In and Out of Time

***

091020

WITCH-DOCTOR'S ORDERS (for Kate)

Tell you what, my little Munchkin,
when your grades say you are flunkin',
when your life gets stink-stank-stunkin',
go dress up like an Egyptian.

Find a party, drink some punchkin,
plunk your head in apple-dunkin',
carve yourself a happy punkin'—
that's my Halloween prescription.


MYSTERY AT SEA

Am I the sea,
the bottle or the note?
Who is the messenger?
Who’s the message for?

Am I the wind,
the sailor or the boat?
What is the message?
Who wrote the note?


PARTNERS IN THE DANCE

Clouds float in air,
flow on air, with air.
Air floats and flows
on land, on sea.

Sea floats, flows, and glides
upon, against the land
which floats upon its
self-made magma sea.

Storms. Volcanoes. Ice and rain.
All is done by gravity
in a dance with levity.

Clouds and air, air and sea,
sea and land, the magma sea
float and flow, enfold, embrace;
in a dance of majesty.

Waves. Tides. Morning dew.
All is done by levity
in a dance with gravity.

[ASIDE: Well, it sounded okay at 1:00 am.]


IMPLEMENTATION

Pen, you will have to do
the writing tonight;
my basket-brain is empty,
sifted, drained—
except to the extent
of forming letters
and noticing that my implement
is a pencil.
Pencil, you will have to do
the writing tonight.


091019

SCHOOLED

What, my child, did you learn today?
Did you learn your numbers: 1-2-3?
Did you learn your letters: A-B-C?
Tell me what you learned today.

I learned, the same as yesterday,
how mistaken I can be.


MERCY!

When people die
horrible deaths
after, or not after,
horrible lives,
the tendency is to think
there must be
some horrible reason.
That’s horrible.


FRAGILE

Oh, little dew-drop world,
unto yourself enfurled,
soon, I fear, you’ll wink away—
heat and hate won’t let you stay.


RICHER BY THIRDS

A pome! A pome!
My kingdom for a pome!

“Now is the whiner of our discontent
made glorious summer-upper
of your tale, non-victorious.”

There you have your pome, your words.
My pay, like Gaul, divide in thirds.


ESCAPAIDS

One benefit of writing,
I’ve heard many a
published author say,
is linking to like-minded souls
who look at life your way.

Hmm, as I write these very words,
distracting myself
from chores and scares,
I envision a host of kindred souls
distracting themselves from theirs.


EPITAPPED

Empty, still, here I sit;
all my write done writ.

Quiet, still, here I lie:
I done writ, but why?


TIMEBOUND

Change has come;
swift, profound,
bizarre.

Nowadays,
clocks aren't wound—
we are.


STUDYING FOR FINALS

Let the school burn down!
When young, didn’t we wish it?
Lessons were so hard to learn.
Let the darn thing burn.

Let the world blow up!
Now older, don’t we risk it?
Home-and-classroom: let it blow?
Armaggedon? —No!


EVER’DAY POTE

I make a pome ever’day,
sittin’ home or on the roam,
seein’ woes a better way;
turnin’ ever’ gloom to gloam.

I make a pome ever’day.
I make ever’ day a pome.


091018

CRITIQUE

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
you reflect me not at all.
With the stresses weighed on me,
I should look a hundred three!


AT THE DOOR

Expecting Death
and my demise,
I open to his heavy knock.

“Your time’s not up,”
God’s workman sighs.
“I’ve come to wind your clock.


091017

CRUX

Enemies—
lovingly offer them
your hearth and your heart.

Love may seem a kind of death,
but there’s no survival apart.


091016


TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

Sort the truth?
Let things be?

I wouldn’t care,
particularly—
except for how
the truth may be
particularly bad for me.


091015

NOTICED

Life is partly what I make it,
partly what I allow.
And how I experience my future
is how I experience now.


091014

OUTRAGE

These losses, these changes
(so feared and so hated)
should not occur!

But are we so sure?
Which cosmic laws
have been violated?


SCENE YESTERDAY

One crow
and three buzzards,
in circling flight.

Oddly, the crow
was picking a fight.


091013

AUTUMN EXCURSION

One slight departure
from our daily-duty itinerary
creates a further one—

taking us farther away,
looping us into the next,
and so on—

till we find ourselves lost

in each moment’s timeless speed,
gliding down a curving country road;
slipping into fall.


