written 12-6-99

i tried to break free from the chains of my
addiction while circles in my head trained for
military bootcamp. Just. all is just. can you
reach me through the horn with wires or must we
meet on the mountain? you kissed my hand and
the blood under my skin rose like a balsa wood
glider from the five and dime. let's go check on
the fireplace wood. i'll chop wood while you chop
carrots. isn't that fire water from the devil?
Don't baby dolls cost too much these days?
you don't have to answer my questions i just
wanted you to listen. you don't have to listen, i
just wanted to write..........

untitled

my feet have tasted sandy gist of fire as i

walk on embers spread by arm hoop band

natives. they stole my watch for the gods

nestled in thicket and he frowned when he

couldn't get to the lithium battery.

all he wanted was the power....

White man's juice.

i'll come back to the city, just save me a day

old bagel with king cheese. king. as i leave the

jungle that word circles my brow. KING...

he was born into blood brother to all.

blood father..........blood mother carried her plastic

fluid past peasant poor

ones who never leave their cottage except to catch rain

for a dry day.

i'm lying. i've never been to the jungle.....

i've never even been out of the jungle......

i won't find a place to lay my dead.

heading to that pinpoint between

north,south,east,west.

the rain is teasing

so i must find my

wooden bowl.

untitled (written 12-2-99)

oh sell me southern
take my tide i ain't
no water boy
brick back da wall i
ain't livin in no wood
sell me some soul it's
time to show.
you know, perform
for the spirits.
i run.
i run....just smack
a runt 'fore he bunts
down a nice one that
you nor i could field.
rescue me good
rescue
me quick.....quick.
i gonna lick lunch
up right and that ain't
my dim sight. lot's of
cookin' come get yo
fill and i'm comin'
soon as down my
body goes my life
pill. trip on your
roots and bathe in the
son of ray, i'll see
you later on today.

untitled

sigh safe the butcher slices
run diagonal the cat prances on broken
pane the window cracked and crackers will
have to do if i have no wine and cakes.
pull your "sell" together the real
a state.....
the "real" anything.....
that's what i want, something real.
junkyards and thrift shops and yard sales
reliable wristwatches
thermos
Can i borrow a pencil the math test is
being passed through fingers that did
things she would never write on the black
board.....
Careful!!
Professional kickball on pay-per-view
and if i walk your dog twice as much as
you he will still like you better.
summer smells of burning leaving and
my hoola hoop hangs from limb where kitty
done got away from that loyal dog.

time fort jostle

7-28-06

untitled

.

Noitroba

Hot brilliance invades.
It invoke cloak crumble,
I fell straight to I,
steep.

Reeled real real hard,
casts felled under womb water.
gilded immerse ceded gills,
nymph.

RTS

written years ago

Childish World

Broken tickled children squint holding
exaggerated lifetimes in a single
searing tear, they squint and dare
to show expressions laced with anger,
challenging passersby to mold their emotion,
to pretend to care.

One crouches beside the cracking curb,
filling the fissures with enough mental
energy to complete weeks of homework,
staring brown and lonely forsaken
eyes as the perfect world dances
and dances to a stolen tune
pouring from the heart of a scraped-knee child.

RTS

^^^^^^^^^^^^

untitled

try to trap me now,
manipulate me into being cornered
within my own self.

attack me and you will know
a wounded animal.

have you ever tried to take
a bone from a 3/4 dog?
have you ever jumped into the air
to dog fight the hawk?

have you ever looked for
shark's teeth that are
still in the mouth?

make me and find out who
made me.

the fears of your world
have torn my skin and
all that is left
is a beast.

do you really want to tear
down my humanity?

do you understand how i fight
once i forget i'm human?

so push me.

shove me into a black hole,
just have mercy on
yourself and your Gods. don't
come down into my darkness,

because when you say you've seen
a warrior,
then i know you've never seen me.

-RTS

note: 3/4 dog refers to my childhood pet which was actually 1/4 coyote.
he was rather large and fierce at times.

written at Montreat College in mid 90s

untitled

If we were children,
too free to run from love,
in fields too wide to
hold doubt,
If we never had learned
dislike, or fear...
If we could see
through the eyes
of blind emotion,
would you cry
in the shape
of a flower?
Tears too wet for
sadness...
Inside...Beneath
the grey clouds of
lattice hurt,
we are still young.
Breathing souls,
fast like deer
and all there is
is not to
try.

