Monday, February 14, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
My Love
No matter how many dimensions there are
In this infinite unknowable
There's only right now for you and me
It may be selfish
To want to go there with you
But, I don't care
I can't understand everything
And I certainly don't
In fact,
I feel like I've forgotten almost all of it
The past, the future, even this morning
So what?
I just hate to see you feeling bad
Caught in comparison
Crashing into regret
Or denying
All the wonderful truth there is
The Birds
The birds that I admire so much
As they fly by
Are harder to appreciate
As they peck their way into the side of my house
Self-Possession
Were you ever a young child?
I can't quite picture it
I see you held hostage by Indians,
in Wyoming,
And you telling them that you hope
They are aware of the consequences of this
And that you hold them collectively responsible
For anything you might have missed
During this incredibly difficult time of your life
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Relaxation
Relaxation is a cumulative thing
Each day, I drop lower toward the ground
Growing wider, more dense, slower
And, smoother –
A slow-motion lava flow
Of enjoyment and appreciation
Held in the middle of a mound of dough
Rising above and spilling over
Any kind of established container
There’s a breeze here and sunlight
The world is turning
But, because I’m turning at the same speed
I can’t feel it.
Friday, August 13, 2010
The Tang Astronaut Poem
Your hands at 8 and 4
Your two-tones through the floorboards
We're in the middle of Iowa
Going 80 miles per hour
Through fields of corn
Strong as soldiers
Windmills fill both sky
And imagination
Endless moment
In which to live
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
New petals surround our need
While sun centers the fevered garden
Rocks lie cool and light
In easy shadow
Delirious after a marble winter
Those sad memories are over
Soon we will take ship and
Together
Stream through a thousand mad springs
Playing to some soft breeze
And after loving those holy oceans
Put in at a vast white beach
Watched by the sky
Changed through parting
Yet freshly placed by time
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Daddy, How I love ya, How I love ya
Father’s Day is a good idea
To celebrate our manly wisdom and sense of balance
Our steady vision and our strength in age
Kind of like Jack Palance
Movie stars are one thing
And real guys are quite another
It’s odd, but only natural
That all Dads should be brothers
We’ve all endured the hardships
Each Dad must face alone
Sons with a sense of independence
Daughters with minds of their own
We help and hurry and wait and worry
To our families it’s all the same
Dad will take care of everything
That’s how he gets his name
Is it strength by which we qualify
Raking leaves and shoveling snow
Or is it our mechanical genius
I really do not know
Daddy, Dad, and Father
We answer every call
And handle each emergency
As if there were none at all
We pass on our endless wisdom
As a gift, though it’s hard won
And though, at times, our tempers flare
We manage to have fun
Our responsibilities are boundless
Yet we meet each with a smile
It’s aging us prematurely
But we do it all with style
And though, sometimes, we're tempted
To go out for that fabled pack of smokes
This family life has its share and more
Of laughs and inside jokes
When things are rough and rocky
There’s always one who’s level
Look no further, family dear
It’s this talented, handsome devil
This way of living is an adventure
And sometimes full of treasure
And, if, at times, we must complain
There’s less groaning than there’s pleasure
A Father’s job is never done
It never is completed
And, though we’re sometimes on our knees
We never are defeated
And while the job may have no ending
Every now and then we get our due
When one of our sweet, unruly gang
Says, Daddy-0, I love you
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The last time she laughed
A world more difficult than this
Relaxed its haunted form
And let passion flash full
Drunk with the night
Made mad with rhythm
A spirit of glorious amusement filled
Each open heart
With sweet song
So ripe and warm
So soft and deep
That every wild rose could imagine its soul
Changed from ancient dream to new symbol
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
The Vows, The Wows, The Here and Nows
It’s a confluence of character
That could not have been predicted
The entwining of purpose
The alignment of perspectives
The nourishment of imagination
The cooperation of sensibilities
Brought together by a generous fate
A visitation of harmony
A reorientation of direction
An astonishment of recognition
An expansion of emotion
Unexpected, yet so clearly welcomed
The simplification of distance
The expansion of possibility
The measurement of commitment
The acknowledgment of responsibility
All this and more
A testament to bravery
An annunciation of hope
A confidence declared
A summation of dreams
A pledge to perseverance
A commemoration and celebration
Of a love gone large
Never to be abandoned
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
April Fools
April fools
Hoping for something
To move this mountain
Determined to see a sign in each
New discovery –
Breeze,
With a breath of green
Birdsong,
Announcing that cheerful hunger for light
Moisture milking its way
Both up and down, in and out of
Creatures and situations
They believe
Only seemingly smaller than themselves
Those fools
Each year making the best of a world
Lost to repair or reparation
Unclouded by the unfairness we all endure
Pretending change can happen
Don’t they know or realize
That this foolishness
Pales before our disappointment
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
True Love
She dropped her fork
and said,
"I can't see you anymore."
Later,
he was heard to remark,
"I'll never use a fork again."
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
To the Author
It's tough to fill those empty pages
With all those inky scratches
Like trying hard to start a fire
Without those stinking matches
First one word and then the next
You're building your libretto
It starts out kind of slow at first
And then moves allegretto
The characters begin to speak
Not knowing what to say
But soon you just can't shut them up
They're in each other's way
The scenery is beautiful
You stop and watch it all
Before you know it, spring is gone
And now it is late fall
The romance needs attention
To make it really right
It's obvious that they're in love
But all they do is fight
The plot is slowly hatching
So slow it makes you weep
You work it over breakfast
You talk it in your sleep
And then it really starts to move
It's living and it's breathing
You just sit back, it writes itself
You arrive home without leaving
That's what you've been waiting for
When eggs turn into birds
But what a lot of work it was
And what a lot of words
But now it's done, it's finished
It's not like any other
It only took a couple years
Hey, why not write another
Sunday, November 15, 2009
We
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Beatnik Poem
The saxophone is wailing and the piano nearby is tinkling.
I'm reading some poems by a very dim light.
The ashtrays are full. My beard itches.
This turtleneck is giving me pimples.
And, all the while, in the next room,
some demented bongo player is trying my patience.
I'll howl at the moon, but I still won't know the difference
between here and now.
I don't care. I'll carry on.
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