***

Eclectic

***


091012

AAAAHMMM...

Make a face—
a smiley face!

Let smiley feelings come.
That’s one way to meditate.
Easy. Simple. Fun.


091011

LETHE

In the pantry of her brain,
the cheese
is her stored memories.

Lately it’s becoming plain;
some mouse
is nibbling at that cheese.


091010

POETRY READING

The chance to read
my pomes out loud
to one person
or a crowd
makes me humble,
glad, scared, proud.
“You want: me?”

When that chance comes,
I am wowed.
“Really? Me?”


091009

A TRUTH TO TRY

Then is just a story
made up by the mind.
Now is always friendly.
Now is always kind.


091008

APPROVAL

The mark
of endorsement
as a friend
is being entrusted
with other friends.


091007

BLESSINGS

When you’re young,
you’re smart
if you learn a thing or two.

There’s so much to see!

When you’re old,
you’re lucky
if you forget a thing or three.


091006

SENIORITY

Look! I made it to old;
not by being smart or bold,
or doing right instead of wrong—
just by being young too long.


091005

ZOMBIE

insomniac nights
maniac days

moonlit, sunlit
grays on grays

one long blur
of dismal haze


091004

IT

What is claimed,
I’ve not yet met—
but it is nearby,
beckoning.


091003

NEAR-FROZEN ASSETS

As talent, ambition,
even body grow cold—
how hold it together;
this life on hold?


091002

AS I AM

born
some several score
ago

born again
daily

a child, a child, a child

a baby


091001

NONEMPLOYED

Where can I find
a place to stay, a way to pay
(or even a reason to live)
when I can find no home
for what I have to give?


090930

"TREASURE"

No matter what it is,
if you like it or want it—

politicians are trying to grab it,
robbers to nab it,
elites to refine it,
gurus to seek it,
geeks to tweak it—

that’s what defines it.


090929

SILENT DRAMA

The picture window—
enormous, high, and therefore rarely washed—
frames a bright but overcast northern sky.
A spiderweb spans its peak.

The spider is enormous, too;
especially compared to the fly
that races up the pane toward it
in small erratic spurts.

This black-and-white melodrama,
absent of piano accompaniment,
is being played out for my private viewing.
This is not film. It is live theater.
There is no opportunity for intervention.

Higher and higher
the fly climbs;
closer and closer
to imminent doom.

All the while,
my witness role
becomes more and more
excruciating.

Just as the perimeter of the web is breached,
there is a shattering! An illusion falls in shards
as two scenes diverge, separated by a pane of glass.


090928

SOUP KITCHEN SOUP KIT

I count nine tomatoes,
three ears of corn, two onions,
and ten mason jars.

Also laid out
on the butcher-block surface
are squash, peppers, green beans,
spices and other soup ingredients.

"The idea," says the cook,
"is to go out into the garden,
pick anything edible,
put it into a big pot,
and cook enough soup
to make it through the winter."

Frankly, I suggest a recalculation;
he obviously hasn't counted
on drop-in guests.


090927

MAY BE BUSY

Today things went the other way
but yesterday was an ease-off day.

Tomorrow, well, who’s to say?
Tomorrow is another day.


090926

ETHICS

It’s so hard to be a person;
much less, a strictly-honest version.

“Daddy, is there a Santa Claus?”
“Not any more, if there ever was.”


BUGS

There’s always a bug
around somewhere,
everywhere you look—

a spider in a corner,
a cricket in a nook,
an ant, a bee, a fly, a flea,
a bookwork in a book.


LIFE-LONG FRIEND (for Kay)

She was that quiet, friendly sort
who smiles and works and pleases—
part Martha, part Mary;
devoted to us and Jesus.


ESCAPE ARTIST

Do you hear my pencil
scrapin’ on the paper?
Well, I’m makin’ me a pome.

I’m avoidin’ what’s annoyin’.

I’m markin’ paper—
scrapin’, scrapin’—takin’ time
to be escapin’ with a pome.


090925

BB&BBQ B&B

Rain threatened to put a “nix” on
this year’s Bikes, Blues & Barbecue.
But clouds parted!

Soon, bikes farted
along College and Dickson
and every available avenue.

My brother’s bed-and-breakfast
is hosting biker-friends this week;
that is, if they made it to Elkins
and if they ever sleep.


OLD HORIZONS

Do you have a thought for me;
to give, or share, or loan?
Do you have a thought for me?
I’m weary of my own!


