Thursday, October 31, 2013

What Goes Unsaid on Halloween Night

With
Two gallon size ziplock bags full of candy
Per child
Laying on the carpet
In front of all of us
The honest questions
Regardles of which one of us is asking
Are
Rarely Asked
Out loud

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Halloween Treat

He is an ice cream cone for Halloween
He can hardly walk in the costume and
Has to choose between holding the cone up
Or tripping and falling flat on his face
So as we walk along                        
I will hold on tight to the vanilla ice cream
With sprinkles
He will say
Trick or
Treat

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Difference A Decade Makes

Inane pop song blasting out of the car
Parked in the driveway
Everyone out
Doors open
Her brother and I dancing
Swinging
Crunching
Stomping
On a clear and brisk fall day
My eyes on her eyes
In between rolls
Eye rolls
Hers
Mine
Hers
Mine
Despite the screaming that prompted the loud music
She is smiling
And that makes all the difference
Between
Seven and
Seventeen

Monday, October 28, 2013

Of Cancer and The Limits of Stain Cleaner

Not like the
Ketchup
Paint
Even blood
Soaked into the fabric of a shirt
That you first see with a sense of foreboding
The history of that top flashing through your mind's eye
Did she wear it on her second day of school
Was he wearing it when he first rode the bike out of sight around the corner
Was he wearing it when its sky blue hues made his eyes look like his mothers'
Will she ever wear it again
And then view with a sense of defiance
Magic bottle in your hand
Overindulgence typical of the me generation in your heart
Eagerly spraying
Rubbing
Working
Fighting
And then waiting
Biting fingernails
Hoping
At least
For progress
And justification for more
Spraying
Rubbing
Soaking
Sitting
Fighting
Until
Victory
Or tears
Or preferably both
And if not
A trip to buy a new top
No
It's not like that at all
It's a grass stain
A little old garden variety grass stain
That starts coming out as soon as you spray it
You have to know
Believe
That it is always just a grass stain


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Inside a Meander

A meandering river
Splitting
Forking
Joining
Rejoining
Feeding lakes and reservoirs
From 20,000 feet
It's beautiful
Cutting through the patchwork quilt of farmland
A thread of a different color
Up close
I imagine
It is beautiful
Though less quilt and more thread
But in it
Well
I would guess the beauty is
Exhausting
Enveloping
And still
despite every attempt, hope, and wish
Meandering

Seasonal Conquest

vacant a moment
then red yellow orange return
occupying force

Friday, October 25, 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Next

479
Clean it up
468
Take out an experience
453
Wonder what experience is worth only fisteen words
Feed the cat
Trim away some adjectives
425
Think a whilke about how wonderful adjectives are
List the best adjectives of all time
Check tomorrows weather and
Come up with adjectives to describe it
Reword the second paragraph
401
Feed the cat
Get a drink of water but
Not too much
A tight bladder neck is an unforgiving mistress
Take out all the references to the “two” kids
395
Strum quietly on the desk
395
Clear throat
Watch a video of the Burlington Zephyr streamliner train from 1934
Streamline each and every paragraph
Cross your fingers
364
Cry
Combine sentences
342
Smile a bit
Feed the cat
Pee
Make that conclusion really really brief
321
Watch Lil Wayne videos
Wonder whether that look would work for a forty year old white man
Go gangsta on each and every paragraph
299
Go to the next essay

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Female Seahorses

Male sea horses carry the eggs
Maybe over 2,000 of them
In a pouch
And he stays put
Anchored to the bottom of the ocean
While his mate runs around all over the place
Returning for a few minutes every day
Probably with instructions and
Then depositing more eggs as soon as the last load of babies is off into the world
At least that’s how it usually is
I wonder what happens if the female wants to stay home with the eggs
Is that OK with the neighbors
If her in laws were to stop over
Together
And recognize him
Or her
Would they help her come up with a workable pouch of her own
Or would they make their disapproval clear
With tail gestures and snide remarks
Muttering under their breath the whole time about how
Male sea horses are supposed to carry the eggs

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Hoping To Be Twisted and Tangled

The fear is
Too much separation
Like parallel twister
Unbalanced
Tangled
Twisted
Playing the same game
But when one falls down
Maybe just one falls down
Not tangled
Up
Not twisted
Up
Maybe
Maybe not
But
In the midst of
Packing lunches
Grading papers
Writing reports
Talking to friends
Checking scores
Sewing on girl scout patches
Apple picking
Race running
Day tripping
Boating and
Who knows what else
Possible
I’m afraid

