Life, Death, Work, Play—the Usual

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100713

REGRET

Had I but been wilder—
more daring and uncouth—
I’d not now be lamenting
my sadly mis-saved youth.


100712

DROWNPOUR

More! More! Louder!
That’s what this rain’s about.
It may not drown the frogs,
but sure can drown them out.


100711

SO NOT SO!

In my error or my pride,
I had come to think
ideas would be supplied
if I supplied the ink.


100710

MAY I BE
EXCUSED?

“My heart and loves
are mostly gone.
I’ve lived too long,”
she said. “Too long.”


100709

HORS D’OEUVRES
SAMPLER

It’s some comfort,
but not wholly—
that others mistake
wasabi for guacamole.


HE, SHE, SYNCHRONY (for Jeremy and Annie)

“With music and with flair,
you set me a fine snare—
through your daring drum, pet.”

“With music and with care,
you also set a snare—
through your blaring trumpet.”

From trumpet and snare drum—
a one and a one—this harmonious
pair, this duo, has come.


100708

EATING SMART

One diced orange,
a handful of blueberries,
three-quarters of a cup of soy milk,
and a whisk in the blender—
that smoothie began as a foamy,
then curdled to a lumpy.
Now it resembles brain matter.


100707

LEFTOVERS

Mid-July fireworks
in the neighborhood.

How many interpretations to posit?
How many moods to ascribe?

(The one who asks
still has long ago sparklers,
un-unwrapped.)


100706

POISED

Cat on lap,
pad on knee,
pencil in hand,
mind gone free—
all in balance,
exquisitely.


100705

BREAK

I love my work,
but don’t want to do it—
not right now, at least.

I want to do nothing,
lots of nothing—
nothing at all.
Just nothing.


100704

STILL SLEEPING ON IT

This five-day holiday weekend
included travel, business, friends,
and—most needed of all—sleep.
However,
I have not yet slept enough
to prepare for resumption
of whatever first created
this need of sleeping.


100703

DEADLY DULL

I don’t want to die
without knowing.

Most things
I learn how to do
just about the time
I’m done doing them.

What if
how to live life
is an exception
and I daily grow
more ignorant
of what I most
want to know?

That would be sad,
wouldn't it?


100702

IDIO-VERSE

The way I taste,
touch, smell, and see
(presby- and myopically)—
this universe will die with me.


100701

ANSWER ME THIS

Loss of sight and strength and flair.
Old age symptoms everywhere.

Weight and hair subtractions, gains.
(But what's ugly still remains.)

Absent-minded. Sleepless nights.
Hard of hearing. Other plights.

Living on less than living wage.
How do people survive old age?!


100630

CARRIED AWAY

However we are moved
(on lands that walk us,
airs that float us,
waters that boat us),
there’s always something
splendid to notice.


100629

At the mouth of the creek
at the bottom of our hill,
what but beavers
would have stripped
the bases of the trees?
Only the crepe myrtle there
may survive their bite,
already being nearly barkless.


100628

SERVICE

Nature is the friend
who, while you
chatter and flit,
brews the tea
and fills your cup.


100627

UNCOMPANIONABLE
COMPANION

Like a shadow
that never disappears
unless engulfed
by a larger one—
who is this person
constantly interfering
with my heaven—
this entity, this other me?


100626

LET IT STARVE

No! No!
Not another
blank piece of paper—
not another mouth to feed!
I don’t care if it is pink
or that the pencil is fuchsia.
I’m tapped out.
I have nothing to give.
Let it starve.

Oh, okay.
Tell you what—
I’ll trade this crumb,
if you want it,
for equal time:
for a manicure.
Fuchsia.


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