Old Oak

Old Oak (18-098Z)

Fragileness in motion

Each movement calculated

Aware of handholds

Balance unstable

Once rock steady

No longer rooted

Now ankles sway

Easily uprooted

Begrudgingly submit

Walker steadies

What once came easy

Now exhausting

Thin dry skin

Humbly accepts help

Help humbly given

Navigate new roles

Rub lotion on

Seasoned bark

An old oak

No longer bends

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-098Z)

Prairie Blessing

Prairie Blessing 18-101Z

In the tall grass of late Spring

Brushes against my waist

Lush green of high plains

Visit this memory often

A place of calm

Father walks beside

Quietly, side by side

Wind rustles grass

Meadowlarks loudly sing

Heads of grass bowed

Heavy with seed

Honoring us as we pass

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-101Z)

Shadows

Shadows (18-099D)

Quiet moment softness
Warmth settles on the bluffs
Morning light paints
Contrasting shades brown and green

Landscape of the heart
Joy and sorrows contrast
Trauma's shadow lingers
Cold chill in shadow places

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet (18-099D).

Before Spring

Before Spring (18-075B)

white softness clings
on broken branches and needles
coat weighs heavy
just a few days before Spring

sky dark before dawn
eyes adjust to purity's brightness
life's poison drawn
beauty's gift of lightness

stillness broke with pheasant call
ripples as calm pool distrubed
tall grass arthritically bent
prinstine burden carries

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-075B

Breach 18-073Z

Clutter clutter in the mind

Surfaces when rest my head

Lay awake looking up

In the darkness body speaks

Great beasts breaches

Spouting memories

Expel tension with each breath

Beast is beached upon the shore

Seducing stories tell myself

Once brought comfort

They are no longer true

Let them go

I'm not that person anymore

Inhale deeply to my gut

Breath in new interpretation

Healing in the present of the past

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-073Z)

Alarm Clocks

Alarm Clock (18-071A)

Toss 'n turn

Heavy eyes weigh down

Shrill alarm

Sounds within

Thoughts rapidly oscillates

Klaxon reverberates

Memories long suppressed

Finally stir

Insides stretch

Slumber's shackles broken

Arise spirit within

Hope shakes

Courage caresses heart

Love strengthens

Coronation day

Take rightful place

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-071A)

Red Bricks

Red Bricks (18-069B)

Walled off heart

A brick for each micro-trauma

Foundation of rejection and shame

Hand withdrawn

Touch withheld

Another brick mortared

Uncontrolled rage

Unsafe memories etched

Another brick set

Trained to filter

Through fear, trauma, abuse

More bricks

World askew

Can't feel - joy or pain

Bricks secure around heart

Prisoner in cell

Personally built

Only see red bricks now

Heart shipwrecked

Until that day

Brick wall cracks

Bricks shaken

At foundation

Hope awakens

Wall pushed down

No more frown

Bricks 'n rubble all around

Liberation comes

Joy's a crown

Heart found

Bricks redeemed

New name written

Transformed to altar

Offer up sacrifice

Of praise for deliverance

Upon what had bound

Reclaimed what imprisoned

No more sorrow or shame

Bricks have a new name

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-069B)

Courage

Courage 18-068Y

Bravery
can be a word
observation spoken

Or a question why
that cuts quick

Or a confession
of the heart

Not knowing
the outcome

Revelation of self
may be rejected

Or vulnerability
pulls close

Intimacy in exposure
secrets of soul reveal

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-069Y)

Echoes Wash

Echoes Wash 16-200Z

Waiting for their return,

Cut adrift from connection.

Somber light of moon,

As echoes of waves wash memories.

What once was,

Lost.

Who once was,

Undefined.

Salt air cuts,

Into rawness of untouched.

Long forgotten,

Yet remembered.

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (16-200Z)

Over The Edge

Over The Edge (18-063Z)

Three orange flags

Mark the crash

Deployed air bags

Happens in a flash

Instant of distraction

Truck slides

Can't find traction

Borrow pit collides

On his phone he stares

Perched at the ledge

Sherriff's lights glare

Went over the edge

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-063Z)

About a delivery truck that crashed on our gravel road.

Disco Ball

Disco Ball (18-059)

Love reflects light

Like light off a disco ball

One minute love looks like this

The next it changes with flow to rhythm

Courageously express love

Who I am reflected

Off another into our space

Allow another to shine

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-059)

Arrival

Arrival (18-061B)

Exploration bursts new life

Long barrenness over

Purified in wilderness seasons

Can now see stark terrain crossed

Deep breath at liminal edge

Arid land yields to lush meadows and hills

Springs abundant

Confidently cross over

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-061B)

Security

Security (18-061B)

Full moon reflects my love

Softly exposing winter's sleepiness

Blinds vulnerably open

Silky shadow glow fills our room

Intimate memories rendezvous

Warmth wraps me

All we are embraces me

Securely in our yesterdays, today, and tomorrows

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-061B)

Daniel

Daniel (18-060Z)

Every time I hear

The song Daniel*

I remember the day on the tarmac

Waiting on the plane at Stapleton

The old headphones

Tethered to the seat

Engines rev up, brakes release

Galloping down the runway

On an adventure of a lifetime

Leaving everyone and everything behind

Soon enough half a world away

In the lush jungle of Papua

As gaze at the stars and unfamiliar constellations

Realize my love was waking

Surreal to be so far away

Ambivalence of being in two places at once

Memories play of 7600 miles away

The panhandle of Nebraska

While present in a highland valley

All unwrapped each time I hear Daniel*

About the Author:  Brian Bucks lives on a small horse ranch in Western Nebraska and is a husband, father, electrical engineer, and poet. (18-060Z)

*Elton John song

From an old fragment of thought I had written down years ago. The lyrics talk about Daniel on a plane; and I heard it while taking off from the old Stapleton airport.