Monday, October 21, 2013

Happy Birthday

The identical red lids placed one on top of another
Behind the containers
In several stacks according to their size
Clean
Neat
Efficient
In the cupboard
In the refrigerator
Even in the dishwasher
And
I can’t help thinking
The perfect place
To put a fruit bread or a coffee cake
After its been received
Sliced
Sampled for show and
Gratitude and
Now must be stowed away
So the evidence can be swept up and under and
Be hermetically sealed
Underneath a red lid
It doesn’t matter which one

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Greetings of the Day

Good morning
How did you sleep
Thanks for letting us intrude
Hi
Good to see you
Nice to meet you
Hello there
Look at you
Hey, who is this
I’m back
Hey there
Good afternoon
Where is the Girl Scout
There you are, how was it
Hey, thanks

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Another Saturday?

A legitimate and unassisted goal
Tears shed over mud and dirt
Repeatedly
A fight over whether breakfast was early enough
Cat complaints lodged every five minutes starting at six thirty in the morning
A fifty minute movie on Raccoons
Oatmeal cookie pancakes accented with maple syrup
Lots of maple syrup
Someone still awake over an hour after the lights went out and the door was shut
Singing coming through the baby monitor
Loud and clear
An argument over whether the wallet that came with a used black purse purchased at a consignment sale was sold with it whenever and wherever it was first sold to an unsuspecting public
Nap
Whining over whether one game of Scrambled States was enough
Roller shoes at Target
Bacon
For the second week in a row
That was not crisp enough
An hour spent carefully arranging hosta and liriope
Family story read about ten minutes later than it should have been
About a food chain
In the forests of Pennsylvania
Deer
Vampire bats
Red tailed hawks
Cat sitting on my chest crying for dinner
Popcorn and a movie on a futon
A question
Dad did we win

?

Friday, October 18, 2013

Purse

A zipper is broken and
It had half a dozen maxi pads in it
But it also came with a little wallet
A mirror
A working strap and
It clips shut
So
For a dollar
It was the perfect way
To insure forty five minutes
Of worry free shopping
At my favorite consignment sale and
A successful
Father son
Outing

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Still

Clothes in the washer
Still
The fish in his little tank
Still
I think
It’s hard to tell through the cloudy brown water
Especially with the tank obscured by the dirty dishes piled in front of it
The clean ones in the dish washer
Still
The kids upstairs screaming at each other
Still
The cat rubbing up against my legs and meowing
Plaintively
Still
Breakfast cereal and lunch dishes on the table
Still
The newspaper out by the sidewalk
In its little yellow plastic bag
Still
Dinner unmade
Still
The stain in the carpet
The result of standing on a dry eraser board eraser and
Grinding it in
There
Still
Me
In t-shirt and jeans
In the middle of the kitchen
Eyes closed
Quiet
Still

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Coffee Shop

Within four walls
With the windows closed
The shades drawn
The phones off
The computers off
Everyone off somewhere else and
Cotton in our ears
Anything is possible and
Every idea makes sense and
Deserves equal airtime
Which is why
Folks need to spend more time in coffee shops

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Amtrack

Stand behind the Yellow Line

Did you go to the University of Maryland
Yeah
I saw your sweatshirt
My best friend went there
What year
                    
Mind the Gap

So, you went to high school in Princeton
No West Windsor

Stand clear of the doors

What was your major
Art
Yeah, I guessed that
Really … was it my back pack
Yeah

Quiet ride

Excuse me
But I couldn’t help but overhearing your conversation
My girlfriend has a lot of money too and
The same attitude
I have the money

Stop

I run my own business
Started it when I was fifteen

Elizabeth

I was on One Life to Live for two years
I gave it up to come back here
For her and
Then she got engaged to my best friend

Wrong way

I’m trying to bring Miami up here

Mail

Last night I had Italian wine

Kline

A certain percentage of sangiovese grapes

Airport next
Budweiser

It happened when I was nine
Really
Yeah
So what
Brain surgery

Check cashing

I have a business mind

Airport

You’re selling your business
I’m selling myself

Best Western

It’s crazy
You’ve really got to be a whore

I don’t know where that is
It’s just around the corner from the gas station

I see so much potential in you guys

Amtrack

Monday, October 14, 2013

Christopher Columbus Discovers the Hippopotamus

The second time he saw the hippopotamus
I saw it too
The first time I told him it was a rock
There might actually have been rocks on the beach when Columbus landed on San Salvador
Do you know that there still isn’t complete agreement
As to which island is the one
Columbus called San Salvador
On October 12, 1492
The folks on Watlings Island changed their name
To San Sakvador
To help eliminate the controversy
To restore focus where they wanted it
Where it needed to be
Which was why
That second time
I saw the hippopotamus

