Inward Bound

TRUSS issues started when that bridge collapsed,
MAGMA makes me feel no safer, nor do these heights,
LLAMA seems unafraid, so I pretend to lead it by
STRAP. Note to self: next time, do Inward Bound.

Composite Chordophone

SLING me a definition, Wikipedia.
MAYBE had you been there, not an Encyclopedia Americana 1955,
CHILD I was could have rested, curiosity sated.
BANJO: composite chordophone sounded by plectrum.


Encyclopedia Americana set in book case.
Encyclopedia Americana

Spring or Chemistry

SPADE a foot rest, gaze lingers,
TULIPs spirited hues announce fresh life. For the gardener
LIPIDs, enzymes, and explanation give ground before senses flaring lovely to the mind.
MUCUS? Not cell product, rather first tickle of this year’s sneezes.

Lincoln and the Brain

CHORDs mystically resound in memory, growing
SANER ties of affection to strengthen union.
NINJA away our fractures and dissensions–banish
PINKY and the Brain’s plans to take over the world.

A Tithe To Beauty

REMIT: to pause–linger on the beautiful,
MANGY day-to-day lifted up in the savoring.
SUMAC, hold this moment by scent and blossom,
TITHE your loveliness to my hectic life!

The Batbat

MIDGE, you bitey speck from planet’s teeming fauna,
WRACKing larger peers, by stealth of smallness taking nips.
SONAR pings–you sucker, now meet your terminal bite:
FURRY, blind phantom of the night bats it wings, is on your six.

Titan Snores

APNEA autonomically belies body’s control,
TITAN, self-styled, can’t decree away,
NINNY, (is that you, Titan?), can’t knit up the raveled sleeve when he’s subject.
GAUNT we all, under circumstance, health and numbered days finally outside our grasp.

Ramen Days

RAMEN days, eking by, not feeling it. Then
STAID life, yards, mortgages, or wishes for such.
WOODY ambition can arise to hike among trees, go camping, be simple. Most days, though, you
BASTE, cook in your own need for richer flavors, bar for contentment rising.

A Place in the Story

UTILE, to get away, sit by fireplaces’s
DYING embers, recount your own story to yourself: vast, you a small player in it, yet
ENDOWed with role and place among the characters. Why
SULLY with grasping dreams or diminish by whispered “too small”?