Harm's Way

let go it makes no change the day
composes itself of the usual moves
the hours follow in the same order
as if today were yesterday already
tomorrow weekly seasonal daily

thus bears the theme now develop
something might happen anything
at any moment but usually doesn't
consider the individual more than
accidentally be out of harm's way

Right Understanding

slow down even if you don't want to
time does not stop there is still plenty
fill it with some of everything in proportion
as you value body spirit mind my own
inflamed with desire for right understanding

Telling Incident

so the spin thins emotion rising
smoke of a windless afternoon
you can't just decide to feel you
do whether you want to or not

gluten-free sentiment purged of
natural sweetener decocted in a
plot of some kind a golden ewer
overflowing with telling incident

I confide in my computer more
than a person each in their own
program until the form is filled
we both emerge into the light

In Theory

to me a text still an object I must be
old-fashioned ha ha didn't I always
embrace the new still do in theory
everything think I get it I really do

it's a question of what you like still
a critic I discriminate look closely
search out text I can handle respect
enjoy so much the better if it's funny

I like what it can be and do anything
words resonate individually combine
in temporal spatial structures often
only in your head and isn't that fine

Not Cool

this practical higher level redefines
what you proposed to eradicate with
political feasibility study war no more

leap of wrong faith your own success
locks in bad policy every world arena
rapt in disbelief it could go so wrong

man's fate should be better than this
mad scramble to get more whatever
everybody does is probably not cool

Other Languages

if the air leaks out we sleep on rocks
if we sleep on the continental divide
birds curse in other languages known
criminals puncture positivist thought

the much I might rather not say gnaws
at favorite connections all depend on
each discovering the same truth they
don't a single night may last forever

Do Less

blueberry pie and mowing displace words
the story continues regular tai chi shaman
drumming charging chickens vultures Tom
talking picked up during gushing life story

stop do less more calmly let spin exhaust
itself and us while also fun we'd rather do
our normal routine reasserts its separated
space communications joining at bedtime

Wash Dishes

something else to do the same thing
waiting at the appointed time I'll do
again carefully mindful as I can be

a kind of twitch a following through
on what I thought I wanted decided
would be my life thus made it thus

as if I had much choice apart from
circumstance it's all like this what
ever else is happening wash dishes

New Worlds

summer excuses every regret as if
early imagining led to new worlds
wise virgins push back the margin
require explanations of every fact

tell them I have gone into the city
looking for fellows marveling in
books print words the late fashion
arbitrary choices promise nothing

smoothly folded liquid curves go
home to unapologetic innocence

This Glow

the sun our friend makes everything happen
this glow this solstice fire arising from within
the creek rippling over rock no that's gravity
green leaves hops potatoes every vegetable

imagine something else if you can write it
fiction arriving from inside the real situation
unspoken derivatives dance alongside us all
told if other unknown plants will volunteer

Smart Moves

no go stay be here with
among others only you

nothings said ever true
that thinking makes so

choicest compromise
delivers happy people

given a risky situation
make few smart moves

Still Possible

if while waiting you do something else
you are no longer waiting you are doing
whatever it is wonder what's this music
weed blueberries housework eat wash
dishes time flies things are getting done

meanwhile you are waiting whatever
else may happen because there's time
you know it's late or too soon present
doing haunted by future unimaginable
probabilities planning their dirty work

ah the futility Beckett Wilde knew all
said more Bach Mozart figured it out
beauty enables pleasurable emotions
still possible to be good make happy
move slowly play all the right notes

Painted Field

it don't matter so much who says
what as that the words be heard

who is listening without really
thinking about something else

what is said is always more
than words can actually say

words are pictorial elements
like cows in a painted field or
the brushstrokes they really are

Till Ten

which Molière such important questions
whether tai chi barefoot indoors or on the
grass is easier win win why not sleep till
ten again I used to do it all the time now
never revolution not my own idea of fun
but something must be done damn soon

Best One

how can I say anyone is dull
when I don't say what I think
myself open-minded to a fault
cop out hiding in uncertainty

the strong-minded sound shrill
the leading candidates shallow
our inside insight comes from
minor channels best one none

