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.


* * *

Work, Play, Life

* * *

100620

JOB DESCRIPTION

What do they ask for
versus what do they mean
(they, meaning spouses
or would-be managers)?

There is more than a sinkful
of difference, for example,
between “Do the dishes”
and “Clean the kitchen,”
between “Clean the kitchen
and “Keep the kitchen clean.”

[ASIDE: Actually, this derives from a
presentation on diversity I once made at
a college. First I talked with women alone,
then with men, then with both together.
I came away with appreciation that people
communicate as well as they do, given the difficulties.
Each group, though, gave the identical response
to the question, “What do you most wish
your significant other understood about you?”
The answer: “How hard I work for their benefit."]


100619

OR-
ISON

Each moon
so fair.
Each sun.

One life
so rare,
so blessed
beyond
compar—
ison.


100618

REMEMBRANCE

Not for me a ring or locket.
Poem pieces in my pocket.


100617

OPUS

Too too many, don’t you think?
Too profuse with pen and ink.


SNEEZIES

She (in one room): Achoo!
He (in another): ‘Zatchoo?


100616

COURSE OF LIFE

Harm, charm, amusement,
glory, turmoil, strife.

Life is the teacher,
the master teacher,
teaching each creature
the way to master life.


100615

ANYTHING THAT WAKENS

Anything
that wakens us to now—
a sonic boom, an itch, a cow,
a door or body creaking—
that’s God speaking
(a.k.a., the Tao).


100614

REAL DEAL

I’ve pinched my arm
black and blue
making sure
my dream-job’s true.


100613

FORTUNE TELLERS

More of these
than blades of grass:
dewdrop globes, not of glass—
yet, crystal balls
(prismatic, bright)—
lucid forecasts of delight.


SHAPE

Touted in today’s paper
(in a sales flyer):
“Shaped Rubber Bands”—
primary-color squiggles
outlining animal shapes
(panther, dolphin, bear,
seahorse, butterfly, gator).

One mystery shape
goes undeciphered:
big-headed frog? tree in pot?
hammerhead anemone?

This optical-illusion puzzle
is a metaphor for external reality,
including the proposition
that it may not be external.
Every now and then
an insight falls into place—
but until you see it, you don’t see it.


100612

WRITER

Unlike some in the
work-world mob,
you won't hear me
moan or sob—
I love my job!
I love my job!


100611

THE TEACHER APPEARS

This job,
beyond the work itself,
has one benefit after another,
and the best so far
is one not even contemplated
at the outset—a good editor.


100610

LOVE’S GRACE

Life’s a school that each attends.
The work is hard; to make amends,
love graces us with friends.
Friends!
In unexpected forms and places.


100609

TAX RELIEF

After taxes—
ataraxis.


100608

QUITTER

First to go when I get busy
is exercise. Then sleep.
Then any semblance
of healthful eating.
The final mark of crisis
is when I stop writing
these daily po


100607

SAY OF HER

March two, two thousand two
to today when she is dead
(we know, we took her vitals)
she wrote a few good pomes
but was proudest of her titles.


TURNABOUT

Perhaps I wasn't
the world's best sleuth,
searching all those years
for truth.

No matter. I see—
@Truth is following me


[ASIDE: What a Twitter handle!]


100606

BLISSFIT

My idea
of bliss
is this:
overhearing
people
laughing.


* * *