michaelwrites

Wrong Foot

2012-02-15T23:27:00.001-08:00

bookpile dwarfs disk stream
promises hours obligation to
read every word understand
another soul mind working

I could blow it off but won't
be wrong foot or note sharp
or blue music condescends
to be heard behind the cry

excuse my being real crazy
things happen in books and
life goes on being what you
like before or after reading

Real Friends

2012-02-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

meaningless landscapes unless you want to
think affordable intelligence think time for
conscious lunch real friends in high places

My Story

2012-02-13T06:29:00.001-08:00

in the fellowship of money
nothing but money will do

my hand to your mouth no
choice but to the choosing

admires his lowly workers
doing all their jobs himself

how can I truly sympathize
my story one of these many

Call Me

2012-02-12T22:57:00.001-08:00

if I think of something I will tell you
not to hold your horses for too long
or breath for the length of the pool
is it too much to ask me if you do

if you hear nothing call me I may
need rescue or repair say where
and when you are in case it be
like the others thrown open wide

I will still be here in the morning
whether or not it rains dream if I
can kiss the baby face soft warm
family confident we all can care

Mind First

2012-02-11T22:47:00.001-08:00

don't count the cost except you do
must should fair travesty of wealth
protect the possibilities mind first

then next body better thank skillful
surgeon right place timely graphic
reconstruction impeccably aligned

going-on the character we identify
forgetting what the other knows
of being there together as a child

Rich Friends

2012-02-11T06:06:00.003-08:00

possibility of music if you build
rich friends will come we know
one or two accidentals misheard
deny me nothing good experience

complain without caring rancour
delayed effect or bitterness at the
root easy to say more than meant
more than metaphor like chickens

I conclude with affirmation as if
eloquent tissues atingle extract my
body and begone dull woe shadow
self be beautiful in the rising light

The Romantic

2012-02-10T10:35:00.001-08:00

a good night's sleep may include the morning
tide of doing ebbs and rises nothing stairsteps
breathing variants continue ten different birds

a good day's work entails dream time outside
boundaries welcome interruptions if you can
try harder than Mozart easier than Brahms

a good life's love involves others satisfaction
shared embracing contrary rhythms overlap
enmesh essence the Romantic is expression

You Like

2012-02-08T23:03:00.001-08:00

this could be that or anything
you like what you like liking

the word replaced the thing
itself not otherwise existing

thin thinking if you think so
what if it never was the same

Still Me

2012-02-07T23:23:00.003-08:00

it doesn't matter where I am
it's still me still the life I'm
making pay no attention to
place cars what happens to
be there something has to be

More Fun

2012-02-06T22:59:00.001-08:00

ocean blue sky too cool
change darks full moon
today is not tomorrow

road war spares named
seats warmed unwilling
women welcome love

I follow a sound down
doubtless misleadingly
provoke dull questions

yield means give way
in Britain cooler blood
makes clubs more fun

Knowing All

2012-02-05T18:59:00.001-08:00

what is secret can harm I like
telling knowing all the real is
what is being done poignant
health wealth unconditional
embraces without regret the
moon on the cusp of fullness

go on reveal everything you
dare I forgive accept you as
it is my way pass judgment
only if cruel greedy hurting
honest selfishness no crime
be generous unveil the fact

As Expected

2012-02-04T21:32:00.001-08:00

I really have no idea how many times I have done this before. Certain details are inexplicably different, others identical, every moment unavoidably familiar, one islet of spontaneity lost in a sea of practice. Something supposedly new, like 3-D, is pretty much as expected, occasionally subtle, engaging enough once you get used to the weirdness. I drifted off. Smoothness is good, my taste in dance less frantic, furious, desperate. I loved the locations—that monorail! Doing the same thing again is who I am, what I like, what I choose, what is given me to do.

