Future Forms

only now are we here together
happy we can touch and love
be strong and kind ourselves
evolving better future forms

only now is the right occasion
arisen for the perfected action
ready now we recognize times
past counting decades undone

in the moment we can only be
continuing the effort to exist
active spirit fused in eternity
unified as ultimate intention

Dwarf Pines

thistles bristle on my desktop
pretty as a picture not in life
crawling under the dwarf pines
I pull them up by the roots

laughter upstairs not to annoy
it doesn't others can be happy
even when I am not right now
sick with worry for my love

Without Reserve

is it an omen that the cards play out
no I don't believe in omens situations
change we can only be present adapt
act out of our better natures naturally
giving all we have for love and honest
human helpfulness within the confines
of the social order and physical reality
go as far as possible without reserve

Perfect Art

walnuts cheddar a bite of apple
cut out the spots not much more
living on a farm I put up with it
flavors interlock like perfect art
flawed in precisely the right way

how is this a metaphor for what's
really going on illness daughters
coming and going doctors driving
how can it not reveal everything
how can I think of anything else

Crazy Turns

is it normal to go on
walking swimming driving
enjoying good food and company
when someone you love is so sick
and miserable in the hospital ICU

all I can do is keep on
being me make my life good
bring her hot chicken broth read
Trollope aloud as long as she can
follow the crazy turns of the plot

Charged Up

is everything charged up can we
go to bed now well fed unafraid
sure of our morning functionality

or are some of our batteries low
the furnace not coming on despite
the chill heaven knows what else

are we running on water power
renewed by rain I want to know
if it's proper to turn on the lights

not really salmon and lampreys
die in the mighty dams the price
of this vision paid by fishy lives

Total Comfort

for Vera Williams

even the good die eventually
if not sooner having worked
and played loved and survive
forever in our mortal hearts

who is not here is still here
even after as much as before
even if we never remember
to think of what once was

this is total comfort for one
who forgets sickness and loss
the present suddenly the past
which was there all the time

Chicken Soup

drips and monitors beep and pulse
masked I look like a faithful dog
bring chicken soup and boiled eggs
wiggle my eyebrows like Groucho
read Trollope in a virile voice as
the suffering beloved slowly heals

New Day

the night is young but waits
no longer seeming to expire
the hour is later than it was

nothing happens in an hour
still awake though yesterday
isn't over till I fall asleep

wake struggle for comfort
think dark crazy thoughts
wake again to a new day

Another Deal

solitaire retains its calm center
just me just life's cards falling
play them out cheat if you can
even then not always winning

solitaire expresses in its nature
a condition you can settle into
shuffle the cards another deal
another unfolding another play

solitaire is something I can do
without purpose or explanation
self-referential without any self
existing still within a whirling

More Real

where am I in all this
what I am reading more real
than what happens
which is just the inevitable
playing out in forms
nothing if not art

Going Wrong

what am I to say or do
about the unmistakable decline
of myself and the whole damn world

one thing after another going wrong
and nothing can really be fixed
and that's the way it is

Tiny Pawprints

it was brilliant sun in the Cline gardens and
after a while we moved our chairs into shade
cloud landscapes threatened and promised rain
then disappeared into transparence reappearing
as tiny wet pawprints on the windshield lit pink
from below as we flew home to Oregon hoping
great happiness follows from being half my age

Too Loud

too loud
we left

Stored Up

how many people can you talk to at once
without being able to hear what they say
the main thing is to be there nothing else
needed the silence is elsewhere running
in the wilderness or on a bike stored up
for just such a precious unique occasion

Secret Meaning

pause for something else the
seasonal music goes right on
cock crows stomach growls
fingers tap on shallow keys
distant traffic begins its day

hereinall there is found no I
no doer needed thermostats
manage the house's comfort
silent struggle under covers
turns into normal waking up

what is the right thing to do
is this my life's satisfaction
or background to something
other beyond hidden secret
meaning still to be revealed

Slips Away

dream sentences don't have ends they just go on
lifelike they don't lead neatly from here to there
with a narrative arc beginning middle and end
so satisfaction is elusive only feeling can cohere
that too slips away a resonance a vague memory
awake is much the same with more movements

Barely Tuesday

today was never Monday
now barely Tuesday I am
counting down to Friday
flying through the air to
another world experience
when Monday comes again
we'll be happy to be home

Making Real

it's almost time for whatever's next
always teetering on the near horizon
the present inexorably unfolds slow
and also fast snapping shut behind
as we leave it for what we planned
invitations commitments we've asked
and given with physical circumstances
that arise from time itself making real
the tentative partialities filling our days

When Young

what you do when young
isn't necessarily final
but it was for Keats

Be There

if all I have to worry about is
what to wear it can't be so bad
even if unidentified organisms
agitate my systems annoyingly
I can forget about it for a party
be there whole-heartedly joyful

As We Were

people get around in stages
here it's always the present
conditions changing seasons
advancing beginning again
as we all must ever manage
seeing ourselves as we were
wearing an earlier wardrobe
to Naples Bohemia or Spain

A Better Theory

with the last obstacle removed I have no further excuse
not to go ahead and finish another long-simmering project
so the illusion of stasis will again dissolve and I can again
move on to another imagined reality coming into being

that it is never too late until it's over has been my creed
proved again again more times than I can easily enumerate
when the moment comes it happens no matter what else
arises in the interim to interfere and propagate once more

a better theory of history supports assertions reaches past
tropes familiarized by everyone talking about them at once
forgetting last year's unimaginably amazing developments
blurring what we remember not even noticing at the time

Smaller Bites

distracted by everything at once
even reading an interesting book
sitting in my own familiar chair
scratch writhe think of writing
setting the record straight at last
makes it hard to stay in the story
which deserves my best attention
to fully enjoy not miss the point

Rich Fall

the last of the cake and goodbye for now
just us and our ailments just time enough
to regroup before Ben and Dana's wedding
a flight a drive lots of people hurry home
more visitors come three thousand miles
rich fall before the quiet dream of winter

Being Ourselves

such fun having family here
men and women together we
cook do chores set up games
for tomorrow's birthday party

delicious days being ourselves
bouncing off each other easily
flow toward the end of youth
grateful that we are all alive

My Way

it's not up to me
or if it is it's very artful
as might be expected
I don't have to have my way
but I like to and more too
what other people bring
themselves unexpected ideas
energy I need to go on
plus what I bring to them
of craft and being me

All Over

done doing now the air
stops moving like time
paused for a gathering

actual traveling marks
transitory buying asks
why I ever leave home

cousin two years older
remembers what I did
never needed to appeal

if he doesn't satisfy you
move on while you have
time before it's all over