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