Blue Smoke

2012-02-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

fog in the morning
a puff of blue smoke
where am I
break for lunch
backs flat against trees
miles of orchards
genius Dostoyevsky
proved by technology
balks my pleasure
improved by age
haze remains

Forty Dollars

2012-02-02T21:29:00.001-08:00

mountain heaven freeway hell speed
beyond seeing safe for forty dollars

lacking master read William James
read William John Locke or write

being there already here do tai chi
eat sleep drive all day finish circle

We Pretend

2012-02-01T21:58:00.001-08:00

too late or large enough all
judgments make no sense
except perhaps taste which
we pretend is neither good
nor bad knowing what we
like is good only when it
ends up like everyone else

Here Before

2012-01-31T22:33:00.001-08:00

give up early resigned to rest
month state finished your work
goes on will wait enough done

three-way switch prohibits dark
night rain silence thumps from
next door meetings about love

we were here before we came
to view the redwoods marketed
to tourists eager to pass on by

Wide Awake

2012-01-30T23:17:00.001-08:00

not in the mood is no excuse
really we know better feeling
follows action not the other
way around here we go again

late hour tiredness compels
sleep when still wide awake
you can do better start now
turn back the covers begin

We Few

2012-01-29T22:56:00.001-08:00

Mozart suffered but I didn't
mind your scales correct for
randomness of patterns or
is it the other way around

all I remember is the sex
well not the sex rather the
fact of sex whether or not
we did whatever we did

who followed whom never
why what we were thinking
we were doing what point
satisfied by clean execution

well never clean rather the
fact of doing it at all despite
general indifference we few
were enough for each other

Another Hearing

2012-01-28T23:01:00.001-08:00

what words release memories' meanings
stories' points whether either willingly says
seriously these people are worth knowing

no call to approve or not I do who loved
how long it matters to me only promise
another hearing if living for art's sake

Living Shape

2012-01-27T23:22:00.001-08:00

carry the torch for me please
thanks for caring the way I did
it will return but not the same
which was not so great the life
is the people and for the people
demonstrates shapely unfolding
ideas of form in defiant action
imagination taking living shape
it is always worth doing a play

Every Turn

2012-01-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

it's so restful playing solitaire
the cards fall
you do what you can
not much
every turn another possibility
you fudge a little
the game works out
or not
it doesn't matter
but when it does
it's nice

Forever Undone

2012-01-25T20:56:00.001-08:00

hurry up and say it the time soon gone
the frame worth more than the painting

you are the one taken before it is ripe
eaten before the flavor fully developed

this is what it is this all this or nothing
to be done the rest be forever undone

all right then I will I do heavy lifting
if I can tell the imaginary difference

Stable Properties

2012-01-23T22:48:00.001-08:00

deep luck good genes loving
mother faithful dad raw facts
produce behavior whence the
bug gnaws will thwarts desire
wasting years loves what you
do is plastic tries to be gentle

do you follow lead resist all
changes all the same what do
you do with it say what more
make than given read aloud
stable properties interactive
moves made for us long ago

Other Images

2012-01-21T22:58:00.001-08:00

still night rising
phrases like water
powerful endless
surge in the flow

rumbling clusters
outside the walls
inside the ears
threaten to end

other images arise
nothing interrupts
skin organ squirm
impression active

shall I go on how
much I want you
inside my feeling
one and everyone

Unnatural Disaster

2012-01-20T21:18:00.001-08:00

horrors of economics that we have escaped
a miracle taking down the rest of the world
unnatural disaster made by the human brain

naturally one wants to think something else
progress reversed good undone my opinions
useless great interlocking money forces rule

miserable to live through it even living well
happy as can be can't excuse mass suffering
so a few can accumulate capital shame on us

Brown Water

2012-01-19T21:00:00.001-08:00

basements flooded sumps pumped the creek
turns into a river in spate whole trees rushing
past rises over fences into the easement gates
gain saving chains hidden lakes reveal threat
if you could hear it roar brown water bursting
spouting pale foamy swirls gravity-maddened

Looking Back

2012-01-18T22:39:00.001-08:00

you knew you should have told me
I would have listened I could save
time and fret if not money be rich
by now it doesn't matter then it did

looking back is worse than thinking
you know what happened were you
sorry whose fault was it mine must
have been wondering what nothing

be done with what was done is done
the old song again a novel unlike
memoir journal diary dear forgive
me I was thinking of someone else

