Saturday, July 28, 2012

9/22/2004


I walked
into the bar
at an ungodly
early hour
because
it was
the only place
open
where I could get
a cup of coffee
which
wasn’t a problem
and
there she was
pretty in pink
and famous
as she could be
a songbird
sitting on the floor
throwing a
handful of small dice
like jacks
then translating
the outcome
into words
and phrases
she typed into
the laptop
in front of her
a
freely chosen gamble
humming to herself
and
with my
hot coffee in
one hand
I
sat down on
the vacant crate
next to her
introduced myself
again
having met her
once
many years ago
and quickly
ran out of
anything worthwhile
to say
wishing her well
not wanting to intrude
on her work
without cause
but
unable to move along
without first
paying my respects.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

9/21/2004


Once
I heard
the noise
from outside
I knew
it had been
going on for
some time
censored
until now
and when I
opened the door
and
walked through
I was in
a world
changed
dramatically
and
unexpectedly
many laborers
doing their jobs
knowledgeably
their
many offspring
looking on
speechless
unusual for children
an excavation
the size of
a small
ancient civilization
where before
one could easily
drive up to
the house
park
get out
and
come inside
without difficulty
a river
rushing into
the open hole
not unlike the
Tigress
and Euphrates
as I
upbraided
the man in charge
not sure why
I was angry
my heart
not in the effort
though
put out
that
I had not
been told
what was afoot
surely entitled
with
the work under way
at home
a failure
to communicate this
a breach of
professional conduct
the jefe
looking at me
with incomprehension
as if
this were
a commission
I
could not have
forgotten about
and
it seemed to me
I knew
all would be
put right
when the work
was done
everything
beneath ground
reconfigured
for the better
the extent of my grasp
of
this reality.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

9/16/2004


Half boy
half prodigy
smiling joyously
he
sweeps up
the deck of cards
as he
crosses the room
shuffling them
in mid air
a demonstration
worthy
of an audience
arriving
at the table
ready to deal
knowing that
skill
in a game
of chance
is no guarantee
of winning
luck
having felled giants
eager to best him.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

9/15/2004


A ghost of
his former self
he is still
a force
to be reckoned with
when I meet him
between
the wrappings of
a life's work
able to teach me
many things
I need to know
slipping them into
my
circulatory system
so I
needn't be concerned
by what I
don't quite understand.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

9/14/2004


Not yet a man
no longer a boy
he met her
on the battlefield
at the end
of the war
her hair short
posing as
a young man
on the opposing side
luck of the draw
becoming lovers
at
a perilous time
and
when she knew
she
had to leave
or fall into
the hands of enemies
he was too young
to understand
what she had
already learned
saying
he would
go with her
delaying her departure
long enough
that
both were caught
and
though there was
no longer anything
to fight about
his people
would not let him
go to her
standing before him
young and lovely
in her filthy
rags of war
their eyes
on one another
helpless
when
a short burst
of jealous 
automatic gunfire
destroyed her
in front of him
past
present
and future
bloodied forever
what was unnecessary
irrelevant.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

9/12/2004


Circumstances
are such
that
anything might
set me off
the trigger
releasing
a flow of
unleavened malice
into my bloodstream
making me
a danger
to anyone
around me
loved ones
becoming
embodiments of
their
worst shortcomings
deserving
what they get
and
lying in bed
with
the lights off
I am ready to be
this
venomous person
forever.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

9/5/2004


Don’t know
how
it came about
he said
thinking
a respite
had been arrived at
until he
looked more closely
seeing
he had
taken beauty hostage
again
and was treating her
pornographically
not
he would swear
on anyone's life
his desire
or intention
but his actions
are there
for all to see
troubling
this lapse
into violation
of what he cherishes.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

