Turn Again

personally ever optimistic worried ever more about the world worrying ever since the sixties turn we must turn again remember revive progressive ideals fairness justice civil rights necessarily redistribute wealth greed has no place sure no respect disarm weapons only harm cry for the lost the suffering in the new year turn

Two People

this year violet realizes what a treasure her sweet man is she looks back and sees she was in a spin keeping a limit on what she felt no longer held balance and harmony but she saw a very strong person in herself writing gave her a feeling of knowing who she is and what she wants between two people if she did not stop and look it might have gone in the wrong direction violet wants a strong balanced relationship she has it starry-eyed when she sees him her heart feels warm she feels safe grateful violet wishes everyone harmony and balance

History of Sleaze

remorseless brutal murdering tyrant wasn't he Cheney's man against Iran didn't the U.S. ambassador as much as say O.K. take Kuwait what a long disgusting history of sleaze

One Thing

Where I think you may be wrong is that you seem to be thinking that if you decide not to become one thing, the other thing you become has to be better. (Doris Lessing) bad wine cooking accumulates my old not good air clears sympathies active departure advances brother more oil two cats buy boxer briefs funky café waiter son ex-husband link beans poems pingpong party gathering seeds as time runs out lords planet little lives outweigh historical philosophy begin anew

I Can

blundered critical possibly snide provoking spin apology rejected communication breakdown alas gutter up more poems typed in whipped up good shrimp curry read books by fire as if alone can't help self-expression well I could should mind step light be good why me because I can

Skin Tight

violet took the money she is very careful first she thought of thrift stores churches have good ones then she changed her mind Ann Taylor if you wait long enough you can find something there plain simple beautiful and seventy percent off content to think it did not matter she found black no pockets skin tight pants tomorrow Saks seventy percent off

Christmas for Violet

violet was touched by the gesture under the tree an envelope filled with money and a note buy some clothes it was too much she could not accept it strange your lover gives you money to buy yourself clothes and you barely have enough to buy him a pair of socks painful his shirts cost as much as your rent and you can barely make your rent

Beautiful Movie

inviting New Year sitting down wine time cheese new people same party paintings menu chili honey ham rain day needed confrontation tears hugs no cork tiles like the ones I installed for Helen years ago precious friends for Christmas ruled by fool can no one stop him too intense flee talk try walk it's raining round driveway visit horses calmness helps open free heart "Faraway, So Close!" beautiful movie

How Else

existence precedes essence still makes me dizzy feel endangered as if on a train to New Haven after a confusing weekend in New York Christmas photographs resume ritual embraces all subjective as if life really is a novel just as I expected phenomena without within blur together balance revealed as if astrology has any reality how else explain my Libra nature angst forgotten one wanders off here not pausing but composing as if having learned to be in more than one place at the same time

One Life

five projects morning droop Julian Carol analyzing world problems too much for me decorating tree tips memory fuss-free pleasing no Christ myth nice story great music who are killers why spend one life spreading misery enough already baffling if desperate despair we who can fix it don't heart sick with pity shame apology

Go Shop

educational paperwork instead of tree palace or karma instead of drumming photographing father recliner relaxed trees free renaturalized Julian haircut peanut butter banana cottage cheese go shop read nap pay bills do website new moon gleams limpid evening sky within time gravity nothing else exists

Odd Reading

solstice hurray longest night dream wracked tsunami from above climbing travel another universe wrong car Julian train stretch time sunlight pouring in south trees gone whole house bright music ideas sensations coolly flaming midst winter iron-filtered water odd reading Barthes Vidal lovely Christmas cards sent Donald's skyline curtain "Trouble" aglow

Tree Men

Short as his life is, no man is so happy that it shall not be his lot, not only once but many times, to wish himself dead rather than alive. (Herodotus) Mozart enough breakfast lunch anticipating planetary devolution slow cold pleasure moving fences make way for tree men machines driving shopping dine Papa Haydn Lora-Faye examined moves or not What do we do now, now that we are happy? (Beckett)

