Kind Words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Superior Strength

art object as trophy
brought back by the artist from the hunt
proof that she has been there
demonstrating by its size and ferocity her bravery
her superior strength

wrestle it to the ground
protect yourself as best you can
it is wily
don't let go
bring it back for all to see

Eternal Reward

suddenly done but enjoy the slow
learn practice knowing the form
savor warmth against my lips are
yours in the moment flowing on
keep time for music better when
playing characters longer lived

we are only human don't expect
close enough for fingers perfect
limited by mind slow think upon
each move weighted calibrated
as if eternal reward awaits your
sudden return restores my sight

No Calls

despite dailiness I'm left behind
half-hatched plays littering my
shelf proliferate poems unread

it is what it is and always was
my so-called career devolving
into final form in file drawers

no calls asking I don't want to
anyway I'm busy I've done what
I did my best in case you noticed

Too Much

do I say too much
so nothing means

Possibly Dance

An avalanche of words, dreams, thoughts patiently explained, one's own ideas echoed, insights, banality, stupidity, screenfuls of words; if once were enough we would stop them. Breathe. Possibly sing. Move. Possibly dance.

Art is practical, not decoration but what we should do. Do this in memory of your soul. Artists think too; their words are the same. The doers do so we can be. Abundance would let us give more of our lives to art, words-and-music, pictures, imagination pure in mind and body. Let 20% work so 80% can bliss out on art ecstasy. Work is not who but when in your life it is time to do the chores. Now. It won't take long.

Final Soup

figs keep ripening even after frost
otherwise the season's at an end
last tomatoes to peel and freeze
last green beans in a final soup

so a life will be renewed after
darkness light if not as bright
when we believed gods magic
meanings bedded in our being

mysteries remain prevail upon
waking the dream is still alive
improbable journey to the top
of the mountain through woods

Only Ask

1.
tormented by tipsiness bad
housekeeping how to put it
frat boy not to offend let go
let be time work its magic

2.
going slightly faster than anyone
else get ahead of my own thought
where are you right here only ask
each bit subject to reinterpretation

3.
now we know it's not too late
lost slang added to vocabulary
love simply you and me times
past our lingering anticipation

Luck Holds

things work out often it's
worth making plans then
something happens then
something else and soon
you have a life that goes
on as long as luck holds

Left Behind

do you have it with you
without a doubt I know
what went would come
inside against the rain

that said he scratched
and farted left behind
again anticipated ruin
rued the random day

others were stranger
still we were glad to
be here now that you
expanded to the max

Steady Energies

three books to edit bliss in nearness
weeks as long as days of practicing
Brahms the form reveals its nature

overlapping rhythms supported on
constant breath permits liberation
steady energies uncounting hours

I could if I would and I will go on
imagining the story sonata shaped
development before recapitulation

Moving On

change comes the wireless miracle whips through
we vibrate feed back chaotically catch our breath
although the volume of air is suspect we breathe
in ragged unison remember the form and move

somewhere our fellows meet in parks and rooms
practice going on forever possible if time stops
let the past catch up before moving on because
you know the words mean something different

meaning is lost and found between thin pages
corrected against an evil reader takes it personal
blames the innocent for being does his best to
say what it is to be surrounded and still himself

No Escape

pattern innate pleasure completion
elusive satisfaction recurrence not
unending after all there's no escape

a certain weekly rhythm is natural
prescribed there's no escape begin
again Monday even staying home

contrive to maintain it plan days
swims lunches tai chi musics do
plenty free body lets mind dance

Wait Calmly

now that everything is perfect
what do I want to do wait calmly
for the inevitable collapse
that surely and celebrate play
music live stories tell my truth
love my life companions dearly
drink the seasons one by one

Jam Enough

last ripening figs tiny artichokes
the bountiful land must rest we
put things up for winter potatoes
tomatoes berries beans spinach
pickles jam enough for a future
better when you've grown it

Wrong Road

my country was never sane and now
it's broke the system out of control

too far down the wrong road can't
exist without our self-created need

if I could live more simply I'd be
happy calm here now already am

it's the young that matter their own
children's future grinding own look

up the stars inform us their hidden
violence silent no one there to hear

here the cries are with us always
stop wars share the plenty with all

Every Minute

am I still alive still doing this speeding
down a country road listening to Vivaldi
every minute a surprise that I survive it
years of struggle and discovery banked
still I do go on another instant revealed

Bloody Face

I don't rejoice when anyone is injured
must less killed not even the monsters
let them live to regret their evil deeds
as do the rest of us who are relatively
good let them live out their sorry days

the wrong symbol doesn't help bloody
face wretched rat-hole misled minions
rightly fearing retribution lock him up
make him live like anyone with guilt
weak stupid none to blame but himself

Grape Jelly

Grammie knew how I follow directions
not having eaten grape jelly in years my
peanut butter sandwiches feature buck-
wheat honey whole grain bread times
having changed not always for worse

Concord grapes appeared irresistible
bunches pendant from the arbor I used
to climb atop Grammie's to pick them
ours not so sturdy but it also produces
green and red seedless it didn't initially
jell resorted to pectin hope for success

Full Credit

plan anything so complicated press ahead with practice
existing enough main squeeze receives armed welcome
moments later saints inspire expedient virtue one more
temporary understanding reveals how a thing can work

I'll figure it out tomorrow stay positive find my balance
in the drift and roll with fellow ruers full credit equally
complicated intersection quasi-selves free of all theory
good will seekers played hard to get together yet we do

Brimming Over

sensory overload how can anyone take it
Beethoven Pinter honey cinnamon chill
nights descending days brimming over

I do what I can not much now slower if
you listen closely the murmurs editing
Jimmy endlessly revising my own life

help me more if I could stand too little
input ricocheting references attempted
bliss recursive slogging on like always

Together Again

continue up the hill to the cathedral
and then I woke up it was after eight
hours later than it might have been I
barely had time for yoga a leisurely
Sunday breakfast shower and shave
before Mozart and Schubert drive to
Portland see a play eat a pastry and
here we are together again glad of it

Stop Here

if the future is over and the past forgotten
what is this moment for can you imagine
what it was like to be young and believe

this may have happened before but not
in the same way the end of the world no
fresh idea and now it's hardly a metaphor

am I finished have I written enough to
stop here with nothing explained what
is the lesson I still am required to learn

Doing Nothing

"What is imposed upon us by birth and environment is what we are called upon to overcome." (Saul Bellow)

is there something virtuous I should be doing
or is it all right to idle away the evening after
Schubert in a hayloft that's virtuous answer
emails fix my harpsichord even be creative
whatever it takes instead of doing nothing
essentially letting time pass without filling
too many people to be always busy doing
making interacting I do enough but never
as much as I could if I would focus better

Stolen Wealth

who knew better than you
what good could come of
evil deeds well meant it
isn't brain surgery rocket
science we all can think

I agree with everything
necessarily said out loud
however crudely printed
signs cry forth sincerely
telling the people's truth

would it could be tidier
the criminals dress well
neat clean cold-blooded
take comfort for granted
connive in stolen wealth

a better way is possible
greed unconscionable a
warping shame on them
for taking more than their
fair share and all else too

