Moonshine

* * *


110325

THIS I KNOW FOR SURE (for Oprah)

A day without poetry
is like a night without moonshine.

[ASIDE: O Magazine seeks short poems on Twitter.]


110324

IT’S ALL IN THE
EXECUTION

Bad poem.
Bad, bad poem.
Take it out
and shoot it.

String it up
and shoot it down;
the only way
to mute it.


110323

IMAGINE (for Cat)

Imagine all problems
as subject to mind—
imagine imagination
making humankind kind.

[ASIDE: I'd say, for John Lennon too.]


110322

TROUBLESOME TRENDS

Neighbor pups encroach our cats.
That isn’t all that’s rough—
my to-do’s outswamp my done’s;
I can’t bail fast enough.


110321

THIS SCEPTERED WHILE

Winter’s dead.
Long live the king.

Spring! Spring!
Spring! Spring!

(Please excuse;
I must enthuse.)


110320

THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES

Weekends! Weekends!
Time for fun and friends.

At end of week
when we’re weak from work,
they’re when that work-weak ends.


110319

MUTUAL
MIS-JUDGMENT

All that fighting
and hurt feelings—
what was that about?

No, don’t remind me—
this is truth and peace;
that was doubt.


110318

ANATOMY ANOMALY

What a piece of work is man,
whose body is an art.

Today I thanked my precious hands;
“Darlin’s, —bless your heart.”


110317

THE JIG IS UP

For Paddy’s day, I’d do a jig,
but don’t know how to jig-gle;
in fact, I cannot even do
a decent sort of wiggle.

On dancing lessons, I missed out.
At the tango, I’m not hot.
I never, ever twist and shout.
Fan-dance? Please!
And can-can, I cannot.


110316

REVISION

watercolor lessons
give me
watercolor eyes

now I see
watercolor flowers
watercolor skies


110315

MODERN TURMOIL

The Ides of March—irrelevant?
They scarcely drew a mention.
Japan and the Middle East
commanded our attention.


110314

PI DAY TRIBUTE (for Diane)

While you and I stand idly by
without a clue and wonder why,
she bakes circles around us—
she knows her way around a pie.

[ASIDE: She's a numbers person; the kind who likes
bookkeeping and tax preparations.]


110313

RECOUPERATION

wedding ring
car keys
other things like these

feared lost
assumed lost
find their way to me


110312

THERE’S ALWAYS A CATCH

A paradox—or plot, or ruse!

Freedom seekers, you’re forced to choose
among more expressions than you can use—
at least at once.

You win; you lose.


110311

LIONS’ CARD IDEA

Some birthdays are already done.
We hope today’s your greatest one…
and that the best are still to come.


110310

ANOTHER FINE MESS

“Oh, no—not again!
How many times have I asked you
not to do this—and you went ahead
and did it again. I am so frustrated,
I just can’t to talk to you right now.
No, I can't say another word!
Hey, are you listening to me?”


110309

LENTEN OBSERVANCE (for Joyce)

The "worker" that we trusted
has been oh-so-busted!
This photo makes it evident
how her life and Lent are spent.

[ASIDE: Coworkers shot evidence of her sleeping at her desk.]


110308

LOVE, LOVE ME, DO

If not top-of-mind,
it’s surely bottom-line
to all our prayers—
someone who cares.


110307

UNTITLED

All worlds
for me
will end
with me.


110306

HER HIGHNESS

In royal air and regal pose,
her rarified lineage shows—
and she, through its expression
makes quite a grand empression.


* * *

Mundane Magic

* * *


110305

DIM WIT

I searched my thoughts
and recognized
that they were not profound
and, further,
that what dimmed them
was my wanting to astound.


110304

DISSERTATION:
DEFINITION

Demonstrated mastery
achieved through slavery.


110303

A POINT I WANT TO MAKE (for Lauren)

Truth is where you find it—
and what, through art,
it can become.

What's okay for you
is what's okay for you,
just as what's Donne is Donne.


110302

HER FLUFFINESS

“Darlin’, you’re a fluffy cat.
Notice, I did not say fat!
Living large (your predilection)
can align with looking slim;
in fact, you’ll see this when I trim.”

“Why would you shear perfection?”


110301

MYSTICS’ MYSTERY

If everything were innocent,
how could anything be wrong?

And why, if this premise were right,
does it seem to most humans so wrong?


110230

SLEEPER (for Arianna)

Arianna needed sleep
and, at last, she got it.
Now she's its ambassador—
whoever would have thought it?


110229

TRADE WARS

Books,
overproduced and devalued,
have become the kindling
of their own immolation—
reduced, like their authors,
to a dwindling status:
used as loss leaders
in the battle for readers.


110228

NATURAL SHOCKS

Freely weep,
rail, moan.

Pain
is a runestone
in a language
not yet known.


110227

“GETTING” MY WAY

NO! to that.

OH! to this:
I’m happy and healthy
and strong and free and rich.

YES! to what is so:
the one and only bliss.


110226

OSCARS (for Paula)

When you have
a front-row seat,
life is good,
life is tweet.

[ASIDE: Reply to Paula Poundstone who tweeted:
“I’m gonna tweet the #Oscars like a goddamned bird.”]


YOUR OWN DECISIONS

Some will like them.
But, for those who won’t,
you’re damned if you do,
damned if you don’t.

[ASIDE: FB comment on other comments to an Oprah
OWN show announcement.]


110225

MORAL SUPPORT

Into judgment and pride I easily slide
but when I choose to let these errors go by,
my willingness gets amplified;
there, but for the God of Grace, go I.


110224

TRENDING NOW

A sort of quirk,
(I’ve lately noticed)
affects my social network:
more Facebook posts
and fewer Tweets
are penned.

Is there meaning
in this trend?


110223

WARM WISHES

Like and for
everyone—
all I want
is a place
in the sun.


HARD, HARD TIMES

Hard times are coming.
Nerves tense; pulses quicken;
we feel it in our bones.

Hard, hard times are coming;
no bones about it,
we feel it in our bones.

But we are poised to conquer.
Here's what we must do:
joined together as one body,
brain and heart and muscle through.


T.L.C.

Little One beside me,
softly making little purrs,
does the Great One
tend to my needs,
as I tend to tending yours?


MEDITATORS

You have to lose
your mind (said one)
to find just-breathing’s
so much fun.


OUT-SOURCERY

Even if God
didn’t care for us,
except through us—
that alone
would be magical.


* * *