SAYS WHO?

Before you impose your creed on me,
please confirm its authority.
If I’m required to defer to you—
how do you know you know it’s true?

Around what intangibles does it revolve
and which of these does it involve?
- Intuition
- Inhibition
- Interpretation
- Inquisition

Did an angel appear and tell you so,
or some preacher’s voice on the radio?
Is there a mother ship with you in tow?
How, pray tell, do you know you know?



***

Fall and All

***


090924

ALARM

My clock (tock, tock)
and brain (thought, thought)
relentlessly go on,
anticipating dawn.


090923

SUNFLOWERS IN AUTUMN

shower-stall
shower-heads

old monks
in saffron robes
contemplating their navels


090922

LESSON OF THE DREAM

Death is not reality.
Death is just belief.

Love brings life to everything.
Love brings everything to life.

[ASIDE: DREAM -- I shooed some kittens away from underfoot.
Later, I found one killed, thoroughly dead and dehydrated, with a
crushed-in place at the base of the skull. Later, my mother and sisters
also discovered the body, wondring how such a thing could have
happened. I wanted to disown my part; after all, I had done
nothing violent, it was an accident. But, sorrowfully, I admitted
my carelessness. Later, when I caressed its broken body,
holding it against my chest, the kitten revived.]


090921

HORSE FLY

Big to the ears,
big to the eyes,
that fly buzzed near,
Clydesdale-sized.


090920

NINE TWENTY

9:20 on 9/20

it’s then
or thereabouts

or rather
it was then

when
this came about


090919

DOUBLE SURPRISE

Near some steps below the eaves,
underneath a drift of leaves—
ANTS on the deck; there shouldn't be any!
ANTS on the deck; way, way, WAY too many!


090918

DAZZLER

Trailing veils of misty night,
dawn arises pastel-bright;
a nameless color, almost white.


090917

SEPTEMBER SHOWERS

Overcast again; spitting rain
for seven/eight days straight;
nothing to bewail; no one to berate.
IS just is — and gray is great.


090916

NATURAL WONDERS

beside the highway,
some novelties;
each a stunning sight—

pair of hawks
on a power-pole bar,
stationed left and right

peacock at its ease

raccoon in frozen fright


090915

MERE PLOYS

Life keeps changing;
we can't hold on.
I guess we never could.

It doesn't help to be wealthy,
or influential.
It does no good to be good.


090914

SIDELINER

They're playing—
hear them laugh and shout?

Though I don't much
like the game,
I don't like being left out.


090913

AUTONOMOUS

The one you hate
(the only one you can hate)
is inside your skin.

It's a theory at least,
and means at least:
the one who hates you, doesn't.


090912

HIGH SOCIETY (for Cat and Harry)

Words on lives sublime;
words on lives on skids;
words on words, for heavens sake;
words well placed, well paced, well said
make poets
high on poetry
light up like little kids.


090911

LIKABLE

like breath,
like thought,
like joy

in the wings,
on the wing

nature awaits notice

like nothing else,
like everything


090910

GLUM

I can’t giggle, grin or chortle—
I’m too busy being mortal.


090909

NUMBERSTITIOUS

Oh, nine! Oh, nine! Oh, nine!


A number near-sublime
to those many (or those few)
who are oh-so-eager to
put twenty-twelve out of mind.


090908

MULCHING IT OVER

Here's a thought, for what it's worth—
death won't cause a dearth of earth.


090907

ONE LAST CHORE

Well, I b’leeve I’ll rite a pome—
it’s jest that time o’ day

Hey. Play. Way. Nay.
Home. Loam. Comb. Roam.

That’s pretty good, I say.
An’ now I’ll take a time-out, Pard,
‘cuz makin’s pomes is wundrus hard.


ENTERTAINING QUESTIONS

For life, for death,
back and forth we yearn.
How does the one we crave
become the one we spurn?

Of death, of life,
there is much to learn.
Is each one a gift,
or something we must earn?


090906

RISE AND FALL

Do you see the sun?
Do you see the moon?

Do you know. . .
where she goes at night?
where he is at noon?

Across the summer sky,
one passes high; the other low.

Against the winter sky,
they reverse how high they go.

Do you know this slow,
entrancing dance;
more pas de deux than do-si-do?

[ASIDE: "Rise and Fall" - a controlled raising and lowering
of the body while dancing.]