Surprising Leaps

it's a matter of getting the words down
then you can translate them into French
no perhaps Dutch would sound better if
I knew I would tell you everything good

you would be my friend forever thanks
for that we never need to be apart each
complete enlarged in the nicest ways if
we touch heads and let the feeling flow

the style is the person being Beckett
involves surprising leaps mordant wit
a pessimistic stance my own delight if
I could I would and generally try to do

Being Loved

if private virtues could mend the public weal
we would be good and that would be enough

even if I am fair the world is not the word not
strong enough to resist Narcissus fading away

if there were an answer he would have given it
before I asked being loved my favorite excuse

Still Water

"…memory, by introducing the past into the present without modification, as though it were the present, eliminates precisely that great Time-dimension in accordance with which life is realised." (Proust)

yes we will be staying for cake
although we don't really like
cake it's too sweet yummy
gooey dark chocolate cake is
more idea than real with milk

or is the memory of liking it
all that remains is redefined
sameness is illusory like still
water moving subtly in more
dimensions than you imagine

Dancing Words

roasting barley toasting oats ah
lovely granola nourishing tasty

dancing words sow fresh ideas
if chickens eat up all the seeds

sow more pay attention listen
think what might work better

this may not be the only way
change ripens for the harvest

Your Part

perfect surface last longer than new
smells sneak up on you disgusting
things happen who express nothing
else flee to something silly freedom
weather just weather you go out or
under plastic point made of chaos
counting on everything working
whether you do your part or not

Natural Flavors

red yellow green tomatoes peeled blanched
frozen for winter soups stews sauces bountiful
garden lavishing us with goodness green beans
potatoes apple sauce our dinner who can mind
chickens help with extra thank us with eggs

granges reviving possibility of healthy lives
hard digging diligent planting harvesting key
virtues rewarded natural flavors improved by
closeness feeling the season shift stove lit
long sleeves warm pants freezer filling fast

What We Mean

where were you when I wanted to go on
without hope or regret wondering whether
I was thinking right or missing the point

I would appeal to a higher power whoever
knew better would whirl me away before
any more weather or witnesses intervened

I would have told you everything I knew
before I started forgetting which nymph
was turned into a fountain and by whom

we're both still here in other words for
the same thing but not exactly needing
more vocabulary to say what we mean

Graphic Evidence

how to be cool ignore the media
will never sell you what you need
to know more what they can think
if you have wits left after all that

it may be too late if it is what then
do something march object profess
call it what it is plutocracy run for
your lives encompassing its ruin

how to be someone living in this
age aging with the falling graphic
evidence no wonder wheel of fire
fells tall firs and fairly lives to tell

Busy Minds

too much to think about flips over into nothing
books magazines blogs how can I bear to miss
other busy minds doing the dance so beautifully

Living History

how to find my way
who am I anyway
who made me thus
do I have a choice
choices yes but real
choice not really no
made by own doing
atop family culture
I am living history

Fading Away

our parents were social we are not
belonged to the best clubs and the
Episcopal church had the same seats
for the Philharmonic every season
entertained and expected reciprocity
when I was a boy my family's doings
were reported in the society magazine
girls in our crowd were the debutantes
we dressed and went to dancing class
and thought we were superior beings
knew how to live and could afford it
thanks to loans against inheritances
saved even me before fading away

Possible Brahms

pears enough tomatoes yellow green
red raspberries riot over my head
even now I can't say what I think
how I actually see our situation
the habit of secrecy so strong even
as true confessions tell all naming
names who can't defend them why
try harder effort possible Brahms

Precious Life

come close
let me feel you
press against my body
doesn't that feel good
it does to me

here we are
alive and together
allow me to express
my pleasure in your
nearness

none knows
how lightly I sleep
not to miss a moment
of this precious life
with you

Keeping Up

just keeping up is enough
to allow a certain dignity

Ever Ready

time is not consumed it floats us
fireflies winking out their season
extended as imagination dreaming
renewed in the instant of creation

time is not consumed it gathers
welcoming event and punctuation
wavy shaped by movement within
without extent or visible boundary

time is not consumed it is now
and everything else or never ever
ready infinite horizon if you think
it holds you like a darling babe

Don't Ask

if you can't talk about the work or sex
only the crusts remain soak in hot milk
no one paying attention what can you do
teach a course in yourself write a book
(another book) what's the point other
people imagine their lives are just as
interesting don't ask but brag another
self takes over pleads for recognition
I put it out less invested less hoping
someone noticing will change my life

Further Questions

can the body be known
would you want to no
further questions arise

quickly now how many
come to mind whether
you think it so or not

these are the reasons
we bear the mud cold
rain encroaching age

that we are really here
feel imagine remember
build with all of time

Spinning Bucks

it's the way the brain works it isn't
you loves pattern interest arising
from capital laid out like solitaire

it fights to survive if it has to be
tough or cold learns to tolerate
frustration unfairness self-regret

knowing the game is fixed courts
its luck what it is does corollary
damage on the high road to bliss

this is the redeeming paradox say
what you will we are happy pay
no mind to the spinning bucks

Changing Light

the best views are glimpsed in changing
light revealed to passing eyes a glance or
lingering gaze reveals no more than fact

there is no view only you and whatever
chance put there position yourself look
only in being seen the picture can exist

word forms not a natural phenomenon
deliberate arrangements one at a time
may notice meaning there to be seized

Infinite Chance

typing is not writing I am dwelling
in the pyramid dig through treasures
unseen unread unreadable priceless
art bubbling every eye transformed

it is always the same but the pattern
changes infinite chance revealing
more than known less than actual
people doing everything people do

I trust only what I've written out
of mind memory makes up tales
too simple to describe furniture
cars creatures where I happen to be

or anecdotes from days the usual
drift but things get done between

Lost World

1.
little to say about surgery
good luck I hope it helps
you heal they do their best
but we are complex fragile
mortal organisms after all

2.
infrastructure keeps going
ontology gasp lost world
we need roads bridges jobs
meanwhile emergency save
essence not the current form

Body Parts

stop these drones
they sound so boring
Ommmmmmmmmm
imagine being there
at home in your own
country then boom
blood rubble body parts
morally indefensible
obviously illegal
ban them now

No Content

A room full of poets
roomful killers. Diane steady
talking papers, green papers
or other countries papers, easily
scatters you out, regrets for you.
Halting worlds, by one, clicks
of the machine mind, khaki.
It might absolutely be about
something, secret of no content.
What is a subject? Squeezes
my hand for your trouble.
The same day love pain, ladder
to and from that emptying.
Where was I? That loss greater
than event. My saint march
broken from morning from days,
fierce absent extends sickens,
congested spirit you all times
feels. He feels. Your cell feels her
and the others I'm as dull as.
(March 1965)

Hollow Ground

I am formed without knowing it
illuminated when I think it's dark
these thoughts are not my own or
yours to decide on hollow ground

give them back or away let flow
freely play a supporting middle
listen to your murmured doubt
notice what speaks loudest here

then take your place you have
no alternative peril heeds none
and the lonely have themselves
to thank for imagining the other

