A Taxing Ascent

I tried to build a hermit's hut
Where I could have repose
A place where I could live and think
And feel warm nature's flows

But I must pay the yearly tax
Upon this property
And those who tax insist my hut's
Connected to the tree

Utilities must all branch in
And therefore I must pay
And so I have to get a job
To live here every day

So now I have to go to town
And deal with everyone
And I no longer have the time
To think--the state has won

Fairy Tales

Our souls remember infancy, the crib
Confining us in safety, mother's breast
A source of food and safety where our warmth
Resided--we remained her favored guest.

And slowly from this comfort we emerged
Into a place of play and isolation,
Connections made and not ensured, where love
Is earned and life becomes a cold frustration.

And when we face frustration we all long
For arms, the lap, the crib where we were kept
In safety--we all long for one who would
Take care of us, protect us as we slept.

Alas, that mother is long dead for us--
And we are Hansel, Gretel, Cinderella,
Snow White--a litany of fairy tales
Where mother is replaced by Bella.

Cruel Bella Donna promises she'll take
Good care of you--that she will soon replace
Your mother--she will feed you pudding, cake
And slowly poison you into a vase.

And you will love her as your lips turn blue
And thank her as you shiver in your bed
Because she keeps you warm and keeps you fed,
Though everything she does ensures you're dead.

Drawers

They lay like wrinkled flowers in the cedar
Drawer, pastels and white, cool cotton wraps
Absorbing smells of bourbon--I would feed her
Musk-scented soul with all our evening naps
And gaze upon her breaking morning, drink
The milk of morning that we must forget--
Of all love's tragedy of time. I shrink
From every little death--I gently set
A cotton flower at her feet--she'll raise
The flower, smooth its petals out and hide
Behind those cool pastels--I love to gaze
Upon her every finger-stroke, abide
Within her flower bed, the cedar trees
Presenting me their scents upon the breeze.

Flags and Heroes

A flag denotes a boundary--choose your hero,
A carrier of flags across the edge
To colonize new lands and thoughts
Where peace is made from winning wars and zero-
Sum games are all the hero plays--he'll wedge
Himself into old lands with his old oughts?--

Or heroes who will dance the boundary, stand
In known and unknown, burn the flag, and sing
New songs, build up a new horizon, love
In a new key--and who will bear the brand
Of childishness, unrootedness--yet bring
Alternatives to choices on dot gov?