Right Time

no right time don't wait just do it now
applies in many but not all situations
some stuff wants its own sweet time
and trying to speed it up doesn't work
imagining time is on your side better
than pushing grousing and impatient
so go ahead and do it while you can

Local Conditions

what you have is what you always had
and have to deal with a thousand little
objects ways of doing things you can't
imagine different your body's peculiar
karma dependent on changed weather

larger cycles continue as they always
must local conditions less predictable
the relevant stability illusory now that
you know better what would you have
done in preparation for the final scene

What I Did

the empty day so full I can't remember
what I did this morning or my dreams
forgetting doesn't make them go away
and I could already have written this

One Life

how can you judge
this is your one life
nothing to compare

their taste for black
currants during war
saved many children

books will be thrown
away their time over
never to be perused

but on screens we
learn to use or die
knowing nothing

Long Enough

nothing is anything like what
it used to be possible to think
it might go on pretending to be
fooling everyone no one fool
knew enough to stop the film
long enough to straighten out
the plot no one remembered anyway
I never cared how the story ended
the writer decides not the characters

More Serious

one perfect anything
you should be satisfied
forever never have to
do anything boring again

are you a victim then
of human nature acting
against yourself because
it's just the way you are

why even bother trying
if nothing is good enough
let someone more serious
carry away the prize

In the Middle

what would I be thinking about
if I were not listening to NPR
literally programmed by smart
people considering what people
like me but younger need to hear

what else would I be doing
if I were not driving into Portland
for a small medical matter and
lunch with Alfred and Shiva pay
attention keep an eye on other cars

what would I be feeling if you
were not here in the middle of
everything I have made of myself
accumulating experience together
as we navigate our separate lives

Little Lives

time enough for everything under heaven
the larger context waiting patiently while
little lives run their complicated course as
simple as that complete wisdom is obvious
refolded like a well-used map of experience

What to Think

how to handle
what you never expected to be like this
what to think about the changing situation

Not There

act without explaining even to yourself
no rational explanation will be required
what can he have been thinking will be
the question on everyone's mind if you
are careful and certain of being noticed
the act will speak for itself but no one
will be listening and you are not there

Doing It

plans do not usually fall through
so be careful what you say you'll do
you will probably soon be doing it
and glad you made the plans now

now you are at home and it's enough
you don't have to go anywhere or
do anything you don't want to do
this really is an ideal situation

Your Numbers

long days belong to no season
ways of looking promise fun
first you have to give away
your numbers wondering who
will call while you are napping

warm compresses will relieve
some pains and most confusion
if you know better just say so
I will meet you in Rome or
come to your villa tomorrow

Nothing More

pay no attention to the camera
live-streaming us on the web
nothing is private anymore but
no one cares what we are doing
to manage the long summer days
now that we have all we need
nothing more is left to want
except infinite continuation

The Usual

will we ever know
what really happened
how we felt at the time
can we trust our own
theory or is it the usual
rationalization excuses
as if the reason why
contrived and dubious
made all the difference
relieved and happy
I don't have to go back

After All

after all
something else

Further Change

silently waiting in the silent room
where almost nothing ever happens

what could the action be without
other persons to complicate things

each person more rigidly themself
prevents invigorating developments

the moment passes without regret
further change will not be resisted

Anything Else?

is there anything you want from Starbucks
which was selling cannabis in my dream or
anything else I can do for you that will help
smooth your recovery and give me a reason
not to face the usual void between routine
self-bettering distractions and nagging chores
everything keeps growing more than I'd like
weeds and dust endlessly wanting attention
I'd rather write whether or not I will be read

Squeezes

are you there
in the bed
I reach back
squeezes yes
I get up

Surprisingly Cool

like a rocket that doesn't rise too high
then falls or a fountain jetting before
the palace blown into spray the initial
rush of love spreading like butter onto
the toast of time good with marmalade
rain drops cohering into vegetables or
floods ideas needing to be written out
music decaying as it flowers in place
light fading as the earth turns away to
hover silently as if in sleep returning
never exactly the same familiar faces
older than yesterday or gone forever
dissolved into ordinary daily writing
defines a surprisingly cool trajectory

My Face

where should I stand
is my face on straight
is my weight evenly distributed
shall I put on my glasses
will I be recognized in restaurants

Naked Bodies

deliberately accidental images intrude on thought
feeling doesn't show in the face and eyes unless
you're acting naked bodies show their age badly

small women take up just as much space when
you want me I'll be here waiting to be asked if
I'm hungry I eat more than is strictly required

What We Need

easy to say it is difficult
to recognize as being or
having been real we can
only recognize what we
knew before never fully
realize even what exists

even our selves escape
cognition after decades
of search and redefined
memory the documents
unstable remnants only
hinting at what we need

Here We Are

am I strange or merely distracted
my condition by no means unusual
now that the old ways are forgotten
as if they never existed tried and true

not that everything was ever normal
everyone sure they were doing right
few strange and seriously distracted
terrible mistakes always being made

but they knew how to do useful stuff
with tools they could fix themselves
well let's not idealize about the past
it was often worse and here we are

Just Thinking

having absorbed Beckett
one still wants to speak
even knowing how much
all this self-expression
makes me sick I can't
just sit here after all I
think and mostly having
no one to talk to must
write it down if I can
or else act in the world
just thinking not enough

In the Lobby

nothing to prove by catching another
dream or disease or flight into Italian
opera first act missed we mill around
in the lobby harping on what we lost
in elegance at what irretrievable cost

another book play weeding move to
Sweden or a hidden corner of Japan
leaves another lasting shadow where
you one time acted in bright sunlight
remembering a model that never was

More Words

(for Teju Cole)

nothing ends if
there are more
words time
continues

the words
never end

No Alternative

no bones broken but a definite
glitch something is bound to happen
and when it does you deal with it
embrace mortality there is no alternative

Each Exceptional

hundreds of pianists dozens I know
have heard or heard and seen have
ideas about what they are good at a
musical horde we recognize exists
each exceptional in their own way