More of It

2012-01-17T07:03:00.001-08:00

don't be afraid of words use them generously let lines unspool as they will
when the music starts let it go on for a while people want to hear more of it
never start wondering when it will end whether it is winding up for a coda
don't think of time that way every instant is infinite beyond time and place

Busy Day

2012-01-16T22:37:00.001-08:00

take a break from self
health "work" practice
do what someone else
needs for a change put
up movement-sensing
outdoor light for safer
barn-going in the cold
rain took all afternoon
other plans postponed
peel spuds improvise
hash in shepherd's pie
rounds off a busy day

Boiling Soup

2012-01-15T06:25:00.001-08:00

Ibsen "sat all day at [his] writing
table" the final word unable but

practice improves it amazingly
snow remains idea whenever you

wait for inspiration boiling soup
ready cooking all you can take

care protect manuscripts in case
guns carefully planted do go off

Still Here

2012-01-13T23:24:00.001-08:00

too much more than enough
driving drama sitting in the dark

I called it off stayed home being
about is very rarely as much fun

little enough resistance to joys
always eating thinking pleasure

still here we are reading another
masterpiece a few pages a day

A Duet

2012-01-13T08:54:00.001-08:00

the left hand has its private life
very often different from the right
which does things purposeful and
useful while the other wanders
gathering sensations making separate
moves as if it had another brain
as if not me alone dancing a duet

My Quiche

2012-01-12T23:06:00.001-08:00

say more or less what you mean or what
you mean to say what the intended effect
what will signify something you wish to
reveal more than real-world possibilities

this will happen or something else will
unbeknownst time set via email Ibsen
floating in the cloud of words not even
on paper no emmentaler for my quiche

Not Italian

2012-01-11T22:59:00.001-08:00

cool milk goes down smoothly
I like steady rhythms also jolts
returning to the regular reality
goes on wondering who I am

a stanza is a room in Italy we
would like to be there but are
not Italian northerners know
like Goethe Shelley to love it

this is the sizzle I waited for
thinking I had to what it was
stayed with me still a muddle
a musing a story all one's own

Will Kill

2012-01-10T20:48:00.001-08:00

more want more time fill what
kill for more what time want
for what miss will kill more for
time fill kill what will want more

Bone Chill

2012-01-09T21:48:00.001-08:00

unpredictable unfolding each life only logical
backwards as if this had to happen the present
required the past becoming already over itself

still shocked by blunders inexcusable cruelty
needlessly inflicted as if in the grip of forces
bred in bone chill sapping warmer wishings

uncorrectable error blazes through old winter
loneliness unacceptable stubbornness wants
unmet willingness unoriginal sins repeated

regret nothing you may as well not have done
then this would not be possible justification
wavering light of the documentary evidence

Ably Nourished

2012-01-08T20:06:00.001-08:00

burning eyes the fog searing
headlights wept for Ophelia
for Butch Flowers Hamlet
best I've seen I still can see

and happily hear Mahler's
Tenth beyond himself we
all can do more than think
feel more than we imagine

home in time chickens not
arguably aware of waiting
beady eyes aglitter in cold
hunger and ably nourished

Pure Sweetness

2012-01-06T20:56:00.001-08:00

several possibilities resist assimilation
owners have rights they cry is it true I
made up the rest for my own pleasure

why should you not have been amazed
it was so beautiful that anything still is
after all it was worse than I remember

though not my problem I had taken it
on faith that we were linked not alone
mystic rapture racked by base realities

spell it how you will I know you now
promising distraction pure sweetness
without regret without making me fat

