Each Oat

each oat opens existing satisfaction
between thought and utterance dream
and act as if you know what matters

nourishment and taste intermingled
with idea of wasting nothing eating
every morsel that comes your way

Present Tense

I said it all but it doesn't stay said
the sky darkens it's unnaturally warm
we are here at home thinking of others
far away in their own present tense

the point was made but doesn't stick
rain pelts and spatters on the skylight
other realities pulsing too many books
on top of books overcrowded shelves

oh let it just be you and me together
knowing each other knowing we know
sure of each other smiling and kissing
everything changes but not right now

Too Many

the Times makes it look like everything
is just going along all these aspects of
culture music fashion on Fifth Avenue
stuff happens people suffer but it's just
the regular way things always go along

longer Buddhist view is much the same
aging sickness death losing everything
get used to it 'twas always thus will be
meanwhile everything is going wrong
earth cries for mercy we are too many

Too Hard

intuitions of emergence make me think
thought should do something change me
not just flicker over the mental surface

one with everything in a physical sense
all of us nothing but quantum particles
rocks grass cars as well as you and me

epiphenomenal to the root and that too
hard to swallow impossible to see past
actually engage real meaning as it flies

Nap Time

rolls along the sentences
soporific it's the hour mid
morning already nap time

What I Say

what I say to the chickens
doesn't have to be interesting
or funny they factor me in
count on me for food water
treats even though they don't
understand how it works
there I am day and night
making sure they're happy

Coffee Later

morning toast
a different breakfast
who you are
homemade granola
orange juice
a second coffee later
leftover steak
after feeding the horses

Our Own

modern is long ago over
timeless individuals all
that survives of history
work that is what it is
whether or not a story

I like art by people I know
no less artists if unknown

or so we tell ourselves
present on walls if not
actually here happening
now never ending our own

Better Work

familiar blank awaiting [word]
revealing patterns unavoidable
deliberate adjustment required

the craft is learned by osmosis
in the doing lacking education
in languages chemistry geology

if I could think clearly I would
do better work and more be seen
by millions to be a great success

Too Scared

is it morning can I go to bed
inner racket of chewed nuts
conquering phlegm in a poem

if I go to bed early I wake up
in the middle of the night no
time to be awake and think

thus far I can rise up quickly
escape the harrowing dream
divert myself by reading books

too close to reality you say
what I was close to thinking
too scared to even tell you