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Stopping to Laugh at the Flowers

I walk with jets
I walk with jest
Friday night
Pushed along the streets of New York City
By the six o’clock crowds and
Muscle memory
It was the former
But it’s helpful for me to remember
That it takes only a simple switch
To accomplish the latter

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Bottom of the Ninth

Falling
Always falling
Arms by your side
Arms straight out
Eyes open
Eyes shut
Asleep
Awake
Smiling
Scowling
Yelling
Quiet
Accepting
In denial
Certain
Uncertain
Still awake at 11:56 watching baseball for the first time in at least a year
Falling
Always falling

Friday, October 11, 2013

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Chimpanzee

If I was a chimpanzee
Sitting on a branch
Eating mites out of the fur on my friends head
Talking politics in between nibbles
Whatever the topic
I would end up talking about critical thinking and
Logic and
Reason and
Process and
Later
When I was with the dominant female
(If I’m a chimp I’m running things
I only accept my lowly position
because I’m up so high on the evolutionary ladder)
So I would be with the dominant female and
When I was
I would complain about how my mite eating friend always comes back to
The overreaching done by liberals with the Civil Rights Act
And the next day
Again
Would be about
Mites
Civil rights
Critical thinking and
Where we could get some good monkey
If I was a chimpanzee

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Fall?

Not quite seventy
Mostly green leaves falling
It is almost right

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Parenting Glamour

Center stage
At the middle of the chaos
Is the switching engine
Setting up the homework to be done and
Filing it away in the yellow folder and filing the yellow folder away in her backpack
Bringing in the mail and the thank you notes hand delivered in school cubbies and
Shifting the neighbors mail into the neighbors mailbox
Washing the applesauce out of the lunchbag and
Putting in the tiny tupperware filled with yogurt and securely closed
Removing the guineapigs dish containing one small turd and
Exchanging it for one containing two baby carrots, three grape halves, and a bunch of parsely
Taking a full baldder and
Facilitating its emptying
Trading
Swapping
Replacing
Substituting
Bartering
Switching
Not in the glamourous way from history and adopted memory
No steam
No smoke
Just a diesel switcher in a gray and dirty freightyard
It’s 2013
Glamour is cancerous
Chaos is timeless

Monday, October 07, 2013

Symmetry in Absence

Three plates
White with blue borders
Two small
One big
Three simple stainless steel forks
Two small
One big
One hand glazed black and blue bowl of brussels sprouts
All for me
Leftover macaroni and cheese
All for them
All eaten on
Three white plates with blue borders

Sunday, October 06, 2013

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Un-natural

Words on a screen
After
A six hour plane ride
Across
A three hour difference
Almost
A whole country away
They fall through the sky
From the sky
In place of the leaves
On this
The fifth day of October
In the year two thousand thirteen
In the still over seventy degree night
In the quiet house
Where I alone am awake
But not alone

Friday, October 04, 2013

Jihad

I am struggling
To have you listen to my
Words
And not your own
Fears

Thursday, October 03, 2013

Bonobo

If a bonobo could speak
What would it do with its credit cards
Drivers license
Proof of Insurance and
Money
That first fall after buying a new smart phone
Would a Bonobo shove its phone and wallet into one pocket and
It’s keys into another
Hoping that it wasn’t doing permanent damage to nerves in the leg
Or its nut sack
Do bonobo’s have nut sacks that would be problematic in a pair of jeans
If it didn’t have jeans
Would a money clip be the only way to go
For a bonobo that had conquered speech
And where would it put it
No
A bonobo is better off where it is
Dazzling us more advanced creatures
With its mastery of signs and symbols

Wednesday, October 02, 2013

A One Floor Future

I walk up and down stairs all day
Delivering
Cleaning
Reconfiguring
Scolding
Helping
Finding
Answering
Questioning
Wiping
Dressing
Making
Remaking
Imagining
Inventing
Fixing
Rhyming
Reading
Running
Because
Someday
No one will want me to and

I’ll live in a ranch house anyway

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Still Water

My words fly all over the place
Like so many ripples on a pond
In a pond
All
But a few
Like these
Not quite the Colorado River
But more than ripples
On a pond