Basic Man

hunter friends shot two deer here
the first young buck gutted skinned
hung in the barn wrapped ready
to butcher he showed me the head

basic man with high-tech compound
bow bringing meat I think poor deer
trapped in urban fringe for myself
pick peel preserve our Bartlett pears

Life with Friends

"Once there are no Afghans left who want us gone, then we can leave." (Glenn Greenwald)

one buck less but the doe has her babies
they come and go as they please like me
his adorable blond boys will be hunters
too hard to resist he's only a boy himself

they bought a new freezer when the deer
was his idea living its life with friends
I have my doubts but they're part of our
family here allowed to do their thing

I spend on books art outings with Al
halibut good but oily taste lingers let
all live who wish to be good and kind
the emperor's clothes to be seedless

The Facts

I can't tell you anything you don't already know
or think you know hold opinions probably better
than yours but don't like to argue have the facts
marshalled who knows you may be right I know
a few things details of harpsichords and Mozart
pianos music literature basic science but history
mystery and politics forget it hoping for the best

Perfect Self

you'd think I'd know by now
but I don't even after all these
years experience outcomes it's
still a mystery what I did that
made it all come out so well

call it luck my father's plan
the timing of prosperity rose
fell struggled with the rest a
lucky love in time for every
pleasure and a solid future too

mistakes are permitted erased
as later events correct identify
lost opportunities come again
in another form seize them be
glad to be still your perfect self

Rolling Houses

never a word until you say no
more splendid evenings on the
water rolling houses being apart
if you said it I didn't hear none
else much better limits inherent
language fails facing all at once
not everything has a proper name

Good Times

distract myself somehow forget
what it was I intended to make
do better this time or do nothing
you can count on me I'm always
like this telling another different
story in the only style I manage

you'd think by now I'd have it
figured out what I want to say
another uncalled-for confession
who cares or all the gory details
of my broken heart get over it
come back for more good times

Free Days

it is not more interesting to be here
by myself not bad though always I
am free days to do whatever I will

Together Again

you can't expect me to know what isn't said
I do and don't although we have a virtually
perfect understanding still you can mention
the details so I know what you are thinking

I'll be here when you get back make dinner
for us clean the house the animals are well
arranged the weather hot garden flourishes
another season coming it's just a few days

I'll be fine I have my writing no stairs to
climb roofs hammocks to fall out of don't
give it a thought we can do everything we
want or need once we are together again

More History

I am not a character in a novel or a
movie no type stars can readily play
more history than fixed opinions tics
you can identify me by what is a name

I wanted to compose a coherent life
like a well-plotted fiction instead get
biography one thing after another and
you know the rest I am hardly silent

so put that out of your mind for good
and all think something else a person
not even faceted but feelings all over
time place actor starring role in one

Real Story

do I ever say what I actually think
not really as Alfred said meaning no
of people particularly and their work
and how they live and love who with

what is denied may still be there
unless you can make it go away then
something in its place what is the real
story unwinding unavoidable debacle

not a sound to end on I don't know
how to pronounce it how can I write
it is a by-product of meaning sound
pools in the garden even in the sun

Side Windows

come back to now playing before the others
change their mind games mean winners put
me in I'll do it doesn't take side windows to
see who else wants it just as bad

philosophy not psychology measures equal
embarrassment odd saving but never stop a
dime saved reported back from further spin
I won't tell what everyone knows

Old Stories

new month new me pretty much the same
old silliness happily haunts the old stories
lessons learned in passing through people
honored known respected loved one way
or another opportunity for good surprise

old year an excellent example something
carefully prepared without knowing it
was real after all the pieces fit together
better than imagined ever changing ever
still doing what needs doing with a will

Raw Material

if I had known how can I guess what
might have been different as if I had
no choice no thoughts however useless
at the time I was imagining something
must have been not knowing the future

it had to be this though and how else
could I have come here highs lows pain
confusion all necessary no short cuts in
life it takes us all the time there is to be
whatever we can make of raw material

Who We Are

no words in the country the trees
aren't labeled berries chickens don't
advertise you can think of your own

which might include anything and
don't necessarily avoid each other
beat you relentlessly over the head

but if you take a chance and think
Utopia Eureka reminding listeners
to know the all is only what we have

Mind Process

try one and then the other
educate your intuition
then believe it because it
knows let the mind process
answers will arise from time
passing like nothing else

Give In

sometimes there's no way
something else will have to
happen don't panic it may
be better but maybe worse
you may not know for years
by then everything else has
also changed what you are
what you think you want it
now time takes its time we
might as well relax give in

Other Tongues

don't tell me everything you do think
you don't compare what little springs
to mind fairly well disposed to travel

I was there before again though new
sensations register the same as ever
changing what you quietly expected

if you did I wouldn't know who was
coming when or whether to prepare
for something else in other tongues

New Self

burning sun beckons burners brave
enough thrills arise to drive begin
a new self arises from the lost bay

I am not waiting for a cooler day
go on doing things whatever else
permits my balance enables food

or thought in order to survive it
meant everything then and now
prepares well for ecstasy to come

Wend Away

let up oh do
be who I woo
to you I glue
undo boo-hoo

or wend away
defend you say
the end I may
attend the day

rhyme oh time
I made a dime
to save the cave
he gave a rave

Pressing Duties

I never promised not to tell you
knew who I was and didn't mind
nobody cares anymore but you
and we have nothing to lose but
the truth is what I remember is
only stories I made up to explain
what made no sense at the time
and everyone has their own life
decisions pressing duties hard
to get their attention onto mine
or explain how it all worked out

Familiar Moment

others learning creeps up I am
not the same know much more
magic at my fingertips practice
perfect tender to others myself

is something happening crash
what was the familiar moment
over before anyone can notice

an error an erroneous assume
the position ready for anything

New Lingo

not makeup putty crepe hair this
is actual age Marcel not a young
companion now an older friend
even I stealing a nap in a vacant
lot are you all right are you dead
I'm perfectly fine they may not
entirely believe me really I am

how can you tell when the time
comes you did not choose to be
other than you were in disguise
no one is fooled more than you
know better behave as an elder
stating what you believe is true
flummoxed utterly by new lingo

Hidden River

what music lifts the moment strum
poetry sounding like it means more
I prefer the lute implying unknown
lyrics not be sung so I can even think

pinch me I'm awake enough already
realize the best intention to be here
and gone fishing out of hidden river
warning nothing of this long to last

be the one who gets away who calls
the odd objection with that certain
charm remembered broken hearts
offer both context and redemption

Win-Win

then is not now I know better than
who grew and stayed the same who
knew the evening game is win-win

the same music never heard before
the moment it was played the radio
connects Denmark Italy and Oregon

nothing can change and then it does

Fun Ride

galaxies whirling dwarf time we are
not here to think too hard remember
everything the spirit reappears true
love given freely taken for a fun ride

see how it goes the decision not final
until it is and then too late awaken
each possible placement recurs is that
the right word for what I might mean

At Last

chicken yard fenced car repaired
grass cut windows washed ironing
done house clean after visitors my
glasses being remade without the
polished edges everything in short
apart from fixing fucked up world
and once my new computer works
I can write my masterpiece at last

