End War

tweaking is not enough rethink
everything is wrong puncturing
the planet sssssssssssssssssss

music is not enough reimagine
we can't go back only forward
how to repair great damages

how to live together crowded
as we are with ancient hatreds
think imagine believe end war

Cottage Cheese

Best Foods mayonnaise and Nancy's cottage cheese shhh
or I will tell on you too not that I know anything shameful

a question of taste my stock in trade as if I knew enough
to be exemplary or say what you or anyone ought to like

inevitably miscellaneous potluck of the highly conscious
in a time of weirdness symbolic nourishment is also food

Infinite Craft

to the snake and the possum I'm
sorry one of you is real the other
dreamed or a photograph from
another time and place whoever
thought we would go on so long

endearments disarm the novel's
infinite craft and art projected
on a painted screen why hide it
knowing if not mentioning who
did what when we were young

Abstract Purposes

this word means what it says
that I am writing well that we
understand each other better
than we think that words are
good for something more or
less valuable than useful for
abstract purposes like talking

that came out in a rush because
I'd thought about it with my other
brain attention elsewhere dressed
up indulging in a special dinner
celebrating eighteen happy years
playing music now a century old
kissing murmuring sweet wit

I let it stand for what I want
to say to write is arranging
words in space in time will
tell the story now unfolding
lucky confident imagining a
reader when night is young
I am loving this book again

Eyelashes

I forgot to paint eyelashes
as bad as anyone the same
crude nose flatly forward
at least I did it I can learn
if I put in the time practice
helps I am better at editing
effortless natural decades
of experience forever fun
if anyone asks me I say yes

Fickle Ways

what does rain mean
why does it make me
feel chilly when warm
what's its true content
besides perfect water

how does rain matter
apart from furthering
growth good and bad
plants flourish madly
growing uncontrolled

weather is impersonal
but who can resist its
alternating cheer and
gloom its fickle ways
charm and annoy us

now it has stopped
am I glad or sorry do
I regret complaining
yes do I hope for sun
yes but I love the rain

Swept Up

start and the rest will follow
a hard lesson to learn if you
don't start someone else will
and you will be swept up in
their trip or just mechanical
doing the already program
program it yourself at least

Open Mind

I may or may not maybe tomorrow
or the next day or the day after or
all of the above and more or less
constantly all the rest of my life

other possibilities may also occur
keep an open mind and consider
changing it when better evidence
convinces you what you thought
was not the case suddenly clear

the morning is a moment away
night has lost its dubious charm
someone is calling you respond

Don't Forget

Alfred totally gets it as usual
but Kory hasn't called back or
the high school I quietly fret

meanwhile Harry lives Dinny
is home again Christopher
and Patrick are coming over

either way is O.K. make it
happen catch up on blogs
don't forget a single thing

Old Masters

revisitations like new Schumann
Vaughan Williams even "Streetcar"
old masters never let you down
my own time resonant rapture

this anniversary seventeen apart
from multiple necessities Arthur
Avenue grandchildren Manhattan
transfer love by permanent orbit

change is not given says Paz
wise about democracy read him
acting loud enough said about
Chicago pizza highways flooding

Rich Children

this is the great well-being deep
blue sky rich children in a bubble
SUVs accellerating heedlessly while
away from home art comforts war

nothing else lasts or is forgiven
come back empty forgetting what
was never known for candy craft
a just response the joint deception

scared of working women run for life
I can't imagine living here sub-irony
as one of them or someone else stuck
with the bill for thought gone wrong

Human Factors

doom enough as if the future
farm existed between galleries or
generations who knew better than
to witness art across centuries
awaiting the anticipatory response

beers enough or human factors
better expressed in writing notes
home another commitment no one
cares about cursive as if always
keying concerns that matter most

four dimensions just enough trading
favors compensation missing years
knowing tricks of mediums rare
friendship worth transcribing sleep
across time zones if not skins

Entirely Pleased

celebration is enough graceful
calibration of family feeling good
at personal achievement sharing
graduation joyous milestone over
education music pong adoring friends

I love being part of this feast
then gravestones history early towns
barns fields out back of the houses
jets trailing high and silent I'm fine
thanks for asking entirely pleased

Perfected Routines

don't say anything
and neither will I
that I don't want to travel anymore
that I am glad to be here with you
doing anything
that we see through the best intentions
efficiency good taste compassion
that lead to this abyss
that we are not young
and don't need to play along
or have the energy
that we have hope on other levels
burnt-out castles
perfected routines
don't say anything

Last Minute

anything more goes right on
like any other day more news
a separation additional details
about the deaths who traveled
in Mexico with whom learning
many surprising facts studied
molecular biology mix colors
learn to paint the last minute

Multiple Tracks

suddenly things happen
a change of life a conversion
a cancer three deaths
I can't imagine not being alive
and running on multiple tracks
this community of cells as if eternal
interrupting steady state
stimulated proteins lash
exciting multiplicity individual
forces interacting beyond count
and the subtle shifts
a taste for chocolate 76%
what else everything

Forgiving Myself

burning eyes the wrong
glasses none are right

mortality and what you
have to do to get there

can you forgive me
for forgiving myself

disintegration of routine
at the height of irises

call me names
but call me

Digging Grass

I fell down flat on the lawn
feeling like slime mold on an
agitated planet head pounding
feet sore muscles sweating I
can't do hard physical work
anymore digging grass weeds
from the blueberries too much

my head's O.K. but aging body
has limits mind can't overcome
with will I could do more but I
don't want to hurt my hands
or back burn rare energies be
miserable suffer I'd rather pay
someone who needs the work

Perfectly Contented

a small town is enough plenty going on
buildings gone people happening family
business governance friends personalities
higher callings sometimes clearly audible

you don't know about the city unless you
live there for years really live there trying
to hold your own it's completely different
the world of cities floating running things

where do you think ideas come from not
small towns you hardly need them local
issues not that difficult forget everything
you never knew be perfectly contented

Cold Rain

is blue sky sunshine no weather no
any weather is weather whether you
like it more or less is cold rain bad
no but we all wish it would warm up

White Noise

a narrow white space
the opposite of a black box
what can you do with the wrong purple

older plays made new
the opposite of anything else
inviting contempt from the cognoscenti

appropriate costumes
give actors their characters
audience not required for imagination

constant white noise
the opposite of dark silence
meaning emerges from a winter sleep

Another Book

everything is already said duh but
don't let that faze you try it again

depending on context do so much
call people make up another book

nice to have a partner Magie it
is her idea I said I would help

it changes grows more contribute
if asked glad to hear the voices

and a first hundred blog poems
edited and composed into pages

many clicks and fiddly mousing
seventeen hundred more to do

how can I learn nested styles
ridiculous every one by hand

Late Learning

typesetting madness no time to paint
no time to write time for everything
my position transforms the discourse

nothing to think about just do it now
my position studiously pace myself
piano poetry business mowing et al.

late learning better than none it is
always later than it was before you
are always older than you used to be

Thrown Away

privately reading and watching movies quickly forget
inner experience so vivid at the time but nothing to
hang onto that thought before it gets away oblivion
is just around the corner only documentary evidence
thrown away time massacres the subtlest resonance

save every word as long as you can merely existing
improves the balance of spirit fact further regret
dismay the hedonist grasping dirt clings to roots
the disc stalls goes on incoherently better nothing
painting digging struggling to learn new software