Stormy Whispers

From Him:



As a scheming child
When the storm grew dangerously dark
The brazen wind shifting shamelessly
I would sneak outside
To crawl in my red wagon

For my mast I had a splendid bamboo pole
My giggling hands found it insanely suitable
A blanket served as sail
The wind whipped me wild
What fun for me!

Wagon wheels screamed and so did I
As I contemplated future mysteries
Delighted, in the knowing, that someday
I would no longer have be childish
Confident, in learning all-powerful big-people magic

I could explore many matters of my making
Like little girls
I had cute kissed nearby neighbor Laura Hamlin
Her blonde mouth tasted oddly, salty sweet
But I liked it in some inescapable, inexplicable way

I knew these girls had something cooking
Working feverishly to figure it out
Playing Doctor to explore their nakedness
Were they an acquired taste?
What in hell did it all mean?

And now I see your appraising gaze
From your learned, limpid, lake-like eyes
Your festive hair
Your nubile twisting body
Ripe with ecstatic, esoteric girl knowledge

Now no wagon can thrill me with a scare
No furtive sail can pull me through the air
Before I was forgetfully fine, ricocheting down the hall
Now, lately, I am lacking and a little lonely
When you are not there

The mysterious sameness of powerful promises
Thoughts simmering on low heat
Halloween winds whistle near
Deliciously, you are salty sweet
As you whisper stormy kisses in my ear



From Her:


I invite you to girl-world
never giving you the password
or code
or handshake
but you are not blinded by this secrecy
but a welcome guest....

just as I am
learning to be a woman
at the touch of your lips, hands
mind

The Wet World

On Haines Wharf's ancient spine
The timbers would hop and jump squealing with pain
Of various vehicles long remembered
Sea salt smell and boat motors blue smoke
Ever-greedy sea gulls gliding

In the back, in a "off limits to public” place
By the small shake shack, with opaque wizened windows
Where the boat lift motor was haphazardly lounging
With murky mysterious mixtures milling about in rusty cans
And old tools and rags of course

There was a large crack amongst the boards
And peering through this rent in the pier
A door to a watery world was opened
The information revealed varied with the tides,
The sunlight, the weather and nature's perversity

Once, a huge school of piling perch had gathered
They had bunched up in a fixed formation
Sculling in shaded standstills
Slowly, silently, they slipped along the sand
Revealing the secrets of their species

I never studied schoolwork more studiously
Spying intently how they ate
Visually separating the blue perch from the silver
Whispering to my buddy Brock
As if they could hear our impish intentions

Imagining shallow water stealth spookiness
Instead of fat contentment
It seemed like a Rockwell black-and-white print
Piscatorial perfection
Until all hell broke loose when hooked

The blurs of fat fighting furies
Stumbling, squirming, yelling to stay connected
Threading the beauty into steaming sunlight
Into our world
Of secret smiles and crayon color

Silver sides shivering with sparkling scaled stripes
Miracles of cunning creation for us to touch
A true wet wonderment
We exchanged an intimate knowledge
Until we sadly kissed them and sent them home