Books I Read in 2011

2012-01-05T18:09:00.001-08:00

"Spotted Horses" by William Faulkner (aloud)
"How I Became a Nun" by César Aira
"Out Stealing Horses" by Per Petterson
"Positivity" by Barbara L Fredrickson
Selected Poems by John Ashbery
"Just Kids" by Patti Smith
"The File on H." by Ismail Kadare
"Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So" by Mark Vonnegut
"Rameau's Nephew" by Denis Diderot (aloud)
"Wait!," "Last Lists of My Mad Mother," and "Playwriting Brief & Brilliant" by Julie Jensen
"The Fever" by Wallace Shawn
Essays by Wallace Shawn
"The Dead Republic" by Roddy Doyle
"Black Hole" (graphic novel) by Charles Burns
"Chronicles Vol. I" by Bob Dylan
"The Education of Henry Adams" by Henry Adams (aloud)
"Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen
"Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life" by Winifred Gallagher
"As Ever, Julia," Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto
"Coming to Our Senses" by Jon Kabat-Zinn (part)
"I Curse the River of Time" by Per Petterson
"Justice for Hedgehogs" by Ronald Dworkin
"Clover" by Otto Friedrich
"The Hidden Brain" by Shankar Vedantam
"All Families Are Psychotic" by Douglas Coupland
"The Apology," "Crito," "Phaedo" by Plato
"Generation A" by Douglas Coupland
"Stop Sleeping Through Your Dreams" by Charles McPhee
"Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn
"The Year of the Hare" by Arto Paasilinna
"The Northern Lights" by Howard Norman
"Britten's Children" by John Bridcut
"The Weekend" by Bernhard Schlink
"Somewhere Towards the End" by Diana Athill
"The Fugitive" by Marcel Proust
"Chiva" by Chellis Glendinning
"Burning Man: Art in the Desert" by A. Leo Nash
"Of the Farm" by John Updike
Manifesto I edited by Gabriel Boyer
"Inside Looking Out" by Harding Lemay
"I Remember" by Joe Brainard
"Kingdom by the Sea" by Paul Theroux
"Eleuthéria" by Samuel Beckett
"About the Author" by John Colapinto
"Ham on Rye" by Charles Bukowski
Conversations with Pinter by Mel Gussow
"The Homecoming" by Harold Pinter
"Time Regained" by Marcel Proust
"We Have Never Been Modern" by Bruno Latour
"William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism" by Robert D. Richardson
"The Dance of Life" by Edward T. Hall
"Murther & Walking Spirits" by Robertson Davies
"Leaving the Atocha Station" by Ben Lerner
"A Cab at the Door" by V. S. Pritchett
"Our Mutual Friend" by Charles Dickens (aloud)

Lost Love

2012-01-05T06:16:00.001-08:00

thus do our weaknesses become our strengths
we don't make all the same mistakes when we
do we know it all again but left behind among
lost love over before we began to understand

Too Little

2012-01-04T19:55:00.001-08:00

did I write what I thought
I wrote too much too little
spoken before imagining
forgot my most important
dreams the mind spinning

sit down and spell it out
I think this and this this
person thus I like gossip
without opinion without
thinking you know better

Speak Out

2012-01-03T19:43:00.001-08:00

words unspoken fester converse among
themselves gang up plot against you be
vigilant they grow they will seize the day

speak out however you can in music art
living grace be at your best in gratitude
humility let them all come in be friends

words unread play dead fool themselves
for want of playmates admire their form
and airs imagine appreciation satisfied

Only Weather

2012-01-02T12:53:00.001-08:00

I am the narrator's companion
watching him watching what
may or may not have happened
memory ever revising the past

my interest not being the same
I see him as fiction made up
unchanged from earlier years
except his mood is improved

he worries less knowing time
is running nothing will avail
mistakes are made weather is
only weather his life another

I will not abandon him if his
tale is dry his subjects trivial
judge him less than something
telling the only story he knows

Cleaning Up

2012-01-01T23:05:00.001-08:00

precious friends play their parts
appear behave gladly we end it
starts again everything put away

Schubert agreed to be perfect in
character I look relaxed excited
playing try stay relatively calm

bring out the whisky let people
talk observing natural mutuality
constructed at small-town ease

at another time I might have a
project of my own be going to
Italy or India worried fraught

instead of placidly cleaning up
play solitaire let be what is go on
with what I was doing before

Our Fur

2012-01-01T06:40:00.001-08:00

retrospective particulars feed the general
smugness as Pollyanna keeps getting old

gas not as natural as it sounds electricity
never clean insulates against cold nights

how would we feel if we were really here
on earth constructed environment our fur

culture our comfort replaces raw being
northern animals pitted against winter

descending anyway as proper clothing
habits delineate the playable characters

Kind Words

2011-12-31T20:25:00.001-08:00

signifying for its own sake
forms descry averages we
respond in kind words are
all we have unconditional
deployments wither hearts

thus in cars read reasons
to be happy brave serious
about how much it costs
what it says about status
what kind of person I am

which season explains if
states of love are fruiting
what drug might help see
what you know of timing
whether the year can end

