bristles follow handles

 If you don't know: Tapes on Fire, my first poetry collection, is in the final stages of approval, available soon unless you can find me and hustle one of the copies I ordered. More soon.

so, yes,
paint brush and broad strokes, impressions
of time in competing lines,
concentric swirls. i am rarely absolute
in the things i paint and the things i say.

smaller shrubs and trees, sing harmony.
nature yawns and the air is comfortable
warmth, the tinge of pollen, a light roast
coffee without dilution or flavoring. somewhere-
strings, not overstaying their welcome, adding to
the scene. the players moving their bows in concentration,
an acceptable amount of yearning loosed from their instruments.
from heart to string, from air to lungs, ear to soul.

notes of merriment. notes: content. insistence. it’s real, it’s here,
it’s now. drink deep, be satisfied. these are the golden times
promised to no one, here and now. yours and mine.

the brush dipped into water. purified, made almost-new. made ready.
nothing comes out the way i expect it. add, subtract, revise, revisit, rescind.

results. look for yourself.