I Do

if not now when
especially now
when I should know

luckily I do

Good Light

let us go on talking anyway
whether or not we can agree
vary the topic open the door
use words of fewer syllables
show yourself in a good light
believing my purpose sincere

this is proper book business
inviting comment listening
to what the other has to say
the same stories harmlessly
retold embarrassing vanity
reembodied as a sacred text

Art Plays

natural order is the spectrum always the same
big sun rising transiting dipping bright moon
tugging our tides birth and death and weather
natural chaos now complicating the regularity
art plays along this edge as we play our lives
not performances games but really happening

In London

in London I could be a gentleman
delve into the fascinating history
who built which street when why
the houses sell for millions now

who wouldn't want to live there
if living were all I'd go to my club
rarely talk to anyone mainly read
filling my place in the dying order

no place more different than this
though our language is the same
theoretically no Indians were here
what they were missing we forgot

My Demons

your thought is not for me
I read it do you read mine

people actually are different
your assumptions not mine

my demons are only imps
their dirty work long done

neither teacher nor preacher
I may have nothing to offer

I know what you're saying
it isn't what I need or am

Accidentally Rude

nothing is known without being described
by more than a word or properly named
as if you were there actually witnessed it

even then you can't know if you remember
or heard about it later or half imagined it
the advantage of numbers is they add up

some things can be true without being said
in anyone else's hearing or written out in
language not everyone is expected to know

it's that ambiguous whether you like it or
don't want anyone to feel bad if you were
accidentally rude forget I said anything

Clear Nights

does the Devil sleep I doubt it
his little devils keep right on
poking and jeering all the time
there is no night or day in hell

rain in darkness little warmer
than clear nights freezing the
animals' water we can sleep
to our weary hearts' content

Dry Earth

wild at lunch after
outdoor adventure
after being inside
steadily stronger
doing chores again
before the winter

was that a spider
scurrying askance
or a reflection of
something other
ready to pounce
when we forget

memory is work
watered in hours
dry earth yields
details reemerge
self-recognition
your reward to be

Without Warning

acts of involuntary character
circumvent all reason feeling
rises before thought can speak
who you are only visible later

don't try to decide if anything
goes further than you meant
you live with it embraceable
or never to be mentioned again

the usual caveat applies real
stuff happens without warning
a propensity previously hidden
rears its head unloved unshorn

What I Like

whatever you think
I wish I could too so
we would both know
otherwise blindness

when I think of you
I can only wonder
what you think of me
and what I am doing

I would like to help
if you'd let me in on
what you want of me
and are willing to give

I have my own ideas
we can both be happy
let me do what I like
and like what you do

Bad Enough

quite a bit less would be enough
I indulge myself because I can
bread butter jam a glass of milk
snack time not long before bed
you imagined something worse
yet this is bad enough to satisfy

Still Running

The water was still running so I had a drink and washed my hands.
Papa was good, no doubt about it, but there is still more to be done.
Sentences structure thought; paragraphs are only an afterthought.
If a mind is open, does that mean that anybody can walk right in?

My Time

not there because here and not going
explains where I stand on New York

I did my time there satisfying myself
and others when I could do it I would

then after a chapter of something other
went back tried again partly succeeded

if the past doesn't die it must be killed
that the present may flow into the future

Knowing More

what you are not interested in
may still exist for others get
over it before leaving the room

or change the subject tell us
something you know we don't
in case we never see you again

that's the kind of thing I mean
understanding separate from
feeling knowing more is better

The Beat

normalcy becomes increasingly attractive
in contrast with disruptions of many kinds
unpredictable malfunctions needing repairs
sometimes go smoothly though often slowly

tempo needs to be established at the start
and freely modified without losing the beat
or momentum from many years of efforts
begin at last to show how well it can work

this is the pedal point under the harmony
foundation of house center of existence
structured according to circumstance and
nature expressing itself as passing lives

No Excuse

peace is not dull it's
opportunity for joy
to go someplace just
for the pleasure of it
relishing its beauty

policies are war tar
everyone with guilt
just by being there
endorses bombings
military no excuse

outraged over Paris
ignore Aleppo and
once lovely Beirut
attack be attacked
nowhere to be safe

Why Not

everything is seen
everything is replaceable
everyone is here
or coming soon

nothing is too much
nothing doing
anyway why not
nobody cares

anything is possible
any way you like
ask for what you need
hoping for the best

Cracking Open

wisdom falls out of the cracks
let be the words for being alive
ceiling floor walls windows time
itself cracking open like a nut
like breakfast on a fall morning
nourishing and just what I want
chosen from among my favorites

In Process

the time has not come to begin
go easy getting ready to plunge
when the moment stills enough
open yourself change all habits
willing it every element learned
about self and others in process

Fully Formed

breathing is key and regular
heartbeat before anything else
matters it all goes on without
our knowing as before we were
born other places demographics
we can never understand even
if we go there now already who
we are going to be as each is
fully formed and we know it
having made choices and acted

Extra Lights

this machine puffs that one hums
extra lights mark the path to relief

planetary probes amazing visions
nothing explained even on Earth

when how why how much longer
remain unknown this is how it is

Be Poets

from within our separate unknowable scenarios
which are one story of human loves unfolding
we endeavor to strike the revelatory resonance
open sesame into acknowledgement of treasure
each precious story unguarded trusting goodness
conscience prevailing over instrumental interests
to let ourselves be poets if we dare and so desire

Air Strikes

stop the air strikes
U.S. planes bomb
Arab countries how
does that sound to
you

Still Unsure

a different language for a different country
where everything is about the body nothing
about who you really are words for acts and
substances you never really wanted to know
you begin speaking it there is no other way
to talk about these parts and processes still
unsure of these words' meaning and utility
and how you can be you so far from home

One Day

a thump
a trip to the emergency room
from there to the airport
goodbye

healing
home from the hospital
the hospital is here
concentrating

friends
a moment of recognition
enough for one day
more tomorrow

Several Beds

time tells tales otherwise unknowable
what will happen how will I feel about it
if there is room for feelings for life itself
or just a suffering animal obeying orders

lighten up the future has its own opinions
don't ask you may learn too much too soon
or expect answers ahead of the commons
here we are now snug in our several beds

The News

those with the least [education] reported the most [pain]
among middle-aged white men beginning to die younger
that's the news and where is the place for me to write of
inner movement while continuing experience doing see
feeling emotional aesthetic idealistic sometimes thought
in no rhetorical form but story can everything be shown

Cool Raincoats

if it was me I'd go to a movie
or something like last night's
play not get into bed at nine
if I could I would but I can't

it was midnight in Brooklyn
one real world even if we're
here with the cool raincoats
going through another night

roosters come plans go awry
a body takes its time to heal
even the best care can't beat
death but now not the time

Too Late

what were you doing in jail you may ask
I hope for quixotically defying authority

what are you doing in hospital you must
be sick needing special professional care

why is your theatre in Paris not New York
well I understand I wish I had been French
or Italian but it's sadly too late for all that