…bombs still falling, momma

For my ears, they cannot hear

Are there flashes from the guns at night

My sight I’ve lost…

By James Geehring

…curl round the logs that burn

In hearth of cozy mind

The coals beneath the glowing grate

Still spread the warmth through…

By James Geehring

…all walk the same courses, in our lives from day to day

Familiar halls or driven roads or pathways made of clay

A melancholy comfort as we repeat our routine

Yet why are there so few who can see what it may…

By James Geehring

…exquisite form of torture

To desire what one can’t have

A burn that lasts forever

No response to cooling…

By James Geehring

…old as I walk down the hallway

So old as I lie down to sleep

Yet so full is my mind’s memory storehouse

Of the tales of my youth that I…

By James Geehring

…term “unbridled passion” stirs a memory deep in mind

Of youthful thoughts and actions and ambitions which were blind

The charging into every day as if it were the last

No concept of how every hour would soon make up…

By James Geehring

…wondered what would happen if I held on very tight

To a parasol seed from dandelion on its wayward, windy flight.

Caught up in the lightest breeze and carried towards the clouds

I’d see the panorama of the cities with their…

By James Geehring

…looked down at my grandson, and a tear had filled his eye

He looked up and said “Papa, why is it things must die?”

His pleading eyes sought wisdom and I stammered just a bit

And tried to think, before I spoke, of proper words to…

By James Geehring

…the cooling air of the lingering dusk, the flames from the firepit clawed higher

The steps to the woodrack, heavy and slow, retrieving more fuel for the pyre

Each log, as it’s placed, sends bright sparks in the air, chasing tendrils of wispy grey streaks

Glowing coals painting pictures within the mind’s eye, crackling sounds of the fire as it…

By James Geehring

…an accidental turn while I was out the other night

It seems that I had turned to left, when I should have turned to right.

My attention was distracted and I paid no heed to course

Then lack of bearings, realized, cast a sense of slight…

By James Geehring

…down the darkened stairs that lead into my mind

I brush away the cobwebs, more and more I seem to find

Collecting on my memories as they hold on each quite fast

I struggle to remove them from my time within the…

By James Geehring

…danced between the moonbeams and their silver satined light

Cast troubled thoughts aside while giving wings to mind for flight

Grabbing at the nearest stars to gain the heaven’s heights

Avoiding looking back towards chaotic earthly…

By James Geehring

…pitter patter, rain’s incessant falling spatters

Its somnambulistic charms within my ears is all that matters

For it causes me to nod despite my mind’s attempts to prod

My sluggish fingers to produce some kind of verse with…

By James Geehring

…will o’ the wisp through the marshy moors of my mind

This thing called “Christmas Spirit” seems a gift quite hard to find

The festive decorations and the bright reflective lights

Try hard at coaxing sluggish soul to embrace the…

By James Geehring

…blues and powder pink with blush of rose’s red

The Autumn sky at dusk appears like watercolors bled

Fading into mauve-ish greys night falls like charcoal dust

The shiny metal of the day now shows as faded…

By James Geehring

…oak has cast its highest leaf, defining year’s Fall season

Its drifting course and random flight bereft of plan or reason

Seen by gyring hawk as it patrols the forest’s skies

The earth receives the offering with no fanfare or…

By James Geehring

…gave my mind a holiday, a pass from cares and woes

Set it in a tiny skiff to sail where ‘ere wind blows

Waved as it departed from my pier of anxious thought

And hoped it would survive to prove my efforts…

By James Geehring

…above the square, I view the world from pied-̀a-terre

Below my sill, a café scene, as waiters wipe their tables clean.

A woman sits with milk and tea, her head and back are all I see

Her visage hidden by chapeau, her thoughts this day I…

By James Geehring

…many things I’ve saved and kept, throughout the passing years

At times I run across them, causing melancholy tears

Each keys a certain memory brought to mind from distant past

Most often feelings soft and warm, the ones that seem to…

By James Geehring

…sun was sparkling over my head as I reached for my rod and my reel

A walk down the path of my sleepy-eyed mind, accompanied by thoughts of a meal

I sat on log, that had lain there for years, on a spot that was barren of moss

And quietly thought of my choices, of the color of lure I should…

By James Geehring

…woods about my house have now become of elder age

Some spreading branches bear no leaves, the season turns its page

Hollow trunks and broken limbs, just shadows of their…

By James Geehring

…was looking at a raindrop as it paused upon a leaf

Reflected on its surface, clouds and sky with trees beneath

The world around me captured by this glistening, dewy sphere

Within its lower arc the mossy earth and ferns showed…

By James Geehring

A poem born of a quarantined mind.

————

…some corners, in my house, where the vacuum doesn’t suck

Occasionally I seek them out when chores I cannot shuck.

Within the darkest corner, behind the potted…

By James Geehring

… a view I never tire of,

looking out into the wood

Serene and yet dynamic,

spurring thoughts I wish…

By James Geehring

Nature is truly fascinating.

————

…patience of a spider as it weaves its silky art

Eight legs that need no orders on how each should do its part

A multitude of jewel-like eyes mark each and every thread…

By James Geehring

…my home are places, where demons do abide

They stab their knives into my back, stick thorns into my side

Their angry claws leave jagged marks upon the walls and floor

They quickly move to block escape from each and every…

By James Geehring

…small creek meandered through the fallow field

A jagged scar of shadows topped with mops of grass

Overhanging the few rocks and clods of dirt

Which bordered the ribbon of brown…

By James Geehring

…I overheard the phrase “about to die”

And realized every moment, that to all, it did apply.

At each and every clock strike there are those that make it through

While others see the instant when they know the phrase is...

By James Geehring

So, I am 72 years old. Early this morning I had a chance to talk to my Future. It was one of those casual, chance encounters and my Future grabbed a chair and sat down before me. “You know,” it said, “at 72 you have certainly gathered a lot of memories and experiences. So, you probably wouldn’t be bothered too much if I told you that you only had 8 more years of your life. I mean, lots of people die long before even…

By James Geehring

…my desk in that quiet time before dawn; I cupped my hand behind the candle’s flame and gently blew. As it disappeared it left wisps of smoke as thin as webs spun by the ghosts of spiders. There was nothing left but the sooted scent of wax and the darkness, which had seemed so profound as the flame was extinguished but slowly yielded as my eyes became accustomed to the dim images left behind. Just enough to affirm I was…

By James Geehring