A Walking Man Walks

Photography by Rtk

A Walking Man Walks…

I walk and I hike
And sometimes I run,
Sometimes.

I walk down and around
The block and the square,
I hike the trail, the goat path, the creek bed, the river bank.
I love the footbridges, the steps, the walls
All giving me direction
I suppose.

I walk. The wind often comes along,
Sometimes the rain and almost always the sun,
If not, then a flashlight is my best friend.

A walking man walks
As a talking man talks,
I can do both at the same time
But prefer not too,

Part Two:

Lately,
Where ever I walk, I find crosses. Decorated crosses.
On trees, on the side of the road, near a bluff or a waterfall,
I know what they mean.
There is a story that ends tragically
A day that someone did not return home,
A night so long that even the dawn could not save it,
It breaks my heart every time,
So I walk, and I hike
And sometimes I run
Knowing the stories…

Rtk
Photography by Rtk

The First of August…

Photography by Rtk

The First of August…

So let one star fall
as the heavens has many stars,
a wish made today
is someone’s dream coming
true tomorrow,

Today,
we will let August begin,
as I’m in no hurry for September,
Let the summer go quietly
into the autumn evening
with new stars to
wish upon…

Rtk

Photography by Rtk

Christmas 2015

Photography by Rtk

Christmas 2015

I will write for the lonely
Because I am one of them,
Sharing my thoughts with the wind and the stars
And no one else
Until the end,

I died a little on that bridge,
Recalling those words:
“They’re sending me to Vietnam; it’s this whole ‘nuther country”
I know it’s just a movie, (Forrest Gump, 1994)
But I could not help but think about
All the young men that went to war
With no one in their hearts,
Maybe that thought may have kept them
Alive just one more day,

I left the window blinds open
So she could see the Christmas tree
On her way home,
For God or for country,
For the blessed
Or just for the
Lonely,

I will write…

Rtk

Photography by Rtk

Everybody’s Talkin’

Everybody’s Talkin’

If a sunset could talk
What would a sunset say?
Do you think a sunset
Would ask… how was your day?

I’m not sure.

The earth follows the sun
As we turn in space,
The moon comes along for the ride
And has its own place,
Most New Yorkers’ would be jealous.

Earth, moon and stars
Day and night
Night and day
Add some rain along the way.
(Unless you are in the Subway.)

The heavens don’t say much
A thunder storm now and then,
You can talk with the breeze
If there are leaves on the trees,
Some say a tornado sounds like a train a coming down the tracks.

Maybe…as I have not heard or seen a tornado
Just the wind as it threw ice rocks at the storm windows,
Those sound like machine gun bbs if there was such a thing.

The day has to end
To let the night begin,
Otherwise the day is just being selfish
Even in New York City…

Rtk

See What Thoughts Will Do…

See What Thoughts Will Do

I checked my phone for a message from you
but there was none,
I checked my email but only
Kohl’s Department Store remembered,

Maybe it’s time I forget as well,

I kissed a girl Friday night
she liked it,
and stayed the
night,

I thought about kissing you
but it never happened,
I thought about making love with you
and being in love with you
but those thoughts
only made me blue,

See what thoughts will do,

Love?
Lord above!
Now you got me thinkin’ about love,

(it’s all right now, baby it’s all right now…)

After midnight, maybe I can find some release
in some pornographic magazine
or the late show,

A kiss is just a kiss
rehearsed or not
directed or saved,
for the money or for love
for lust or from above,

Love?
Lord above!
Now you got me thinkin about love,

See what thoughts will do…

Rtk

Time

Time

Time is not my friend
I will battle it
Until the end,

I may keep time in my pocket
or on my wrist
or by the sky,
under the stars
where I lie,

But time doesn’t know me
it only kills
my memories,
takes my vision
and my dreams
leaving myself
forgotten and
unseen,

Words written today
and placed in a bottle
left on a shelf,
soon become dust
just as metal
becomes rust
in the rain,

A hourglass falls and
shatters on the floor,
the sand lies about
confined no more,
the wind blows through an open window
and blows the sand away
marking the end of days,

Time does not know
people or places,
as we are only remembered
in our children s’ faces…

Rtk

The Searcher

The Searcher

I have spent most of my life not knowing where I was going
I’m not sure if I know now but thanks for coming along,

One path took me there and another has brought me here
Worn holes in both my shoes,
I rarely followed directions and maps were mostly for folding,
I found the ocean a couple of times
The Mississippi River and the mountains too,
If you walk long enough you are bound
to run into something bigger than you,

And for company, a few souls have been crazy enough
to follow me down the trail and around the bend or up the mountain side, looking constantly at my backside Levis, listening to whatever
random thoughts occupied my mind that afternoon,
Would you rather be a star or a moon?
Who is better, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
I knew sooner or later, we would get lost
And the house would be dark when I returned home,

Still a sunset is best shared if sometimes only with the wind
And a mountain vista is not the same alone, but it cannot
wait a lifetime for us,
The ocean can make you feel small
if you let it, so don’t let it,

A dark house isn’t the worst thing
I can always find the lights and my bed,
The blue alarm clock lights the room
As No Where Man fills my head,

Of course, it is The Beatles…

Rtk