The Municipal Gym

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Get the coffee on
It’s 5 am
People stagger in on a Monday
Ready to stretch and begin again
Bob is 80 staying strong
The cop benches to keep the bad boys back
Jim is on steroids just looking to get big
While the lady at the desk checks us all in
Rosa is working hard to tone her legs
While Richard is there to chat
The morning due rolls back
While Jim makes sure to keep his back flat
Sam is on the bike getting ready for the next triathlon
While the ex con is working the weights all day long
Me I am just waking up
Weary eyes and strained
Looking at all the faces that look the same
This is a morning in the municipal gym
In south bend
All in all we are just working to stay thin
On a brisk Monday morning in August p

Uncertainty Reigns

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Not much on plans
Wish I knew more
About the future
But no such certainty exists
I just hope to survive
Make it through the next week alive
No complaints from me
This is my life to be
I own it and know it well
It makes it no easier
I get asked all the same questions
With all the lack of answers
Some nights are better than others
Some are rough and long
Try to do my best in song
And poetry keep me sane
Challenging the mind and the brain
I hope to create
Rather than destroy
That is the goal
In the end to give back
Rather than take away
And for a late Friday night
That is all I have to say
Goodnight

Another Day

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Another day

Another poem

Today I wonder what has held me back in life

The fear of something that does not exist

The fear of falling somewhere I can not

I can no longer have these fears control my heart

I must control me

That is truly what must be

For me to grow and develop

Into what can be

What should be

Rather than what can not

I must forget the past

Create a new future

Not controlled by fears or constraints

For what I believed became my reality

This real world defined me

It is time for a sea change

The salty breeze on the shoulder of the new me

This is where I will now live

Free from fear and darkness

Full of life and adventure

That is the real me

Early Morning Recital

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Early morning practiced
With weary eyes
Touching keys and strings
Pulling myself together
To remember these things
Everyday is a challenge
Begging for more focus
To read the notes on the staff
Making new notes memory
Memory becomes music
And muscles play there part too
The mind weakens with coffee and time
Moving slow but gaining speed
This is the recital I need
To play for my ears and eyes
This is the musician life

Silence

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Silence

I crave silence

Reflective intuitive creative silence

No radio

Music

Talk

Instead

Silence

Time to decide

Time to listen to the silent guide

The pushing force

The calling from the inward soul

In the sky I look up

Nothing but the sound of a gas-powered engine

And the other cars around

It is not complete but quiet enough

The sound of the turning wheel

Pulling my thoughts apart

As husks on a corn peal

Looking for what might be underneath quick passing

What is the drive in me

What is the reason

I need silence to think

Think through decisions about the future

Decisions about the now

Am I doing alright

This will surely get me through tonight

I search for this answers this evening

Not on crowded streets or in a home

But in a car on a cool summer evening

With pure silence

The sound of air pushing through the ear canal

Creates a slow growing buzz

I may not know the answers

But I am searching for the cause

Upon reaching my destination the silence discontinues

Returning to the normal process of clicks and tones

All the things that fill up the normal home

But for one moment I could feel

My heart and soul in one great alliance

In that pure and simple moment

Of Silence

Link

The New Website

Just finished launching my new official website. It will be the hub for all of my poetry, music, ideas, and other material. I am not going to be moving or changing anything about my poetry blog – I just want to link it up with some other material. Please come on back and visit often! Cheers -N

Speck of White

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A speck of white

Upon a summers evening

Faded light

Rejuvenated and renewed

From all that has been imbued

Rest has created eyes awake and wondering

Speck of Yellow

Falls through dusty windows upright

Suns glistening final rite

A palette covered with yellowish sweet

Continuum of summer heat

A speck of Green

On Summers lawn

Dew in the morning

After a crisp dawn

A speck of Blue

On a skycap so true

Gravity holding us down on this world

Keeping us protected from weightlessness

The true story of me and you

Told through the colors

Wheeled through life and illuminating our sky

We take moments out and away

Cry and laugh

Rejuvenated and happy

This is created through color invigoration

The sensation of happiness and vigor

Rolls through

Into

Me and you

 

On the Course

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Falling asleep on my lap
On the course
A nap is needed for strength
I run my fingers through he hair
The rain falls splashing soft on cracked pavement
Skies loom large and fly
Clouds passing in summers haste
Laid in bed for an hour wide awake
Continuum of emotion and freedom
Taken with hope and reason
The rain falls soft on my legs and arm
Winds bring cold air
And afternoon charm
All I could ask for lays in my hands
Caressing hair soft brown and sweet
Under the shade of a Michigan pine
Is one of life’s great treats
Complete with feeling of love and understanding
Taking a break from a brisk walk
Relax and sleep while we talk
A Wednesday filled with summers course
I love her as she sleeps just a bit more

Big Mouth and Deep Pocket

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Look at him 

His big mouth and deep pockets

Cold careless eye sockets

Pressed pant and silk tie

There is something painfully familiar

Nothing quite particular

But with casual reference

Not in the past 

But in the present tense

This man balks of profits and GMO’s 

I tell you he would slide every dollar out

From right under my nose

No moral compass or care for young hearts

Keep the suit coat pressed and tear us apart

I cringe to think that we honor this man

Billions of dollars 

An analgesic superman 

Curing the downfalls with simple remedy

While other companies fill his pockets

Happily

To do their dirty work on TV 

Show that GMO’s are a true development in technology

Take your smart phone an google GMO

Ignorance is no longer an option

That went away with the internet adoption

But this man prides himself on secrets

Kept from you and me 

So that he can turn dollars into billions

With every mouth so willing

He will not show his cards 

Who he is in bed with at night

Keeping his golden cane upright

But in each of us is this man 

I can not disagree 

Capitalism has made a fool out of you and me

I just strive for honesty 

Honestly 

And honorably 

Money pays the bills 

And bills here free my mind

So I just have to work hard and save my dimes

I am not sickened by his riches 

It is what the riches make of men 

That is the real travesty

So easy to see 

On this talk show 

Late night TV

 

Desperation Attempt

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If this were to be my desperation attempt
Would you hold me in contempt
Under the Michigan summers sun
Beams burning my skin and tongue
Speaking words grasping at meaning
Uneven and fleeting
Like sand on beaches creeping
Back from waters and storms
Clouds rolling in on Michigan shores
Attempting and achieving
While words soar with sophisticated meaning
I have no plan
No great devise
To make it out of here
Under these burnt pink skies
I wish there was more to offer
With words from poetic authors
But for now I settle my bones
On summers sands and thawed out winter shores
In a desperate attempt to reach out
Move my lips with breathe
And shout
That life offers more than deep discounts
But mounts heavy on lazy fingers
Swelling in summer season
I have but yet one reason
To attempt my voice
To give light to my choice
And rejoice
In this desperation attempt
And the message goes
In these words I have sent