Friendly Ways

2011-12-30T20:03:00.001-08:00

whether the other brother emerges
wishing which ditch overflows most
warmly saying what you want to hear

which is this breathing wriggling
balance attention sizzle after dinner
quietly going separate friendly ways

doesn't bother the father cares most
warmly reminded of what someone
said when he was ready to go to bed

Perfect Sense

2011-12-29T06:29:00.001-08:00

I am less saying anything than making
artifacts existing where before there was
nothing doing my thing like a chicken

believe me I am speaking perfect sense
on some level more specific than writing
"about" something even more imaginary

even if not my pleasure in the creative
acts like a neurotransmitter focusing
the disparate deeds of normal waking life

Good Fortune

2011-12-28T20:41:00.001-08:00

modes of being lost and found
contentment light-hearted lust
intellectual absorption pattern
musical or physical competing
for glory virtue high low bored

gain loss wrong question rather
ask yourself this moment listen
wind rain humming twittering
process will or no recourse but
giving in embrace good fortune

Situation Found

2011-12-27T23:07:00.001-08:00

everything changes but not until it
suddenly does even if you see it
coming until then you are stuck at
this apparent end point everything
in place every day the same old
you very slowly sliding downhill

how do we reconcile this contrast
exist in contradictory dimensions
make sense of the situation found
paradise and nightmare according
to what where when weak delusion
maintained by quantum ignorance

When to Lead

2011-12-26T23:04:00.001-08:00

fudge it a little what the heck
nothing's at stake no one dies

kindness good humor weighs
more than following the rules

honest generous and loved
by all who knew him besides

obedience has limits decide
when to follow when to lead

Begin Again

2011-12-25T22:47:00.001-08:00

infinite random detail crowds in
St. Peter's I can't imagine believing
anything so officially sanctioned

we like our little ways reading
Dickens after dinner crosswords
before sleep together and apart

definite blessings deserve notice
good lucky spotty when the norm
falling apart sucks millions down

not all problems can be solved
but we can do much better past
solstice now we can begin again

This Night

2011-12-24T23:37:00.001-08:00

sweet baby Jesus encourage precious
sentiment better story without religion

this night carols ring the protestants
triumph whatever the shopping lights

I celebrate solstice another turning
day forward when you might be sad

wish joy to the world another birth
naturally be mother and father too

Flowing Out

2011-12-23T07:42:00.001-08:00

advice to all men
put the toilet seat down
after every time you go
women appreciate it
and mind if you forget
as if they don't exist

putting down the lid as well
will stop the chi from flowing out
we all need all our chi!

Too Brief

2011-12-22T16:39:00.001-08:00

I have been reading not writing
both at once unfortunately awkward
ironing lunching listening to Peter
Bogdanovich talk about his movie
playing backgammon very badly
the day pleasant but too brief
a nap and only an hour left
too quickly gone

Doing Less

2011-12-20T23:42:00.001-08:00

"Either way, I promised myself, I would never write a novel." —Ben Lerner

fine with me that nothing is happening let's
lie low and wait for longer days adjust to
doing less more slowly but not less well
I know the form now nothing immediate
to fear fend off but unavoidable bedtime

Long Nights

2011-12-19T21:36:00.001-08:00

Havel the best of men if only
others were as gentle and polite

his simplicity not simple shows
Czech subtle complex weird

that something better possible
enlivens short days long nights

painfully extended still thinking
clearly suffering troubled world

my hero standing up enjoying
palace laughs at power wielding

pressing on with what was right
a play of lives and highest comedy

Present Pit

2011-12-18T07:33:00.001-08:00

boobies rule again against all kind
sense unled allow continued war
against our own sweeter interests
manipulative twits have their way
why pay attention to these clowns
they are taking over can probably
be worse than even the present pit

Two Musics

2011-12-17T22:56:00.001-08:00

let it go make it happen
play the notes as written
be glad your fingers can
move ask your brain how
many small-town friends
appear annually seldom
glimpsed or never good
talking to like tonight's
two parties in one block
two musics being heard

