Watching Jumpers

a bridge

Driving over the bridge

I thought about the edge,

the lives standing on a ledge

wondered til I felt a cringe


Thought of all the lives

a beautiful spring day

turning evening anyway

bicyclists, walkers, drives


This quiet sense of wonder

overcame my state of mind

only a silent recall, remind

it does put an end to a wander.


Driving by again I returned

this time to lights and fear

there was an apparent jumper

bicyclists, walkers, all turned


away from the activity, a quiet

like our lives ever hold merit.


When Time Suggests Pause


I was

all indicators explained a motive

a rocky shelf, crags of decay,

unstable to the touch, delightful

in its visual splendor.

This is a place

we all know,

a safe higher ground

where time begins with a pause,

a reflection in that pool of despair.

When all the moments come together,

a flash of indecision,

a step toward …

and suddenly played aloud,

their laughter bouncing off the cliffs,

they peeked around the corner

to see the man on the ledge,

whispered to each other

in wonder,

while watching him walk back into the wood,

leaving only silent imagery.

Slated Departures

“Why it’s easy”, she told him as he looked to her for guidance. Simply make it a priority and it will happen. In his mind, all he could think about was this didn’t happen in his world. It was far too expensive for one, not to mention that so many other things mattered. She had done it before, and for her the sense of departure was real, attainable, and frankly necessary for her well-being. She was not nearly as tied down to the landscape that he felt described his every being. In all of his 25 years, he had only imagined the other world. He’d read books, watched television shows, and certainly grasped the imagery of the world apart from him with much romantic flair. Often he would take on the persona of a character he embraced, dress like him, act and express in that manner, and finally try to speak in his tongue. There’s where it stopped though. And now today, he was contemplating this adventure.

He told her he would have to quit his job, he was too expendable to receive a leave of absence, so this was certainly a factor. She responded to him with words that were clearly the reason he loved her. “This is life right now”, she said, and her smile beckoned him to trust her and he did, with a kiss that became an embrace in the morning sunlight. He had never been so happy in his life. Every part of that old familiar loneliness was gone, and he looked into her eyes and saw the future, and believed he needed to allow this delightful woman to move him forward. He began to plan in his head, and she knew the second she caught his eye, this was happening. She grinned, and stepped away, sat on the sofa and began to page through the morning paper, glancing back at him for a moment to make sure his wheels were still rolling, which they were, he was beside himself with excitement.

He quietly then, in his own fantasy, began to envision sitting in a corner cafe, the cobblestone stretching beyond his eyes, becoming a village facade. He sipping tea, and she, writing while consciously guiding this man through a world he a day ago, could only imagine.