The Cycle

I sought.

I found.

I battled.

I won.

I had.

I lost.

I cried.

I hurt.

I died.

I rose.

I learned.

I left.

I live.

I feel.

I dream.

I seek.

Ken Owen   Van Niddy Press   February 2015

Messages and Commentary

I dreamed

a message:

"She's gone to find peace"

When I woke

my mind quickly added:

"on her own terms"

You might imagine

my concern when I realized 

I was receiving

messages and commentary

from beyond and within

all before 6:00a.m.

Today I will be calling

all my "she's"

to make sure 

everyone is still here.

Ken Owen   Van Niddy Press   February 2015

February Haiku

The commuter train whistle---
a cry of anguish

for its silent passengers.

She seeks a lover               he searches for love

                              sadly                          

                  two different things.

Each winter
his beard returns
with more snow.

Her perfume

on my fingertips—

fragrance for a day dream.

Clouds deliver rain---

I run for shelter and warmth

small birds calmly bathe

By the wind's command

flowers bow in her presence 

as my lover leaves

Ken Owen   Van Niddy Press   February 2015

My History (For My Children's Children)

I am documenting my history

in verse and song just in case 

I am too feeble minded 

to remember these things when I grow old.

Perhaps someday my children

or my children's children

will sit by my bedside

and read me my poems

helping me unwrap dusty old visions

in one final appreciation of great loves 

long forgotten in dark corners 

of a mind going quiet.

Perhaps I'll look at my children

or my children's children

and tell them I have no desire

to relive a life's worth of sadness 

and die again before I die.

Perhaps I'll look at my children

or my children's children

with no memory of any of it

and ask them to turn on the ball game.

Either way

someone will inherit my memories 

and place them on the family book shelf

where history goes to age unnoticed.

Ken Owen   Van Niddy Press   February 2015