090905

FINALE

1. Ray, 2. Charles, 3. Steve,
4. Martin, 5. James, 6. Taylor, 7. Hank,
8. Aaron, 9. Paul, 10. Harvey, 11. Bill,
“Hey, what are you doing?”
12. Clinton, 13. Roger, 14. Miller, 15. Cole,
16. Porter, 17. Bob, 18. Dylan, 19. Harrison,
20. Ford, 21. Eddie, 22. Murphy, 23. Dean,
24. Martin, 25 Howard, 26. Dean, 27. Michael,
“Huh? Oh, just putting my affairs in order.”
28. Jordan, 29. James, 30. Dean. “Done!”


RECOGNIZE

Everywhere,
they shrink, hide, stare;
they glance or glare—
the angry, lost, or lonely ones.

Be alert, aware. Compare.
We are not the only ones.


090905

PROFESSIONAL (for Rick)

"I'd be the last one to let you down,"
he said.

You know it's true, but still you wonder—
did he come up with that line on his own
or did he read it in a book of phrases for
undertakers?


DEAR FAIRY GODMOTHER

I would like to be in charge—
like Cleopatra on her barge.
And be as smart. And be as pretty.
But most of all, I want a kitty.


DIGITAL COMPUTER

Let me count your fingers.
Let me count your toes.
Five, ten. Five, ten.
Twenty digits, in two rows!


TRAITS

Shorts, not pants.
Intent on toys.
Thin legs.
Round bellies.
Mischief.
Noise.

The older men get,
the more they’re boys.


AN OTHER

My guide is named 13:7.
Do not ask me why.
It's the name I was given.
Do not ask me how.

Maybe it's a pseudonym.
Maybe it's a lie.
I expected Abe or Jim.
I expected, well, a him.
What I got was—wow!


090904

MORE THAN FAMOUS

Little me, little I—
what little hope
of fame have I!

Sun and moon,
earth and sky—
what little need
of fame have I!


VETERAN

I am calm
when hardships come;
partly strong,
partly numb.


BENEFACTOR

give me the gift I need

I don't know what it is
but I know that you know
and I know that you always

give me the gift I need


TABLES TURNED

We encroached on their domain,
snatching up their riches.
Now they've returned to do the same—
those frikkin-sunza-bichuz!


WARZ AND WURS

Alone, not one would hurt a flea—
but what we do collectively!


090904

PULSATIONS

The heart is an entrepreneur,
always love-networking—
circulating, seeking, serving;
always tending its needs.

The heart has twin needs.
It needs to move.
It needs to be moved.


090903

AT THEIR MERCY

Fluorescent-lit:

- chrome
- porcelain
- plastics
- electronics
- crucifixes
- nurses

[ASIDE: Part of the hospital was greenery and warm colors.
Part was gray and sterile and physically cold.]


090902

TRAGICTORY

Childhood:
short, fast rocket-ride.

Adulthood:
long, slow suicide.


090901

POSITIVELY

Life. Beauty. Joy.

Once you remove
impediments,
that's all there is—

Life! Beauty! Joy!


LOST POMES FOUND

090810

CURIOUS

When I was young, I wanted to explore—
learn this and that, see more and more.
I wanted to know the name of each star;
what things were, what things were for.

I never considered how it might be
to be old and poor. Old. Poor. Me.


HOME ALONE

The house is mine
and mine alone—
how I love the feeling!

If I want,
I can—and will—
dance upon the ceiling!


***

Dog Daze

***


090830

SIMPLE GIFTS

Why rite daily pomes for you?
I got nuthin’ better to do.


SUM SICUT SUM

I think
(or am thought)
therefore I am:
I am as I am.


OBSERVATION

Work. Wealth. Weekends.

These mean nothing
to some people;
everything to others.


A TIME TO EVERY PURPOSE

Up at four, I’m writing.
Done, at five, I sit.
Then I think of crickets:
how’d they know to quit?


POVERTY

Nay! Nay!
No. Nay. Nix!
Money isn’t the problem.
Money isn’t the fix.


090829

COMMENCEMENT

Speak and I will write,
no matter what you say.

For now, I know the way
is to clear the way.


090828

RESISTING GRACE

No! We do not want this.
No! It isn’t right.
Why must this affront us?
Get out of our sight!


090827

ESCORT

Death—it comes
as a friend.
Early. Late.
Again. Again.


