When summer dies in the mountains
It dies fast
Like a flame in the snow or
The desertion of birds and leaves
All in a morning
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
When I Hear Karen Carpenter
When I hear Karen Carpenter
I think of corned beef hash
AMC Pacers
Lines for gas
Johnny Carson
Laminate floors
My mom’s voice
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
1981
A yellow ribbon
Tied to
An orange Volkswagen van
A shirt
That says
Don’t tread on me Iran
For me
That’s how the eighties began
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
I Believe You Can
I believe you can
Despite all of it
I believe you might
With much upon you
I believe the now
Shines bright in your eyes
Ignite
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
Every Post is a Person
Reclamation
After you died
In my dreams
I only saw you
Diminished and fading
At the end
Now I see you
Young
Tan
Standing
In the sun
Smiling
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
Darkness Is Not Blindness
Darkness is not blindness
Adjustment is slow
Things around you
Take shape
Patience the only tool
Until the world has form again
If There Is No Middle Ground
If there is no middle ground
Then the way is lost
It is hard to see when beaten down
Through the smoke
Know middle ground is there
In the haze
Right behind you
Just obscured
We can speak in absolutes
Hold volatile ideas near and dear
Speak of revolution
Ignoring the tears
We don’t know ourselves
Through the swirl
We cannot see ourselves
With it engulfing us
Sometimes it is better
To move slowly
Through the fog
Feeling that which is around us
Which we cannot see
Waiting until the fog dissipates
Instead of burning it off
Because that which we burn
We sometimes value most
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
Homeless Words
Sometimes
Words together
Sound good
To the ear
Devoid of meaning
And homeless
In a notebook
They hum
Waiting for your pen
To guide them home
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
We Never Think It is Us
We never think it is us
Who will struggle to rise
Overestimation
Our shared sin
Those of us who know
Extend our hands
To the fallen
As if
They were
Us
Gene G. McLaughlin 2013
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