Fair Account

the eye stops on the word which
the right eye the left disengaged
what is the cause of this he asks

the thoughts arising spinning in
wasteful or creative eddies why
go on like this spiritual practice

reading not exactly thinking all
day naps as well as actions take
prior experience in fair account

a novel is part the rest is silence
or hyperlinks if you want more
than is necessarily good for you

Perfected Love

how are the dead alive they come
to us in dreams mixed unlimited
by who they had become or were
stuck with freely leaving us again

the pain is waking knowing they
are not in the brighter world nor
changing as we are ever more a
self promises that won't be kept

they live in us as long as we let
them go and celebrate as never
possible delights and struggle to
be worthy of their perfected love

Random Judgments

and if they thought they had to say
and no one was there so they wrote
it down and time dissolved without
stopping the beat there is no cause

for concern or alarm distract mind
better off played music resonances
dampened random judgments non-
acceptable usage greeting friendly

Ugly Facts

pointless events grow richer in meaning
might be the meaning of art if I had any
theory that might be it or another like it

hard not to care when you know people
sex unmentioned intimacy implying wry
warmth before crucial solitary passages

we lunch but eat not realism's formality
requites ugly facts elegant text texture
lies quiet if only nothing were what it is

One True

steady scare losing sensitivity thank
what you would put up with if could
sincerely trying to communicate not
will real time lag one room one true

Define Taste

your mom my mother sweaters
never ugly can anyone imagine
define taste made who you are

happily using reluctantly losing
love stitch holds imperfect like
a spider manifesting her nature

Shared Breathing

inexorable line unbroken then it
breaks you me all weep only the
truth of art signifies unbelieving

provisional causality because it
works a thin atmosphere within
subtle reformation of the heart

what was true is always anyone
knows loss hidden inside some
shared breathing ever connects

Buddha Truths

the worst happens suddenly
you had forgotten life is real
not a walk in a park another
hand of solitaire lost is final

time passes slowly then it's
over Buddha truths inform
this moment remember it
is you me one person less

Cries

think like me be like me
unbearable otherness of the other

here I am home alone
hours days clear what now

something else another layer a crown
shooting spikes of interstellar fire

makes me talk to myself others good
hate feeling talking less tongue dull

Random Fable

none of my assumptions apply
even badly truth often contrast
with nothing but random fable

how go on in vacuum no heat
possible enough layers fooling
untenable idiocy to evaporate

like ice cubes in the freezer if
there when needed turnaround
repeats prior misunderstanding

High Mowing

some are smarter kinder wiser
harder working special is not
superior then win what point
knowing never to begin again

because facts accumulate fair
love comforts weak or strong
high mowing sings of summer
forgives conditional retreat

Stay Strong

only for myself do I need to do
stay strong engaged producing

I admire neighbors' mellowness
it doesn't last they fade and fail

irrelevance trumps good nature
neglecting what we have to give

all fabric wears weakens ages
slowness poorly hides mortality

there is no time no act breaks
lives not dramatic with an arc

only positive statements count
being transubstantiated as idea

Another Choice

sometimes it's easy sometimes hard
cycles of all kinds overlap inner outer
other people are going to Khartoum

I could live in Brooklyn but I already
did nor anywhere but here the others
might have been Bologna or Trieste

why stop there a different planet or
way of life a different person who is
the same but made another choice

Often Worse

why be surprised it's what I drive
fly live to see plays hence Hamlet
for five Ophelia-Laertes playing
a scene with herself and other fun
poor Hamlet so sad when he dies

well that's that I guess what else
is there comedy what's funny any
more I can't watch too snooty or
what let go the world unsolvable
it is always like this often worse

Most Do

anxiety make plan ahead as if
sure I will exist go come home
this ground predicted to shake
and nothing permanent ignore
usual qualms and set the date
I am already on the plane with
most of my companions flying
a moment fixed and probable
in fact no matter what most do

Points West

creek flowing and nothing to
read remember Soren Agenoux
time thief leaving clues all over
Paris New York points west

after-breakfast sleepies today
first prune the pear then nod off
adrift as counterpoint accumulates

Which Me

as if a secret message answered
although unread in perfect sync

I wake up laughing and amazed
afterwards dream about a baby

Mother D'Oyly Carte "The Fly"
what can it possibly mean if

dreams tell stories who is the
author which me writing that

Slowing Down

I thought we were slowing down
then we sped up again everyone
going everywhere not pleasantly

nothing is pleasant anymore the
way it used to be closer although
farther away than anyone meant

so the idea of going anywhere is
daunting but when you get there
there you are changed refreshed

no longer too far away from your
dear lost friends and loved ones
but with again as if all the time

Wet Film

why these distances don't dissolve I
can't get any of your time am I too
too busy I have time for everything
free days my own deliberate routine

open to eastern way of union though
Chinese Indian mass action appalls
stampeding forever threatens order
breakdown infrangible inner bonds

so float my mœurs amid clockwork
thermostats scattered in a wet film
on a hot rock lost in frigid darkness
particles of original disintegration

Another Dimension

how much Hamlet does it take am I
to write again same limpid enigma
beyond brain limit all right I'm on it

something to do before dawn light
dimly beckons wetly anything else
rises to amuse like love like a dog

thus Powers okays plays what's he
up to thinking revealed explains
another dimension there all time

Still Quest

I remember the coat you the cold
concrete nothing else what were
we sleeping where how even who
knew doing preparation for a life
now unfolded comfort satisfaction
easy sharing after all still quest
this flickering error still prevails

Endless Time

real love a parable say everything
at once bitter and sweet hopeless
and ideal phooey and affirmation
an opera from before it happened
as if every bit could be imagined
and then unfolded like actualities
with plenty of room endless time

Go Back

lost what I did not have before
but you can't go back the world
will not easily be simpler again

imaginary congruences do you
"feel" something did I "trick" you
is it really all about "buttons" I

can work that way too even now
that technology remakes need
beneath continues to express

Little Bites

I dare to eat an apple
read in little bites too
moved to go on long

when the story is over
another begins a book
is afraid to be finished

Long Nights

goodbye Christmas figures put away
lights taken down hello midwinter if
I knew anything more I would say so

long nights not bad bed soft house
warmable in need think if sleepers
can't move what mind trick helps

in 19th century Russia say even now
any number suffer adaptive thinking
only death can save gets us through

Irrelevant Aches

less happens only ghosts return
calls waiting for what to say you
are in love that's real not a story

later even less get used to it use
Buddha and the other jewels use
anything one idea is not to think

perceptions pain irrelevant aches
all fade hopes to have been good
echo synapses spoken for before

Very Dark

I can do "Hamlet" first scene in silhouette
very dark Francisco has a lantern gives it
to Bernardo Marcellus and Horatio unseen

or should I cut to the chase it's something
to think about pick up the book it jumps
some actors a stage a few lights audience

I am starting to see it what fun I've always
loved "Hamlet" as anyone must when given
the chance no theatre a platform a curtain

Do Better

supreme virtue in a house full of people
bring them on there is plenty more room
who will help who speak to my concerns

I want them here and we like to be alone
once a year is enough we would have to
remake entire culture do better than this

imagined interchange on another level
who stops but oneself not William who
asks bolder questions provoke thought