Out of thin air
your specter turns to face me,
And I step back, startled
into the shadow of time

This moment has happened before-
yet I am caught unawares,
A deer-in-headlights moment,
concealed only slightly now

The shadow stretches along
the banks of the lake,
Dark drapes holding out wide arms
enveloping…

I remember — your half smile, your vivid delight, at the prospect of the evening’s gathering. You’d laugh, you’d sing, you’d even dance. Testing out new hairstyles, new saris. Testing out a new personality.

While I watched.

I watched you transform to a swan in the presence of company.

Oh…

Close your eyes
Lean in
Inhale…
The stale air envelops you

Reach out with your fingertips
Feel the glass walls,
feel their thickness

They are sturdy,
they will not budge

You have sensed them long
Pushing in,
the invisible walls always pushing in
Squeezing, compressing, constricting you
Crushing…
can’t breathe…
As the box continues to…

How very convenient, Mr. Shakespeare — some might call what you did plain old appropriation — I won’t use any such elevated word — you are a burglar, a thief — you plain old just stole our story —

What’s worse — you made it yours by changing the very…

As a child, I thought the word “shrink-wrapped” meant something that has been packed by a psychiatrist. I pondered about how important those objects must be, to require a medical professional to perhaps inspect and then carefully package them. They must really be important to the human brain, I thought.

…

A needle is not man’s best friend — certainly not when you land on a bundle of soft looking hay while playing with your friends — and find that one proverbial needle in the haystack stuck in the fleshiest part of your backside –

Certainly not in warehouses full of…

I walked with a big heart. No rocky mountain could daunt me, no monster could scare me. I was invincible.

Invincible in that sweet and naïve way that the brush of inexperience paints on the canvas of life.

I was undaunted. Words were my friend, and success my shadow.

There…

The goddess stepped in when the world went astray
Wildfires and brimstone, weapons of choice
Flood, volcanoes and earthquakes

Dissenters laid to rest
Greed’s sharp edge dulled at last
The world hung in silence, wondering what was to come

Sometimes the answer is so simple
All you must do is quiet…