Perfect Fruit

where you are and who
could be anyone if here
you know better if there
how long do you intend
to stay putting one foot
first the other will follow

now that's settled think
twice before you go on
assume a new address
print labels license bad
copies good ideas bear
perfect fruit most years

No Change

you can live twice one now
write it all down come back
years later no change every
circumstance transformed
new characters in your life
yourself repeating learning
only how better to enjoy it

Big Waves

if I were somewhere else would something else
happen possibly not only chores maintenance
like here where the family returns to their own
and it's only us again together in separate ways

if I could fly I would do aerial acrobatics where
big waves couldn't get me down instead pinned
in my chair by gravity contemplating plans' lack
as heaven's angels have nothing to do but sing

Dream On

"I told myself it really was not worthwhile to deprive myself of society since I was either not equipped for or not up to the precious 'work' to which I had for so long been hoping to devote myself 'tomorrow' and which, may be, corresponded to no reality." (Proust, "Time Regained")

no further plans displace present
pleasant breeze not one hot day

if only all this were actual without
other considerations will impinge

financial markets war operations
competition for power and fame

if only art were all eat sleep love
growing food children dream on

Bubble Bath

you get used to the colors glowing
refined sweetness of seasons here
we go walking or not pop Advil or
hope for the MRI to show nothing
rest and bubble bath can't repair i
guess you'd come if you had lived

I had to go all the way to Paris to
get over it among the talk radios
felt stupid not to know what they
were talking about time for home
or another pastry powers the rest
better parents let children decide

Awful News

well no I didn't say so
think before you wink
outlast your other self

if not here where am I
going to see you again
in all three dimensions

I said yes and meant it
at the time we were no
better than awful news

even so I recapitulated
as if none noticed the
first time seldom best

Hidden Cameras

excuse my mirth I know you're serious
fun further purpose later was revealed
to be covering up more interesting art

deny it if you can or will be sorry about
what never would amount to anything
even if the others said something else

I know that may be unclear or untrue
no alternative in reality just a jumble
half-imagined let go before it's ready

that's what we all face hidden cameras
post us at our worst wrinkled anxious
to please me make me beautiful again

Simple Lies

what is visible is seen to be true
but rare the rest is just a rumor

what is heard is distinct silence
around the corner from allowed

what little is mentioned cannot
fairly represent the whole thing

nor is this less blank than chalk
on a hard surface nothing shows

what can be said is simple lies
beneath it the magma seethes

don't tell or ask for what you
think you want is ready made

Honest Action

keep pedaling one way down the hill
we embrace the philosophy we need

everything else goes on the same as
before the diagnosis what might be

seen again in a different light looks
like love in the form of honest action

this has an effect nothing can erase
it lives in children grow up take over

this will save the situation if they can
stay afloat true wisdom denies nothing

Hidden Machinery

special ops in 75 countries
no one knows what they do
this is no accident imagine
to whom its benefit accrues
elected government a front
for what hidden machinery
acting for whose purposes
systemic self-corruption no
conspiracy eating the world

Bright Light

the actual texture goes unmentioned
keys gates padlocks car trouble home
late alone days filled up friends event
dread empty hours of the night awake

bedding pillows bright light on Kindle
the bumpy road increasingly familiar
neighbors glad to have us back again
water mow do what it takes to go on

photos confirm what I already know
but cannot say words enough for air
for being there when I'm not imagine
the actual texture goes on without me

As If

as if starved I wallow
why not though
pigs love mud

Your People

constantly entertaining the last-time thought-form
the last time I will see this sky these cloud shapes
this mountain ridge speaks clearly sometimes yes
sometimes not yet I come again for May marriage

the adventure aspect evaporates the least emerges
amazing apparent isolation radical silence starlight
darkness other dimensions powered up as unseen
animal life encroaches recognizing willed intrusion

we as well belong here there where every intention
manifests in living forms a thousand blueberries a
few bushes not eaten thrill chickens not a matter
of what you prefer give in these are your people

Plain Food

this landscape sings to me in layers
and shades of violet green distances

this space enlarges possible thought
feeling generous radiance at speed

these passing moments figure plain
food fresh from sun warm kitchens

these people most precious gravel
kissing towering geology of math

High Walks

is that it then anybody at all
in the parking lot high walks
and sunset later then we eat

children have the last line in
the other room while we are
loving friends in the kitchen

vast is the word wide open
full-blown like nowhere else
time waits the seasons rule

Initial Conditions

keep consciousness in perspective it's
only us other entities have their own
ways of being nothing an equivalent

which cluster of galaxies matters less
than changing initial conditions who
you are is essentially indeterminate

so don't worry you need not justify
your every move is free unless some
hunk intrudes imposes another will

hard to believe military politics fits
the bill comes due all unexpected
forces hard to rise above this earth

Five Dogs

five animals in the room besides
us including Rose on my lap five
dogs underfoot six dear humans
gather cook drink talk eat enjoy
each emphatically other common
thought shards language regard
personality flourished regardless

Every Minute

these vast vistas fill my heart with joy
not for the return but now I am happy
every minute even crawling thru Mora

Special Friends

swarming hummingbirds contradict executors' decisions
sucking up sugar water by the pound serious dog nosy cat
patrol my keyboard watch for bugs in pants legs eat them

I'd say more if I hadn't lost my pen plenty more to take
over rain ensures hidden effort for natural effect it's all
special friends come far deny nothing see best remains

Key Questions

bogus community or is this the now
5,000 houses each on minimum acre
covenanted low adobe-like I can't even
imagine liking it though the air is good
rain coming down somewhere breaking
promises don't last forever how can I
not ask key questions how much longer
does it matter what you're counting on

Different Languages

it wouldn't matter if I hadn't
said I'd be there when the
phone rang I said hello like
promises kept clean sheets

nor would the weather make
any difference to our plans
to be there no matter what
if not then somewhere else

something else is happening
at the same time in different
languages vary the word you
know better than to say aloud

Step It Up

stars vanish when I look at them
reappear as I look away I know
what this means I will slowly go
blind like my father who finally
couldn't drive read I'll need an
amanuensis keep on working
meanwhile better step it up do
everything I can at least bring
order to all that was revealed

Fighting Gravity

theatre alive merry wives make us
laugh under far distant skies falling
night like plot fairies enter after dark

drive off in opposite directions not apart
where we went in our beds to New York
falling out fighting gravity counting hours

comforted by art Agnes Martin painters
memory enriches present texture sustains
supermarket $35 saved by paying attention

something continues across then and now
links solitude and company which self
unifies them all articulates ineffable

Wax Disaster

dog like lion dreaming of home
wax disaster useless broom stub
bristles can't sweep barely scrub
I buy more until no more buying

one of the old ones hobbling on
the rough stone floor step up or
down we go unlockable value add
errands interludes unfold the day

Hidden Rocks

will not calmly regard what happens to just
being whether daring to sip if rain comes

called the Rio Grande it isn't big only long
and sweet for swims apart from giardiasis

and hidden rocks knock toes knees fish are
jumpin' the weather windy blustery dubious

who will tent in preference to home dream
children dads adventure beckons only some

The Only Word

what to draw the house tree other
tree objects not alone ever some
thing or texture even the sky alive

beautiful drive the only word for it
I ask for a map to see where I am
here I know dogs excited to arrive