Weird People

2011-12-15T22:24:00.001-08:00

now withdraw the mercenaries
and the weird people at the embassy
how much did that cost us
who else is there doing what
why is it all a secret

You Alone

2011-12-15T06:27:00.001-08:00

adjust your position again
comfort is here somewhere

say what is really going on
listen heart murmurs truth

dare to make sense of it if
you alone can do you must

forcing anyone act against
basic rule of animal nature

gang up on weak common
flaw begs careful correction

Just Enough

2011-12-14T23:14:00.001-08:00

little pains mean less
what anyone thinks
hardly matters I want
respect recognition it
doesn't matter either
private is just enough
immediate closeness
soothes every wound

Both Ways

2011-12-13T20:29:00.001-08:00

if I knew more I would tell you
too much too little smart accept
what is no purpose no ambition

no one told me misled blinded
knowing not to trust them I was
wrong both ways doubly failed

you can read about it in the holy
books crystal vision might well
improve scene "imminent threat

and long-term hoplessness" not
normal happy animal spreading
love and beauty answer all need

The End

2011-12-12T22:31:00.001-08:00

exactly the costume I wore at Yale
blue buttondown crewneck Shetland
sweater grey flannels comfortable in
winter that was fifty-six years past
before anything am I still the same
after all original self reclaiming me
didn't make myself my parents were
transitional figures I am the end of
many lives come recently unmoored
need not cannot resist being true to
type no single part uniquely mine
only this synthesis and pass it on

Good Plays

2011-12-11T21:08:00.001-08:00

does it make it more real if I write it down
maybe moved it to a different brain region
it's already real but over happened when it
did now something else and soon forgotten

stop time waits in words openable anytime
everyone knows if they care to examine if
any other purpose wills revisits good plays
or any other remotely possible significance

Glowing Screen

2011-12-10T07:37:00.001-08:00

everybody blurs together
not just the characters in "Our Mutual Friend"
but actual conversations
who said he was having prostate trouble
random input overload
I am never not reading in fragments and jumps
Robertson Davies NYRB
words and pictures on the glowing screen
pleasure density thrills

Plain Sight

2011-12-09T07:28:00.000-08:00

no why just what
satisfies unnecessarily suppressed curiosity
without blowing anything up

stanzas
come in all sizes
lines of any length like formal views through tall French windows

number magic hides in plain sight beside the Juno fountain
paths describe the possible
your hand in mine a dimension sublime

so we go on
manifest form composed of all time
seasoned in love

Beige Study

2011-12-08T21:12:00.001-08:00

we know more about less and less
about more the first thrill long lost
still trumpeting ceaseless devotion

I said what I could quite clearly if
you know the code if not hopeless
word for discouraged intervention

medium length beige study crispy
on the outside in case of tenderness
call for help I am ready in waiting

Something Soft

2011-12-07T22:45:00.001-08:00

more is eventually less as you know
some people don't say so who cares
more may not live longer than seen
slipping into something soft unless
you wish to keep promising better

that said he ate another clementine
both sweet and tart as remembered
holidays since everything changed
you hadn't noticed wishing further
repetitions of the same sad stories

it will have to do while you wake
up another contested morn greets
the winter weather count on time
for profit lost on spending whose
capital ideas were largely realized

Total Confusion

2011-12-06T16:35:00.001-08:00

I'm so good that anything I write
even in total confusion has value
someday someone will recognize
its brilliance then everybody will

so I imagined when I was young
look where it got me is anybody
listening if I am saying anything
it's for the walls the gods for you

Buy Time

2011-12-05T23:00:00.001-08:00

dire consequences loom grotesque
wreckage of all philosophies sell
what you can while there's time

no buy time keep going it won't
catch up give more care believe
meanwhile anything can happen

panic never helps do something
fill time weigh sensation matters
it more than you think you think

Art Value

2011-12-04T20:53:00.001-08:00

after Chopin what to say beauty
fine feeling exquisite expression
doubting nothing of art value in
the pinch of floating free within
the strictest steady arching pulse
this is the form that must emerge
nor prince nor pauper welcomed
to play piano in historic houses
whether yes or no will be O.K.

