middle

MIDDLE

to discover how weak you are

from the middle of your  strength

the solid middle

gathering through love 

the witness of your soul

in circles surrounding like shadows

making the light bright like a gauze etching

beneath a watercolor

to discover how strong you are

from the middle of your weakness

a solid middle 

the soul your witness 

of etched shadows 

awaiting color

is it fading shadow

or is it fading light

we see in the middle

witnessing through gauze

how easy it is

to be surrounded by the middle

A. Mendoza, September 2019

Roll

ROLL

there's an itch

in the back of my head

marbles rolling around

when I shake it 

from side to side

until the cobwebs

become a net

sewing tighter into a mesh

forming a fabric

of itchy marbles

beady glass that squints

in a darkness that rises

to the ripples forming

a shaken cobweb

the tightened net

of mesh of marbles

in a rising darkness

 no longer needing to squint

 it is so easy to simply

roll side to side

A. Mendoza, Sept 2019

An Opposite of Music

An Opposite of Music

a carafe of coffee steaming

the water for tea boiling

sometimes making up your mind is not an option

the familiar color

and comfort of aromas

 surrounded and comforted

glass reveals the familiar

not twin

no duality

missing a janus entanglement

a breeze and scent

paired yet separate

an opposite of music

A. Mendoza, Sept 2019

MUSIC

MUSIC

the bemusement in the eyes

and the pain as the witness

repressed emotions boil over

heated by shame

fuel of memories love

when I was called a good man

when I was told I was loved

completeness that smile,  that joy

now stoked by humiliation

until those embers become ashes

like the ashes of the loved

the bemusement as wind

to witness in horror

how casual that dismissal

of such treasures

by a single breeze

now only a convenience

and casual enjoyment

where once the soul

recited that music

A. Mendoza, 2019