Writer • Musician
People passerby in the afternoon sun twin palms at my side I don't worry none, no I'm sittin' on top of the world. drinking my piñon as the harmonica plays, the other day I didn't know my own name but I see now the reflection, as I read the buried poems of a 60-year old …
once I was wanting to accumulate (just) stacks of papers and notes as I busied myself with more writing and creating and letting the stacks of papers grow like towers & skyscrapers in a white city as I busied myself like Hephaestus deep in the fiery trenches grinding out work after work But now you …
at night rain falls neath soft neon lights between the old walls of Vienna, as people laugh & take in the sights and the piano plays for the end of days in a broken-down cafe I hear a song, sudden like a waltz some ancient dance I remember well the woman beneath the glass and …
I’ll tell ya something brother poetry is our return to truly democratic ordeals, the art form of the people empowered by the firm grip forged in fire now cold steel of the world the word at times spoken other times written it is a return to language unfiltered without ever being second guessed unless you …
An ancient creek breathes brand new Strayed off far enough found you unassuming, child lived a thousand years oblivious to the war the crime Do you know of time? Have you heard the news? What do you say? What’s to come through? Or do I ask too soon? Ancient creek Whispering softly, echoing mystery and flowing …
fear to extend a hand open up, I stand in the streetlights of Paris, in Saint-Germain sure they drive me wild lovers walking along the Seine, they leave so it's just me and the river, I could jump in I hear you Still, of course I still hear the whisper as ever calling to me …
Continue reading "Seine Reflections #2 (Afraid to Love You)"
Man this music is making me feel some kind of way. I’m staying purposely vague. But I will say Dean Martin sounds like a titan, standing tall from the highest mountain in the darkest night beneath the rain and furious thunder. I never really understood so fully, as I feel I do now. & while …
You and I at twilight slow arrival of night, sweet delight day fades out of sight, a howling wind from within, rising Your arms surround me, take me in Zion hall of kings Rising tall as night falls, the silence it brings air is thin, time is still The sky quiet, silent hill You and …
I wrote these poems in the last few pages of a brown, tattered old pocket journal that I kept with me as I started into the Sierra Nevada, heading out of California and toward the east coast; seeing for the first time everything from General Sherman Tree to Yosemite Valley and the Tuolumne Meadows. I wrote …
My only grievance with heaven is the low premium it places on living. Put down your phone, the tube won’t deliver you the truth. Step away from your computer and your handheld tv’s Telling you what to think what to worship, and who to be Heaven awaits, it’s golden gates Outside your door The choral …
I am in love with this moment I am in love with you and America, I see you So let down you guard America I see you No matter the statues left standing, I see you Or whoever stands for the anthem I see you still How did you ever get boxed into this prism? …
A spark… He wanders in darkness A shadow of himself A stranger he can’t recognize smiling from an old poster sign a tattered flyer tumbling in the city breeze Smiling in dark alleys Looking straight at me! Hell Time to get moving It’s 2017 “you’ve just begun.” But times have changed It don’t belong to …
In the wild cathedral evenings On the St. Petersburg canals Near the church at midnight they call 'Spilt Blood' I met a woman singing a song I knew too well She looked at me Her skin stark white a ghost alone, in the dark of the night She smiled at me Her eyes they gleamed …
When I'm on the move, I write in verse Small poems to most accurately or honestly reflect the things going on around me, and how I feel about those things Often times, most of the time, these poems aren't any good But other times, they turn out alright. Simple. To the point. Just getting the …
The guitar case bears the sacred marks from where you've been Not too far but you've got the scars The stars at night still grin You look out yonder and see bright green Deep in the swamps of mud memory That one summers eve, outside New Orleans long before Yosemite and the mighty Sequoia trees …
your eyes begin to open, you look out long, pour over your mythology, over the scattered clouds across the desert, your precious afternoon the desert you know well, probably the same old New Mexico state road On the morning so cold, when you stood all alone with the night the night the night you were …
The Root Riding that train through the European plain, thinking Of what’s to be gained, and I think And theorize about things Realize We stand on the brink In that final realm as the thunder rolls The final frontier of the human soul. – Political discourse like broken leaves Stands in the shadows of laughing …
Music and Lyrics by Ren Michael My hands shake they’re not mine Rain falls, can’t recognize My eyes frozen in time Mirror broken, this home ain’t mine I see my brother’s sweet day In bright daylight it fades Stranger beside me prays I’m lost in falling rain I remember your sweet kiss Your loving arms, …
I drove down I-75, for the wedding of my brother’s son Hills rose from the south, ghost called out old sounds of the swamp Yea the air was warm and the road was my own The land I’s born, my ol’ childhood home I stopped off at a Cracker Barrel in Zephyrhills Yea parked the …
Continue reading "I Stopped Off at a Cracker Barrel in Zephyrhills"
Ren Michael 