"Fat" ( a couple of six syllable lines)

Unconditional sun,
you don't care who you shine on
except on cloudy days

Buddha's soft cushion
lets me celebrate with peace
outside's barking dog

I write my heart a letter
I tell it to go home,
that its beat goes on.

walking in drizzle--
nothing sensational yet--
but I'm real duck funny.

The big brute snowplows
are not gentle in their ways
moving morning's slush.

The library clock
pays no attention
to those sitting
in the reading room.
But I do.

Circa late 1940's, early 50's

Dry potato moon,
with prefabricated joy
you make houses white.

Lessons

A suspicious husband I knew
studied the mileage on his wife's car.
And a mountaineer friend told me
that if I shoot a squirrel in the shoulder
I won't spoil the meat.
He didn't say what he would do if
he caught his wife cheating.
And I didn't ask.

"Yo Maria" (rewrite)

Coming home from a brilliant but somber
friend's reading in Brooklyn. The "F" train
dips under the East river like a shark and
I'm reminded of that somber humorist,
Herman Melville.
The florescent light make the car morgue
like. I am alone except for a nude "Maria"
crudely etched into the stainless steel wall.
Her legs are invitingly open.
"Yo Maria," I say above the rail screech.
I think of lines by Ferlinghetti--"They are
cutting out the Bay ferries but it's not too late
to get lost in Oakland." Well, I think, I have
Maria. Therefore I am not lost. And she is
showing me the world.

City of black snow--
as if autos tossed rages--
foreheads are black too...

Ashes on my brow,
the wine neither
bitter or sweet,
the wafer dry
as nailed wood.

The worm can's full,
the trout hungry,
the meadow golden
and the river bank's lush.
So why do I dream of pulling
up a suit of armor?

The blue sky
before dawn
reveals only
the color of
my eyes....

The muse didn't tell me to
beat on some old drum with
thoughts foggy mountain high
no-the muse told me to "cluck-
cluck" like a dust loving chicken
so I do,I really do..

My contribution th bumper sticker lit


Christ playing football
down at Texas Tech
no degree, but what the heck

Dry the cobweb, sun,
and scurry the spider home
for he lurks nearby

On the far side of mountains
lifes' frayed bathrobe
glitters before dawn

Vision

Empty rivers dry
saw soldiers hearts floating by
while the pols talked on...

This February,
the wind,
still with a hump in its back,
talks loudly....

This February,
the wind,
still with a hump in its back,
talks loudly....

Meander river,
I am no longer the fool
asking you go straight

I thought my swim,
thru the culverts and ditches,
fine. Til I found the road.

Valentines

Tell the little scars
the roses still smell
remembered too the daisies

Untie the rainbows
let me self-clean rainy days
for I wish to grow

Cease your prattle, goose.
Peeling potatoes
you are so much, much closer....


The cherished dragons,
the dark ones we won't let fly,
inhale so much fire.

Singles passing nights,
the everchanging stars,
so warm, cold--so what we are....

Valentine



Tho I fought the good fight,
love is in the air--
when what I need is a flower bed--
somewhere near you
or the sun--yours, mine--
sun, flower bed, fresh air and rain,
rebirthing rain

Mirrors

I went to slay the dragon--
he bounced me back--
to another maze.....

Let the North star stare
like a diamond on velvet--
arrogant their fires

Reaching For a 4 year old

There once was a queen of carrots
who thought all little girls were like parrots
she said they're not any fun
when they can't count past one
and they all want to be movie starlets

walk together nights
as if our love was a stone
skipping across streams

All my lumpy dreams
thumpity thump in the yard
if I hang white sheets....

The flags are flapping
as we listen to whispers
from the open graves...

Lighten up rainbow--
with your pots of gold,
you are heavy at both ends...

I chase steel gray dawn,
as if it was a white swan
swimming far away....

The helicopter,
like a big, lonely turkey,
drums along the shore

Gusty river winds,
waves with ice cream soda froth--
as all the boats rage....