Month: June 2022

Lazy A/C

The air conditioner ahhhhs like
It’s only just beginning like
All the cold air in the world wouldn’t
Make a damn bit of difference it’s
A lazy job letting the cool air into
A too hot hotel room in Portugal
A too late up still
A time to go to bed but
Still awake searching about for
Sometimes to write and
Settling on the only thing
Still making noise at
Five in the morning

June 29, 2022 at 08:43PM

Posted on by Cole

The last night

Nights when sleep seems
Too much like death I
Lie awake looking
At the ceiling seeing
Every small detail I
Just have hard time
Imagining what it’ll be like when
It all goes dark and
There’s not another bright
Brand new morning
To show me that a
Rising sun means there’s
More life left to live

June 29, 2022 at 08:36PM

Posted on by Cole

Blinking light on the fire alarm

Oh, blinking light I
Know you’re just doing your job I
Know you couldn’t shut off even
If you wanted to I
Know your boss would
Banish you to some spot on
The ceiling in the basement I
Know you worked hard to get to
This ceiling on the second floor I
Just wish there was some way for
You and I to come to terms with
The fact that it’s very unlikely there
Will be a fire tonight and
Even if there will be I
Accept the risk in exchange for
A bit more sleep without a light
Blinking … one second and
Blinking again I
Just want to get some sleep and
You, my dear blinking light
Aren’t helping

June 29, 2022 at 08:27PM

Posted on by Cole

Silent muse

In the dark my
Muse lies honestly about what
A body can say to
Searching lips seeking for
Only one truth to whisper only
One song to sing only
If she’d open her mouth the
Poems would pour and
Pour and
She knows this but
Lies in the dark singing
Silently to herself sorry that
The world of man wants so
Desperately just for one when
So many are within

June 29, 2022 at 08:15PM

Posted on by Cole

Why poets drink

The drunk does it
Like
It always does
Like
It’s something about
Being beyond what
I would normally consider beyond
What most would say is
The way it is
It’s
Just over the horizon
Just
Behind the hill
It’s
Waiting there wanting
For me to come just
Beyond but
How many times I
Stay sober and
Sprint part when
I forget to skip

June 29, 2022 at 08:04PM

Posted on by Cole

Wide awake wondering

In the night
Like
A thousand other nights I’m
Awake wondering
When
When will come the last
The last thought I’ll remember
The last open-eyed
Dark sight I’ll see
The last silent
Sound I’ll hear
The last moment I don’t yet
Know is my fondest
That’ll flash just
Before the dark

June 29, 2022 at 07:59PM

Posted on by Cole

Piano playing inside a house

I walked by a house one
Foggy morning
On my way to drop off a book at
The library
I heard a
Piano playing from
An open window on
The second floor
I wanted to
Climb the tree up to
The open window and
Step inside and
Walk over to the bench and
Sit next to the player and
Just listen
Like a ghost

June 26, 2022 at 09:17AM

Posted on by Cole

Playing the present game

On the plane I
Play this game with
Time wondering
How long until
We touch down
At take-off I
Know exactly
Two hours and
Fourteen minutes
Because the
Pilot said so
Over the speaker
Ten minutes in I’m
Already calculating
Guessing that it’s only
Two hours and
Four minutes
But I could be off by a
Minute or two
And the number is
Only the start of
It
It’s really how
I react when I
Know it’s
So much longer I
Look out the window at
The roads zig-
Zagging earth
More baseball diamonds than I
Would have expected
Or just white when
We pass through clouds
Closing my eyes I
Breathe but
Can only focus on that for
A few minutes
Until I realize it’s
A game and
The goal is
To not let time
Or, rather
Your perception of time
Keep you from playing
The present game because
There’s always
Something
Going on and
Just because it’ll take
Longer isn’t a
Reason not to play because
Longer
Is all it’ll ever take and
In between
Before the long time
Elapses
Is all
You’ve ever got

June 22, 2022 at 11:11AM

Posted on by Cole

Lamps shades softly shaking

The air moves through
The room
So that the
Lamps shades hanging
From wires in the
Ceiling shake
Softly, silently
Dancing calmly
Tirelessly
As long as the wind blows
Through the
Room the
Lamp shades dance

June 17, 2022 at 01:36PM

Posted on by Cole

Fresh cut grass

I hated every mower my
Father bought but
somehow we end up loving the
Things we hate (at times)
And wanting back what
Hurt us before

June 17, 2022 at 05:38AM

Posted on by Cole

Cars from far away

The cars are quite in
The distance
Soft and even seemingly slow
Though I
Know that up close in
Between lanes of
Traffic they are
Loud and menacing

June 16, 2022 at 08:43AM

Posted on by Cole

Thinking of other men

Other men have
Lain in this
Bed but
The sheets have been washed
So who am
I to
Deny myself
The present pleasure of
My dear love

June 10, 2022 at 10:04PM

Posted on by Cole

Men at work

I’ve watched the
Yellow-vest men work for
Weeks now from
The window of
The high-rise
They spread out like
Ants all over the
Skeleton of the
Only three-story building so
Far
Soon to be
Many more stories taller even
Than the twelve-story
From which
I look down
At these men working, I
Mean
Really working
Not just
Sending emails
From a laptop like
Me
Really
Pouring cement and
Spreading it
Out
Operating
Heavy machinery
Planning for something
That will continue to
Exist in the real world once
Built
They play sometimes
Tossing tools
Back and forth
They seem to fight and shout
And disagree sometimes
About how
The thing should be built
The take their lunch breaks
And eat sandwiches out of
Plastic bags packed
In paper bags
They sit on the site and eat
Because they are tired
From working their bodies

June 10, 2022 at 05:01PM

Posted on by Cole

Guy with new shoes at the day rave

I look down and see that the guy in front of me is wearing a pair of new sneakers. I wonder if it’s true that they are new. I’m guessing that they are because they’re so clean. It could be that he is just very careful about keeping them clean. If they are new, I wonder if he is proud to be wearing his new shoes out in public. At some point, they will become dirty and he’ll no longer think about the shoes he’s wearing as being new. He’ll just put them on and leave the house and probably not think about his shoes the whole night. 
Posted on by Cole