-RTS

poem written around May 2006

"The Country Store"

Well i've got news for him.

I know i'm forgetting something, but this public stuff ain't for me.

Well i've got news for him.

With a small glow for how i took the trash I step in and the four leg seems much
gladder to see me than any of the North Carolinians I shared a small touch of
Saturday sun with, who knew not that as i made small travel, neurotransmitters.......

Well I've got news for him

........fired me from a job well done.
people do things. and what i did was kill a small bee that got in my car while i was
frantic to just get to home base, some deep emotion also saying.....

get stung rather than kill.

Well, I've got news for him.

At end you may taste how public execution was there.

Well, I've got news for him.

Clerk with gentle sarcasm: "he's coming back. he believes in reincarnation".

Older customer: "well, i've got news for him".

-RTS


written about a trip to a little country store in Banner Elk NC.
this one was about a clerk and a customer "gossiping" about someone who believes in reincarnation......
i purposely do not "promote" my own personal spiritual beliefs in my writing,
but rather like to explore ideas and provoke deeper thinking about the human condition.
so this poem is not about whether or not i "agree" or not with any view,
but more portraying a little slice of reality, experimenting , as usual, with the infinite possibilities of throwing words together.

Maestro

"Maestro"............abandoned as a puppy, found by me in a humane shelter, and now constant companion and best friend.

Lighten up

here is a poem i wrote out of my frustration with how judgemental and narrow minded people (including myself) can be about religion. this is not meant to make fun of anyone's faith or meant to be disrespectful, just the opposite.......

"Realigion"

i saw God in a bathing suit,
surfing frothy waves.
with the flick of a toe
and a twist of the hips,
the bright neon board
flew right in his grip.
basking in simple childlike glee,
he tipped the oceans, and turning,
offered a sip of the sea.
he laughed a grand chuckle
and listened in awe,
as timidly, i did recall,
what i had envisioned
my Lord to be.
how little of he, had i viewed fiesty
my delusions deemed, quite a few icy.
and out of my heart
poured a million "i'm sorries",
and my eyes wept tears
parting sandy streams.
and for all of my guilt
and all my sin,
i paid such a dear price.........
A great big grin!
but my joy turned to fear,
and his aged eyes narrowed,
and as i cowered beneath
their rigid gaze set,
my God commanded......
Thou shalt put up the volleyball net.

Fun Poem

this one was written 11-26-99

"Untitled"

let the dancers twirl and the flutist
blow our minds. let the happy get
happy and the sad fill their sacks.
joy joy the day is new and we lift
our hands.....
weep no more child for the keeper
has kept and the reaper has slept.
the time is now even as the clock
tries to say
"no it's now"
no no it's now now"
no no no it's now now now"
we care not for time and not for
shame
the risen is rising but always low
enough to touch with a tiny
finger. so blow your horns and
grasp your silly....
festival breaks for nothing
yet
bends for all!
-rts

another old poem

"A Good Meal"

Seas of diners gorge on gory
gouged phyla and a lone
wader drips soft words
from his thin lips,
into our bowl.
Wisdom serum, sloshing round,
glints in his eyes say he's found the sought.
and he tips the vessel,
our tiny white ship braving pirates,
vessel of hope, and the flat words
gurgle lapping clinging.
Swiftly i snatch them up
and slit my chest open with
a blade of icy steel
burying the solution deep inside my heart,
even as i bleed,
and dying intense,
the red stained diners bolt,
ripping and clawing at my chest,
spasming lust
and i smile with a
blink eternal.

-rts

untitled poem

here is a poem i wrote quite a few years ago.........it portrays how a young child might look at some of the subtle difficulties that all families face... one of my favorites as far as the use of words and imagery.

"Untitled"

cellar
blackground music
i am hopping i have to pee
so bad
i lost hope
"misplaced" honey
we say misplaced. Daddy
is upstairs
Daddy stares a lot
tomatoe steam....spaghetti
we're having spaghetti with
my little brother's
cartoon hero HEY
i'm good hungry
mmmmmmmmmmm.....
mommy, don't cook
it all
your legs are red
Daddy you made mama
sit in the sauce.
-rts