Peter Pan

Wendy left me.
   Tinkerbell,
      where have you gone?
I need your magic.

Captain Hook's
   got the kids
      walking the plank
with I-Pads in hand.

I can't fly!
      not without
strings attached.


-dp-








 

Boxers

The man awakens, hungover,
crawls from bed in a rented room.
Naked, he stumbles to the dresser,
fumbles to open a pack of Pall Malls,
strikes a match, draws and coughs.
What was her name?  Joanne?
Let her sleep.  He pulls on worn boxers, 
passes the mirror, unable to see...

The boy, just twelve, admires his features
through the full reflection of his
mother's dressing mirror.  He wears nothing,
save a new pair of boxer shorts,  a gift
from grandparents to their new young man. 
stiff and fresh and still creased, they
make him feel grown up.  Eager for age
he imagines fulfilling youth's dreams...
 
the man awakens


-dp-
copyright 9-19-83

Another Poem About Love

Love, oh fleeting sense,
emotion of soul, feeling of heart
unleash this heart and warm my soul.
Find purpose with love intense!

Love, rapture of senses,
permeate me, shine from my aura',
fill my dreams that I may awake
complete, whole, and defenseless.

Love, soft memory
of innocence, unshackle these chains,
incite our world to one clear presence.
Brothers, sisters, embrace this subtle joy!

-dp-

Another Poem About Love (a)

Love, oh special fleeting sense,
Emotion of the heart, feeling from the soul
Take hold of my heart, liberate my soul.
Give me purpose through joyful bliss.

Love, purist rapture of senses,
Permeate forever and shine from my being,
Fulfill my dreams that I awake tomorrow
Complete and whole, without defenses.

Love, vague memory of innocence,
Free us from our shackling chains of fear,
Incite our world with your purpose so pure.
Brothers and sisters!  Embrace His subtle influence!


-dp-
7-20-83

Castaway

Send me a ship to set my soul free.
Cast me off these land loving feet.
Call me to the ocean, set sail upon the sea.
I'll mind the tiller, you tend the sheets.

Plot a course to an island we can name,
With a quiet beach to spend our days.
Watch our children play marvelous games
And grow wise in the wonder of kinder ways. 

-dp-
6-24-83

No One To Hold

Cast to a sea of darkness.
No one to hold but the night, 
I fear my emptiness.

This night grave: sweat soiled sheets,
cold, still air, snug shroud, damp tomb.
No dream to escape fear.



I long to scream despair,
for a lover to caress and hold,
but no one answers.  No one is there.

Deep sigh, clutch pillow,  four more dark
hours remain.  Broken dreams,
tears roll sidelong to my pillow. 

-dp-
6`16-83 / 3-29-13 

*********

DROPPED
Startling wet dream liberates my gloom.
This cheap release from distress will do.
More dreams of friends, better times.

Sun persists, blasts through drapes,
disables friends and lovers and mystifies
them through hell furnace light.

-dp-



formally "A Dark Night"





 

My Heart Is Under Control (r)

This fragile crystal container, 
I hold inside my chest, 
so easy to see through, that I
conceal it with feigned emotions.
Simple feigned smiles. 

Look into my eyes, glimpse 
my soul, full of hopes and dreams,
anticipating life's enrichment.
This container seeks fulfillment, 
but there is little to fulfill.  Heart

breaks, tumbles through this cavity,
tearing apart my gut stuff
shredding any sense of self.
Death, as an option, is rejected.
My mind must control my heart.

The heart would destroy the body, 
and allow faith to seek spiritual release  
from this world, where pain and fear
constantly lurk.  With prayer, the mind 
will mend the broken heart.


-dp-

-written and read at the Maple Leaf Bar, New Orleans, LA  -4-3-83
4-3-83 / 10-18-12- severely reworked     

4-3-83r

This fragile crystal container 
I hold deep within my chest.  
So transparent I conceal it
with disguise of feigned emotions-
a smile that's not there.  Look

beyond my eyes and glimpse
a soul of hopes and dreams, 
awaiting fulfillment.  Sought completeness, 
and found nothing.  Heart shatters- 
breaks into a million pieces,

tumbles from my empty breast,
cuts and shreds my gut stuff, and
rips through all sense of identity.
Death crosses the mind, but is rejected.
If not for the mind in control

the heart would destroy the body
and allow the soul's lost faith
release- set free from this world
where heartbreak lurks within grasp.
The mind knows better- denies

the heart rule where love is
poised for conflict.  Love only tears
into heart muscle.  Soul must wait
for natural release.  The mind grasps
that time mends the broken heart.

-dp-

-written and read at the Maple Leaf Bar, New Orleans, LA  -4-3-83