!

the rain was falling on the night

outdoor café we stayed in spite

of soggy mozzarella

hands over drinks like umbrellas

 

the laughter lining both your eyes

made me feel both warm and dry

travel agents cannot invent

such a wonder and amazement

 

i use to laugh at the lyric

experience was empiric

that all one really needs is love

“get away from me!” as i shoved

now in this café consciousness

i want to scream my new assess:

 

“oh give me, give me all your heart

i’ve loved you from the very start

take my temperature with your tongue

you are the air within my lungs

unless it’s you no one will do

i have learned dreams can come true

we waste and wonder while looking

change recipes while we’re cooking

they advertise a satisfy

with our longings we run and buy

but keep it all, yes everything

i’ve found the joy of which they sing

it’s in your eyes looking at me

i’ll give to you the flowing streams

that unifies every ocean

swim the depths of my emotions

till you are drowning in the love

everyone is dreaming of”

 

          *

all is well

the sky has cried a trillion tears that saturate the night

they fell like diamonds from soft eyes and dance now with delight

as picturesque as this may be i only give a glance

i’m walking with you next to me and lost in this romance

 

it’s just a walk that’s filled with talk like laughing lullabies

i kiss you at every crosswalk, give changing lights a sigh

all the love songs in the world are living in l.a.

within my heart they are an art which filters out the gray

 

for there is nothing in this world that makes much sense to me

but i am winged when i can sing of how i’ve found the key

to every door that will restore the reason and the why

defined by conversations about laughing lullabies

 

and you can bet the world will fret about things that will pass

but broken mirrors still reflect in fragments of the glass

and i’m content without relent when i am in your arms

the watchman can call “all is well” and never be alarmed

 

          *

 

 

get thee behind me world

the world is waiting with the wind to sweep away our love

unconscious beast that comes to feast upon a fragile dove

but as the gutter gobbles up the street sweeper’s supply

i’m standing strong by looking long into your emerald eyes

 

and sing to bring a lover’s swing without a windy day

amid the roar of a downpour my words are here to stay

there’s only you and all you do that’s worth the sacrifice

let all the world dwell in hell with all of its advice

 

i will linger with my fingers forming firm foundations

a monument made to your love viewed for generations

i’ll pave the streets with heaven’s gold and build beds of feathers

all harvest will be bountiful regardless of weather

 

reject the seed of satan’s greed that we must sell and buy

invoking divinity’s creed that we must give and die

the all and all and wherewithal i’ll make all roses bloom

and fill each space with an erase so you’ll always have room

 

and all the pain in a refrain the world mindlessly throws

will only find an unclogged drain wherein i’ll let it flow

i will distract with second acts which have happy endings

reality is just perceived let’s master pretending

 

          *

 

love in los angeles

the sun will sink to take a drink from the salty ocean

the moon will rise before our eyes lighting night’s commotion

the night’s parade will now cascade down every boulevard

l.a.’s a stage where we all play without an actor’s card

 

tonight i’ll kiss just like a prince waking sleeping beauty

street performers on the corner acting scenes from movies

abandon all that came before on every movie screen

to re-enact our sweet love unlike anything they’ve seen

 

imagination can’t conceive the beauty of your face

no c.g.i could ever try to capture your embrace

you make me feel nothing is real if not seen through your eyes

you are the only definition which can be formalized

 

the only purpose for a kiss is lips which you possess

all poetry is only free if it’s used to confess

emotions made material by you exquisite form

which make category five hurricanes seem like gentle storms

 

          *

the lyrical layers of love part two

i have learned that love is more of a curse than a blessing

if she doesn’t consume your thoughts you’re just second guessing

i have heard said, “women are complicated”, but they’re not

they can just give so much more than anything men have brought

we cannot compete, we cannot, we are so ill-equipped

they are the country of love where we have citizenship

but continents can be conquered with a simple gesture

 

simple flower, a single kiss

let her know it’s her you’ll miss

a soft caress, a compliment

 

she loves you with everything she is

 

yet in all her strength she’ll crumble and melt

she’ll fold her full deck in the single card you’ve dealt

even if your love resonates without a rhyme

you’ll be found not guilty of all of your crimes

 

if you slow enough to bestow

your love for her she longs to know

 

          *

karen’s poem

the days collide, the nights divide

the crashing waves will not subside

the busy days get in the way

of kisses that come out to play

yet in-between the changing scenes

i think about you constantly

 

too many times temptations come

they like the charm upon my tongue

but i’m just me just being me

not furniture for fantasy

it’s not the ring of which i sing

without love it don’t mean a thing

 

when thoughts of you leave me undone

the choice is just an easy one

to me all else is in the way

a detour that’s causing delay

cause all i really want to do

are all the moments i’m with you

 

          *

 

 

want some candy?

lonely beyond belief?

let me be your relief

fearful of a date rape?

let me be your escape

 

my qualifications?

an endless flirtation

roses and compliments

words and gestures meant

 

gazing into your eyes

listening without guise

holding hands on beach sand

slow dancing to the band

 

familiar with love songs

your dreams are never wrong

and last thing on the list

will be a goodnight kiss

 

and then when i get home

immortalize you in a poem

 