090826

OPEN WINDOW

Moisture laden breezes,
starlit balmy nights,
slowly dawning mornings—
summer-end delights.


090825

LOOK AGAIN

The world is as it ever was.
The only change is you;
your insights and your attitudes,
your ever-changing view.


090824

NO DENYING IT!

At two,
he could not have a puppy.
He settled for a guppy.

At four,
he could not have a dog.
He settled for a frog.

Now, at six, it's settled:
by pleas or pouts or kicks,
he WILL have that puppy dog!


090823

PET CHOICE

Why have a dog instead of a cat?

There are two sides to this question:
the side that makes the dog choice
versus the side that makes the cat.

And neither would choose the other;
they'd rather choose a rat.


090822

DOGS

Some of the best people
are not people at all.


090821

A DOG'S WORLD

When a dog waits
till the just-right moment
before coming close...

When, at the next right-moment,
it sets its chin on your knee
or arm, or other just-right part...

And when it raises a brow,
drawing your glance
(and then your full attention)
with its upturned
deep, friendly-sad eyes...

When that happens,
the whole world feels just-right.


090820

THINKING ON DOGS

Another name for a dog
is a cur, but I've never
heard one called one.
Not once. No sir.

Dogs are noble.
Dogs have heart.

When it comes to dogs,
I've not always been smart.
(But usually the dogs were.)


090819

OVERPOPULATION

People have taken up
all the room: now dogs
are not allowed to roam
or cause a cat to scoot.

In fact, there is so little room
that cats have made
themselves at home,
and given dogs the boot.


090818

DOGS HAVE
GONE TO THE DOGS

In bygone days
dogs were large;
even as a pup.
They fed on game
and buried bones,
which later they dug up

Nowadays,
dogs eat pellets
and fit inside a cup.


090817

MADE FOR EACH OTHER

Child brings home puppy, all agog:
"Mother, may I, please?"

This statement's true,
not lame or wild:

Every child should have a dog,
and every dog should have a child.


090816

CEREAL THRILLER

From crows to finches,
has the bird been born
that doesn’t have
a taste for corn?


***

Love and War and In-Between

***

090815

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Whether choice or fate,
will you take the bait?

How big a mistake
are you willing to make?


090814

SIDE BY SIDE

Easy lives and hard,
concern and disregard,
life and death—

go side by side
breath by breath.


090813

BOND OF BROTHERS

Friends of freedom:
friends we are,
though our countries
be at war.


090812

SLOW AT WRITIN’

Ain’t writ no "pome" in awhile.
Ain’t twittered none, at least.

Wanna git fast an’ versa-tile
a‘fore I git de-ceased.


090811

HUH? SAY AGAIN?

Lots of telemarketers lately.

After the ring, hello, and long pause
and before hanging up, he says,
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but
no one at this house has diabetes."


090810

LOVE LOVES

all that is
as it is


090809

EGGS-PONENTIAL

Eggs!
One. Three. Four.
Next time we look,
there may be more.

Sitting the nest
is setting the stage
for many too many
birds in the cage.

Eggs from birds!
Birds from eggs!
Way too many
birds and eggs!


090808

COMPOUND LESSON

We are here to learn.
We are here to love.
We are here to teach.

We are here to learn
to love to teach ...love.


090807

QUANDARY

Is intuition
the way to go?

My best guess
in this case—no.


090806

AN OLD STORY

Young and raw,
setting out, full of pride;
he was on his way
to somewhere.

Young and raw,
taken in, set aside;
she was on his way
to somewhere.


090805

IS IT SAFE YET?

each newborn life
(it well may be)
begins both innocent and free
and if no elder interferes
does not assume
our age-old fears


090804

SEA OF GREEN

You occupy my heart.
You occupy my mind.

Through you, Iran, I find:
all mankind is intertwined.


090803

LOVE NOTE

Love to all I used to fear,
till late.

Love to all I used to hate
(to hate to try to please).

Love to
friends-slash-enemies.


090802

THAT’S WHY

Why am I not sleeping?
It’s way past time for bed.
Because I’m tired…

of keeping thought-bits
in my head; that’s why I write
so late at night.


090801

VISITING HOURS

old lady daughter
old lady mother
recognizing
and not recognizing
each other


090731

RAIN!

mid-morning
mid-summer rain—

cool hand
soothing
fevered brow


090730

TANKA

daffodils this spring
bloomed as surprisingly as
surprise lilies now—
not in either neighbor’s’ yard,
but in the wasteland between

[ASIDE: Japanese form with 5-7-5-7-7 syllable count.]