Save All

frost coat every twig fence mesh white light so pretty tiny frost flakes filtering morning sun subscribe n+1 need intellectual food stir like Kunkel's democratic socialist David's war on cars written word so tiring feeble artifact to hold save all

Tell Me

pleasant happy dues all paid director's commentary my corks rubber band ball Christmas figures polish piano tabletops pack up my father's offensive elephants dorm room half emptied useless resist drugs contempt for A's no likely friends ski read good books collect good music history can go to hell without my voice slick driveway broken tooth trees fall tell me feelings how we are different awake receptive finally warm electric fish new horse ready respect sabbath

Iraq Now

U.S. out of Iraq now harm done stop doing more that's what I think Dennis Kucinich for President

Big Thump

drive rain wind spume-blinding freeway parking crunch Pearl Christmas craze "I Am My Own Wife" deep underground new studio talkative Lesbian behind us old misanthropy threatens public joys run feed meter self quick intermission Wade McCollum terrific excess effects granddaughter occupied studying finals home swift drowned fields philosophize walk creek full wind roaring other side house low snug haven read write cook spoonbread big thump against wall what whole top half tall spruce broke off fell against house ripped off gutter section phone wire window chimney roof O.K.

Real Person

morning light gray softly blending hotel dreams beautiful Bob Dylan ejaculation wealth granola yummy Ruth Mexico David Korea another morning possible improbable go anywhere else only this time place sensations toes ears skin an organ Grieg Woodard Adams Kurtág me real person Billy Name never was

No Hurry

cards now after dinner movies stacking up no hurry no days longer easy word wizzing Soren sister messages only phone unrings dubious battery missed rendezvous delay blowing rain spume off road saved music pictures clunky coat shoes sensational art

Stuffed Sole

Jerry knows everything that's going on Lorin is learning Chinese she is earth I am air what system use doesn't matter same stars seasons good Italian food I ate mussels Carol stuffed sole like the New York party food she did long ago toasted sesame seeds finished granola enzyme pills help French fries mousse

Too Serious

not a mirror but a lamp ambition of brightness used up renewed again each thought familiar fresh good will springs youthful pratfall pitfall too serious inapropos soon late real tragedy loss everyone will know content reaccented how happy I am expectant born redefined expired

Oddly Touching

senseless spinning without a story what is the story perfectibility fading anyway freshman roommate surfaces email don't you love it connections survive oddly touching others loved more vanished must be dead no way to know more truly

Free to Speak

haircutter curious describe process writing play place root characters from nature each embodies possible attitude metabolism reaction heightens contrast energy spiral draws power real emotion world internalized fictive they are free to speak It is by dint of agitating ourselves to increase our happiness that we convert it into unhappiness. (Rousseau)

No Excuse

images Jose Padilla blind deaf manacled American justice victim shame on us all latest closest how love prairie mountain wistful beauty rooted native people soil shadows happiness better dream strive realize true being expression no excuse

Always Conspire

never do it alone always conspire Judith Malina told Ed Sanders so many years ago already wise we writers conspire with our words

Much Mozart

is what is not happening anything what should I do saw "The Queen" worked book played much Mozart walked leather soles cooked et al. still not happening leaves empty pages erased as well not imagined stage still private salvage people later not existing unless embodied

Face It

the century of happiness was the 18th face it we are too late witnessing decline disintegration the sea the very air threat specific everywhere ideal fantasy perfectibility obsolete bets called poignant appropriate emotion Paris last seen great cities concentrate apology like Yoko Ono what else say sorry live quiet small comforts pleasures giving guide warm attractive space

Hidden Light

pressure off will momentum dissipating two months free thinking bed peaceful heavy lifts I don't have to do mourning my imagined world won't become real actors body characters sweet action be mysteriously alive speculation afloat little group not meet work play find inner outer none react to hidden light