          *

the sun is a hole ripped in the fabric of the sky leaking blue onto a three dimensional canvas

love songs once old are all brand new

let’s cherish what’s precious and few

when i’m with you i love this life

rainbows smell like sugar and spice

 

don’t do your make-up or your hair

let beauty be without a care

let’s race the river rushing by

and beat the currents to the tide

 

of the ocean where it flows

into a wave away we stow

and travel ten yards down the beach

our destination we will reach

 

and shake the stars out of the sky

by laughing so hard that we cry

let’s live to love and love to live

and let it go each time we give

 

          *

valentine’s vagabonds

and so the sun is slowly setting on a silent sea

an apple green and so serene i hold you close to me

the water bathes the shoreline with a beauty born pristine

but nothing there can quite compare with what my eyes have seen

with times when i look in your eyes and see such comeliness

no rhyme sublime could quite define if not the loveliest

 

the scenery is wild and free, your head on my shoulder

you move in closer next to me now that it is colder

you let me warm you supple lips by pressing mine to yours

i look into your sultry eyes i always have adored

no fancy feast or jewelry bling to celebrate this day

without a dime we spend the time in the richest way

 

          *

 

where do butterflies go when it rains?

you strike a pose just like a rose that’s fighting off the weeds

the claws come out in thorny stems which make the fingers bleed

venus fly trap i close the gap my fingers on your face

with words your defense i unwrap in effort to erase

 

“all of my lyrics linger in your laughing lissome lines

to trace them with my fingers is like touching the divine

the other men that you let in then learned they were a lie

could not perceive what i can see but let me simplify

 

my first thought in the morning is the beauty you possess

i offer this with words and kiss against all you protest

the beauty of your person radiates in flesh and heart

creation was flirtatious and made you a work of art”

 

          *

 

salton sea serenade

i do believe that i can see the sun shine in your eyes

we’re standing by the salton sea with raindrops from the sky

perfect picture poetry could not portray this bliss

my fingers glide to brush aside your hair that’s gone amiss

from the rain in a refrain but now the path is clear

to steal a kiss from your soft lips in which i disappear

into a sea of poetry that’s floating in your eyes

till there is nothing left of me except the perfect rhyme

written to the rhythm of the rain upon your face

resulting in a memory which time cannot erase

 

          *

whispers in your ear

the sky above is filled with doves, field abloom with roses

i dance in dreams intricately seamed with thread which exposes

my heart’s design to entwined our lips aligned in grace

but even scenes of dirt and grime would be the perfect place

reality or fantasy it’s all about your kiss

my fingers trace your flawless face all while i whisper this,

 

“your beauty bears my heart away with wings to paradise

you hold all heaven in your sway completely mesmerized

just like me with all they see, beauty beyond compare

all of creation barely breathes with captivated stares

for there is none more beautiful in all the universe

inspiring a poetry completely unrehearsed”

 

          *

written with a rose

all the passion you create

by beauty which you emanate

will fill the songs i sing at dawn

even though all night long

 

i open windows to my mind

releasing lyrics i can find

unto the page of evening sky

where wings of poetry will fly

 

to touch your heart with hands of art

till daybreak demands we depart

and dive into another day

where every thought which comes my way

 

is all the passion you create

by beauty which you emanate

i keep a pen and paper near

and write the thoughts for you to hear

 

inside the confines of a poem

and share with you when we are home

of all the passion you create

by beauty which you emanate

 

          *

carpe diem

without the rapture of your sighs

our lives are just a compromise

within the solace of your kiss

remains my reason to exist

 

when you hold me i’m heaven bound

your kiss a coronation crown

at any time in any age

your beauty would be all the rage

 

i googled you and it is true

the whole world is in love with you

and i’m the envy of them all

as every kiss leaves me enthralled

 

embrace and kiss and reminisce

nothing can thrill me more than this

unfolding freedom of our love

you’re all that i am dreaming of

seize the moment and the day

and kiss me till the stars all fade

         

          *

 

two shadows in a kiss

taking the time to realign words saying the same thing

where every verse is now inclined to be a bell which rings

heralding your beauty with each echo of the bell

this theme became my poetry the moment that i fell

in love with you where i pursue affections of your kiss

there’s nothing else i wish to do, nothing compares to this

come walk with me down by the sea and take me in your arms

as gentle as a hurricane and violent as a storm

kiss me while our shadows silhouette the moon drenched sand

without a care this moment shared is where we’ll always stand

 

          *

almost

almost wrote a song of sorrow

others have so much to borrow

unrequited life and love

till everyone’s an expert of

 

but i survive within your eyes

and sorrow is without supply

for beauty found in the surround

will keep my feet off of the ground

 

floating on air i only share

your beauty that will keep me there

within the heart of all my art

there’s only joy that i impart

brought forth by how you make me feel

each kiss reveals a love that’s real

 

          *

love as defined by

i can’t pretend that this will end

my poetry and love will blend

i’ll take you to the end of time

immortalize you with a rhyme

 

lay my coat across each puddle

umbrella you when rain befuddles

bearing down like pouring pain

within such walks i’ll be your cane

 

never tether only feather

your wings to fly in any weather

bear the weight of every sigh

until your laughter fills the skies

 

immerse you in a bed of roses

whenever all the world opposes

strengthen you with pen or pencil

reminding you just how special

 

you are even when you are weary

there’s nothing else, no not nearly

as you are in the things that matter

as i make all of your doubts scatter

all other love is only guile

if it’s not meant to make you smile

 

          *