Waiting for Rainbows

your blue bottles happy houseplants witness sudden
rain thunder change an hour comes again time open

I can wander around losing new glasses then finding
still capable of self-remembering without even trying

Head First

mountain profile cuts sky quick
clarity of air despite distance we
are always close images in time
persist moving with the seasons

open spaces our temperament
bred of northern forest longs for
sun breaks all-day interlude falls
head first in love with being here

Going Farther

don't interrupt I won'f if I don't
have anything to say as if used
to being told what to do or not

that's as big as thought is now
I've thought it all before going
farther than I thought possible

the work remains waiting time
turns back on itself like a cow
with four stomachs ruminating
or a horse asleep standing up

how can I go on doing what I
say and plan the trip is always
round but I am flat and scared

shadows like memories erased
by creeping time another side
done crisp quickly running out

once gone all doubt can be left
behind on the receding ground

Take It

if you ask me I will tell you
how can you know what to
ask to receive gladly given

what is it for if not to give
away if anyone can take it
you can being the only one

many years of hard work
lead to this moment when
transaction is finally done

how do you know it's real
unless you think it is defer
doubt and proffer welcome

No Surprises

smoothly days pass different
but the same no surprises but
a splinter blackberry or thistle

if it doesn't get done it doesn't
matter late is just about as well
as now we will inexorably part

rain improved on watering the
harvest will be shared friends
coming by to pick blueberries

other arrangements for peas
nothing will die and if it does
we'll mulch it and plant again

All Moms

all moms at the pool
dads presumed at work
back to the dark ages

Familiar Moves

we move slowly on the grass
I and five women carefully
execute the familiar moves
our minds quieting wetness
reifies our gravity and feet

the motive repeats and is
developed variously yoga
in the morning sitting still
mantras in the swimming
pool a part of my routine

I move slowly on the farm
weeding edging resetting
stones in sand picking up
water and put off mowing
my mind on other matter

Another Day

come death when it will
be done with wondering
resistances and pain we
love to live and will until
it call and then we come

wait a moment till I say
goodbye with no regret
I lived aplenty while we
could be friends lovers
family among ourselves

I'll take art and planet
with me to the grave it
is no more mine than I
am part of all remains
to die for another day

Time Spent

cherries strawberries blueberries sun
make up for sneezes even less grass
now Marion County returns to wheat

maintenance ever more spendy with
new glasses ready rear end repaired
my VW dented scratched in Portland

Alfred's died and he broke a tooth
everything can be dealt with at cost
in money time spent is never wasted

Past Love

goodbye checkbook files poetry duties
back to future Proust on Kindle easier
to hold and see and carry around real
book shelf ornament three fat volumes

finally he's getting over Albertine we all
get over something eventually find our
way beckoned to a reckoning past love
released into what else is always there

String Quartet

weddings in Vienna now Taos next May
white-hairs at the string quartet careers
in opera and what else is there to do or
be done if we weren't overwhelmed by the
present this would be an interesting time

power consuming destroying instead of
all the good that could be done instead
too many of my predictions coming true
it's not that hard to go the other way if
this then that for some other President

Born Free

if anything not nothing why not
wonder whether or not you can
be better than before or since
when once to come came true

it had to be who knew but you
must first become yourself time
started when you were born free
to manifest existing and still are

What It Takes

when nothing is possible
stop wait
something will arise
or do something anyway
sometimes that's what it takes
learn if you can do
useless repetition or practice
the same mistakes
as if writing work
gets done

Not Wanted

I thought you knew
doesn't everyone
we're not wanted in Afghanistan
oh maybe what's his name
cronies cashing in some
contractors make big bucks
they hate us being there
shooting dropping bombs
not to mention drones
stop it with the drones
let's just leave
it's messy anyway
we can't fix it

Original Mix

the ring tells the story for her
everyone happy they are moving
forward other people's children
dogs history worth continuing

I gain a sprawling Italian family
easily welcome abundantly fed
original mix American beauty
generates an audience for love

Cards Fall

wait all day
already late
other music
second start

same storm
broke again
pay my way
name no one

stop for gas
piss it away
sweat tears
throw bout

shame burns
pleasures few
cards fall
so does night

My Delight

nothing more I thought the day
was over but it was barely ten I
was home by 11 an hour to go

buzzed from the band talking
coffee one thing after another
quick before it's over for good

the city works that way plenty
of people doing stuff dressing
up performing for my delight

What We Need

courage added to the list of what we need
blessings on all beings peace love justice joy
and courage to remember higher aspiration

who could forget how innocent and pure
we all began and still remain within without
blemish whatever groping progress learned

affirm the possibility of beauty and grace
granted freely seekers find each other here
below allow the good to emerge unmarked

Burning Sheets

if breathing speak if not
the silence meaning less
will have to do even more

spare us the explanations
who thought what cares
expired before night fell

or whether anyone knew
better than I did nothing
until the time was right

we wanted to be lovers
still tenderly embracing
between burning sheets

Many Movies

unforgiving timing chain breaks goodbye engine
whatever you do I am on your side armed with love

revising the misremembered story already weirdly
different in the telling from what really happened

fact led ahead distortion introduced by mistakes
as if blaming too much believing in false causality

let it out or thinking trips itself up the enterprise
hastily chosen many movies waiting to be seen

Not Airports

I'll be happy if you are in spite of
whatever gripe is just don't start
put in take out mistakes galore I
didn't know please help me out

escape out window come back in
these freshman pranks are fun if
you imagine being there and are
not airports on their way home

Two-Way Sofa

reeling mind blurs then clears
earth gravity balances the stars
peopled randomly overreacting
as if conscience were aesthetic

noodling between swoons can
be a two-way sofa augmenting
her suffering figure glimpsed
his images snap into ideality

Go On

completed voyage brotherly resonance
satisfy our stated driving requirements

selfless choice allows inevitable repair
without asking in advance of anything

therefore let us be grateful and go on
as if this is what we always meant to do

Web Traffic

catch up with my mind
if you can I am with you
running across the river
to smoke the inside lane
not one more web traffic
bring as much as you like
we can worry about it later

Owning Up

I can't think it matters what I say
refrigerator muttering fog horn
when night has come we sleep

nor do sheep explain their voices
or dog wait patiently on the porch
eyes thrilling to the thought of art

decades ago I took the only route
Madras and Bombay never coming
back now she's getting her master's

stop falling I said or expecting me
to respond tense in spite of Reich
saving cartons for our owning up

Totally Famous

sometimes utterly useless
someone tells you even so
how to follow instructions
even then miss the point

don't even try to go on if
the message is not taken
seriously was composing
you might not understand

I won't tell if you'd rather
meditate or keep it filled
even if you think I know
used to be totally famous

Who Told

what energy rising falls between
irises over peonies lilies bamboo
if I could I would tell everything

these are immaculate curvatures
like women you'd want to know
better like what you can't avoid

such talk defeats known purpose
the wall not listening no matter
who told would not be believed

