Warm Water

all the same I enjoy what I'm doing
one component at a time how it is
plunging headfirst into warm water
workouts on the exercise machines
manipulating letterforms on my iMac
playing tai chi with Thich Nhat Hanh
where is my suffering he speaks about

We Few

sole survivors are people I hardly know
we few manifesting as conditions decline
how can Meryl Streep keep looking young
having too much fun working to miss out
otherwise the movie painful as remember
we can't as always stay at home and read
the author is dead someone has to decide

Small Secrets

how is a person real without pages
or persuading others to become

scheduled appointments apply to
all manner of separate occasions

obvious truths explode faces in
disbelief of how it came down

this is an ordinary day regular
weather prevails against doubt

added flavor wishful movement
small secrets privately discussed

in sum the best chocolate again
rewards correct repeating form

Bare Eyes

if optics is not the whole of seeing
not in the eyes but the visual cortex
constructing the world like our ideas
I can throw away my glasses paying
hundreds so they don't make worse

reading this perfectly with bare eyes
what are we to make of that doctors
attend to the organism only I can see

She Cares

when it reminds me of cocoa that doesn't mean it necessarily is
though no telling what else it might be not quite the right color
anyway cocoa doesn't come in such quantity for domestic usage
why on the bottom of the pool tell me that what are they doing

and what am I doing thinking of turning back the blinding fog
happy I didn't the play was wonderful though the dinner not so
Irene a writer like no other delightful touching not just because
I know her easily imagine who she means how much she cares

Other Families

is there time to breathe water
before you realize the failing
air can save you from sorrow

or do we dream in error sadly
misled what happens to other
families suspended in solution

no poignant regret for what's
long past fixing the past solid
as thought with consequences

Being Brave

sixty years of marriage shows wear
party stiff food limp family snaps
poised among carnations nameless
earlier versions unflattering colors
being brave not trying very hard
you have to imagine the real thing
livelier and a whole lot more fun

The Light Changes

in the room the colors come and go
as the light changes maybe music

encounters over coffee and the piano
inspire gratitude devotion to practice

no one to share my Homage to Frank
other brightness a substitute for eyes

that's it and not chosen to contribute
all worth possible making my own

Other Aspects

different kinds of people can talk
early in the morning or later on
different subjects avoid political
opinion if we don't agree let be
not even mention Judith's radical
action they would not appreciate
or other aspects of my wild life
unregretted different other times

Stolen Time

quickly spill whether anything else
will grace the fallen manners forbid
exactly that random fact stolen time

I'm talking about lunch how people
talk about themselves to what end
if not entertainment never revealed