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

Even Now

not even here
not even now
molecules of matter
nodes of energy
whirling is all

my toes wiggle
time resumes

The Mess

nothing gained by blowing stuff up
the mess has to be cleaned away
new stuff made which falls apart
in its destined time what a waste
our own neighbors' needs unmet
thank god for peace would it only
spread war does not bring peace

Laughing

when I laugh I hear my father
happy to be one of the fellows
what were we afraid of indeed
he was more wry more twinkly

nothing so serious but a mood
thickened and he couldn't help
using power however baseless
he would rather laugh me too

Never Boring

A video for your pleasure - click here to watch  (watch full-screen)  

Stay Calm

owsley my age off the road
bad weather mindful driving
critical odds not good but
still we go life is elsewhere
none content to stay home

keith walked all over town
to see what was going on
cold rain final his undoing
restless spirit eased at last
small comfort super moon

resolve to stay calm despite
approaching cloud of death

Mind Work

thinking goes on but I'm not
doing it I'm just sitting here
words line up to be spoken
or written watch mind work

time doesn't stop even when
you wish it would slows down
when you wish it would hurry
as if it matters what you think

or don't you can't stop it but
attention can be paid to what
you will pick which arising
thoughts empower the good

Fixed Ideas

one or more is probably enough
if you can keep your head about
the wind will never carry you away

what comes is wetter than before
but that's good if you think it is
and so is having millions of gods

monotheism only limits what is
possible to one is too to another
fixed ideas are a terrible danger

New Daffodils

rain keeps falling
nuclear disaster keeps unfolding
Khaddafi keeps pounding the rebels
brave young soldiers keep being shattered in Afghanistan
the government runs week to week
taxes will have to be paid
new daffodils every day

Like This

contents of the house being sold without reserve
why then were they preserved our life a museum
of itself preserved like this forever this is how we
lived when we were alive chose this curtain fabric
sat in this chair feet up on this aghan on ottoman
set lights sit down after dinner this is what I saw

My Diet

half as much and nothing extra
that's my diet and it works

ganymede is gone and a belly
suits an older man but still

Every Moment

"Sooner or later we have to concede that romance is not what it should be but would be what it could be." —John P. Dodd

onrushing doom rushing faster
every moment more precious

Prayer

please free me imprisoned
by habits preconceptions
limited compassion small
mindedness too few words

let me grasp the vastness
of self and other possible
transcendance of the daily
potential power of routine

grant me kindness warmer
feeling smart engagement
affection beyond judging
what I cannot understand

let me be better than I am
at listening with attention
breathing deeply weeping
for the suffering of others

Solid Enough

not so different from furniture
a gathering of atoms taking up
space and balancing the room
solid enough to sit on movable
semi-permanent semi-conscious
I sit on my pillow and breathe

Useful Positions

like to cook
like to wash dishes
like to clean the house
like husband/wife the way he/she is
like the weather the way it is
immune to traffic
plenty of time

Come Again

burning eyes don't dare watch what's going on the screens
must lie the words transparent obstacles to understanding

see without looking if you can recall without regret be wise
about something while you still have time for comforting

seize the time let go before it hurts to touch a thistle yet be
glad the chance will come again before you can be knowing

Who Lives

the facts are happy you are you I
I and fortunately we are here not
in Libya say fleeing for our lives
leaving everything we love or far
from home no way to go or know
who lives or not not bombed or
stopped for questioning the dam
is holding house intact children
well this kind spring advancing

Rash Choices

easy for me with my advantages
mostly unearned but I did learn
more from failures than success

rash choices often work out best
don't think so much rationalizing
opens the door to self-deception

I was lucky knock on wood know
well this lesson mine alone lost
everything before I found a way

to work to love to give the rest
away and love myself as well as
if this blessing is to last forever

My Granola

(with a nod to "Diet for a Small Planet")

6 cups rolled oats
2 cups rolled wheat, rye, barley, triticale (or more oats)
Spread in flat baking dish, heat oven to 375, and toast till fragrant and starting to brown (15 or 20 minutes).

Measure into bowl
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup ground sesame seeds
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup hemp hearts
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup walnut pieces
2 tbs nutritional yeast
Add to toasted grain, mix thoroughly, and toast for 8 minutes.

Combine
1/2 cup safflower oil
1/2 cup local honey
2 tbs vanilla extract
Pour slowly and evenly over other ingredients, mix thoroughly, and toast for 8 more minutes.

Let cool. Store in loosely covered jars. Enjoy with milk, fruit (bananas and raisins, or berries in season), and plain yogurt (Straus's organic if available).

Enough Rope

which memory is worth repeating
is the question who you are seen
to be someone no one if you paid
attention once it will always matter

what is point anyway simple fact
enough rope to hang a tale from

probable cause of close reading
yields discovery nothing is hidden
in tall grass or corn amazed that
someone willing to give notice

Naked Statues

"The habit of expression leads to the search for something to express."
—Henry Adams

if I haven't been there I don't want to go
or not enough and even if I did I might
not care that was back when I liked to
wander around a new city feeling smart
and competent never lost except for fun

now I'd rather stay here privately happy
if less amused not be shot at or have to
look at monuments to history I deplore
although I miss the naked statues on all
the buildings nice possibility of surprise

Broken Parts

as if the mind's function is to manufacture confusion
embedded as it is in chaotic multiplicity yielding nothing
to analysis but systems too vast or tiny to make sense
there is no sense no underlying fact but floating specks
each pointlessly distinct shimmering in cosmic waves

words work well to increase distractedness dress illusion
in forms as if revelation just out of sight will yield to play
as if thinking better makes a difference even at rest we
can't stop generating dreams no disconnect interrupts
our haunting indescribable disassembly broken parts

only the dead can rest if we let them not be have done
ourselves still part of a weak solution try to concentrate
sweep up wet leaves refinish floors hopelessly maintain
balance as remote dependencies fall away come home
to welcome beds rise to rain another inexorable spring