Inside Out

dash past one stop strive
for another never be mean
if you mean to be rude

vary the rhythm beating
you never expected this
climax exactly so soon

notation deluxe a sweet
rigadoon beside hammocks
to witness one you know

I mean it even in leaving
it up to another lover who
knew the routine inside out

New Glasses

the world is not as blurry as it looks
my prescription out of date I dodder

moving slowly slightly dizzy dazed
no legs for the center of the universe

the next possibility emerges silently
then you hear it as loud as tomorrow

oil leak fixed I ordered new glasses
still walking still hoping to see clearly

Wrong Ears

win without cheating lose without minding

remember what day it is what comes next

is anything enough or hopelessly too much

can you forgive yourself for being who was

much less trouble than laughs and kisses

stolen or given freely more than ever true

mistakes were not only made but repeated

in wrong ears enduring against persuasion

when we were awake deciding what to do

Inner Life

Tom has more of an inner life
he talks to me asks plaintive
questions weaves around my
ankles swipes me with his tail
and persuades me to sit down
is he making love as he climbs
into my lap prowls and presses
against my body solicits hugs
and scratches very softly purrs

My Advice

last roundup at last first summer

furniture salads all round discuss

nothing to regret time passages

50 books in a box ready to read

blueberries weeded lawn mowed

no longer trying to impress them

this is natural I accept my advice

if no one else likes everything I do

Whispered Lines

overload too many plays again

in the wrong languages for us

French that sounds Italian or

English stilted worthy of BBC

the old BBC I mean anything

goes now the day is ending

don't interfere with the wife

behind his back now this one

knows how the hay is drying

if you call I will answer even

if it isn't you but a business

whispered lines like prompts

no singer can hear devices

silenced from respect while

wool makes its plaintive call

Our Hour

Where is glamoury alive if not in actors acting? The person before us, whose thoughts we share and feelings feel more vividly than our own, does not exist as we think we do but only in the meeting of our minds, only potential on the imagined page, winking into life acutely time-limited, where our mortality is chronic. We may be dreaming in company, but he has his own ideas of waking life. Of what does he consist? We all remain ourselves as well, and the spell can easily be broken, but it rarely is. We have our hour, then are no more. We do not entirely lose ourselves, though we wish we could: we are present and willfully possessed. Sweet manipulation!

New Shoes

word picture jumps
out might be scary

typing only letters
words only artifacts

look down we all
have on new shoes

look up something
may be happening

Still Free

all is revealed if you're paying
attention count on it no one is
noticing how fortunate we are

can it be true when bad people
stay up all night exploiting any
gaps in our defensive strategy

self-expressing in the dark's
still free if you believe it still
can image one on one as two

Seasonal Blooms

spin as I will the past will be as it was
unrecognized perfection transforming
sucks me in again again as if so many
other years had not wrought changes

time to stick forge ore unrecoverable
riches squandered I am so annoyed
none to blame except myself if play
is worth recording and playing back

St. John's wort fish oil Mega Men and
joint compound to keep me walking
mind nourished on seasonal blooms
fragrant beauties free while they last

Just Chickens

what to say they are just chickens
four indistinguishable black white
speckled all over blobby pecking
intimidating two variegated brown
perching they look like meditators
running around like wind-up toys
if people look like that watch out

Almost Over

summer plans almost over before
beginning again more so every time

crisp articulation variant sunbeams
rainbow afternoons under cottonwoods

I can be natural if I remember only
being with you nothing that I said

Between Chores

attention to what to dreams
to the passing net of subtle
particles to what really was

surfaces need only be clean
we can all read them hear
the same views choose news

dust pops typewriter ribbon
other lives go on changing
like clothes between chores

this pattern same evolves
if thinking goes anywhere
it takes willing lives along

is that what Steve said more
gracefully second the motion
and quietly close the door

First Prize

each large lush iris wilting yields to the bud
releasing bad smells each stem true to color
however exotic as each chicken runs true to
type behaves the same as its in-bred nature
insists on its variations each one first prize

we don't show irises or chickens another kind
of farm you know the kind you think know all
invisible parameters contain our options idea
driven thinking or not to do and see what we
can blind beyond sweet early summer blooms

Better Hidden

there is no general I speak for
my class my time though I try
to free my mind it is this one

taste is superiority everything
in code whole stance preset
revealing all as better hidden

let's hang out as if acceptable
behavior includes unlikely
ways imperfectly explained

What Same

goodbye wet hello warm
one movement is enough
real story too depressing

I no longer care as much
but for a longer time not
quite what I mean to say

confusion non-admirable
whatever I was thinking
I needed to get over it

neurotic depressed and
drugged too too to bear
shattered fled regrouped

no longing for the past
only curious what same
survived what finally is

What You Will

honor be to the upward pull
balancing the molten mass below
this lifting energy sizzling up my spine
the opposite of gravity

do not cast my ashes into the ocean
but heap them on a mountaintop
where the wind can carry them away

or what you will
I am gone to the stars

Original Person

inside my head the original person
fluttering billowing looking for out
looking for self-knowledge peace

other side of uncertainty imagine
being different than you are place
based communal one of many few

this disorderly energy at the source
panicked in confinement naturally
firing crystalline conceptual clay

Warm Wind

somewhere else shaggy grasses
warm wind only passing through
on my way here

no wish for schnitzel and I can't
walk but wishing well beyond
wishing well dear lovers

Whole Cities

if there isn't a word for it
it doesn't exist therefore
words are all there really is

the bread in the play was
"bread" you wouldn't want
to eat it needed to be more

whole cities spring from "city"
straight streets houses mini
malls displace the nameless

Mere Weather

let beauty emerge as it will if allowed
so little remains of the will to become
as if what we are was already decided
before we awoke to present unknown

seize the occasion when ere it arises
phrases of Chopin a blosomming iris
mere weather a kiss a prelude to joy
for the taking nothing matters more

Old Bones

it's not the pain I mind unsurprising old bones
from whacking tall grasses on my hill and under
evergreens handles awkwardly maladjusted no
it's a bad movie mean gay prostitutes in Prague
obvious thick sincerity real tragedy no excuse I
turned it off brought down depressed after life
can be enhanced seeing "Paranoid Park" another
revelatory Gus Van Sant subtle tender beautiful
art to redeem what nothing has power to undo

Staying Home

glean asparagus unsnarl sheep wire even
slowly falls fields being plowed tomorrow
for sunflowers the mean ram better eaten

this what happens staying home no travel
bug I miss Vienna wedding Aix family fun
regrettably rather not so I can still be here

Warm Nights

anything I say might be embarrassing
the alternative too bleak like giving up

no one paying attention then suddenly
zeroes in how could you say that thing

you fool what were you thinking have
some respect others do not comment

chances must be taken or nothing can
be done morality curtained silent heart

forgive me only words wound or mend
what thought grapples on warm nights

Any Card

a missing king or ace oh any card
can stop the play before patience
is anywhere near exhausted I lay
it out again seeking the pattern
card by card reveals its fitting in

what I seek the perfect flow but it
doesn't matter I seldom bother to
complete it when it happens then
what go again relaxed like nothing
else hope make moves care little

Happy Together

mistake too late to fix
isn't that life and world
I don't know what I'm
doing until I'm doing it
mistake too late to fix

just kidding nineteen
years happy together
what I always wanted
didn't come easy till it
did and promise to stay

Twenty Years

"I have managed to sculpt a career out of a very short attention span and I encourage everyone with a wandering mind to do the same." —Todd Oldham

I finished the book I have been working on for twenty years
really
the die is cast
of course it can be recast but only at considerable cost
who will be happy

I thought Todd Oldham was in the Rolling Stones
he is actually a pop designer

Bare Feet

"For wars are occasioned by the love of money, and money has to be acquired for the sake and in the service of the body…" —Socrates, as depicted by Plato in "Phædo"

The issue in philosophy apparently isn't whether you agree. I
mean, I flunked. Socrates is quite convincing, but I don't. The
state, rebuked, does not improve. The body is all we have. It's
true ideas last longer. Plato is a terrific writer. Death not
dreadful, only the end. While we are alive, let us live and love.