090729

THE WORK (for Katie)

Think any thought
that bothers you:
chances are, it isn’t true.


090728

COCOON

each day's life
spins its own shroud,
readying for sleep


090727

ATTENTION!

To save a life
may require as little as this—
become conscious
that lives are in jeopardy.


090726

ARRIVAL

I know to expect it;
still, it gives me shivers—
how quickly,
how accurately
the universe delivers!


THE DAY'S EVENTS

Dead at road edges today,
more than twenty feet apart:
two moles and a brim.
No buzzards.
I fed the ducks.
Dogs followed me home.


090725

IT’S “WHOA-WHOA” TIME

In another part of the house,
he is talking to the cats—
admiring them, asking questions,
commenting on the day.

I can’t make out his words,
just the happy hum.


[ASIDE: Afternoon feeding time coincided,
when it was first established,
with the opening refrain of the TV Oprah show:
“WHOA-oh, WHOA-oh, OH-prah!” which evolved
into something shorter.]


090724

NWARSP (for Donnie)

The talk you gave was more than grand—
you helped us all to understand…

Company culture is a choice
twix one thing and another:
“One for all and all for one!”
or “Mash and crush and smother!”

True leaders let no chance slip past
to pay respect to crew and cast.

[ASIDE: This was a candygram accompanied by:
100 GRAND, TWIX, 3 MUSKETEERS,
CRUNCH bar, BUTTERFINGERS and PAYDAYS]


090723

THE FABLE OF LABELS

The fearful, the harmful,
the foreign, the unclean—
I’m learning by unlearning
what everything means.


090722

DREAMY

Bananas:
high-fiber, low-cal,
filling and creamy.

Fresh or frozen;
oh, so creamy!
What other food
is like that? Sweet!


090721

PARACHUTING OUT

Severance pay—
whether you want to go
or want to stay;
this is the way
to make severance
pay.


REFUGE

Take my money, take my home,
take sun, moon, sky, and birds;
I will bless you with a pome,
for I will still have words.


***

Free As Air

***

090720

NAILS

My thumbs' and fingers'
are painted pink.
Those on my toes are rose.


090719

VISITATION (for Ado)

You lived and died so gracefully.
Please, be here now with me.
Every way you did and were—
I want to do and be.


090718

RESPITE

Life seems funny lately.
Everything brings a smile.
This won't last forever;
just for a blessed while.


090717

ASHES AND DUST

Away around the world somewhere
people like me are fighting—
for something that should be free as air;
for life to be a little more fair.
That’s why people are fighting.


090716

AMASSING HEALTH

“I’m hungry—
for food,” I used to say,
and far too often.

It’s a phrase I’ve learned
to soften—or redirect into
a weapon of mass destruction
that requires no stealth.
Now I say, “I’m hungry—
for health.”


090715

TWO TO ONE

Feathered and furred:
one, cat; one, bird.

For one brief moment,
neither one stirred.


090714

GATEKEEPER

Don't push yer luck,
growled my muse,
getting all irate.
Seven clues is enough fer youse—
don't hang around my gate
fer eight.


090713

SLEEP THERAPY

My dreams—the kind that come
when you lay your body down,
close your eyes, and nod off;
not the idealized, unrealized
versions of a proposed future—
are more compelling than my current life.

Today, I drowsed after lunch,
started to rouse near suppertime,
compared sleeping-dream to waking-dream,
nestled back into the covers,
and blissfully slipped away.
My mind recalls not a single detail,
but my body is grinning.


090712

WHO’S IN CHARGE, HERE?

God—let’s call you that—
when I look at the world, or it intrudes,
I can’t block out the unhappiness—
no; the agony.
And where does it come from?
From you! If not directly, effectively.

People clobber each other in your name—
your names, rather,
Your names are legion
and their clashes diabolical.

Are you aware? Do you care?
Regardless,
your reputation needs an overhaul.
Somebody’s doing a terrible job of P.R.!


090711

POME PALS

Potes! Who open minds
and hearts and throats,
I stuff my ballot box for you!
You have my votes!


ON CALL

Whenever writing lays its claim—
no matter how conveniently,
and whether early or late—
my response is always the same:
humbly, gladly, steadfastly,
I capitulate.


