If I Can I Will

yoga light hang weed granola

tai chi everything working again

in time for another long drive if

I can I will be there curtain time

the butter device eaten the fire

escape the seduction applause

if this is all I could say if asked

Holy Theatre

wash the windows mow the grass

better than doing nothing gazing

dully wake up write about Indian

holy theatre pass it on what else

slow connection sabotages more

same endlessly amazing images

not enough I'm hungry to choose

doing as doing something choice

Better Living

say it don't just think it doesn't count

until it's put in words or action better

living when the lotus blooms I'm here

for you and others if I can remember

uneven music only Roberto can keep

time well enough to drum with other

songs vague hesitant I need a beat

to function act alive beyond thought

My Beauty

when I am old praise my beauty

make sure I wash my hair brush

my teeth dress myself in colors

don't let me fall apart too badly

or if I do remember me in better

days gone by are always present

when I am bony hold me in your

arms as if I were soft and spring

upon us warm me with your love

if I am cold don't be deceived if I

don't seem to care I have nought

else but human body tenderness

More Meaning

autumn rugs miscellaneous info

informs the in-between seasons

unpredictable inspiration or not

quite there all patterns dissolve

unmentionable invitation while

considering what thought catch

floating past as if in meditation

a movement has more meaning

that's why I asked you here to

meet what passes for quality in

democracy argument is a noise

distinct as what actually exists

Wild Being

between or after some to be last

words about age though young

in dreams doesn't matter we all

are mainly human isn't that true

so I phoned so I tried to keep in

touch you had your own network

as if everyday worries press less

email attach photographs like you

still the language evolving past

my urgency imagined wild being

thrusting upward to peaks of joy

above the mirror lake unfishable

In Bits

I'm O.K. thanks whatever no further

surgery maybe viral swimming heat

help dust-mop floor laugh at Streep

what happens happens at a distance

publisher L.A. family friends all over

links proliferate warm bodies apart

there we are in bits little wonder as

if literary act replaces ordinary lives

as if we ourselves could be digitized

Heat Pad

pain right hip start stops me

stranded leaning on the piano

sit down unaccustomed chair

wait for help to hobble across

room to chair heat pad helps

later almost better for tai chi

not really what can it mean I

thought I was fine not failing

can't I just roll or slide along

feel good if I don't try to walk

Other Lives

cards say I'm home 400 miles today

450 yesterday from Many Glacier too

much driving alone "reading" novels

each peak beckons if I only could

falling through land forms hidden

canyons lost towns empty stretches

trees wheat grass rocks road crazy

gets to you passing never staying

I only talk to the help nothing say

to anyone else but platitudes the

usual mountain goats astonishing

steeps unimaginable other lives

Party Tricks

it should be a relief that it isn't true

just a thought if that those two jobs

you never show up for the columns

not written and the other thing you

try to go downtown but your heart

isn't in it you have given up flying

is just a party trick they won't tear

down the Plaza despite what GM

did across the street would be like

changing the Place de la Concorde

don't even think it stop the words