Apple Pie (inspired by a junkyard on the shore of the Missouri River)

two brothers under a big top

The Greatest Show on Earth
cracked-up clown cup
red nose cauliflower face blueberry lips
split
like the winding spider-vein
creeping down the bumper
with the dandelions poking through.

an empty 409 bottle

a rusty can
two seats in surprisingly good condition
o except for the volunteer maple
riding shotgun
o and a few suspicious looking black bags
lounging in the back.

Cracked Windshield:
this artificial fissured fault through the
twinkle trees and pale grey sky;
beds of leaves a dry film
over waterwebbed cotton padding.
Like an apple pie.
Wrecked Shrapnel And Chemical
pie
crusted with dried silt
and baked to perfection.

Dancing with Time

A small ship sails

In a vast blue sea

Past islands of hours
Through reefs of years
Ebbing and flowing
With the tides of the eras
Dancing with the moon
From one age to the next
Every moment an eddy
Twirling and spinning
Merging and mingling
Now is forever is tomorrow is past
Little Person
I fell in love once, a year ago today
I saw a car once, driving the other way
I sang a song once, of new things all around
But all of a sudden everything's turned
rather old
and ugly murky brown.
It passed me on the road
Ignoring the double yellow line
One glimpse was all it took
It must have been a sign:
An old man sitting
In the drivers seat.
Those eyes, that face
Wrinkles I could swim in for days
His sparsely covered scalp
His withered little mouth
The bushy white eyebrows,
And the glasses thick as
AfrequentWal-MartshopperwhoeatsatMcDonalds
On a regular basis.
The old yellow teeth that
split into a smile
The gold casings and gaps could
not disguise the child
Within him.
The dancing joy ribbons baby
firefighter policeman war-waging
mom-hugging bedtime story

swinging sliding
little person
Inside.