Sepia Toned Stranger

Sitting next to people
Strangers riding on their own soundscapes
In their own waves of emotion
Their own worlds
Islands of stories I wouldn’t understand
What are they going through?
Those serious eyes are so far away
A distance no one can see

You blend in at first
With all the other ghosts
I used to know you
I used to know everything about you
You contrast with the
Busy colorful world around you
An ancient photograph
Glowing bright from the past
A sepia toned stranger
A foreign presence in my life
Alienly wandering in a planet
That no longer belongs to you
The clock hands quiver
With a wisper from the past
Time stands still
Slow motion, backwards, parallel
Fading in and out
From you and the here and now
A confused euphoria
Of how we’ve come so far
I don’t even know who you are
How the distance was made clear
By you simply standing there
And as smoothly as you appeared
You gracefully disappear

Carry Me Along

 Warmth on my back
Late morning on the light rail 
Sunlight and tree shadows
Flickering on all the people
On their smartphones
Flying through the world
at the speed of light
Wanting to stay all day here
Writing, riding
Feeling the sun, feeling the movement
Listening to the cheerful, calm beat
Of the light, of the sun
Of the music
Carrying me along
Taking me by the hand
Through the river of bright
The river of life
Streaming on this train
A place in the making
To capture and relish before
Starting the work day
A place to carry me
In sync, world and spirit
My morning pick me up
Carries me along

Anonymous

On the bus watching the lives
Sharing a schedule
The cycle of everyday people.

Out the window pastel houses blur
Wet grey sky
White ocean.

First the kids
Then their parents
Starting their eight hour worlds.

There’s a boy on the bus
alone
Looking down
Hugging his backpack
He glances at a girl.

There’s a girl on the bus
alone
Looking down
Hugging her backpack
She glances at a boy.

Dusty, monotoned kids
Mousy and neutral
Quietly they are there
Bearing the forlorn presence of each other
Occupying space that was once their shared cocoon.

They hide their faces and
Adjust their grip
on everything they hold
They are far from each other
A white ocean in the aisleway.

They float with everyone else
Glances inflating their life vests
Eyes sending out lifeboats
Hoping that one will sail back to them
With someone in it.

The bus stops
They move with the rest of them
It’s time to go to school.

Soggy Pizza

Downtown San Francisco with a down pour of rain,

Night time thrill lights, people running with secret delight,

So much excitement, cars honking,

Rounds of high-fives shared between strangers,

Enthusiasm raining in the streets.

The  stadium releases its proud orange spawn,

Spreading contagious cheers,

River of orange in the rain.

Applause in squeaky puddle filled buses,

Fuzzy neon raindrops,

Cheerfully speckled glasses,

Jeans and socks sticking to the skin.

Walking through the rain, smiling,

Eating pizza on a soggy plate.