Once more on the brink of the unknown I stand afraid,
content to watch eternity from a stationary moment
clinging to the warmth of here and now,
helplessly slipping into the darkness of tomorrow

Sometimes the silence finds me here
Sometimes I find the peace I seek
Sometimes my youth comes home to rest
Sometimes the fairy tales return

Once more on the brink of the unknown I stand afraid,
a complacent warrior frozen by uncertainty
unable to accept what lies beyond his failing grasp
with the hope of a promise unfulfilled

Sometimes lost laughter beckons me
Sometimes I remember innocence
Sometimes a joy reveals my heart
Sometimes the man is not as broken as he thinks

Born knowing death walks behind me
Knowing he can run faster than I could.
I know he toys with me once in a while
Tapping my shoulder with a car accident
Or a painful illness for fun.

I know he’s behimd me making faces and
Deciding if he would catch up or not.
Knowing he has to do so someday.
Probably deciding what to do with me
When he catches up…maybe something new!

Don’t know who he is.  Maybe a stranger,
A friend, perhaps family, or maybe a
Machine, or a drug I’m allergic to.
He could be my shadow, or the one
I fear the most…he could be me.

Washing women’s clothes
The drag queen gets some strange looks
at the laundromat

A rubber spider
here unceremoniously
failed to frighten me

Forty minute wait
Tumble dry on high — I sip
sixty four ounces

Trees shade the sidewalk
zooming motorists speed past
cyclists passing through

Whites here, colored there
I feel a little guilty
Segregating clothes

Silence is an unwritten psalm, a song of praise unsung,
It is an unspoken promise, an oath not made nor broken
thus kindly accept this humble token bowl of marinara –
Spare us from your wrath, I beg for mercy, giant squid.

The doom I wish upon the world can wait, for now I seek
a different fate than the countless others who are dead
rolled in crumbs of Italian bread.  Lift thy curse
and let me live.  I pray for mercy, giant squid.

The stars now afloat shall sink and the sky
shall be blackened by your ink as every living creature dies –
look kindly with your humongous eyes and call the slaughter off
and keep us safe instead.  I beg for mercy, giant squid.