N

N

Loneliness

is not

being

alone

in a room

But being

in a room

with others

with

nothing

to say

nothing

in common

nothing

nothing

noting

no thing

noth

not

non

no

n.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Not Okay

Not Okay

I want

so badly

for you to tell me

you think I’m

really okay…

… i’m not sure you’re really okay.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Venus

Venus

Open your mouth.

Until the pink inside

breaks through

with piano keys

tinkling out scales.

justice will prevail.

Open your mouth.

Speak up.

Shout out

tell it like you see

it.

Open your mouth.

Break out of the half shell

your long red locks

falling

over your sex.

Open your mouth.

Stand naked

in your alabaster skin

with the strength you

were born with.

You are perfection.

You are an art form.

You are a woman.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Silent Thunder

Silent Thunder

a deflated balloon

hangs captive

its limp dirty cord

flapping silver mylar

against barren tree limb

its captor

rainstorm within

rainstorm without

it is silent here

if you don’t count

the howling wind

screaming sirens

or my thoughts

Lindsay Riggs Brown

With Apologies to Poor Will

With Apologies to Poor Will

My eyes are nothing like the sun.
My lips are neither coral
nor are they red.
My breast is nowhere near as white as snow
and time has all but faded the roses from my cheek.

My feet tread heavily upon the ground.
And though you say you love my voice,
I cannot in truth, carry a tune.

And yet by Heaven,
this morning,
upon waking,
you kissed my morning breath,
ran your fingers through
the black wires that grow on my head,
and you called me Goddess.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Keeping Time

Keeping Time

In one rare moment
Everything came together.
July Fourth
Exploded outside my shaking windows.
Time finally caught up with itself.

There was nothing new
In that one rare moment.
Until everything became
Brand new again.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Letting Go

Letting Go

On cool, Lilac scented mornings,
You ran behind me,
holding the back of my seat
while I pedaled,
Terrified, I screamed,
“DON’T LET GO!”
and you swore you never would.
But you did.

In warm summer’s drift,
we found
Indian arrowheads
and shards of cobalt sea glass
the color of your eyes.
By then I could ride alone.

In Indian Summer,
somehow,

you found a way
to let go of;
The Boston Red Sox; scotch on the rocks; salted peanuts;
and Jazz.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Distanced

Distanced

i am never in my dreams
or of them
they flit away
like tiny silver minnows
slipping through
my netted fingers

i am never in my dreams
or of them
i simply dream
distanced
from
hope or fear

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Did You Think?

Did You Think?

Did you think

I wouldn’t notice,

or care,

that you disappeared

like a puff of smoke?

Did you think

you wouldn’t notice,

or care,

that you missed me?

Did you think?

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Side-Swiped

Side-Swiped

(For M.R.T.)

His story cuts me to the quick.

secrets told after

an intimacy shared,

perhaps too soon.

Voice breaking,

heart broken

but spirit strong

after six

very short, very long years

And I know exactly what he means

when he tells me

he lost everything that day.

Everything..

After he put down his weapon,

before he surrendered himself,

he found his straight edge.

The piece

of the puzzle of his life

that let him

begin again.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Consumed

Consumed

“I could just eat you up.”

He tells her,

in the beginning

“You are deliciously delectable.

Sweet and savory”

He bites her lip;

nibbles her ear;

devours her scent;

suckles her breast;

and tastes her tongue

“I could just eat you up.”

He tells her,

in the beginning.

...and in the end…

he does.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Stayover

Stayover

I call

for direction.

don’t lose me here;

not now.

a cold discarded penny

on wet pavement.

The phone smells

like other people’s voices.

Snow’s falling

across a silver, steel span

called the Brooklyn Bridge.

Manhattan calls

but I’ve no destination

on an empty night.

If I could,

I would make time crawl

to me on its hands and knees

and you would love me again.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Man-Made Roses

Man-Made Roses

Slice your

thumbnail through

a tender green

tightly-closed

rosebud,

stripping back

to petiole

revealing

fleshy

pale, pink, petals.

Pull apart

pastel pleats

with pollinated fingers

pushing and prodding into place….

then…

stand back,

admire your masterpiece,

and say,

“there now,

that almost

resembles a rose.”

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Fall-ing

Fall-

-ing

Aesculus

Hippocastanum

like

little,

shiny,

brown-helmeted

kamikazi

pilots

G

E

R

O

N

I

M

O

Buckeyes

falling

on

the

hood

of

my

car

make

me

laugh

out

loud

when

I’m

alone.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

I'm Writing Again ( For Bruce McMillan)

I'm Writing Again ( For Bruce McMillan)

Noses are red
Noses are blew...
I'm worried that maybe
you might have the flu!

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Aesthetics

Aesthetics

“Sorry”,
you said.
“you lost me”.
and I was
cleansed
of sin
too many years
too late.

“Good-bye”
bitter fury
left to haunt
a winds-wept, seaside garden
with lavender love tools;
jagged rocks;
crooked trees
buried within
hiding places
that you go on
tending
without
me.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Width and Color

Width and Color

I changed everything;

the width

and color of my walls.

remodeled;

re-papered,

re-plastered,

re-planed,

repainted,

repented…

I changed everything;

the walls

and color of my width.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Opposites

Opposites

Cerulean sky from

an Italian painting

beams on my

Chestnut tree;

a gold flash

after

angry

rain.

Too warm; too cold

Something

always aches.

Too empty; too full

Something

always breaks.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Return

Return

You’re back again

from your warm southern climes.

I’ve been waiting

an eternity

for your return.

I looked up

and there you were

an harbinger

of the melting warmth to come.

Let me just look at you;

soak you in.

You haven’t changed at all.

So welcome,

you have brought home, home.

Lindsay Riggs Brown

Taking Planet Earth for a Spin

Taking Planet Earth for a Spin

Come on my good friend, come on, get in;

For your own safety sake, buckle your belt;

We'll take planet Earth out for a spin;

Let's travel so fast the Polar Caps melt!

We’ll make it a day; it’ll be really rad!

Let's swing by the Milky Way; drink it all up.

Come now, drink up…why should we feel bad?

It’s an endless cup!

Then let’s leave trash all over Mars

Is there, or isn’t there, life in the stars;

Who cares if there is…

their lives’ are not ours.

Let’s release gas emissions all over the place

Oh, the fun we will have, Oh, the smog we will make.

Clean air’s overrated, we won’t leave a trace

Why do we need air for goodness sake?

When our trip’s finished

We’ll laugh and we’ll say,

“We’re so very sorry,

But, that’s just our way.”

Lindsay Riggs Brown