Sunday, December 31, 2017

All Moves

year ends book of life finished
at last I am free to work or not

the farm at the end of the trail
represents another completion

love and friends surround me
longevity being its own reward

opportunity for grace abounds
all moves within staying still

Saturday, December 30, 2017

You Win

once you win
no point in playing
and what instead
admire existing
do something else
call up a friend
go for a long walk
think something
make something
aim for beauty

Friday, December 29, 2017

Meaning More

letter by letter words appear
like music or a movie's notes
or shots like a painter's daubs
accumulating into something
unique made of ordinary bits

a new thing exists that didn't
just arise application needed
to keep sitting there writing
cajoling it word by word into
meaning more than it can say

Thursday, December 28, 2017

No Purpose

if not now then never
later on is not at all
unheard melodies do
not count as music
unseen plays age out

posterity is hokum
probably always was
but especially today
art doesn't matter it's
money we care about

one needs an audience
otherwise no purpose
in working so hard to
be clear so someone
cares that it's sincere

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

My Leg

is this my leg
was it always
at that angle

Love Fumes

where I am is only here
what I brought with me
is all I have love fumes
lingering and renewed

I remember the feeling
fuel enough for a mood
independent of weather
but nothing else remains

returning find I am still
here keeping up my faith
in sensibility arising to
meet unknowable days

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Flesh Pictures

you know where you are going now
and where you are coming from the
ticket has your information you can
relax enjoy the ride arrive unmussed

someone has to travel or we'll never
see each other in the flesh pictures
not the same what we like is actual
persons in regulation space and time

it doesn't matter what we do or don't
being together is enough on its own
but we like to have fun being who we
are ideas pop up and we jump aboard

Monday, December 25, 2017

Our Luck

as if there were no world
we pursue our little lives
privately absorbed in our
personal comfort details
loom as if larger matters
can honestly be ignored

maybe nothing happens
and we can go right on
which is what we want
wishing everyone had our
luck and hoping it holds
and everything works out

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Think Again

now we all have phones
all tweet share photos of
each other smiling oddly
we constantly connect in
fragments of attention we
pretend are our identities
we are elsewhere as well
as here anticipating calls
and other signals we have
not forgotten to disregard
there's no relief but more
whatever you are doing
try and stop to think again

Fresh Breeze

Christmas comes twice if you want it to
days arranged in shifts accommodating
everybody's needs and desires for self-
expression mainly to love each other as
we embrace past and future possibilities

nothing is solved in the world but we can
be happy and do our best at what we do
richly rewarded by the doing and being
conscious of this precious life unfurling
like a banner snapping in a fresh breeze

Friday, December 22, 2017

What For

every day noticeably a little older
all this time as nothing compared
to the expulsion of the Jews and
various exterminations hundreds
of years ago still going on today

visibly lost agility palpably stiffer
as nothing compared to say Chuck
Close in his wheelchair still paints
my visual acuity going again what
will we think of next and what for

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Fellow Feeling

cities are sinking while we
eat well talk well play share
thoughts and fellow feeling

there is too much world too
many people can't keep up
what are we going to do

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Variations

take what you want
you don't have to like it all
it is there for its own sake
yours for the taking

if you want to know
anything goes right in
unguarded revelation
of a consciousness in action

it probably doesn't matter who
we are all just variations
on a single clumay theme
complex enough to satisfy

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

My Side

Shostakovich soundtrack to forgotten dreams
how Chekhov knows our time these Russians
not our enemy they know life deeply in a way
we'll never understand without them think of
Tolstoy Dostoevski Turgenev Pushkin Gogol
to mention a few I want always on my side

Monday, December 18, 2017

Happy Readers

happy writer writing every day
laughing aloud at what he wrote
craftily making his writing better
imagining other happy readers
who may not even be reading
and if they are not reading him

the writing is its own reward a
puzzle solved by application a
structure revealed in its unfolding
a project carried to completion a
web of meanings in readable code
a story woven of magical words

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Not Reading

if I don't already know about it
maybe I don't need to random
magazine articles notwithstanding

need I feel guilty for not reading about
digital networking in Estonia or a
phenomenal hip-hop coach in Atlanta

as for adultery I don't feel I need
to have an attitude it doesn't come up
and other people's business is their own