CONTRARY TO APPEARANCES

Reality is ecstasy,
as mystics comprehend.
There is no hell, they contend:
all is well all is well.


TAKING LIBERTY

Freedom’s highest glory
and freedom’s greatest shame,
paradoxically,
are one and the same—
freedom to take it for granted.


090710

TO SUCCEED, TAKE HEED:

Bills unpaid? Hair all mussed?
Cluttered desk? Cobwebs? Dust?
Here’s advice that you can trust.

“Do the things you ought to do!”
and you’ll neglect the things you must.


090709

INSISTENT

That cricket-chorus rhythm
rattles through my brain,
like railcars entrained,
settling in for the long haul.

Its cadence is a call:
Let me punch your ticket.
Let me punch your ticket.
Let me punch your ticket.


FADING AWAY

So amazingly designed
is this body going blind
and this ever-dimming mind.
When death comes, I won't care.
I won't even be aware.


FOXY MORON

My mind is mad,
but I don't mind.
I'm too lazy to go crazy.


090708

CAST OUT

Your Eden has ended.
You cannot pretend.

You know
where your meat comes from
and where your garbage goes.

You know.

You can only pretend
to pretend.


INEFFICIENCY BREAK (for Ginnie)

It’s nearing end of day,
and I haven’t earned my play.
Go ahead and call me crook;
I’m stealing time with a book.


LESSON: GROW!

Being phototropic,
plants send up their shoots.
Being geotropic,
they send down their roots.

When oppositely attracted,
don't become retracted,
settling for an either-or.

Like the plants,
choose more-and-more.


090707

PROFUSION OF CONFUSION

Religions explain
inscrutable things like war.

No wonder they are
equally bizarre.


CARD FOR VICKI

For your birthday, happily,
I send you pearl and ivory
(these rose bouquets and filigree).
Also, words of poetry
and boundless love to you from me.


090706

WORLD.WIRED.WEB

Such a day, such a day—
all the world’s atrocities
shared at vast velocities!
Healing, too, twitters through;
no more than a touch away.


***

Happy and Free

***

090705

JUST CAN’T REFRAIN

Why can’t I?

Let me tell you why—
I just can’t get a break.

- Can’t spot a fake.
- Can’t stay awake.
- Can’t keep a friend.
- Can’t underspend.
- Can’t hold on tight.
- Can’t win a fight.

I just can’t do things right.


UNCOMPLICATED (for Abraham)

If you’re happy,
you’re enlightened:
stay that way.


SELF-HELP

I hurt.
I lack.
I disapprove.
I fear.

Phooey!
Change focus.
Be happy.
Accept no substitutes.


FREE, FLOATING

The more my health
and wealth are gone,
the less I base
my happiness on.


RAINY DAY SPENDINGS

I love paid vacations—
feeling wild and free—
even this vacation,
being paid by me.


ARRIVAL

Am I happy?
Yes, oh yes!
That is my
complete success.


090704

FAITHFUL AND PROUD

I pledge allegiance to my Muse—
my trusted higher power
who is the flag that I salute
and, of whatever state I’m in,
motto, song, and flower.


FIREWORKS

Freedom unearned
can be celebrated
but not enjoyed.


POLITICAL DIVIDE

“Don’t try to help!
Nothing will help that you can do.”

“Forgive me then;
for being proud of you.”


WE, THE PEOPLE

How can we be “enemy”?
We seek each other’s liberty!


090703

UNDER HEAVEN

Down and out?
Feeling pain?

Life brings loss, but with it, gain:
sacred blessings that sustain
like winter sun and summer rain.


BEAT NIX

Rhymes, rhymes, rhymes.
Oh so loved—
in other tymes!


090702

LAUNCH OF “LIFT-OFF”

We and the cats
have gone into
conniption fits.

Finches are tiny;
imagine their eggs!
Our hatchling utterly
begs description—
pink grape;
eensie stubs
for wings and legs.


WHERE’S MY VOTE?

If I were Iranian,
I wonder what I’d do?
Perhaps I’d meekly raise my voice—
and be deprived of further choice.


090701

HEART-MATES (for Marilyn)

Tomorrow I will see my friend.
Then we’ll separate again.

Apart, then together;
together, then apart:
the push and pull of friendship,
like blood, flows through the heart.


CAREFUL!

Don’t put too much on your plate—
things are about to escalate!


***