Muddy Waters, Clear Skies 2007

Muddy Waters, Clear Skies



I love the metal legs of that table
in the window near the sun
lions feet in ribbons of metal
not about to come undone

writing in coffee shops
now includes a voice that harps
how pretentious, how vain and purposefully eavesdrops
while coaxing out that inner voice with it’s flats and sharps.

The music in coffee shops
helps guide the brain flows beyond
the stubborn gaps of stalled movements then hops
synapse to synapse, lyrics and conversation, good props

passers by the lion’s feet beyond the glass
characters of a life entertained, a mystery
to me and so I love to watch the class
as much as the teacher, read their faces, learn their history.

In the clear afternoon light its like watching movies
projected on a brilliant screen of the downtown wildlife
a company of strangers in the comfort of strangers, these reveries
in this home away from home - a brief hiatus from strife.

This is one of the places I haunt – where I find in once in a while
that precarious balance of comfort and angst, focus and interruption
that bumps the mind through stuck points and influences style
and hanging out in the neighborhood gives my soul a little traction

‘cause I’m living here in the Queen City with and without resignation
still feeling a step removed the way one does when showing
up alone but is not alone in a dark room no need for a reservation
to get a good coffee and an anyday B-town viewing.

beats staying at the office stewing
about what I think it is I’m doing
with this precious life I’m living feeling
on hold and at the same time screaming

time streaming, mind reeling, death nearing -nothing new about that one –
but the urgency welling like that orgasm you just barely miss sometimes - fading
and next you find yourself wondering about that next line, a little undone
in feeling and in life. How long have I been here - at the window writing.