You Know

don't ask me if you should anything
I've learned not to have an opinion
or if I do not think it serious causation
pretty much a bust these days no clue
what might lead to something worth it

except generally seize opportunity to
stretch or relax and be comfortable
where you are there see no advice
think about it make up your mind
you know it is your best conviction

Indian File

who I was not am became
the real myself unimagined
possibilities circumstantial
encounters new players who
knew what to do and did it

clean hands cultivated voice
Kansas City expectations if
not what you imagined like
it on some level all broken
reassembled to a new plan

this is what had to happen
if not this way then another
Indian file and overlapping
information shared as far as
anyone else took an interest

Another Nose

murmuring polspeak thundering Brahms
a house divided my limitations embrace
Bach Mozart Schubert Beethoven plus
aforementioned others pleasant enough

reading Beckett thinking about my own
funny characters being fools or heroes
you decide I know them well enough
not to forgive their faults and virtues

thin atmosphere terrible differences
within a narrow range how to tell one
from another nose ears eyes attitude
each condemned inists on an identity

Still Time

long days longer slower days of June
leave room for Beckett Patti myself
still time to write a morning nap adds
the afternoon then more after dinner

strawberry season too with cream
as a reward for weed-whacking hill
pounding in posts for chicken fence
and all our other immodest goods

Every Day

consider the regularity of chickens
me there every day as evening falls
with corn and seeds collecting eggs

other rituals organize weekly round
because we like it order is pleasing
thank you all and may I do it again

False Summer

home enough never to go gasping
although rhythm can never suffice
without tune words harmony even
persons to take and make the heat

throbbing engine gushing smoke
tracks across lawn loads of sand
fences its reward load of manure
the garden gaily feeds the family

how hard she works to keep it all
going gravel footing hay coming
turns preparation cost recovery is
how she spends this false summer

No Ideal

timing everything
who can choose
sync or sink

for all the virtues
credit your god
to be fair

faults limitations
accept respect
no ideal

Inside Out

"Love a yuzu-squirt, but one can take only so much." (Nico Muhly)

as musician as playwright how will I be known
if at all
and not for long
the greatest only centuries
and wrong

as elderly gentleman or lover
human kind
for what I've done or what I've been
doing for myself and others
trying to save everything through art

who knew though if I didn't say
I wrote
who reads all the way to the end
who cares enough
about the finer points

what else matters nothing to me
oh the clouds the flowers the changing light
and music from the inside out
and how my body feels
tingling

Future Virtues

forget what now what then was thought
what forged our language our lost ideas
sad history of forgetting all best known

threes rule two complete static balance
other falls through whoosh my renewal
fantastic pink peonies don't just happen

ideals of a thousand petals completing
all tasks removes future virtues dream
not less lost than insight yet unseized

Busy People

if it helps do it
but not too much
nothing might be
better many busy
people better still
do the obvious if
that doesn't work
do something else
if your time is up
someone else will
or not be bothered
I could go on why
limit yourself you
could be different

Heavy Objects

gravity becomes unbearable when you've lived
in space how can you sleep mashed down and
walk or carry heavy objects shovel sand or dirt

weightlessness is too extreme things float off
clutter the air no in-between or emptiness let's
wish some generous fraction everything easier

gravity is unbearable why must we be serious
it makes no difference except in how you feel
about yourself and the weight of merely being

Something New

the problem wholly absorbing however
arbitrary time ego stops ensues bliss as
tai chi commences then takes its time

otherwise one doing succeeds another
thinking yesterday's intention too soon
tomorrow coming makes more possible

managing mentality might be enough
anyone can external circumstances go
on change you always something new

Tell All

books ahead collected poems go on
nobody will read them I don't care
somebody will it's what they're for
to be there ready for eyes or minds
heart exposed if you care to see it

finish Jimmy finish unmentioned
writing publish poems get back to
the big memoir Maurie asked for
one request enough to reawaken
lost momentum live need tell all