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

This Absent Thing

This Absent Thing

This absent thing
withers on the vine
never materializes
merely expectation.


Seeds of change
don’t germinate
they terminate
an infinite lack of gestation.


Green leaves
never the burst of fruit
on the tongue
nothing more than anticipation.


Lindsay Riggs Brown

Trouble with Tenacity

Trouble with Tenacity

trouble with tenacity is;
it’s tameless;
talkative;
takes you to task;
and it
trumps everything;

trouble with tenacity is;
it tears with its talons;
taunts with its teeth;
taints everything;
and it
takes every bit of your time.

trouble with tenacity is;
it’s tediously intangible;
taxes intuition;
and it
tortures the heart.

trouble with tenacity is;
it’s terribly tumultuous;
tremendously irritating;
and it's
tyrannically tempestuous.

trouble with tenacity is;
it tangles the tapestry;
and it
tarnishes everything it touches.

Lindsay Riggs Brown