FLURRIOUS

See it was raining when I fell asleep
but I'll be damned if it's not snowing.
Three days from May,
This is driving me cra
Zee.

FOOL MOON

Geese of a gander
call insomniatic,
taunting ducks to
dive, dogs to bark
while deer graze
nearly invisible
in the meadow low.

EARTH DAY ENVIRONMENTALIST

Mother Earth denied
Georgie his photo op
in the Smokies,
Seeing clear through
the smog of such euphemisms
of the "Clear Skies" moniker,
a handout to heavy
industrial polluters.
Bush donned his concern
Like a model dons a pout.
The irony doubled back,
eating itself alive
when these words
escaped Bush's mouth:

"We didn't create this
Earth but we have an
obligation to protect it."

IL PAPA

Benedict
dons his red cape,
but he’s old,
too close to escape;
too soon he’ll be
making Catholics
the world over
cry all over again.

He emerges from
a thick plume
of white smoke,
assuming a name,
hiding behind
arcane dogma and an
archaic make-believe
Faith.

HOLLOW WOOD

I can’t look up to that
NO MORE.
Y’all get paid too much
to play dress-up,
to wear make-up,
spewing words written by others,
galavanting around on high horses.

It’s all so obscene-
living in a screen dream,
acting and reacting,
crying on demand.

So obtuse, so use-
less
and
Less.

WHETHER FATE OR FREEWILL

Ever committed
By pen to paper.

WINDS OF CHANGE

Maya’s quiet as a mouse
And Andy roars like a lion.
This day’s as gold as silver old
Cause we know we may go flying.

If the rain would just pause
We could get down to busyness,
If I could conquer my fears
And disabling dizziness.

THE DEVIL

When I first met the devil
He was green grey fog, lifted.
The next time around
He was black, lung unsung.
Then he was white, chattering,
Splattering my brain all over
The cockpit of this plummeting plane,
Only to reset the jet and summit again.
Next he shone like crystal
And sparkled like diamonds.
He was warm and fuzzy,
All the while flowing like wine.
That familiar smell, taste,
The warmth of the red divine.

NO TIME TO BE ON TIME

I lost track
Of time today.
It was about time.

STUPID IS AS STUPID AS STUPID IS

Whalers cite loss in fisheries
As reasonable cause to whale,
A policy akin to nuking the earth
To put an end to global warming.

DE LUX

If I could I would

Outten every streetlight,
Dim down interiors,
Adorn the world
With low-burning
Glowing
Bright white
Little lights.

METEORITE

I saw a shooting
Star last night.
It made me wish
With all my might
That I was crazy
Like a clown,
Just laughing
As the world goes down.

VALLEY HIGH

It’s crazy quiet out here,
crazy-making, the kind
of quiet that could
drive a man to drink
or drive a man to drive
to town
to find the crossroads
and the evening trains.

COMPOSITION ON DECOMPOSITION

The mold here grows
Hairs, sprouts limbs
Before it waves and
Walks away, whistling,
Off to elope with rust.

CALIFORNIA WINTER DAY (RF)

Clouds.
Rain.
Sun.
Clouds.
Rain.
Sun.
Sunny rain.
Cloudy sun.
Sunny clouds.
Rain clouds.
Sun, it’s raining.

PLEASE REMEMBER ME

the song may change -
HAPPILY,
FONDLY, if
SELDOMLY,
AT HALLOWEEN
But
FINALLY
AS IN THE DREAM
the melancholic mood,
MY MISERY,
FINALLY
Remains much the same.

STICKIES

I track my thoughts
On little scraps of paper
Less easily lost
Than the 0s and 1s
Of my digital brain.

SMOKE LIKE SEERS

If
I blow
the ash
away
it will
go somewhere
else.

THREE SHORT OF SIX

If it is possible
To judge a man
By the stature
Of his friends
Then I am surely
In good standing.

TRY TO CRY TOO

You lay something.
You lie yourself.
It’s all come
Down/to
This.

SIZE 13s

Chuck Taylor
Was a sailor
And a b baller at heart.
When he sunk
Or slammed a dunk
He turned the sport to art.
His shoes were green
His fingers lean
And wiry at the start
But as his feet
And fetish grew
His fingers fell apart.

SNAKE EYES

Shake, rattle, and roll
The dice, first the once
And then the twice.
The static clings
Electrically, bursts.
The telephone rings.
The player advances
As the dice do dances.

MAXIM IZED

Better to buy out
Than to sell out.

Hardly earned money
Is rarely earned the hard way.

There is no
Otherwise.

INTERCHANGE

Cali
Roads
neveR
STOP

DUCHESS

Don’t deluge me
with your delusions of grandeur,
your pompous presumptions of privilege.

You’re no different.
You’re a bitch JUST
like the rest of us.
You’ll die alone JUST
like the rest of us.

And all of your ever
ballooning notions
of self importance
and false status
will go “snap”.

And you’ll come crying to us.
And we’ll tell you
we told you

so . . .
. . . so . . .
. . .

BEER BELLIED BOY

Behold the
Budweiser bubble,
This billowing belly
Begging to burst,
To blast off
And be gone.

LONE MOUNTAIN

I know
there are
mountains
all around
But I can
only see
the ones
to the
East.

TRYING TO MAKE A DOLLAR OUT OF 25 CENTS

The fourth quarter might yield dividends.
The fourth quarter might win you the game.
The fourth quarter will definitely get you
The New York Times, unless it’s Sunday,
In which case the fourth quarter will get you
That much closer to the once again work week.
The fourth quarter will get you the whole ounce.

SHY SILENT JITTERS

If you don’t
talk to me
I’ll just keep
standing here
like an idiot,
a bump on a log,
a flea on a dog
because
the only thing
I can think
to say
is surely
something
stupid.

EARTH DAY

An afternoon well spent
on my knees,
up to my elbows in dirt,
clawing at rusty nails,
spitting in the soil
to transfer my acidity.