Almost Everything

what we can still do almost
everything essence intact as
existence erodes slowly then
all of a sudden like the world

In Motion

"The meaning or absence of meaning of the words depends on the interpretations of the viewer." —Colossus of Roads

they suggest something to your mind
which may or may not pursue it which
has its own ideas I can't possibly know
my own in motion in and out of focus

a suggestion of other possibilities can't
harm the viewer who must need more
or wouldn't be here but lost in their own
geography of personal and social forces

don't fence me in the resonant meaning
rolling past a message in the landscape
community of listeners noting high low
continuous efforts to actually be there

Real and True

what I was thinking sounded right
but was wrong how was I to know
if I said what I thought I might be
mistaken even thinking I was right
how do I know what I am thinking
is really what I am thinking if I can
think I should be able to think that
what I am thinking is real and true
I might think that even if it wasn't
feeling alas is equally treacherous

Standard Parts

private exchanges might as well go public
they are all the same you say no they are
particular time and person linked and so it
seems but data doesn't lie it has a pattern
each is part of if you could only see you'd
know everything about what you are doing

then how can there be fiction its characters
unique surprising interactions erupt and you
believe them knowing someone made them
out of standard parts it might as well be an
assembly line where you aren't being paid
prefer to think your decisions are your own

Far Enough

without giving anything way
nothing moves far or fast enough

within limits we are infinite
more is in the nature of existing

with some exceptions unsaid
thoughts not less remembered

with is the necessary condition
everything else a falling away

All Day

do we do the same only better
with practice we do what we do
with great refinement better not
overdo what we do if we do it
all day together in the kitchen

Simple Needs

nothing on my list is available
another shopping fiasco hating
the furious brightness of retail
lighting meant to excite one to
buy stuff no one I know wants

well I don't really need things
anyway my cupboards are full
needs simple though nothing is
simple anymore it takes dozens
of steps just to make breakfast

Key Taps

virtual words may vanish before they are seen
like a song while driving or in the shower like
any aspect of the material world in cosmic time
like history remembered before being forgotten

letters swim in light and tiny electric currents
ticking into illusory existence key taps as thought
and feeling pressed into meaning what they are
or refer to on the higher Platonic plane you seek

on paper they seem more tangible and impressive
the book an object you can weigh and give away
sort through the content in an elevated context
shared with legendary hard-workers you revere

Too Late

attitudes are changing but are mine
probably not is what I used to think
and never managed to articulate still
true or is the situation too different
or did I misunderstand it at the time
when I might have been able to do
something real now it's really too late
not just for me but for the world I
worried about in vain when I was
young and might have known better

Bundle of Love

pingpong and lunch satisfy the balance
of play and nourishment work to follow
ties it up in a bundle of love and living

what can be said doesn't require that I
take feelings too seriously Rilke spoke
for another time friends fill in the gaps

Not Here

remembering yesterday
and the decades that led up
or narrowed down to it
anticipating breakfast a
shower and the rest of the day
my life coming into existence
in this moment in between
I am not here do not exist
sucked empty by demon time
timing the nonexistent now
gone before you heard it
telling yourself here I am

My Problem

does reading the New Yorker solve my problem
what is my problem
do I even have a problem

Better Selves

good work like sunlight under clouds
keeps promises you don't remember making

this is not the real world where desperate
people do desperate things no other way

we are mild and gentle go to therapy trying
to be good and realize our better selves

All Gap

nothing left to say
since I can't say everything
the truth is in the gaps
and it's all gap

still it's worth trying
not to disappear unsung
forgotten love lies
weeping at the tomb

unremembered thought
might as well die
before it fades
into unbroken night

I catch a word or two
in my dream net
snatch a faint idea
from the stormy flux

and here I am again
defined in time
resisting fatal entropy
with every bone

Artistic Form

the form of the form asserts where we meet
who you are whether you are there one verb
continuing through disparate harmonies and
rhythmic motions applied widely and wisely
keeping its integrity hidden from predatory
know-it-alls lurking in messages received

starting from zero the blood remembers to
circulate until it doesn't recognize Boolean
probabilities and reverts leaving you dead
meanwhile you read and think or write in
mirror fragments semi-cleverly arranged to
replicate imagined elements of artistic form

These Ears

I remember how the line goes
not what it says what it knows
goes no farther than these ears
hearing what the wise can say
clearly asked more than before
and still not even keeping even

rain moves over the land and I
just happen to be under it not
get wet because I'm inside try
to remember think I'm awake
dealing with what comes up as
sun breaks through I am happy

Old Ideas

everybody needs a place to live
so buildings cover the land and
the city rapidly eats the country

once the building is there it is
difficult to remove impossible
to recover what was there before

towns grow or die remains of
old ideas clutter the landscape
what are we going to do now

New Eyes

getting to D takes every other note
along the rhythmic way all harmony
become surprise it comes out right

on a clear day you see more farther
as if new eyes regret their rapture
bringing legal news of another city

country people don't understand the
difference but know more husbandry
and when to plant the first tomatoes

Still Nothing

a pause I am refreshed
fresh air sweetly chill
still nothing happens
and won't now the day
ended early by night

It's Raining

"Most people, most of the time, mess up." —Richard Brody

then I won't go if I don't have to
and I don't no one cares and it's
raining not that that matters much

I could sit in my chair all day long
flipping through magazines without
actually reading anything in them

but I won't I'll do something anything
will do I have my routines they have
space in them for natural variation

A Whisper

art work lives beyond time
though all time is imagined
except mortality a fugitive
whisper in the cosmic wind

Into It

promise yourself you will not expect
more of the same inflated standards
as if you were someone else entirely

get up an hour earlier and still be late
after yoga meditation breakfast shower
what with chickens and studio chores

don't be surprised time passes quickly
when you're working well and into it
remind yourself it won't go on forever

Many Books

a word is a key
and the door it opens
and what you find inside

words are a sentence
many sentences a book
many books a civilization

Sentence Form

email artifacts clog my inbox
this is the way we speak now
when anything goes in movie
form in life conventions still
rule the choices rarely our own

deal with it you must you have
no alternative something must
be said before forgetting takes
it all away sowing confusion in
sentence form seemingly clear

Even Water

no judgment but I want to be moral
which would probably mean giving up
everything I like about my life freedom
to jump in the car and go somewhere
big house gas heat electricity privacy
meat consumer options even water use
dubious even here the water table dropping
I like my comforts luxuries and life as is
so instead I muddle along doing little harm
taking good care and hoping for the best

Time to Heal

massage consolidates the gains
from chiropractic acupuncture
passage of time to heal better
than before still normally stiff

I only complain privately and
here it could be worse I could
be dead or miserably suffering
I'm still alive and feeling fine

Inspired

Chinese poetry
Facebook flotsam
heartfelt entertainment
post-irony sincerity
internet pornography
Prokofiev inspired
somatic resonance
overstretched compassion
cosmic geometry
natural seasons