Cold Water

shocking spots on
subtle harmony of
lavender and green
scrub with cold water
I need my skin intact
bedding unblemished

surprising breakdown
mower and then me
intact on one level
reading and writing
sussing out Prokofiev
mentally fresh enough
dermally undefended

Great Personalities

a process rooted in observation and manual drawing
(the kind of image David Hockney tends to make)
 
to bypass the tradition of autographic painting
… expectations of … unique, subjective content
(still visually unmistakable as a Warhol)
detached from the whole enterprise of self-expression
 
great personalities of our era flamboyantly
crafted for reproduction in all modern media

Mow On

I notice myself noticing
but am I really and if so
what are we to make of it
notice every blade of tall
grass in its varied sameness
shining clear in the slanting
sunlight ear-plugged silence
screaming with life and flow
restart the mower and mow on

Other Beauty

nothing real is as real as the dream
connection missed in a moment of
distraction there there the occasion
to know the embodied mysterious

in me the yearning glimpse of other
beauty yearning equally toward me
but life goes on taking us apart time
reasserts its hold as the music ends

Leaving Too Late

a whole world dies when I wake up
friends of major years a potent tissue
of reciprocal feelings a son returning
from the west tickets to Carnegie Hall

we go out for a walk too lightly dressed
in a tiny French car not strong enough
for a vertical hill spelunk an empty house
delay leaving too late to make the concert

unless congestion pricing makes it faster
traffic conquered in the intervening years
the son grown up winters not as chilling
cars a novelty precious loves alive again

The Right Hotel

sometimes you just have to move
to a different hotel the right hotel
makes all the difference where it is
the vibe how well it is run can rescue
the whole experience of being there
in Barcelona for example or Rome
you can then enjoy the art and food
and have a wonderful time together

The New Chair

the new chair sits in the living room
wondering about the other furniture
and how it will ever be able to fit in

I like the new chair better it is not so
puffy I don't sink in so deep the arms
don't push my shoulders up as much

the new chair a tasteful bluish tweed
is not offended by the old upholstery
which is something of a hodgepodge

I sit in the new chair wondering if I
even need a footstool new ones are
too spendy the old one has ugly legs

the new chair feels firmer more erect
I am more relaxed less compromised
by the old one's frumpy implications

time to move on even if we thought it
adequate I sat here morning and night
years passed my habits might change