The poetry in Naked Dreams are for the most part in the
order of writing from getting out of the Navy and heading back to
Houston where I met my wife Chris to the present. We have two beautiful daughters
and have had more than our share of ups and downs. Sometimes it's
a bit daunting to
showing my life in verse like this...kind of like that dream you have
where you go to school or work and realized you forgot to put your
clothes on.
1990
Rings
..there's nothing like watching your brand new wife lay there
asleep after you've made love to her
Celebration
..about the crazy overwhelming feeling of being in love
Snooze Alarm
..written about the that sweet time of day when I snuggle with my
wife before getting up for work
Hypothermia
..about love turning
frigid and dying
1991
Ol’ Ticker
..a silly little poem about feeling so much love you could burst
Mosaic
..a love poem of two people putting the pieces of their former
lives together to create a beautiful relationship in the present
Nyctophobia
.. nyctophobia is the fear of the dark. Stephane Trahan's
painting makes this piece...make sure you click on the Empact Image to
get the full effect...this feels like "Child of the World" lite...less
words, but more filling
Succubus
..so evil, but so wild you can't resist her...ummmmmm
Orion
..that ancient hunter haunts us from the heavens once again
1993
Sleepytown (Emily’s Lullaby)
..a lullaby I wrote my for my daughter when she was baby...my brother's family was visiting when I wrote this and I hide in our
bedroom so I wouldn't be interrupted while the words flowed...everyone
wondered where the heck I went. I used to sing this to my girls
when they were little as I tucked them in
1995
Almost Dawn
..about the feeling of lying in bed with your lover but feeling
like you can't touch them
One Current
..about the fear of dying alone and the fear of being buried
Will to be Wicked
..about a rowdy guy feeling the pressure of dealing with a young
family and all the responsibilities
Picture
..about the secret place in a loving relationship between a man
and a woman
1998
Pair o' Ducks
..about the paradox of the hopeless feelings of a strained
relationship
Nocturnal
Voyage
..a portrait of the magical odyssey of two starry-eyed
lovers
Reflections
..an old man looks back on a life of adventure to forget the
lonely, sad place he exists in now
1999
Destiny
..yearning once again for the woman of my wildest dreams...have I met her
and don't know it? will I ever meet her?
Lullaby
..a little song about being on the road, missing your lover, and
trying to sleep
Becoming a Browning
..about a love so deep "it" becomes a metaphor...the ultimate love
poem
How do I lust thee?
..a bawdy, humorous poke at the Victorian love poets
I Still Love You
..about thinking back on an old romance and wanting that feeling
back.. and fooling yourself
My father passed away in November of 2000 when the
country was still trying to decide who won the election. I didn't
want to live in the big city anymore and we decided it was
time for us to move back to the heartland where we could raise our kids
like we were raised. I got online and submitted resumes in Ohio
and Iowa where Chris grew up. I had lots of interest in Iowa and
not even a nibble in Ohio. I guess they'd had enough of me.
I was a week and a day into my two week notice and had
hired my own replacement when 911 went down. Somehow we managed to
sell our house and rebuild our lives in rural Iowa moving in my birthday
in late November.
2002
Eulogy
..about the death of my beloved father. I was angry then, but have
since overcome it
2004
When You
Shine
..a song I wrote for my lovely wife on Mother's Day in 2004
Dance Demon
..about a human's struggle to keep his temper and mouth from destroying
what he loves
2008
Window Seat
..sometimes when you think back on your childhood and who you really
are, you end up disappointed in what you've become even if you're what's
deemed "successful"
Almost Amos
..about the fear of becoming famous
Terminal D
..about a chance encounter with a beautiful woman but then just
having to watch her walk away
Rikki
..about how the runt of the liter usually turns out to be the
best dog a family ever had. Rikki got injured and had to be put down two
and a half years after this poem was written at the age of five...she was best damned dog I
ever saw!
2009
Rainy Day
..about letting go of this world on a rainy day and soaring
through the cleansing drops into the next realm
Paradise Lost
..about taking a good woman for granted and regretting the
choices you made and the things you've done
Windsong
..this piece says volumes with few words...love will find a way
The Black Maple
..about overcoming the trials and tribulations of an almost failed
marriage
Glass-Bottom Boat
..about a person dealing with clinical depression
Mistress
Youth
..mid-life crisis is real if your lucky enough to get there...an older man's look back at his youthful lust...funny how the
stories become better in retrospect than actually happened
Behold, the Crossroad!
..about the cost of what we're doing to this planet
A Perfect
Game
..about my favorite game in the world. I wrote this after reading
an article in Sport Illustrated about Mark Buerle's perfect game. It may
be my most popular piece. The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame asked
for permission to use it sometime
The Flow
..about how the arts are in the eye of the beholder and how you
wonder what great work we missed because it was never noticed
Cosmic Psalm
..a prayer to the universal mind
2010
In Thru
the Out Door
..about a guy who always skirts around the rules and figures he'll
be doing it to the end
Faith
..about the glimmer of light that keeps us going
White
Elephant
..about the how the games people play are captured and made public
through technology
Chain Mail
..a humorous look at loathing entering poetry contests
Death of a
Genre
..about the obsolescence of a genre.. nothing last forever. Even Homer and
Shakespeare will be forgotten in time
Bridge to
Heaven
.about the bridge that binds use with our loved ones who've passed
on...written with my daughter Abbey
Girl Next
Door
..about a little boy having his first encounter with the fairer sex
The Fight
..based on a true story from my childhood...even being raised old
school taught me women still ruled the roost
Calling Out
God
.about a christian who
questions god's motives
Damnation
..about the decline of a great nation and a
generation that thought they would be the different
Broken Bond
..about a sailor leaving a lover and heading back to the call
of the sea
Zenith
..a sappy poem about love and nature
Honeymoon in
Paris
..about lovers in Paris who make the town their own
Shaman Trance
..an edgy escape into an ancient shaman's trance
New Jerusalem
..a look at the current political climate with implied
biblical references
2011
Saturday
Morning
..a portrait of a man's love for his mate and their everyday life
Supernatural
..a look at how the love of a good woman becomes a man's savior
The
Enlightenment Lounge
..a tongue-in-cheek dream about dying and
meeting the great minds of history in limbo
Echoes
..about how art is the only thing that truly ties time and space
as well as religion and myth together
2012
Rape of the
Republic
.a testament to the frustration and shame at the current
political situation in the US and around the world
EPILOGUE
Bitten
..the epilogue of emotionography and my life
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