8/25/2009

One of My Friends Died Last Week

eking out an existence

coronary impulses to make a break

subversively bloodstream

canceling out those minor medical epiphanies

us resulting in a total of fleshy mass

how to recall a being after death

----------------------

Only a Dollar

only a dollar

suffices to save

stow it away

million years later

more than any other

one little dollar

begets more little dollars

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Leaving

the bifurcation of paths

as I separate leaf from stem

splitting hairs to unravel a distance,

quantify absence.

The slivers strewn across park fork

and you and I leaving

while these hands leafing.

some time last week

La Route

stuck on the current

petals as to us

broken off wayside

and grappling with inertia

pausing only briefly

spoken words to the lilt of the wind

------------------------

New York

Speaking words of a linear sort

not unlike city and its speak

grappling with foreign idioms

an idea lost in visual translation-

pushed inwards

space shared-

though sounding communicable

needing pre-digestion, deeper immersion

getting to the bottom of this

speak

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Poem for Josephine

stack the block

topple the block

seize the block

throw the block

eat the block-

no, don't eat the block-

hold the block

just hold the block

pack the block

love the block

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A Blue Trolley

broken

particles

littered

countryside

you took the train

and when it

snap

ped

a crumb l i n g disappointment

so venged.

Poems 8/24/09

Chaos

begging the quiet of surrounding city
lengthy digits to snuff sirens as if pulling coins of lunar magnification
silent you slept in that bed
and now, return
here submerged in sound chained to motion
sweeping through mountains tunnel married
record skipping when replayed
and then attainment-
what you asked for-
loneliness of the boulevard at dawn

--------------------------

Smells

diaspora of the living
opening onto your horizon of cleanliness
your bleach as the stench stings
cracking open the palette and allowing a drizzle of drool
the subway at night after you
forty second 7 and i bathe in it
hold on train, thoughts pool
hold fast, would that i could stay longer
and back home sooner than expected
back to bleach
back to your diasporic cleansing

---------------------------

Future

opening onto concrete realities and their manifestations
triggering processes linked to chains of events:
dinner out
diner, chrome booth and counter top
burger medium well deluxe
and what follows:
cook
eat
water
eat
clearing of plate & check & pay
outta there and feeling satisfied
determining the enjoyment despite the things lost in the process
feet carry to where they know to go.

9/06/09

Wrestling/Angst

We as if two, split from one, the mat of the mind
going down, one of us will,
and there then, ankles clasping fitfully
the soft plastic acquiesce
th loser, sore and grappling with the whys
and nots home goes to nurse wounds and arguments.


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Laptop

once on a trip for computer repair
told: laptops for laps
are not meant
and the surprise
as it weighed down my inside
incorrect usage of a precious product,
how could I?
why new news to hearing ears?
where shall it sit now from seat banished?

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And People On the Other Side of the World

Once a tunnel dug on the beach
seafoam washing up inside falling up into
another beach with people just the same
narrowly squeezed through to see where, I
could be found
same place it seemed,
though I could be wrong.

8/05/09

Lotus

for Whitney

some thoughts lifted off the leaves of a lotus:

what time do blossoms ripen, breaking open so sweetly?

floating so delicately seems so difficult

can you teach me how?

did you say something, dear flower? I couldn't hear. 

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Magic

I open two cans and put them together in a bowl.

I stir.

I fork.

I lift. (fork lift? similar idea).

Mouth.

Disappear.

Magic!

-----------------------

Creating a Stylistic Impediment

for Someone New

using devices of the mind

whipping out old modes of communication

e.g. rotary phone, typewriter, perhaps even manual writing tools (see pencil)

working towards a poetic goal:

laureate, published writer, reader at local cafe

once goals achieved, can label self as ___________

fill in the blank with the word that fits

then there's the rub, what to do now?

the established man must continue towards an ideal,

if not literary greatness, then at least philanderer at corner bar

Unfortunate circumstances ensue:

can't write, won't read (reading makes realize what

a failure at life self is), can't tell others as 

they will lose confidence/ placate with "don't be stupid,

you're profoudly prolific!" and other such tritisms

Yes, all alone you are now, with no one in the world who can help you

but yourself (God: the lord helps those who help themselves),

you now have the perfect impediment.

Now for the stylish bit...