I fish for talents
I feel the deep flowing earth
Hook line and sinker

California Revisited

"To stand on one leg and prove God's existence is a very different thing from going down on one's knees and thanking him."

"They are cutting out the Bay ferries but it is still not to late to get lost in Oakland."

Yes I'm awake
white cloth and lonely sleep
smack my new bottom

Satori in a peppered crowd

so many rust flakes

in my gravy

Zen Masters Revisited

"My hair's falling fast--this afternoon I'm off to Asia Minor"

"and they have strange license plates and engines that devour America."

Windy

You are as old as old can be!
I am not quite as old as old can be.

Therefore, turn your faceless head and
listen to my stillness.
Three, caress me only when you are warm.
Whoops I'm in the building now. Hope to see
you tomorrow, you tugging, tag a long.
Wait for me"

Fishing Again

"Like a glum cricket the refrigerator is singing"

"O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!...
All mimsy were the borogroves
And the mome raths outgrabe"

Two Falcons

"dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon in his riding
of the rolling level underneath him steady air and striding"

"High in September's frontier winds white
brocade feathers, the Mongol falcon flies
alone, a flake of snow, a hundred miles
some fleeting speck of autumn in its eyes"

Seventeen

Donut clouds
Sugar mountain
My coffee black
as that long Cadillac

Marriage

the marriage of the
farmer in the dell to
Goldilocks is my own
invention

it could be worse
I could have her marry
Count Dracula
but I won't
I'm a realist Ideally as a
farmer's wife Goldilocks could learn
how to milk cows and collect eggs
she would lose some of her pickiness

and does Cinderella really need a
prince? He could turn out to be
Count Dracula
but that's another story

Jungle
no moon
hanging upwards
lean parrots
calling calling
monkeys feeding
"along the white hill
owl floats"
I climb down almost
first time

Thomas
where you once lived has a sign like a big sore nose
and it may date to Look Homeward Angel
And it is basically red
and it basically glows, serving as an exclamation mark
to your so solid bronze plaque by the front door
where, many a night, you stumbled in from the cold

Eve,
the trees itch, they always do
grounded fruit calling to me,to you,
always to you, to blessed you,
to beautiful you, to lovely, lovelorn you
woman who had no choice
woman now with a choice

let me toast you with a sip of wine,
will you sip too?
yes, a cup of wine me,
a cup of wine you
always always beautiful
always lovelorn you

Eve,
the trees itch, they always do.
Grounded fruit that calls to me, to you,
always to you, to blessed you, to beautiful you,
to lovely, lovelorn you,
woman who had no choice you,
woman now with a choice you.

Let me toast you with a sip of wine,
you will sip too?
Yes, a cup of wine me, a cup of wine you?
Always beautiful you
always lovelorn you.

Erica says

I never asked a rose to push up
I never asked a rose for push-push
But many rosebuds asked me for push-push
And I never asked them to be pink
Do you like them pink?
Apple red? Or would yoou prefer a peach?
A sunny velvet-ity peach?

Fishing

"Receiveth as the sea nought enters there
of what validity and pitch soe'er
but falls into abatement and low price
even in a minute..."

"In the deep bosom of the sea buried"

"A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon
wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
inestimable stones, unvalued jewels
all scattered in the bottom of the sea."

"Your mind and you are our Sargasso sea...
you are a person of some interest, one comes
to you and takes strange gain away...."

The Sailor

I bring a sailor thirsting for more wine
let him tell you stories of whales and men
"Sailing? Pirates? They're near Hawaii.
Whales mating, that's your biggest problem.
It's just the way they do the dirty deed.
To mate, they swim about five miles apart
but, god bless 'em, they can't see too well.
So, if you are sailing in a small boat
the whales can mistake you for their true love
and come at you like horny express trains.
Smack! Belly to belly they mate in air
and man in the middle is a hard spot-
birds of the air may nest in your branches."

Shade Ophelia

You were tender,you were savage, dear lord
and silly parrots play drums, kettle drums;
Oh, noble, lovely, cruel thought-smitten prince;
I say away, away you, away drums,
for only the quietness speaks goodnight
and only my dreams are clad in mourning.

Perusing Rexroth

"The clitoris is present in all animals. Sometimes, as in the female hyena,it is quite large."

"It is as though a cloud enclosed me,lucid, dense, solid, polished like a diamond forged by the sun. We entered the eternal pearl which took us as water takes a ray of light, uncleft."

The Poem as Memo


Affection,approval,recognition, self-confidence:
"never,never, forget" the king said. You will though,"
said the queen,"if you don't make a memorandum of it."

My Attempts at recalling the haiku that the younger housekeeper inadvertently tossed

The night of lawn
the wet dew unseen
but coldly there.
Reach out red star.

Saw the dew tilt
the cherry blossom
Saw the sun with morning.

The lawn in night,
wet dew, coldly seen.
Sun! My flower rises!

Saturday morning,in bed.
I am half asleep- like fine wine or
like the moon. Dandelion! Tickle me!

Goat on a Hill

I love to love love
I love to love
I love
I love to love love

And somewhere, somehow, father,
I might love you.

I Love Lucy

I imagine Lucille Ball--all eyes and mouth-eating a seven foot piece of spaghetti when a tiger enters.

Lucy: "Tiger, tiger burning bright in thr forest of the night."

Tiger: Grrr

Lucy: "You have another red sauce that you're fond of?"

The Journalist

Yes, I write about feelings and with feeling that I don't feel: the rain yesterday,mom's broom closet,the man who did the lawn.

Real juicy stuff, but just a warm-up. What really matters has goal posts or four (count 'em) bases. Rained out. Rain yesterday--go tell my editor that one!And you'll end up living in mom's broom closet with the guy who does the lawn.

Hey! A story! With my mom's broom you will sweep the series! A lead! Right out of the closet, mom's closet!