Best Defense

2011-12-03T23:20:00.003-08:00

the solitary man gets up early
stays up late does most things
alone not by choice it's culture
circumstances outcome habit
no white-man alternative on
offer we like what's familiar

my way is not the highway
no one likes traffic the best
defense immunity talk radio
music we can be in perfect
sync don't even think about
what miss not being Italian

Not Me

2011-12-02T18:36:00.001-08:00

if I'm not here where am I
see myself reading making
rice to go with the chicken
hear the tv nattering if not
screaming at the other end
of the house but it's not me
I am thinking of something
else that takes me away to
nowhere no one can know

How Far

2011-12-01T23:09:00.001-08:00

not even words it's all spelled out
in numbers not even numbers but
digital representations of numbers
how far we have come from ding
an sich still my feet rest on a real
aghan my mother made with love
in every stitch better than virtual

Worse Noise

2011-11-30T22:33:00.001-08:00

this was the last chance we missed it
still time for fun and good lives if we
pay attention on the right level deal
with what comes up as always though
the general outlook obviously sucks

I hate to say it but it's true I too think
about Schoenberg tuning out all but
art politico stars of delusion media
making matters worse noise alarms
ambitious struts I know what I know

One Day

2011-11-29T06:09:00.001-08:00

somebody died who was responsible
and if so what are we to do about it
that is the question with no answer

short statements are not always true
the fact has slipped into something
more comfortable ready to converse

that took care of one day as no one
else before you came in collaging
as if choices need never be made

Nothing Personal

2011-11-28T20:52:00.001-08:00

news is just things going on as they do
nothing personal unless it is we are all
supposedly affected numbers changed
I don't feel it only conversation hardly
matters until I have to sell or suddenly
run out leave chaos not of my making

Final Fruits

2011-11-27T23:35:00.001-08:00

I do this I do that pretty much per
plan now here I am in my chair
doing the other always part of it

whether young in picture perfect
act is everything I never stopped
saying what unsaid stays forever

capital improvement gathers in
final fruits the seasons revolve
the answers answer themselves

it's raining too hard to drive so
fast velocity central to the road
experience never to be missed

Invisible

2011-11-26T22:57:00.001-08:00

it's all so familiar the nip in the air
varied evocative textures underfoot
a balance of considerations first this
then that what else is new don't get
me wrong I care I still can play still
hold my own keep getting better up
to a point I've been to before I know
the scale I am happy to be invisible

Nothing Doing

2011-11-25T22:33:00.001-08:00

nothing interferes with nothing doing
there is always more on another level
if that's what you think why do more
recovery is not just any point of view
murmurs may be louder than shouts
anything is good if you can handle it

Come Back

2011-11-24T22:23:00.001-08:00

read all that come back for more
words we need to clarify being
different the same old problem
one or many idea or experience

take a whack what do you think
will happen after dinner do we
have to do something else or is
this enough

Many Live

2011-11-23T21:09:00.001-08:00

sometimes the cards play out often
things happen as they can pleasing
colored patterns for the usual years
the norm is functionality after all

we wouldn't be here thank lucky
stars always with us under clouds
hidden in sunlight can be happy
in the long aftermath unchanged

have confidence that many live
as others die improve the world
as others trash it the odds good
you are basically okay for now

tomorrow good hour to be alive
protected by distance comforted
proximity loving quirky friends
family thinking exhalt the day

Another Book

2011-11-22T21:49:00.003-08:00

briefly Dickens allows for ambiguity the sentence
flows about mean reputation scene the waterfront
other characters denied alliteration too easily said
what done began a different path to same results
if you know what's good take care briars abound

that said he bowed politely withdrew left us all to
wonder that we live so purely forgotten even now
remembered justification unserved unsummoned
wishing it were other becoming golden shadows
anticipate what might have become another book

Many Places

2011-11-21T22:39:00.001-08:00

each self answer as part of many
parts overlapping interest bearing
pepper spray agree to suffer for
what matters more than comfort
more than personal engagement

heroes of the only moment we
know something is happening
the same in many places as if
awake I am going back enough
progress already made to hope

