Busy

 Sketch: Busy, from journal #11, never doubt (1978)

no, again, so

your soft kisses danced

across my face

your agile fingers

found my heart

stars and planets shuddered

underneath

the stark, darkness hinted

with each breath

your eyes with tiny tears

smile up at me

pleading, asking

begging (gleefully)

though your voice

said firmly

"no."

douglas brent smith

 

glutton

precisely because

i can not tame you

or hold you to promises

you'll never keep

for the fumbling from friction

and tension weeping in the night

wondering where you are

incredibly over the constant

terrors you touch me with

a velvet glove over fondness lost

losing with the lies from eyes once true

now gazing on weakness

crushed under your strength

i wonder why i

want you more than before.

douglas brent smith

 

find your creative way

"Find the way to your own creativity and everything else becomes better."

-- doug smith

 

Let It Flow

Can you tell when you're holding back? Or, are your senses dulled when things get dull and the sparkling shine fades away?

Creativity can act like water: sometimes we need to prime the pump to get it flowing. Let it flow. Move it forward. There will be surprises. There will be storms. I really do believe that the best thing you will ever create has not yet been created. It awaits your initiative, your verve, your motion.

You can't help but be creative -- no need to hold back. 

-- doug smith

Better than not perfect

 "One brilliantly creative idea a day is all that it takes, to undo a hundred thoughtless mistakes."

-- doug smith

five years

 thru five years

we've danced daringly with many

diverse partners

crept thru bedroom windows of 

a few starched spirits

and spilled a few

tears of our own

after five years

kids become searching adults,

your face remains soft and warm

and my hands remain calloused but curious

(a learning, yearning, burning process

breathing Spring,

simmering Summer

fearless Fall)

in five years

it appears:

some dreams last longer than others

and life's road turns faster with eyes open

as it rolls on revealing (with a

wink) that some cycles and hearts

remain synchronized, and that dance steps 

echo softly and that i love you still.

douglas brent smith

some lies

pacing thru the time tripped delicately on

edges of faceless fancies freed from the

rushing resentment of relentless realities

battering upon a daring door of dancing

chances taken and rebuttals received

answers mistaken and desire deceived.

douglas brent smith

 

Cloud Posing as a Pipe

 

Sketch: Cloud Posing as a Pipe, from journal #10, cry Wolf (1977) douglas brent smith

secret dreams

so what if

your hair style

is three years

ahead

of the trends

and you will

not regard fashion

because we are

above and

beyond all that

caught between

generations

and

secret dreams

"your mustache

tickles,"

she said.

-- doug smith

 

that shirt

soaring up here

on a colombian

vacation 

looking up to

find you 

straight ahead

looking down

eyes narrow

ears open

for sounds

lending a touch

of thin

but absolute

meaning

strong enough to

stand

wearing someone

else's 

shirt.

douglas brent smith

Alaskan Pipe Line

Sketch: Alaskan Pipe Line, from journal #10, cry Wolf, 1977

Note:

My dad smoked a pipe for years. He favored two flavors of tobacco , one was Old Hickory and the other I do not remember. It's a filthy habit of course but I did enjoy the smell and he did seem so peaceful whenever he had a pipe in his mouth. It was no good for his teeth of course, which he lost and wore dentures for years but that was also probably because of the gallons of heavily sugared iced tea that he drank.

We all drank too much iced tea.

I haven't been to Alaska yet as of this date but it is one of only three states that I have not been to, the others being Hawaii and Montana. Funny, two of them were not states when I was born -- as I often say "that's how OLD I am..."

I did contemplate traveling to work the Alaskan pipe line -- the actual oil line and not the cartoon -- but correctly determined that it was all probably too rugged for me. Life certainly would have changed in a different path, even I'd even survived.

Any way -- that's my silly cartoon.  

-- doug smith

a breath and a sigh

magic never mattered much

spells and incantations are

punchlines pounding air

barely worth a chuckle and

lately most of life stacks

a natural order and predictable

placid piecemeal wave

but

a breath and a sigh ago

in the warm night air

somewhere between the pause

of the sunset and

the promise of dawn

you touched me gently

recklessly upsetting all mystery

a promise no proper landing

dancing between knowing and 

hiding in a never-land of 

grins and giggles

shakes and surprises

dreams and desire

say,

maybe there is magic after all.

douglas brent smith

 

in need of a doctor

she held back her tears

as she told me the reason

she just could not hold me tonight

"i'm in need of a doctor

who does not ask questions

can you tell me a place to go?

and my body is trembling

from a night past remembering

and i don't want the family to know

"why does it happen it's my cross to bear?

i hear thru your silence -- you weren't even there

but i do need some help some how

"i know it's not unusual

it happens all the time

but it's so devastating

when the choice is mine..."

she refused to cry

as she ended the call

"i will find a way

to overcome it all..."

and never spoke of this again.

douglas brent smith