Sunday Best

conversation disappears whatever
sparkling flourishes of phrase display
one's wit and brilliant grace of mind
evaporate amid distraction or the hearer's
own self-image and inadequate attention
why bother if it's not recorded can't be used
in a superior medium yet these are the
precious moments when you're actually there
face to face with the yearned-for other
speaking from the newly waking heart
in your Sunday best if anyone notices or cares
here is the chance to be yourself in words
gestures can't be seen on radio and video
emphasizes crooked teeth and personality
that's all it is you have to love it

Trousers

consider trousers
what a construction
can you make them
can you live without them

What Is

what is my life
what is this color
aquamarine
red-orange
creamy white
blue and yellow
a cluster of girls in red
a boy swimming laps
car
shopping
lunch
a nap
what does it mean
nothing
it's just what is

Edge of Reason

world gone wrong
again events obtrude
even here in Oregon
we receive the news
two-fifths are stupid
falling as a herd
for the cunning man
barest edge of reason
tips fragile balance
to the lower end
the sensible resign

Out Ahead

everyone around him knew the secret
he tried to figure it out by pretending
it was easy to go along got out ahead
without serious effort running lightly
not quite touching the solid ground

later he learned they were lost in space
playing the parts they were cast in badly
dependent on familiar levels of oxygen
and other inexplicable phenomena he
just happened to have stumbled into

the body systems call the shots if we
are talking about what actually exists
strip away art and there's nothing left
you will be secretly and truly dead
still imagining something going on

Actual Reality

this is me
sitting in my chair reading The New Yorker
is this a thing to do
is this really my life
I do this every day or something like it
every evening for a few hours
or play the piano or watch a movie
later I read Gertrude Stein
while brushing my teeth and going to sleep
does it matter what it's about
does "virtual reality" mean anything to me
I want actual reality
and this is it