Monday, July 31, 2017

Certain Talents

who would you tell
if you told anyone
your precious secret
if they care enough
they already know
why keep it a secret
when truth will out
aren't we all the same
apart from culture
and certain talents
genius is unlikely
to be seen again

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Just Us

no one is here
it's just us now
and the animals
"self-directed"
is that worse or
less than human
I don't think so

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Bright Sky

oh summer evening here north
deliciously long not a cloud in
the sky sun down the pure even
light makes everything its exact
colors suddenly the moon appears
not new but still slender shining
in the still bright sky the sound of
children playing up and down the
street the dishes washed suddenly
it's nearly dark stars are revealed

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Carrying On

some days everything goes right
gym routine easy with podcasts
music great even if I can't play it
friends warm book getting good
family delightful dinners superb
shared with cats horses birds
carrying on as evening falls

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Nothing Bad

I lay out the cards
then win or lose it's
a few minutes later
and nothing bad has
happened to me or
anyone I know and
love so I play again

Monday, July 24, 2017

Original Me

now takes care of itself
the result of everything that came before
filtered by present strength and will

for now I am glad to carry on
balancing measured pleasure with desire
more memory than drive

decisions taken long ago
fructify as manifestations of what I want
ever more expressing an original me

Cloudy Tears

cloudy tears compromise the words
I was getting used to seeing clearly
further intervention will help more
reading and writing is what I do
and seeing color my great delight

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Close Attention

no sleight-of-hand for me
my hands are clumsy now
blunder at the oddest tasks
unbuttoning a wallet pocket
what once was easy is hard
the hard still hard but I can
get better if I practice paying
close attention to every note

Friday, July 21, 2017

Still Free

adequate is not enough
this is my only life more
and better than I deserve
I should enjoy my luck

and do already remember
love and precious lessons
learned from countless
generous creative spirits

let's rejoice while we can
love energy flowing though
we can hardly move the
mind still free to change

Thursday, July 20, 2017

A Question

writing about nothing
how can I be good

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Still Here

things happen
nothing is said
people come
and go away
other people
take their place
I am still here

Monday, July 17, 2017

Big Ones

squirming mentally physically restored
to my sharp-eyed self at a teenage lake
going to bed hungry for breakfast and
another day of summer fun and action

myself in the world alive with frogs
wind cousins mother fishing for bass
the big ones hiding in the deep water
gasoline cold lemonade this afternoon

Saturday, July 15, 2017

Hiding Out

not by choice but circumstance
that is the presence of others
I hide out in my studio reading
a novel about a reality I used to
brush up against in the course
of other circumstances people
I was then relating to because of
work need desire ambition taste
this is why anything happens

Friday, July 14, 2017

My Clutter

I will not remember later
unless I remember now

what is not remembered
is a hidden life going on

but inaccessible doing its
worst in a nameless room

like Congress exchanging
dubious favors not to be

reasoned with or used for
my own sweet edification

it's here somewhere I think
rummaging in my clutter

to no avail no photograph
to quantify its odd effect

is ever likely to emerge
I am poorer and no wiser

but it doesn't matter to
me not particles but flow

Thursday, July 13, 2017

New Freedom

new colors burn new freedom
were they there all the time
I don't even have to work
poems come from the light

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

How to See

vision is seeing something
that was already there with
or without your observing

vision is how to normally
engage the world see and
note read and write about

vision lost you could cope
grateful not to have to you
embrace what reappears

vision is amazing see badly
one-eyed life still answers
with intelligible language

Sunday, July 09, 2017

Fair Enough

I give myself one card
and the hand plays out
fair enough for human

what else did I learn
being a four-year-old
is funner than trouble

still awake at eleven
burning with hot fire
inventing how to live

Saturday, July 08, 2017

Still Asleep

life's own momentum kicks in
it hardly matters what I think
the day is still sunny and warm
the windows still need washing
everyone is still asleep in spite
of chickens and other birdsong
Alfred will arrive and we will
rise to what the moment offers
these family days are precious
regular routine a mere illusion
ready to collapse any moment
never to be entirely recovered

Friday, July 07, 2017

Joy Present

as if I was still the same I don't
imagine becoming anymore joy
present but not possible to enjoy
the old forget-your-troubles way
glad to see others happy though
play the part nicely as I still can
a general impression of myself

Wednesday, July 05, 2017

Too Serious

f something does occur to me
will I have the energy to do it

expansion yields to shrinkage
every dimension except girth

Roger looks young Andy old
the game become too serious

Ludwig raised the stakes for
music even he couldn't hear

we understand how to go on
too late to do us much good

Tuesday, July 04, 2017

Beer Bottles

tame and timid hoping
not too much happens

we celebrate stability
in a changing village

beer bottles appear in
woods and hay barn

I lock my studio doors
listening to fireworks

Monday, July 03, 2017

Black Mass

writing it down another
artifact not a solution to
gravity black mass emerging
not to be fed attention not
to be swallowed but shit out
much later in the day when
it really didn't matter anymore

Sunday, July 02, 2017

In Pieces

unmitigated fun tending scary
everything mitigated now if
not I'd go flying off in pieces

let myself go isn't fatal I can
still come back to my normal
self realize fear finally loses

Saturday, July 01, 2017

Out Walking

I keep trying to say
what isn't understood
the same language but
different thought forms
each wants the other
to see it the same way

there goes the street
out walking and talking
on the phone as if dogs
knew English better
and had more to say
than anyone we know