The Culprit

You spend 

so much time

looking for what 

might not exist

that you forget

your own response

for whenever 

the excuses fly

from fellow hacks:

If your brother didn't 

have balls

he'd be your sister.

Hawk Tuah

There are few

who've ever called me

Billy, even as a kid.

It's Bill, it's Will, it's William

if I'm in trouble.

I'd always been

misinterpreted

unworthy 

of that familiar -y

until almost four decades

into this mess.

Maybe now some see

what no one else did.

Maybe this mirror's

too dusty

but a pat on the arm

and a brotherly "Billy"

persuades me to spit

that bullet

back out.

Time Capsule Instructions

Find it.

Open it.

Close it.

Bury it

again.

Pretend

you didn't see it.

There are reasons

it's in the past.

Riptide Revisited

The scents of fresh fruit

and rotting leaves

are in the air, mixed with salt

from the brackish Hudson

on a Saturday morning.

It's the earliest I've been

at the river's edge

in too long.

Sensations feel joyfully familiar

and sting simultaneously

until the boat approaches

pulls up onto the beach

sand crunching audibly 

beneath its bow.

The skipper I've missed grins 

and a thin, yet capable hand

reaches out to pull me aboard

the lowly angled sun in my eyes

blinding me temporarily

as I accept what's meant to be.

A dozen men behind me

lift their tools and prepare

to embark upon what's ours again.

I fall in love

with all of it 

as the boat engine rumbles

and we approach

whatever comes next

together.