ardent waves

the heat shimmering in the air so bent
everything gone the color of the glare

even the leaves off ghostly trees
and ranch buildings in the distant dust
surrounded by fibonaccied bales

ponies nose deep in fields of wild oats
munching witnesses to the past
as the shades of the departed
continue on with their appointed tasks

cha oz
06 16 13

don't

why do I always do it

why am I the one everyone runs to
while in the thick of combat
and why…why do I always fall for it?

don’t call me and rant about the injustice
go on and on and make me a convert
wallow in ‘woe is me-isms’ and get me to agree
make me feel pity so I start raging in your name

don’t wind me up and point me
towards the battles you’ve chosen
let me go out there on that limb of righteousness
let me speak your piece (and lose my peace)
in a tone you could never unleash on those you care for

don't make me the heavy, the baddy, the mom
then half a day later
spin 180 degrees in a half fishtail
gears grinding while the gas is engaged
and agree with the visiting army’s ambassadors

just don’t…

cha oz
06 24 13

weren't you

weren’t you the one who…
     promised till the end of time
     to always be there when trouble arose
     reward every scene of bravado
     bolster all ideas and a trembling faith?

weren’t you supposed to…
     run through the fires of youth with me
     remain a part of us when there was a them
     see things through the same kaleidoscope lense
     help circle the wagons when the enemy was nigh
     stand close behind me when I ventured on without a light
     be my Confessor, my Co-Conspirator, my Cavalry?

Yet you’ve been…to my utter surprise…
     my frequent detractor
     one who believes I can’t decipher, ponder
          or take a walk through the labyrinth
     whose narrow opinion of mine and me
          is stuck with the swings in the playground

how can one thrive in a vacuum
made up of figments forever lost
in an apparition of sacrifice
that never made it to your soul?

I cede to you
Be done with me…be gone

cha oz
06 26 13

deity's dance

do you see him?
do you see god?
do you see him, her, it
...them?

they are in the raindrops
suspended between the sky and our souls

they are in the sand
marching wide across open vistas churning

in the rubbed particles that spark with joy
blooming under the caress of deity playful

they are in the majesty of the sun
transforming and transformed
into a brewed curtain of light
and dark sucked straight out of cosmos itself

they twine in and upon themselves
in and through the cloud's helices reborn

balanced in a dance as destructive
as a sunrise chasing away the night

as a rain dislodging and disbursing
pioneering creatures thriving for change

as a tree free falling through nests
dislodging occupants
who've just emerged through the either
or about to take flight to their choice

suspended between reality and our dreams
a portent of beauty so rare
so beautiful
not to be born by the feint of life

cha oz
06 30 13

dragon rain

it awakens
with the wind off the cliffed coast
a moist and subtle breeze
tinted with the mother's dew

it rides the uplift from her heated blush
sol having caressed her to shame
all the day long

growing and churned
writhing with claws extended
crawling up from rolling hills
chasing the sweet tears of a sea in turmoil

growling and squalled
it's icy whiskers shooting shafts of light
throughout the turbulent sky

then waiting, waiting for a downdraft
to begin it's journey home

cha oz 
07 07 13

everywhere but here

one step at a time
upward, upward
with occasion to pause
between each reach for the next
and the one before and beside

do take a rest to ponder
at the elevation still to be attained
the connection to the first and the last
the pits and ruts, litter and debris
left behind by less frequent travelers

but don't stay too long
else the moss will grow
with tendrils that will drag you back
a time or two steps ago
convincing you to mind and mend the ruts
lest they trip you down
as they've always seem to do
for those looking everywhere but here

cha oz
06 06 13

tick tick

today…this month…hell the last few
not in a good place

nothing really triggered this
no anniversary nor event

just…no one interested enough to share
the mile markers passing by
without comment
or celebration
nothing to make anything
…familiar

just existing is not living
and just living is not life
for to live is to…

does the universe even notice
if I go on here or pause?

I see a tree
taking up the same space as me
in the same state as me
as indifferent as me
cold and deserted as…

anyone got an axe?

cha oz
09 24 13