9/4/2004


The slaughtered
were the entrée
again today
the special
a serving of children
satisfying some ideology
or derangement
difficult
to know the difference
those giving orders
getting the same 
results
for reasons
dressed up as noble
while
hiding dirty secrets
with bloodstained hands
and
off in the distance
stand those
most outraged
their response
premeditated
serving well
the black holes
where their souls
used to be
while small bodies
and the mangled lives
they leave behind
are wept over
and soon forgotten
making way
as
we have always done
for yet another reminder
of our capabilities.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

9/2/2004


In the last light
of summer
fearing
the slow fall
into winter
when the body
insists on
curling into sleep
plans for
a better world
shelved ‘til spring
leaves little time
to succeed or fail
before
it is again too late
until next year.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

8/30/2004


I am
alive and well
but reminded
again
this morning
after
sleeping soundly
through the night
unusual enough
that
I cannot remember
when
I didn’t know
I was going to die
and
while I hope
to be ready
when
my turn comes
the sadness and grief
in the pit
of my stomach
which will pass
I know
as I
attend to the day
measure time
more poignantly
than I would like.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

8/28/2004


I suspect there is
as much separation
between
what is God’s
and what is Caesar’s
as there is between
body and soul
heads and tails
but
the failure to see
the difference between
full worth
and what one can
get away with
will decide whether
we sink or swim.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

8/24/2004

Time changes
everything
but
on this day
at this hour
and this moment
her bottom
moves the seat
of her pants
as she walks
like a theatre
in the round.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

8/24/2004


It was
only yesterday
that
a monologue of despair
detailing the difficulty
in meeting my needs
passed my lips
no help from
the meek
mild
or avenging
forthcoming
a lamentation was
the best I could do
but
that night
on hearing a story
about an old woman
who likes to
get out and about
but no longer can
without help
and her son
who
lovingly protects her
from all harm
as best he can
feeling guilty
when she gets hurt
as happens
despite his best efforts
though
in the story
when chaperoned
in her wheelchair
on an outing
by a close
and trusted friend
of her son’s
she
foolishly jumps about
with such force
she
falls over backward
bumping her head
which bleeds
as bumped heads
can do
though she is
not otherwise hurt
and unconcerned
but because
she understands
if her son finds out
as he will
he will suffer
unnecessarily
nothing she says
changing that
she asks
her son’s friend
to whom he listens
if
he feels guilty
for what was
clearly
her own doing
to which
he says no
only concern
and
a little blood
from
a scalp wound
doesn’t seem like much
to him
a story
I did not
fully understand
though the moral
seemed clear
that
being alive
and getting around
as best we can
no matter how careful
we may be
will always involve
some foolishness
leading to trouble
but rarely
so bad
we need berate ourselves
for an outcome
human nature guarantees
just enough truth
to ease my mind
for a while
when I awake.


Sunday, April 15, 2012

8/24/2004

Adultery
is for couples
some married
some not
for some
evident worldliness
for others
causing heartbreak
and then
there are those
who die
terrible deaths
for their actions
everywhere
in the world.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

8/24/2004

I overheard
an old woman
swaddled in wrinkles
say to others
of her kind
I couldn’t get over
their story
I never heard
such a thing before
and
the others agreed
proof
some people
don’t get out much.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

8/24/2004

I sat on the sand
looking at the lake
at the climbers
on the cliff face
at the woman
a white scarf
covering her head
skinning a stick
with a long knife
like the trick
was old hat
beneath big clouds
navigating blue sky
then
turned in time
to see
a black bear
had shuffled
out of the forest
onto the beach
no cause for alarm
room for everyone
I said
under my breath
reaching
for the camera
I nearly left behind
on my last day
in the high country
where the predictable
can be interrupted
at any time
by anything.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

8/23/2004

After
shopping around
and with the gunshots
of slamming doors
going off
next to my head
as people
come and go
death picking up
where life leaves off
I have decided
though love
may not be
the best buy
on market day
with atrocities
and an aptitude for
reliably poor choices
readily available
I see nothing
more likely to improve
one’s perspective
at any given minute
and
do not think
I have overlooked
the many fine uses
to which money
can be put.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

