entanglements
the paradigm grows old
and yet endure it must because
the mess which would ensue
defeats in part the purpose
of the consultations you
embark upon to mitigate
the stressed and strained result
of feigned enthusiasm
at the office church or cult
or even in the bosom of familial retreat
when ruled by expectation
honest feelings take back seat
projected cultural norms demand
some distance from the fire
burning hot for conversation
more than physical desire
more than choreographed scripts

                              although tactile affirmation can
                              judiciously applied
                              fill a calculation chasm
                              when it's honestly inspired

so the symptom and the cure
more than a little look alike
makes one wonder if the local
road is faster than the pike
and rather than deny and hold
the client at arm's length
is it better just to make a friend
and from them gather strength
while basking in the resonance
they smile and do the same
community established
worthy goal for any game

© 2018 Frederick Andrew ~ All Rights Reserved