Make Up Death

Shame is second nature

we have to learn how to apply the brush of our blush

we lived thousands of years before the rush of cosmetic industry and cosmetic surgery

now we look naked without our makeup

like painting the dead up

like clowns

and isn’t that the be all and end all of human evolution

to put rouge on the face of the dead?

Cause we the living have looked into the face of death

and our every breath proves

life conquers death

till it doesn’t

and maybe we went out grimacing

but, we paint on our best face for

the funeral.

Practising Spontaneity

I know the past has you by your coat tails

I know I’m five seconds too late in to the future

to meet you here

so maybe we could meet half way there some point between now and then

and compare notes

so we could be more

into this

three years of improv training comes down to one catch phrase

be in the now

like I wasn’t there already

yesterday

like I won’t be there again

tomorrow.

Beating Up Babies

My nieces are a couple of cuties

empirical beauties

Ellie is three and Emma will be two this February.

They’re the cutest kids you ever did see.

They can also be a holy terror when together.

I live life fairly carefree.

I’ve gone places and done things that would give my mother a heart attack

so I’ve never told her or anyone for fear that word would get back

of all my reckless adventures

like walking way out on the thin ice of Lake Erie even after my grandma had warned me

that the ice only looked thick

and I was thick and I fell straight through the ice

to my armpits

able to climb out of the frozen lake and slink back to shore

more afraid that my grandma was going to kill me.

I free climbed a mountain in Alaska without telling anyone where I was going or taking

anything with me other than my keys.

I zip-lined down from the Great Wall of China.

I live life without a net to catch me.

Now every time Emma walks up the stairs I’m right behind her

with both hands on her back.

I wonder if I overprotect her

but, she’s a year and a half so what are you going to do?

Her older sister, Ellie, is the only one who doesn’t coddle her.

Ellie can be downright cruel to her baby sister.

She’s quick to pull whatever Emma has in her hands away.

I’m quick to scold

“Don’t take things from Emma’s hands, Ellie, be nice to your little sister!”

I’ve noticed Emma’s started fighting back.

She’s using her arms and legs to pull back

digging her little feet into her big sister to get more strength in her arms.

The kid’s not such a pushover any more.

And I wonder if her sister’s the only one being truly sincere with her

teaching her to fight back.

Maybe baby Emma needs her big sister’s abuse

almost as much as she needs her love.

Fall Down Funny

Tearing through jungle

legs carrying me as fast as this thick slick red mud will allow

feet slip, slide, glide over this bloody ground without ever losing footing or slowing down

the secret to balancing running over such soaked earth is

to accept its terrain

don’t expect this terrain to accept you

let the land lead you

never try to lead the land when the land is soup beneath you

and if you find yourself falling

go with the flow

don’t fight the fall

falling

flexing your muscles at impact is the greatest mistake most make

too late

falling into the lake from four feet

is not the same as belly flopping from forty thousand feet

ouch

but, checking the Guinness Book of World Records

reading of the stewardess who survived a 40,000 foot fall

gives hope to us all who find themselves falling

letting go

cause there’s nothing

to hold on to

except for hope or fear

and it’s fear that causes the muscles to freeze

to tense to become brittle

hope is the thing with feathers

hope is light

hope can fly

hope is a paper plane set free from the hand of a four year old

ready to discover sky.

Light Doesn’t Know Any Better

That moment

when you open your eyes and you see the dream more clearly than reality

when day for night

is

night for day

light through a black hole gets snuffed out

like a cigarette butt at the bottom of an ashtray

though we close our eyes to see the death of light

so loving

it gives itself away

to any translucent piece of glass

shining through any red light

so color blind

passing through red for stop

going green for go

light is whatever you want it to be

even in dark

should you see

it through this black hole.