AJ Lewis Poetry, Poems: December 2006

Leaving Someday (from "A Slip Of The Tongue")

this Arizona desert can get boring at times
with the granite
the cactus
the mesquite
the creosote
and the palo verde.

you have to look past the surface
to discover what is really out here.
and you have to live here
to ever bother wanting to look.

you see, when I am feeling closed in upon by life
I go outside
to listen to the quiet
and to let my mind go. (the desert is good for this)

sometimes it is the ocean rolling along the beach
and I am there
sprawled out on the sand
letting the water lap over me...

and sometimes it is green hills
and I am walking
with the sun at my back
and the cities far away...

oh, imagination can heal
and dreams can motivate.
and I have lived my whole life here
with the desert landscape stretching out from my window
into the emptiness of the horizon.

if you know me
then you should know
that I have been saying and writing about
how someday I'll make my way out of this desert.

and I am sure
that out here with the coyote howls if you listen closely at night,
you will hear my voice echoing
out from this city
and out from the canyons:

this desert will not keep my soul.

Wet Dirt (from "The Journey Of The Spirit")

it is raining on this desert tonight
and I am a memory - a chapter from my childhood.
you see,
often my parents would yell at each other... it would be unbearable.

to escape them I would go outside.

sometimes it would rain
and it would cover me.

as a child it was hard growing up with them.
it was difficult to listen to their voices
and their frustrations with life.

but my life is not a result of theirs anymore.
I have grown into this man,
and I have moved beyond the memories of them.

as this storm passes through,
I will tell you this:
tonight this is only rain
and a memory entertained
by a quiet evening of my own design.

Pale Moon Street Light (from "The Journey Of The Spirit")

tonight the moon is pale,
and you, street light,
I am staring at you through this dirty window.

you have seen good times
and bad times,
accidents
and arguments,
stray cats
and new moons.

but tonight you are the moon,
pale, drowning me, penetrating my window
and destroying any rest I could of had
with this first night of moving in.

but perhaps I am just elaborating when I should be sleeping,
as it is hard to sleep so far away from home.

tonight what I see out there is a poor substitution
for everything:
no quiet
or sleep:
only a street light that is loud like an angry woman,
shining on what I will call home from now on.

I Know I Have (from "A Slip Of The Tongue")

written about pain and indifference
and demons and
loss, ... (more)

How This Begins (from "A Slip Of The Tongue")

the day is overcast
and I am south of Tucson
staring at clouds through screen windows. ... (more)

To Be A Kite (from "A Slip Of The Tongue")

when you put yourself out there
I've found that often it's the emotion that's in you at the moment
that comes back to you. ... (more)

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