Only Words

how extreme can you be it's only words
distorted they strain to exist just letters
is not enough sentences are suggested
so anyone can follow along good luck

I want to go as far as Matisse Bartok
or the movies cut loose from common
sense and sensible meanings free to
say something nobody has ever heard

Tiny Flies

forgive myself for once
I'm not all bad I do my
bit I carry my share of
the load it is a pleasure

what else is there to do
but whatever comes up
again to be done again
so everything can go on

thus choosing to choose
I don't doubt you do too
moving hay and fences
killing off the tiny flies

Faking It

the young are smarter than they believe
and better use it while it lasts I'm sorry
I was so dumb but my native brightness
made up for it put myself down for lack
of confidence and ambition for thinking
I was faking it but I obviously was who
knew better Frank O'Hara but even he
could say it clear and not be heard it's
unsayable have a good time on the way
remember and then forget it if you can

One Thing

no trivia for this person
how can I go on interest
wanes as actuality waxes

always more to say but
isn't it all one thing these
sparkly sculptural sketches

how to think of living
being in the middle of
practically making sense

Just Enough

do everything at once the only way
is one thing at a time then on to the
other book you are reading do you
start another when you finish one
or wait to catch up heaven forbid
like having no future plans some-
thing always come up just enough
to squeeze the time a little squeeze
actually helps you get more done

Empty House

too long and heavy in the night when
nothing can be done no angel cohort
listening to opera and smoking grass
just a big cold empty house all dark

I could turn up the music lights heat
but nobody is there to hang out with
besides I'm doing stuff all day long
and need to be semi-awake to do it

there is nothing for it but to give in
live by the schedule one is assigned
although theoretically free consider
what it will cost to defy all custom

What We Like

open up
what is it going to be
something delicious
to you not necessarily to me
you don't like eggplant
I don't like milk chocolate
although I do like chocolate milk
chary with salt till it's on my own plate
I like what you like and more
we eat and do what we like
now swallow
now breathe

Take Me

crystallizing thought-forms another
form of solitaire keeping me pure
oh take me I have something to say

and if you don't I pine not too much
to ask push button train eyes focus
mind on matter nourishment on living

"No Problem"

I say no problem and it isn't
nothing is a problem peeling
apples took a long time but
is it a problem no it's what I
do apples make applesauce

same with corrections more
fun like directing designing
not a problem the problem is
bad governance bad leaders
following history downhill

Money Helps

nobility does no good a fiction
seems persuasive while it lasts
being right doesn't always help
more often not the ruthless win

are they happy probably most
of the time money helps not
worry things happen anyway
meanwhile they have the toys

Warning

permanent holes accumulate
don't fall in

Something Strange

just when you think you know what to expect
something strange happens
don't be afraid
it might be funny on some level
falling into the abyss
satisfies the need for an end

Deeper Matters

theatre still moving Judith "Here We Are"
the winter play on Clinton Street I won't
get to see living as I do on the other coast

authenticated previously contumacious
days gone by deeper matters matter more
the struggle for peace and justice goes on

in the form of art displays her integrity
other virtues persist by persisting last
pure manifesto of true political vision

What I Think

seriously there's too much to say
anything only rearranging words
Kelley can talk about the meaning
of life really fun to do it with her
but seriously I've already done it
every day and know nobody cares
what I think useful only to myself

What Is

what isn't there
haunts what is
it suddenly arises
like a melody in Brahms
from the ambiguity
and confusion
beauty can't really
be said to exist

This Rain

I've heard this little melody before
enchanting harmonies and intervals
another time another war remember

this rain fell then as loudly dashed
against the windows the same gales
we weathered when we were young

precious air we breathe still healthy
water falling from a different sky
tears for different fallings yet again

Who Won

nor did I sleep when the music
though the men were wild who
needed to be watched or know
who won or lost by how much

neither did the rain fall after
the singers climbed the stairs
one fell down then bouquets
occasioned smiles applause

I was glad we came though
I tried not to staying home
best but breaks are needed
between the cruel seasons

Nothing Else

accumulating losses effect the difference
between youth and what follows after we
age like whatever you like friends lovers
falling into the past not to be seen again
dream hauntings recall the once possible
realization of what we might have been
but nothing else can happen on that front
we go on to something else forget but not
really never goes away we are lessened

What's What

Jerry gone like that with no goodbye
thankful still alive for Thanksgiving
years ago his pastries not the same

a life complete with everything you
think rock and roll serious gardening
doing things for others being himself

he found this farm for us helped us
make happen permits good decisions
knew better than most what's what

wry humor of many wounds steady
loving under pressure funny man I
honor his being informs this place

