Tuesday, June 11, 2024

A Reminder

 (for Julian)
 
though sounds like snow
not like cow which is thou
and plough and bough
or off as in cough
or puff as in rough and tough
and enough
though is like dough
and so is although

Saturday, June 01, 2024

Nothing Changed

a huge fire on the other side of the mountains
smoke looms like a giant cloud
we go on living well
presuming to be happy
wind blowing the other way
nothing changed
not burned up yet

Not Writing

writing about not writing
not being the good man
accomplishing more
laughing loving sharing wise
instead of not writing
not knowing how
or who I am

Monday, May 20, 2024

Going Abroad

how's what going abroad again
old stonemasons built what we
could never imagine doing
 
that going requires less years
ago I tried to be obscure how can
you not grasp what I'm thinking
 
clarity first faces against light
can't be unseen by switching off
you need key strip for action
 
honey what's going on about now
threatened arrival expires date
of death is always a surprise
 
like candles on a cake whose
birthday this time remembered
in time for a virtual exchange

Monday, May 06, 2024

Morning Nap

 "their wings rag out with age"
could be a poem in itself a line
ringing with profound renown
 
I have to look it up again to
spell it right for our little time
where no one knows anymore
 
my wings fold for a morning
nap what else are shoulder
blades made to cut but time
 
a crow in the corner of my
eye refers to memories of
honeyed pleasure climes
 
flies away beyond the 
momentary frame green
with the rain so it be
 
the words give the wit you
give the falling full length
on the sofa of your youth

Monday, April 29, 2024

What We Do

 I summon her to dinner when it is on the table.
I throw out the empty milk containers she leaves on the counter.
I wash, dry, and fold our laundry and put it away.
I put the new roll of toilet paper on the spindle before she runs out.
I take out the trash and recycling.
I close the curtains in the evening and open them in the morning.
I converse.
I pay bills, manage the help, and keep it all going.
We do jigsaw puzzles together.
I buy more puzzles online.
I join her in the bedroom to read for a while before she goes to sleep.
I make the bed in the morning.
I cut our hair.
I put down the seat and the lid of the toilet.
I close the powder room door.
I turn off the light in her office when she isn't there.
I call the plumber.
I get things fixed.
I am ready on time. 
I wipe the kitchen and bathroom counters after use.
I wipe the table.
I make the shopping lists and try not to run out of anything.
I coil the hoses.
I sweep the porch.
I kiss her good night and we share a tender moment.
I say I love you.

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Too Old

 they are boring him to death
how has it come to this
how can he possibly stand it
he is leaking away
this time will not be regained
 
can this revenge be just
could he be that bad
forget about being president
he's been famous
take his word for it it sucks
 
sit here in this ugly room
all day doing nothing
he can't even stand up and leave
"haggard and rumpled"
too old for any of this now

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Wide Open

 a rainbow in the rear-view mirror
is better than none at all or ever
to remember or look at it again
you did it once at least repeatedly
chased sexy Edenic satisfactions
to prepare you for the final act
when nothing works or matters
as much or in the same old way
it's raining again the sun comes out
there it is arcing across the meadow
before my failing wide open eyes

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Time for Lunch

 time's linearity is real
and so is imagined timelessness
the permanence of this moment
dissolved in the naming
 
degeneration not only macular
I can barely see enough to think
 
this is a bonus hour
Julian reading u postponed
allowing me an extra nap
extra window to absorb ideas
 
David Cole quotes Dostoevsky
I open a new document in Word
everything is proper or branded
i.e. seared into flesh forever
letters jump together into words
like iron filings over a magnet
just before it's time for lunch
 
time lurches on in ticks
and dashes for the toilet
we come together on a higher plane

Saturday, February 17, 2024

What's Left

everything is resolved
then what
what's left to think about
or do
I'm happy
satisfied
worried about the world
but nothing I can do about that
except vote
which is not much
personally I'm done
reading the last books I can see
with waves of pleasure
loving my family and friends
gladly sharing our luck
while we can
one tiny infinite life
cosmic multiplicity

Saturday, January 06, 2024

New Idea

 I want to be sincere
without being sappy
is that too much to ask
save the irony for later
or bid it fond goodbye
say what I say clearly
ambiguity is OK but
obscurity just lazy
trouble to speak truth
that's the new idea
a reason to revise

Friday, January 05, 2024

Wild Things

now is this multiple moment
the singular of me writing
the many of you reading
mine and yours noticed
inhabited with being alive
 
we meet in meaning what
we put out and take in
smooth and jarring words
bouncing off each other
with or without intention
 
everything is interesting
if you are willing it let it
take you someplace new
where wild things are
waiting to eat you alive


Wednesday, January 03, 2024

No Tigers

a tiger appears on the path
am I asleep and dreaming
or reading about entropy
prepared for this break
in reality of place and time
I react before I can think
I am reading thoughts
fly beyond events no tigers
roam our roads and fields