Friday, December 15, 2017

Sweet Mourh

other elderly remember
their youthful beauty
flat belly hairless chest
soft unblemished skin
shining teeth sweet mouth
easy bending lively grace
this isn't who I really am
the real me still perfectible

Easy Life

downriver there is more development
here at the source we are blessedly alone
fortunate to have gas and electric which
make the winters survivable even pleasant
when we want something we order online
a brown truck brings it to our blue door
elsewhere vital systems are breaking down
our easy life is a product of earlier times
when sensible arrangements often prevailed

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Before Winter

what I want to say is what I am thinking
although it may not apply and I may just
have started and don't know anything yet
even what I am specifically thinking about

the mind moves from one word to the next
drawing a thread of meaning from the path
a Mozart melody made of graceful phrases
strung together on the harmony of grammar

there we are a week before winter worried
about mortality the body fragile lodging for
the me that thinks and looks ahead to spring
and all the thinking we still will have to do

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

A Good Story

don't be surprised if I don't remember
everything happened so fast and I was
not sure who was there were you was I

it makes a good story but is it really true
or only plausible a variation that might
stand in for or improve upon the actual

the words themselves prove nothing in
context they can barely be understood
even by those who speak the language

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Back Room

if asked I say yes
afterward I have
doubts do I really
want to stand up
in front of people
to read my poetry
in a clarion voice
express feelings
I may or may not
actually be having
expose limitations
ordinarily hidden
living in disguise
as myself perfected
in a bar's back room

Monday, December 11, 2017

Naturally Dark

everyone goes to bed
pretty much at the same time
many lights stay on
it isn't naturally dark
stars barely manage to shine
even at three or four
when no one wants to be up
maybe it doesn't matter
most people don't even notice
when they're asleep

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Like This

am I thinking
are we talking
do you understand me
am I saying what I mean
is it always like this

did we eat
what did it taste like
was it healthy
was it responsibly grown
was it lovingly prepared

we can be frank
history is on our side
we can say anything
we are preaccepted
everything will be forgiven

Saturday, December 09, 2017

Only Hunngry

whether you have thought
whether I am capable of thought
even thought it through
we try not to stake out positions
to refrain from engaging
not wanting to contend
only hungry for results
it isn't just theory it's right
if you seriously think about it

Thursday, December 07, 2017

Deeper Meaning

if I wait until I know what I want to say
I will never start writing
if I avoid saying anything obvious
nothing will be left
if I dig for the deeper meaning
I will only find hints
if I try to have the last word
no one will be listening
if I think I can help by being perfectly clear
I am sadly mistaken

Keep Looking

nothing unique except the fine print
subtle markings only another lion
would recognize endow with meaning
lust for whether or not they're overlaid
with flamboyant individuality empty
of anything beyond a first impression

keep looking as if you know it's there
some secret harmonious or threadbare
suggested in a look or shadowed eye
or mindless physicality essentially time
its fleeting flow inexorable and new
in expression of possible significance

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

No Way

no one asks because no one knows
what is the question with the right
answer we need to hear resistance
known to be futile something more
positive creative action fraternity
proper nourishment not enough to
right the ship solid building on high
ground to save yourself what about
the situation great correction ripping
fabric worn faded original beauty
still there no way to go beyond new
paradigm ambushed by profiteers

Monday, December 04, 2017

Even Now

used to being ahead I fall
hopelessly dizzyingly behind
not just technologically also
fun with others in the world

what is to be done is what is
the question even now this
time not mine to define but
still to be fully lived in joy

Sunday, December 03, 2017

Deep Water

words organize themselves into
stories and my interest slides into
deep water where sudden doubts
dissolve links into swirling inks

something I used to care about
turns out to be words for money
or a way of exercising ghosts
left over from a different world

another new thought when it's
already too hard to think what
might make a difference or just
be the right next step forward

Friday, December 01, 2017

Exactly Right

no theory but reduction
like a classic sauce dark
with concentration bites
of action warmly liquid
congeal in cold thought

the orchestra coheres in
three dimensions magic
time imagined space and
one more unnameable as
Beckett clearly described

thereby play becomes art
not knowing how it does
this transformation only
feeling what the notes say
putting them exactly right