Next Time

silent dread unwarranted or not taxing
so the rainy night drive took its toll
on my eyes a kind of sleepiness blur
strain talking radio going over cliff
face limits next time stop for dinner

merely to get to this moment dream-
dogged reading Galgut Genet as if
some other stream is flowing in me
I am flowing through some other
reality to Mozart Schumann Bach

warm rain patter's a pallid shroud
arising with the light as yet unseen
marked with the shape of a secret
self enacting an outward life as if I
could actually be everything I am

Mannequin Smiles

silent music would be better than
this fluty show-off twittering we
all know smart-alecks get ahead

oh I don't mind exactly really
what's it to me I wouldn't listen
but it's too much trouble not to

ears don't close like eyes input
endlessly arriving like party
crashers talking far too much

waltz time makes it even worse
aren't we having fun dressed to
swirl with mannequin smiles

First Form

if idea precedes existence
then which comes first form
or content or can content be
the form the quiet argument
goes on anchoring interest

Whole Grains

clumsiness is a symbol
I won't tell you what of
everything is a symbol
also itself if anything is

granola is feeling good
munching whole grains
eating is a symbol to do
with others and oneself

rain is blowing around
turning on the lights do
animals mind weather
is this not a symbol too

Re- Words

never mind me harmless not enough
I should have been let me see more
collegial collaborative cooperating
joinery unpersuaded fearful father
if something had happened worse

war didn't come here I was lucky
to be opportunity to self-destruct
repair redeem more re- words as I
learned means separate from birth
single non-stop associating engine

"All Alone"

after that he vanished from the story
eventually they all did is that what
Jean-Claude meant by saying we are
"all alone" not if I can help it I can
break the line or not if anyone will
cooperate and see what can happen

new characters keep appearing as
the others have left the stage they
are only coming back in dreams
life not a dream that's metaphor
may have misled my little boy I
could hardly blame for asking I
should have said no right away

Sheer Pleasure

Reading, writing, having, making books, books collecting dust. Adam collecting evidence of how many more like me, decades of publications only seen by a handful of friends. What is the use of this art edifice we are erecting? Sheer pleasure of erection.

Good Coffee

no one is asking but I will answer
anyway wrong number no dentist

given self only accept no caveat
covers melody in pencil memory

grief for dead language supposes
place for good coffee every time

Ever Thus

I love you even if you are an old farmer
need long lines to describe dear wrinkles
faring beyond what I ever had imagined
happening to me it didn't have to be good

dare mention luck with earthquakes off
coast the dam upstream ready to crumble
imagine the surge coming to your house
anything can happen and probably will

realism will do you in think short term
yourself long term generations coming
when things keep going somehow sadly
compromised believing it was ever thus

Still Rising

I feared for our wings
irreplaceable treasure
as winter comes on a
pie won't save weight
nothing is fresh more
plausible leaders can
explain all mistakes
still rising wind lifts
the level of all ocean
deity takes apologies
what shall we do now

Soft Cheese

done or undone I imagine
a small knife slicing through
separate layers of pavement
eat soft cheese for a change

swell time we had pretending
to be poets historic farmhouse
framed before anything here
time space surreally erased

I preached as Waldo Emerson
willing congregants took it in
model truth-seeker flattered
enthusiastically egged them on

today I am a workman think
about electrical circuits make
last corrections on a book
resume my customary face

Rest Easy

just begin and sooner end
then go to bed and rest easy

preach to the choir they
love it give it to them freely

others admire only style
pay little heed to what I say

as Emerson and as myself
I can know only as I think

think freely share pictures
help others hurt by storms

Leftover Soup

not a word about Tuesday
though we talked about the 1940s
fascism collaborators revenge
the play was by Ugo Betti
Italian number two and new
to most of us all the same
we eat well and talk too much
enough said sooner than not
or friends you can count on
leftover soup for ourselves

Only Me

time shift hunger slaked hunger viz.
for art performance radical aesthetic
breakthroughs exhausted the need
I know it's not them only me good
will strong still don't really want to
go through what it takes to get there

I'm sorry to miss everything I miss
by not driving to the city in the rain
flying back and forth to New York
less fun than staying home writing
reading playing music being friends
enough to do without chasing thrills

Still Here

what opens unafraid
crosses many states
arrives before time
impervious to rain

buttermilk burps
Mama Leone soup
an orange chocolate
beats airline meals

home is still here
last week's brown
suddenly green again
before light fails