Just me
being silly 
by myself 
telling jokes 
and singing 
happiness is 
little more
than the 
hum of
one’s heart 
heard by 
some or
by none 
but me 

Like one of those 
finger puzzles where the 
more you pull the 
tighter that it gets 
is what my lamps 
do with the sun
each and every day
around about this time 
most call it dawn 
but I call it 
the war of light 
let the games begin 

I asked her 
how do you 
take yours black 
oh no not 
black that’s for 
the night me 
I’m day light 
and with sugar 
creamy and sweet 
just like you 
said the sun
to me today 

Mountains linger
like faces
of women 
about to 
be wed 
behind a
smoky haze
from the 
Canadian wildfires 
coating everything 
in a
grime known 
only to 
the dead

Oh the truth 
that bitter pill
impossible to swallow 
without gagging and 
throwing it up 
forcing it out 
bits and pieces 
and the bile
the burning man 
the hanging man 
at the mercy 
of those who’ve 
judged without understanding 
and now naked
hearing the jeers
I wait for 
salvation to come 
in the silence 
heard at end
and the peace
if lies are
fire then truth 
is the water