Every Minute

I don't have to do anything
to be doing something all
the time and more undone

weaving and unraveling
makes every minute mean
hardly moving in my chair

nothing actually is enough
to be ready for something
besides what's happening

Trivial Choices

to each his path of beauty given
birth among the class of success

such is the fate of trivial choices
seen having already been made

aha you realize at last what you
might have done if you'd known

or cared enough to do the work
aware molecular winds of light

merely to read or play solitaire
equalizes nirvana opportunity

Lying Flat

existing in the mind enough
for a favorite word or place
story placing persons where
it can be known when it was
is or will be done with being

demap or not good method
sees news in nothing doing
unread billions sleep better
if ever awake to where they
rose from actually lying flat

Movie Faces

I'm not sure about anything
well Beethoven surely Bach
wily Rembrandt full of heart

don't get me started listing
movie faces human bodies
awkwardly designed for love

if you believe that anymore
you're lucky still to be alive
with so much art behind you

Only Here

sensible opinions on everything satisfy craving
this I saw and these correct thoughts about it
must convince any open-minded right-thinking

reader across vast gaps virtual simultaneity as
if where you are merely background scenery
the play never only here now somewhere else

past future fantasy dream all as real as actual
the moment of appreciation comes to a point
alternately gleaming painful ever all there is

More Fun

no one to lose then how
can you have any game
all work no play no fun

game needed to pull in
players working richer
when they win is it fun

playing music not easy
worth effort practicing
helps makes more fun

conversation is a game
if you're serious enough
play the stakes as fun

Her Work

swim swam swum if my passages allow me
more air flow all night in the morning rain
if I know what else is going down how can
I be here keep doing what I choose to want

nothing stops Judith from doing her work
old age she says is when you become who you
really are what you’ve been building up to
more complete unstoppably being herself

That Child

who is that child
Dickensian who
materializes in
the enclosed air

me as a pauper
pitiful hungry
lost in fog
then gone

Angel Wings

still flying coach
implies what you will
angel wings

Too New

something like winter yields reluctantly
to something like spring nights still cold
buds shivering swelling in warm sunlight

nothing is normal anymore new seasons
too new to declare themselves old rituals
continued pleasantly against cruel odds

Not Knowing

I'm not sure I ever went or said
anything about it sometimes I
think I've said something when
I've only thought it or thought
about thinking about it myself
my private thoughts confused
with not knowing who thinks
or what about apart from tasks
planned in advance that need no
thought to be actually performed
and spontaneous kisses and hugs

Counting Steps

what I had to say
when I wasn't counting steps
in order to come out even
was to make people care
even if they didn't

you have to pay attention
to something write
something wear something
is naked a costume if worn
inside a costume

therefore I quit
one job after another
ran down I had to move
kept saying what it was
doing what I did

Time Stops

life passes moments do not recur
yet my gesture is the same practiced
deliberately enjoyably grooved this
step this posture as if stopping time

time stops for the perfected moment
eternally returning its investment
pleasures fading whisper of rain
approaching in the darkening light

Cheering Up

my hardon lingered pleasantly
into lunch felt good and I needed
cheering up if I don't write it down
what's the point if you know what I mean

One-Eyed

needle in the eye
tiny painless one-
eyed all afternoon

I still can see to
write and read
words and music

fog primarily
wrong glasses
eyes bruise red

Another State

the ageless I still there in silky sheets
knows dawn must again become day
must rise and go on to another state
meaningless regrets a piece with life
existing all along delusions renewed
apparent sameness sweaty costume
wanting seasons to show I can move
does this reasssure me or discourage
fresh understanding continuous ego
waking from dream to truer thought

Be Glad

expensive teeth demonstrate togetherness
I can't even begin to compete but I'm here
too old to consider reconstruction chewing
well enough be glad I still have all my own

these are the standards I'd rather not face
satisfied to admire the views the polished
ivory and presentation rewards to follow
close to where I never really wanted to be

likewise new buildings and improvements
not necessarily bettering the old originals
dangerously dry conditions advertise error
of bringing so many people into this world

Final Score

other places excuse different action
arising easily among strange sights
having been here before I know my
way around and up down stairways
familiar vantage changing personnel

did I say small town theatre tennis
as dramatic as musical virtuosities
vegetation obscured by light effects
topless palms empty galleries still
awaiting the evening's final score

Secondary Veiling

deep feeling compromise
that I didn't do what I wanted
to know Rome not possible
not being Italian even if I were
I would have had to fail
but I might have lived in Italy

thus ego will interpret art
translation a secondary veiling
as the thing itself unfolds
inevitably broken like nostalgia
for what never happened
heartbreak doesn't wait forever

Newer Ideas

bed is not for sleeping yet
I read on top of everything
rising wind ruffles canvas
chimes depicting no regret

these advances thrill forth
wishing I had newer ideas
reports of breakthroughs
replacing broken messages

even so the missing speak
again the sentences form
as if you asked a question
and I could properly reply

start again again rehearse
hard passages no one likes
hearing mistakes repeated
the same attention lapsed

or else finally we realized
what we were doing wrong
and what to do about it an
obvious insight just in time

Going Away

what is the now is the where
this diagonal across the room
into the empty foyer furnace
whooshing cold air to warm

this flight into imagined air
where sun shines all the time
it isn't dark earth face averted
implications of a going away

fact falls short of justice to
everything I feel about today
and all that went before as if
creating realities I embrace

Plenty More

similarly different linguistically
and in every other way the same
problem arises fatal intractible

and yet we easily bridge the gap
hold hands across the table not
pleading but sharing the pause

all money is imaginary anyway
why not spend it and be done
easy to say if there's plenty more

I Will

did I yes I did
and I will again

and was I good
generally yes

so what I did
was not all bad

not at all bad in
truth hurt no one

Last Resort

old curmudgeon that's going too far
not that I mind and she provokes me
thinking I have something to tell her

comes over asks then rolls her eyes
calls me mister in parody of respect
real as any other appropriate regard

this must be who I am it's come to
sorting papers publishing my plays
mopping the usual plus last resort

Open Mind

it may be hot I may be glad I came
or went and came back to spring

these changes of place not natural
other changes are no alternative

whether they know better I doubt
my open mind in any event accepts

Play Again

the game is played I risked everything
sometimes won enough to play again
never hard never viciously determined
to kill my undeclared unmet rivals no
taste for blood thrill of danger lust for
fame wealth power an embarrassment
riches of sense or sensibility preferred
shares of love equitably passed around

The Truth

everything works out
sometimes not as well as you'd like
but somehow until it doesn't
our natural optimism
not that far from the truth
as I understand it
miraculously moving

Who Knew

what and who I knew when
what I might have done went
west why not ask who knew me

whether we wanted to or not
we watched what went down
wishing we were someone else

where whatever you assumed
was wrong or worse we willed
a worthy return to wonderful

Come Again

did I tell you what I was thinking
that you are here now and going
that I cannot regret these times
come again I will still be present

laughter is nothing to cause fear
pain concomitant of being alive
difficulties exist to be overcome
goodbyes the price of our hellos