8/22/2004

I have
seen the day
from departures beneath
a cold gray scree
of cloud
to a sunset of
pink smeared blue
and what I feel
immeasurably exceeds
what I know
and can say
about myself
all else
and the weaving
of you and me.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

8/22/2004

I broke bread
with a man
whom small talk
lead me to guess
correctly
was a scientist
of the kind
we all hope to meet
now and then
and
when we discussed
what it means
to be a poet
at this time
in these parts
I was led
step by step
to realize
that the undertaking
is to find a voice
that feeds the hunger
of many
for vittles
that have a habit
of disappearing
as soon as
one sits down
to eat
when
the mere mention
of such ambition
can precipitate
blood letting hostility
so violated is
our faculty for words
we can trust
bringing news
we can’t live without.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

8/20/2004

She
went to bed
late
and was
unable to sleep
a troublesome knot
she
failed to undo
despite
considerable patience
and
comparable effort
danced free
of her will
reveling in
its temporal victory.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

8/20/2004

Where
we are going
requires
leaving behind
a patch of green
in the desert
the mountains
accessible
using
an easy trail
past trees that lay
as they were
when they fell
three hundred and fifty
years ago
already
four thousand years old
walking in thunder
no light from above
then
settling into cloth saddles
astride two-humped camels
that carry us
to the foot of
the flaming cliffs
we arrive in time
for a toast
and jamboree
of archery
wrestling
and
three hundred children
on horseback
racing one another
into the distance
and back again
glad
to be alive.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

8/15/2004

Listening
attentively
I hear words
spoken for
the sake of speaking
nothing more
snatches of music
false enthusiasm
ships passing
not much curiosity
everything crackling
beneath the surface
and one man
almost unnoticed
entrusting the secret
of his future
to
a handful of bystanders
not an innocent
among them
who
recognizing the occasion
accept his offer
with the utmost regard
for his destiny.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

8/8/2004

He entered
the underworld
aboard
a small train
and though
no one else
appeared aware
of where they were
as if all frames
of reference
had been forgotten
he was relieved
when they emerged
from the darkness
into the light
the train climbing to
a magnificent
architectural work
in which he
expected to find
exceptional works of art
discovering instead
the suppressed physicality
of a mausoleum
which seemed to explain
why certain turns
in history
had been taken
interesting but insufficient
to slow his retreat from
all that had
never been allowed.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

8/7/2004

You sit
still and quiet
the shifting land masses
and relocated oceans
beneath your skin
as the world
again changes shape
all you are expected
to contend with
at present
besides cleaning the house
doing the laundry
and having your cat
put to sleep
perhaps to dream
perhaps not.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

8/5/2004

I
met the troll
by accident
or
so it seemed
at the time
and though surprised
to see
he was wearing
gold rimmed glasses
an anomaly
that ameliorated
his repugnance
his friendship was
even more unexpected
but
his thick skin
a genetic blessing
made it possible
for him to tell me
unorthodox things
about survival
and prosperity
without distress
when
I initially recoiled
his failure to charm
soon giving way to
the gift of candor
my appeal for him
that of
the receptive student
a troll rarely gets.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

8/3/2004

He moved
wrenched and disjointed
by the severe beating
that
taught him what
he had to know
when
a man and woman
came upon him
walking the streets
alone
in the dark
early morning
and
came to his rescue
settling him
in the spacious
bottom floor
of a tall
vacant building
due for renovation
an accommodation
he could not pay for
he said
though the rent
was nominal
the couple
assuring him
something
could be worked out
which seemed to
settle matters
for soon
his paintings
were suspended
in mid air
by thin wires
hanging from the ceiling
throughout the
length and breadth
of his new living space
wordless spirits
at rest in
their new home.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

7/31/2004

They say
no one is ever
truly alone
and that
we are all alone
in the end
both sayings reliable
solitude
a precious thing
like
those we care about
and the solace
their presence brings.