Friday, February 27, 2009

fred's homework

fred rye V
handed me
his homework
one year
and 75 days
late.

yellowed paper, 
in faded pencil - 
ancient 
manuscripts
from a 
high schooler's
tomb.

i said,
"what do you
want for this?"
and he replied,
"recognition."

we swapped smiles
and i set the stack
of post-dated
past behind
us.

"looks like you're
set to graduate
fred."
and he 
reminded me, 

"it's never too
late to have
a happy childhood."

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

i stood here once
when a gust of wind hit
me like the fist of an
infamous grade school
bully, 
kurt girky.

i never knew
sand could
penetrate
skin
or
infiltrate
ears.

go here
if you can.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

roll call

cemetery 
attendance

"davis - 
here.
douglas - 
yes.
marshall, 
mr. and mrs. -
say i."

no one's
tardy

but it's
late
afternoon
and

we're
strolling
suburban
burial grounds

looking for 
our neighbor

but i
can't remember
his name.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

heads or tails?

i know
some good people
who call themselves
buddhists 

but how the hell
can anyone
BE
a buddhist?

ANATTA dammit.
and you can't
BECOME enlightened
for fuck's sake.

bottom line:
suffering originates in
the human desire
to BE something other
than nothing. 
seriously.

if i smoked,
i'd light up
and throw a penny 
in the air.

heads or tails?
god, i'm an asshole
tonight.
i need a kiss and
a mirror.


Sunday, February 8, 2009

may i be your valentine?

adjacent to
slumber,
two candles flicker
across ceramic tile.

on the bathroom floor 
my after hours studio -
crafting valentines and
pouring ruby slippers
into glass.

door slightly ajar with
ears astute for tiny dancers,
i write love letters
to you, auntie, and
grandma.

a dimpled hand shuffles
in the bedroom.
i rise to sail the sea
of darkness to you,
my lips like magnets
find your forehead.

silence. i return to port
to set my pen's anchor.
cupid's quill drenched in
your reservoir of knowledge
and beauty.

because of you
i have something 
to say.
love is freedom,
my darling.
tell me more...


a lingering seriousness

brooding mirror face,
grimace -
beneath my eyes.
it's serious.

why?
a friend displaced.
who?
that leo with long hair.
so?
i still believe in happy endings.
hmm...

seagulls
in a swollen pasture.
i can't count how many
but there are plenty.

i wonder when this 
feeling will lift.  leave.

when the leo
summons the birds
to shore?

perhaps.
still waiting.
for what?


Sunday, February 1, 2009

i'd like

do you ever say, "i'd like to..."
and then espouse reasons why
your likes are impossible,
illogical, and ill-conceived?

sure. i do too. but i am quitting,
today.
i'm putting this salem slim light
out and lighting a candle of
remembrance

for the dream of paris under an umbrella,
for the want of a technicolored lover who reciprocates,
for the dinner party that lasts for 7 days and nights.

i'm ready to burn a steady oil
to set my word in plaster and
tend to it as a springtime garden.

i'll live and love
sustainably,
listen with intention and reverence,
and bathe belle with sloppy mom
kisses until we both expire from
tears of laughter.

now comes the hard part.
hold my hand and let's fly,

together we will.