Flakes

Flakes

Snow falls on an uncleaned porch

Kids knock to offer service

With their shovels

I have no money

To pay their price

Later

Opening the door

still snowing

The porch would have been

Recovered

Who would charge

To remove the new snow

I wait for the sun

Luckily still free

But you can bet

Someone tries to charge

For the open space to sun

LIke they do for the machinery

That cleans the streets

After the snow flies

Ah, the layers of government

In service of the economy

That won't send boys

To shovel my ramp

But who would visit me

And where would I go

The boys who want money

Would charge me for their use

Of my snow covered porch 

That no one will visit until

Until

I don't know when

Barry G. Wick

Death

Death

There is no rest in death

It takes effort to never breathe 

Just try to stop decay

It's terribly tiring

Then there's the dark

Provided your body was found

And coffinated 

Can you believe it

There are people who want

To be dead

Decoffinated

They accept being turned

Into ash

Ash

Then it's death as cement

Or some kind of clay fixture

Here's uncle Bob

He became a statue of Venus

Well he always was that way

He just loved shiny silk and such

Some go to space

It wasn't enough to be dead on earth

I suppose they couldn't take

The constant tears and wails

Having given some thought

I want to be loved by dogs

Where they leave their excrement

On some grassy ground

Chasing a ball

And maybe just maybe

Chewing on my bones

Barry G Wick

The intruding world

The intruding world

Here comes another bill

For healthcare needs

Another shock

When after fears

Of losing leg

Became a scream

To wake up to the

Last of life

The last days

The last week's unsure

It's just today buster

It's just now

When all I want is silence

The silence of Ramana Maharshi

When these words written

Or spoken or thought

Fail to live the way I do

Inside

Barry G. Wick

Grey Day

Grey Day

Sitting staring

The window spotted

A screen blotted here

This is a wait

For any change

In a darkened sky

Winters finger

In your eye

Barry G. Wick

Snow

Snow

Large flakes of snow

Fall on Iowa

These are reminders

Of the flakes of ash

That fell on Nagasaki

I feel their heat

As I wonder why

This comes to mind

Is it history

Or a forecast 

Of the fires to come

Barry G. Wick

Too late to love

Too late to love

Now photos take me

Into the stream of love

From the past 

Visible to the world

Two images find me

Wishing for the hearts

Of two men

One an indigenous man

In his decorations

And breechcloth

The other a cowboy

From earlier times

Neither would look twice

At me if we'd met

Both years dead

I see them now

With love 

After this no living man

Will hug or kiss me

Knowing photos

Have captured my dreams

I would toss them all away

For any man to hold my hand

Barry G. Wick

Dance

Dance

We have to dance even if we sway

In our wheeled chairs

We have to sing even if we just hum

We have to know art

Even if we only feel sculpture or

Touch a wall hanging made of rope

With tin cans full of dents

Many feelings fall from us

The fruits that grow

From the rain of lìfe

Barry G. Wick

Strangers

Strangers

Every day is a little stranger you get to know.  You live with this stranger and all it's quirks and foibles.  It's likes and dislikes.  And then it goes away as suddenly as it came.  Some of the strangers you miss.

Barry G. Wick

Letting Go

Letting Go

Make mistakes

Or do what is right

It's always a combination

Of murky unknowns

There doesn't seem to be

Anybody that isn't questioned

Over decisions

When the end is near

Than what is wanted

Or when overwhelming life

Drips into your heart

There is a reminder

The every bullet

Creates a grievance

And

Every bomb an unending war

Barry G. Wick

Jupiter

Jupiter

In the dark of space

Floating in the dark of my life

Is Gustav Holst’s bringer of jollity

A gaseous giant

Circling the only star

We two have known

He's been seen by every life

Here on our world

I also am mostly gas

But not worthy of a laugh

I am hydrogen and oxygen

Jupiter's helium keeps him afloat

Just as my gassy thoughts

Keep me floating

I see you great godd

Holding your twinkling throne room

In the power of both day and night

You may be the Roman godd

Of lightning and power

Though my life has been simple

Lacking the power to make changes

I see my dear moons my friends 

Revolving around me

Undiscovered by Galileo

Yet I discover their love of me

Which seems to make no sense

We two have large spots

Yours is red and mine invisible

Perhaps the visible and Unseen

Are the same as each gives us

Strength and uniqueness

Of all about our orbits

My years will be shorter by far

But unlike you dear Jove

I'm on fire and you will never be

Until our sun expands to take you

Both our atoms will share some space

We are neighbors in the Universe

Ready to join whenever that year

Decides we are ready to love

And be loved by the other

Barry G. Wick