Asking Why

2011-11-20T11:16:00.001-08:00

what is the meaning of anything no one
knows despite centuries of smart people
asking why all this suffering and cruelty
who are we it is not too late to figure out

A Shock

2011-11-19T23:24:00.001-08:00

the story goes on and so do I
and so do you then we meet

a shock you are not like me
is it an insuperable obstacle

we can talk it over change
ways understandings hours

no end or beginning means
this telling is all it can be

Second Rising

2011-11-18T23:04:00.001-08:00

you can say it still goes on
without a future it's not the
same game you might win

all win together now lose
the attitude democracy is
starting overdue fairness

you can say it still works
some still freely laughing
silly guiltless loving alive

human yeast bubbles up
second rising like a wind
energy whirls heavy away

Take Time

2011-11-17T23:14:00.000-08:00

calming rain patters equally with
Mozart's busy winds think slowly
go on spend it all reject nothing

only relax take time by the hand
invite everything in make dinner
no one doubts your earnest will

eagerly sleep get ready another
wealth of possibities may arise
hot porridge against a cold day

Proposal

2011-11-16T23:18:00.001-08:00

dance with me
dream with me
sleep with me
think with me
meet with me
feel with me
eat with me
be new with me
march with me
play with me
sing with me
read with me
act with me
work with me
live with me
be old with me

The Only Future

2011-11-15T18:10:00.001-08:00

do I have to hear how bad things are
brutal Berkeley cops feds help evict
occupying idealist realists hoping to
save us from ourselves we need them
badly they are the best of youth will
win deserve to theirs the only future

the old will not yield gracefully smug
rich give up their perks powerful cede
police militarized for just this there
they are no surprise who will rise to
call them on their havoc who listen
reasons of heart dearer than money

Immediate Satisfaction

2011-11-15T07:54:00.000-08:00

this what is all there is that
came before doesn't matter
however formative wounds
heart throbs happiness now

so listen to me every day as
in immediate satisfaction as
in I tell you what I don't even
know or begin to think I may

Go Through

2011-11-14T22:44:00.000-08:00

fold up fold in the pleasure collapse
let it all go it all goes back into void
release every tension hunger held idea
now isn't that better or would be if real

these are the felt thoughts embellished
in the weary brain check in often hear
imagine something more than music
be there go through let the rest be done

Ready Void

2011-11-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

cognition is incomplete until discharged in act
says William James my brother in thought as a
play needs to be acted as I gradually do as what
was intended to happen arises in the ready void

he can philosophize for me as others do politics
while I continue to construct a life like a novel
people enter we make scenes I am often alone
with books thoughts pictures feelings the body

Quite Obvious

2011-11-11T22:25:00.001-08:00

every day the same I like
it took me fifty sixty years
to learn the form that fits
crossword alarm phone I
willingly rise to write or
unwrite the case may be
peculiar or quite obvious

Her Night

2011-11-10T20:48:00.001-08:00

full again the idle moon
moves amused by lovers
wistful in its frigid light

we are those few among
many worship her night
obey our tides commune

warmth lost in reflection
returns from within each
bright soul being heaven

Well Put

2011-11-09T22:51:00.001-08:00

hugo you're the man I thought about
reading between the sheets of rain or
shine on foods in the larder thanks
giving up what went wrong before

I'm softer on the outside in for good
grateful graceful if I can remember
anything you said was true who can
doubt something that's so well put

In Media

2011-11-08T21:10:00.001-08:00

I am here now too
I am up to date in
my own way VW
Kindle MacBook
Air live in media
feelings mediated
as everything else
goes on as always
seeking to resolve
missteps failures
ambiguities alive
decades afterward
groping for real

Dawn Comes

2011-11-07T06:46:00.001-08:00

the writer paces
dawn comes wet
alpaca replaces silk
furnace comes on

this skin bursting
time-straitened
wirelessly wired
squirmily sensate

bone and muscle
word for word
ocean of sound
embrace it yield

Keep Up

2011-11-06T21:29:00.001-08:00

give give more can you find
a taker who can or cares to
keep up go on what else is

there there it's not so awful
think what might have gone
down where the fishes roam