"And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." —Kahlil Gibran

Late Bloomer

too late only to be young
the day already old when
I begin explaining what I
mean I have time enough
I hurry stop become tardy
bloomer unexpected arc
igniting musk intoxicated
night white rapture born

Called Back

think of something
turn it inside out
multiply by seven
tell me the answer

Beethoven again
we lean to French
music being who
brings home hurt

why so serious it
is a comedy you
know already out
without a jacket

house demolished
in one day eyes
burn particulate
then called back

Stop Now

lucky James Levine miraculous match of talent
resources will élan enables musical perfection
no point in rushing Wagner he takes his time
enjoy the moment blossoming with meaning

and so the book is finished ready for download
to printer order proof see how real thing looks
and reads continuously revealing its character
stop now before I change it into something else

Gentle Space

I try to not do anything
lie back look at the sky
no way some purposive
action read write sleep
fills every gentle space

Best Fruits

an oncoming herpes on my lip
dims my mood around the edges
as if a shameful outward sign of
what failure does a writer not know

words unuttered or uttered in vain
works unwritten or unconceived
stinginess of self limned in dream
the world's disaster my own fault

lesser others give selves freely my
unearned arrogance kicks my butt
as if I missed another deadline
said the wrong thing again too late

viral shame not to make a better
reality be true and universal truth
less honor than cheerful illusion
ideal family only the dubious start

if you want psychology philosophy
promises more delivers less when
I am tired I have to sleep so time
slips by best fruits unharvested

What Bliss

nothing can be done mistakes
made the harm they do never
to be corrected lives destroyed

my own improbably redeemed
by luck and love while better
men do more and cannot win

holy music asserts possibility
what might be true what bliss
should be the general heritage

Weak Belief

enigmatic signifier
weak belief
verification of colors
normal narcissism!

Meanings Untold

misleading terseness requires title change each
moment passing judgment sensible ambiguities

I would say so if I could elaborate contextuality
promise effective story hymn-like sweet savory

instead coded mosaic forces looking up I insist
on being happy shares accrue meanings untold

Copper Beech

Doric found dead oh dear no family
but theatre inspired comeback saved
late years his Ninth Avenue tenement
welcomed me New Year's Eve 2006 I
was amazed we had in common Alfie
Lynch same time too a Charles Wells
etching of a giant copper beech my
2nd love 1st art purchase kept faith
and then ends we all must goodbye

In My Chair

steady progress but it takes forever
to get it right less being rather more
than imagined what did I think I was
doing time unrealizable the moment
over when you think if you can think

hours go by nothing much emerging
sweet sleepiness tempting to give in
en route to Woodburn for my swim
easier here in my chair swathed in
mohair something mentioned what

Why Not

I don't want to go or am
I too afraid of change my
careful balance fragile I
am addicted to what I do

mysterious reluctance
as if this is all there is
or is it that I'm satisfied
been done now stay home

well no being in Europe is
always great I wish I lived
in France or Italy instead
I have this life I choose

am I making a mistake
missing easy pleasures
with loved familiars in a
beautiful place why not

it makes me tired just
imagine airports flights
walking too much Paris
tourists daring to relax

Still Sordid

how I wished Bush would denounce torture
instead he smirked and waffled and let it go on
anything can be justified but it's no excuse
no triumph to invade the bedroom and murder
even the bad guy the mess is still sordid

Telling Choice

the story is now unbuilt revealing how
nothing but love intention came to be
this one particular emergence known
details restricted to most interesting

the subject is theatre and sex reverse
engineered for purposes of pleasure
what I meant to say when I imagined
attention even my own telling choice

No Limit

try again harder redefine
success there is no limit
energy infinite change it
if you can say so sooner

May motto may recover
losses move to another
state of ecstasy derived
essence spoken dreams

reconfigure history wake
art effort without tension
bar none who go or come
faster vaster seeing true

Tight Teeth

wake with tight teeth stressed
syllables express newly bright
ambiguity of ethical response

I can't stop thinking even after
all repose inspiring recovered
memories of underused clubs

still we are here with each one
world in pieces where or when
or if you were my finest friend

this I dare say despite a light
rain who might ignore regrets
embrace a fair welcome home

Purer Living

accept importance one must not fail
a thing worth doing is worth doing
twice as much as anyone you know

therefore wake up and also sleep
enough as needed for purer living
color me stupid I will still try again

this time know better start too fast
make sudden choices try this that
the other direction hope works well

Being Good

if I can't think what hope is there any
limit beyond mortality the individual
short burst of brilliance then nothing
doing in between phrases instinctive
revulsion arises in midst pleasuring
part of happiness being good I say
be good is appropriate stop there

Just Stop

I know all that
can't we just stop
does our wealth really depend on weaponizing the world
the collapse is well underway
who will suffer
not the rich

Nothing New

nothing new this fall murders
desperate struggles to survive
imperial machinations frankly
territorial ambitions need for
energy to waste extravagance
trashed communities the norm

complexity triumphant briefly
naturally breaks down the one
ignored in favor of the foolish
short-term gain no one listens
to me I don't have much to say
any student doesn't yet know

Some Pleasure

what is the value of effort is it usefulness
to others a dent in the surface of suffering
or is compassion its own reward shall we
speak out against evils or ignore them like
Strauss writing "Capriccio" during the war

just live and be happy unashamed to win
though undeserving produce work might
give some pleasure somehow somewhere
love the ones given pull one's weight be
calm relax do what it takes is that enough

Almost Hard

delete beats wastebasket you can't
go back and find what never really
was there when it was all forgotten
none cares or dares to really think
big deep understanding long man
longing mere existing almost hard
this fragment washes up on shore
against ruin beyond all personage

While Away

practical matters whether more than others care
badly wanting what they already have while some
devise excuses for investment in a friend's despair
leaving town nor reason for an inconvenient hope

Swinburne swiftly willing patient wit without want
of yearning vaguely forward into further chaos is
that what he said he knew he didn't know better
go while you can while away brief Parisian night

What Else

is this person or machine what running
on a track laid forward prior decision
if action or going through motions I
rehearsed in planning no way to know
who or what else might have happened

no not-this possible this is what it is
to be alive enmeshed fresh energies
respond as promised warm of heart
determined to be good do what I say
arising every day meaning it more

