"Southern Comfort"

Gentility is in abundance

Found in the people's smiles and in the rich foods

And in the peeling paint on barns and on houses.

There's never a shortage of sweet tea 

           (and unsweetened tea is an unheard of travesty)

Small towns adorn every corner of the state 

And shine like rhinestones on a rodeo star's ten-gallon hat.

Lookin' for somethin,' Mister? Well, folla  me--I know where it is! 

How are you this eve'nin? That's good ta hear, man; me? Oh, I'm pritty good, thanks!

Y'all slay me!

The dialect is delectable and down-right darling and

Strangers make strangers feel welcome down south

It's ingrained in us from the first breath of air we breathe

The first few blinks of our eyes

The first wails of our voices

No, it's not the perfect place--no place is, really

We've made grave inflictions on the human race down here

And the future generations will pay for it

With questions to our intelligence

To our morality

To our sanity

To our character

All we really want is to move on

To grow like the rice we've planted

Like the corn reaching for the sky

Into bowls of cotton, ready for picking

Those who do not know us will belittle us

But believe me when I say

We know what asparagus is.

"Of Birds and Branches"

Laughing eyes commemorate the meeting
      of two wand'ring souls, lacking true purpose.
Tender-hearted swallow--how far you've come
      from behind the bars of your gilded prison.
How is your freedom in these ever-blue skies,
      wide and vast--swim you like a fish
            without restraint?
See how she stretches her wings, open wide?
She welcomes Great Peace, longs for embrace
A simple nest of no unintelligent design
      nestled carefully in a bough of the olive tree.

"Classical: Ophelia/Helios"

A languid  smile on thin coral lips
Slim fingers attached to a soft hand
--dangling from a delicate wrist--
Outstretched, reaching for something
    ...For something.

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Helios' chariot, high-riding and stalled mid-afternoon
Opening the Shadow's Gate, allowing a dark rest
     (on faces, under trees, behind villas)
"How sharper than a serpent's tooth
       to have a thankless child!"
Helios, the shadows are eating everything.

"Foresight"

You are as puzzling as a dancing flame
And I am the tiny, white moth in flight,
Twitterpated by your dazzling glow.
I cannot help myself--I am entranced.
It comes, then, as no surprise how,
Unwittingly, you pull me in with your smile
Like honey to the ever-starved fly. I ask--
Is there anyone who can defy you,
       deny you anything at all?
Carefully closer I inch to your brilliant blue light until
Snuffed-out am I, by your flame
And down I spiral, my wings a-light
Twisting and writhing on the cold, stone floor
Before curling up like burning parchment, useless and black.
       I have never been a good navigator.