Songs from radios collide into disturbed air over the sidewalk. Sleeveless young men stand carelessly with searching eyes watching women pass. Street lights flicker. Cigarette smoke creeps lazily over shoulders from parted lips. A car horn trumpets a signal, forcing interest where none exists. Thick brass bolts secure storefronts to sleep until dawn stirs. … More COOLING SIDEWALKS
I just walked into the backside of out. A shadow familiar to me, although the road ahead was new. I took a bus to New Orleans. Open windows, crying kids, two days without a shower and living on crackers and warm beer. The city greets me with a hazy sunrise and the sounds … More THIS WAY OUT
Morning went quiet like angel hands touching the depths of unreleased grief. Outward clouds receded, revealing an Egyptian blue sky. An envelope of breezes slipped with small notice over warm faces. Blond uncombed hairs twist like holiday flags under boughs of summer. Words opened with birthday surprise, fulfilling desires while … More TAKE ME THERE
There was a line leading with no one at the front. A shuffling like a herd without dust and a low rumbling attempting to create order, though finding none. A partial gray sky above, half way between sun and rain, fed on the listless appetite below. Children playing in a nearby field disregarded the … More REGARDLESS
Wind has no face though pushes leaves and flags into submission. The sun loves not but warms like arms at journeys end. Rain has no soul yet baptizes with tears from weeping clouds. Clouds drift without weight though beat lie hammers in muscled storms. The moon floats silent pulling oceans with … More INVISABLE POWER
His hand slapped the backside of the bass while busy fingers snapped alive the strings into music words he whispers during dreams. When he’s half way around the world he knows he’s finally half way home. Curtains of clouds guide his direction past empty diners and towns without smiles. He never feels lost when on … More BLACK SHOES
A high rigid forest, crowned thick with boughs of brilliant green, lay broad their hands to heaven like wheat fields where breezes melt from blue skies. A small path below, its surface smooth, relinquishes its space to those who pass; their voices and names remain bound in the safety of mossy blankets. Long … More A SMOOTH PATH
There’s a watchman, tired and vain. Hair slicked back, eyes without depth and nervous hands; he proudly sports a flowered shirt. He smiles at the moon, knowing he will never make it to the sky and back. He owns a wrecking ball for the future. Dreams slip out of his room before sunrise. He knows … More SONG OF DAY
Next door. Voices. Curtain shadows without faces. Shirts and dresses in and out. No smiles. No eyes of contact. Front door images jingle keys; a door opens. Fallen branches. A yard of weeds. Soda cans advertise litter. Ten seasons of leaves. Spirits without names. A porch without numbers. Never are they neighbors. … More ACROSS THE LINE
Moonlight has no enemies. It circles around the eye of the earth, showing us the favorite side, reserving its right to be specific without reason. Shadows never speak as they follow close behind, imitating without initiating, patiently waiting for the next sleight of hand or foot. The wind remains new. Inventing paths at … More AROUND THE SUN
Roger Singer 