Temporary Happiness

I am the manager king who wasn't there
what didn't happen doesn't matter at all
we read ate read ate cake talked another
date more plays just because we're here
compared to whatever might have been
even if it's what it is or has to become
I am the prophet of temporary happiness
leftover sweets as the end of diet nears

Not Knowing

can I take an interest in history
or philosophy be amused by my
infirmities mistakes missteps an
as if witty performance of my life

or go on not knowing anything
even smarter than I used to be
before whatever happened was
not the same as starting again

as thin as it sounds I have my
pleasures cards dining the farm
two chicks two calves grazing
keep us here where we belong

What Would

if he cared he would melt
he did care and melted
continuing semi-gelled
files corrupted programs
finally refusing to start

he would cook onions
potatoes mushrooms
make a salad see Macbeth
if that didn't help what would

Same Story

another meta situation the writer
stewing in computer limbo waits

another draft or a different book
same story context still unknown

memory crystallizes understands
less craves meaning even more

the bits accumulate and suddenly
lose force coherence plays rough

Wrong Decisions

something is lurking outside my door
I saw it for a second in the moonlight
am I imagining things or is this really
happening a constant noise my brain
humming like overheated circuitry all
machines make sound lights all over
wrong decisions rapidly catching up

Oozing Out

eyes glasses collage book ectoplasm
oozing out in all directions call it back
I am not here I am writing everywhere

New Potatoes

embedded in the rogue culture I toss
and turn pages this was my mistake I
belong to another misled by a garden

but who doubts they are dead or new
potatoes now that the last are traded
for eggs the chicks quickly chickenish

why did I believe the clearly contrived
illusion of permanence that only lasts
as long as you are willing to do work

even then hollow promises not said
don't count against chance accident
slow movement of the earth's crust

Other Ideas

"Hit your marks. Know your lines. Save your money." —Liza Minnelli

knowing when to leave is no help
when there is nowhere else to go
the other places taken by others
with other ideas about living well

neither strength nor appetite can
now avail requires learning to be
still here and the seasons all one

I burned the soup talking poetry
and life glints of contact sunlit

This Moment

having said that crushed by history
what is there am I responsible for
everything evidently yes who else

there is this moment though sun
shining colors singing over talk of
"shut-down" somehow life goes on

Seeming Solid

is this the alienated proletariat
Lapham speaks of suffer more
underground or in satanic mills
seeming solid as a bouregoisie
they are dazed with fear can't
think the language bogus weak
misused to justify deny interest
anything but recognize the true
situation rapidly unraveling too
late deranged manipulated sick
at heart oh my beautiful planet

Straight Up

off is an illusion though I can
not think something going on

air museum now bittersweet
war planes too sad dead youth

what has our triumph wrought
huge energy harnessed to kill

burning wealth to fly straight
up above any real necessity

leaving earth scorched bare
masses miserable birds gone

cheery thoughts for rainy day
happily zoned for restoration

Always There

violet has been under a stream of sadness
she got lost in the care of josh who was trapped in panic
and under the influence of perception-numbing medication
a year went by
she stopped her own dreams and aspirations
she became engulfed in a cloud of deep depression
she realized she would always help her loved one
now violet no longer has sleepless days and nights
in a gentle soft yet firm voice she reminds josh that he is strong now
freed from the grip of the medication he was given
he needs to sit quietly and gather all of his strength
he can breath calmly and vanquish his panic attacks
violet is counting on spring to bring her back into the world she almost lost
the world that gives her comfort
her world of magic
being close to nature
reconnecting with her intuition
knowing when to turn the corner or go in a straight line
violet's belief in herself appeared to disappear at times
under it all it was always there
when Violet hears the birds singing she is reassured that her world awaits her
she is ready with open arms to receive all it offers

What I Did

what I didn't do this time
solicit nominations
contact poets
press
podium and sound system
what I did
treasurer
meetings
participate in selecting poets and making schedule
arrange venues
write press release
produce poster and brochure
manage mailing lists
write grants and fund-raise
public face
attend

Best Thought

let them do it they do so well
serious practice considered
themes thrust yearning form
the opposite of inspiration

I like them much intelligent
self-possession despite our
hospitality thawing knowing
giving it their best thought

do learn that we can speak
of any trouble funny story
unmentionable inclination
is our perfect lawful friend

Old Facts

trying not to elide emotion
express it say how you feel
years of cool frustrate form
let it be as simple as subtle

what quiet control can offer
wild excess accuses falsely
each deciding her own way
immune to embarrassment

I can say what I mean plain
truth its own excuse to be
not memories but old facts
affirm what I always knew

Any Graph

how exactly does speculating on commodities drive up food prices
another maximizing strategy how much do you need as much as I
can get to think I once admired this frankness no room for bullshit

Obama says one thing does another so brazen no one can stop it
we don't have time for such blunder and muddle and Hillary is no
better toughing it out with the good old boys who hold the reins

it must be obvious the corporate ideal of continuous growth is not
realistic think compound interest look at any graph we cannot live
on a vertical line it is a spike we are on the tip we are all fucked

The Center

"There was a time when people thought the world was flat. Then it became a hypothesis that the sun was the center of the universe, and then there was the hypothesis that even the sun was not the center of the universe." (Dawkins) In fact, I am the center of the universe.

So are you.

Perfect Confusion

"The surest way of getting hooked on modernism is to try to make it sound significant and beautiful." —Charles Rosen

my first Bartok caused perfect confusion
until I played him wrote a story about him
presumptuous twit that I was at least tried

the old way having proved its uselessness
in correcting the world imitation is futile
make it new the necessary admonition

art is either hopelessly irrelevant and
ultimately trivial or our only hope I prefer
the latter nothing else matters as much

No Conclusions

I'm so happy you got whatever it was you wanted

Violence is a failure of imagination. (Stafford)

so go the poet shows who comes is lucky and knows it

I feel what I feel in the moment it is happening

glad to be myself again no conclusions can be drawn

Easy Enough

transparent artifice no that isn't it
this is not a play within a play it's
real life the unique embodiment

whatever you say you're the soup
etc. and in it oughtn't be so smug
little distance between you and it

how long can you go on spinning
the only question how fast how
many sparks flying out in total

or not if you prefer not quieter
ways of being also available be
satisfied with the luck you have

there's no alternative I said before
anything really bad had happened
to me it is easy enough while it is

The Trick

sandbagged by a cold after fun
with sons not the cost their love
is free upon investing half my life
could there be a better security if
they can save themselves I'm fine

it all seems so dire these days how
can anyone relax feel confident or
long forget what's going down
as if anyone knows try anything
maybe something will do the trick

Long Form

one sentence contains so much thought
every phrase crystallizing wisdom doors
of opportunity for enhanced clarification

"Every moment in which we are caught, by desire, by an emotion, by an unexamined impulse, idea, or opinion, in a very real way we are constantly imprisoned by the contraction within the habitual way we react, whether it is a habit of withdrawal and distancing ourselves, as in depression and sadness, or erupting and getting emotionally 'hijacked' by our feelings when we fall headlong into anxiety or anger." —Jon Kabat-Zinn

how can one ever read "long form" the
latest term for books thanks to Julian
do I get it is that what is really going on