Sample 1 - a BIRTHDAY POEM

BRITTA IN THE GARDEN

Britta stands in her garden like Botticelli’s Flora, 

A fantasy of flowers flowing from her lips.

She casually creates an empire of commerce, 

a  California goddess playing with the toys of the world.

Around her everything blossoms and ripens at her touch.

We come to wonder, to be included in the bounty, to celebrate her birth and what she brings forth.

Somehow we become the best of ourselves when we are with her.

What Love Hath Wrought  - Vera Turns One

Vera appearing in our midst, a small and perfect miracle.

Vera peering over the top of the cat’s head

To grasp at life with fists and heart.

Vera, for whom the world had been waiting,

Although we did not know this until she arrived.

The triumph of passion without regret,

Of love without end.

What can you not find online these days?

When you put a cautious, emotional tentacle out into cyberspace and pray,

the sky’s the limit,

Especially for two astronomy-struck souls,

Who soon discover they can make each other

Even more than whole.

Keith and Joni went adventuring out,

Into E-Harmony’s waters,

Like so many sons and daughters

In our promise-filled computer age,

Both at a stage 

where love seemed uncertain,

Connection unsure

And trust a little frayed.

He had behind him a marriage gone awry,

She had a history to make anyone shy

Of trying again,

But again they did try.

And BOOM! Here they are

A year into each other,

A year like no other

With delightful surprises

Beyond their surmises.

They waited for sex until each was secure

To share body and soul

As themselves and in roles,

Naked skin on skin,

And in comic book drag.

They heat up the nights,

Celebrate love with lights,

Hug whenever they can.

Keith has led Joni into the world of news

Where she barely ever strayed

Before they were paired

But now eagerly awaits the newest developments,

From serial killers to the latest atomic elements.

Joni has shown Keith that a partner can be

Both exciting and loyal,

Both connected and free.

They dance together,

Inland and by water, 

Explore local delights

And far-flung sights,

Retreat to the ranch where they make their own heaven,

Each the other’s angel, leavening projects with laughter.

Will this be forever or just for the moment?

Every day they discover new adventures to foment,

With affection and respect they seem poised to continue 

To be each other’s inexhaustible menu.

Tea in the morning and candlelight at night,

Puzzling together until dawn's early light.

The shared joys of YouTube and ancestry exploration,

Bringing objects to life, an inanimate nation

Given voices and names and their own secret life

In the world they create of a love without strife.

Just a year together, but one filled with pleasure,

Pleasure that promises to increase over time

And that we here honor with rhythm and rhyme.

I fall into your mouth like  a drowning sailor,

seeking deeper seas of love.

I abandon life on the surface willingly,

without  regret.

Its colors are pale memories 

of some one I no longer  have to be.

Riding the waves of your body,

I relinquish the shore.

You are all I need to know

of comfort and of home.

Your probing wakens me,

and I stream out  from my own center

like a lamp beneath the waves.

My singing is  muffled,

but you feel it in the small, fine bones of your ear.

I have carved my words on your shoulder

with my teeth,

and the sensations of love 

run through my fingers

like glass.