Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Used Years

I prefer new jeans to new years
You can't return new years
You can't wear them with the tags still on
Even if you match them up with a shirt that is a bit too long
They shrink
Continually
And without a single wash
I'd really prefer used years
They all last the same amount of time
Regardless of how many bangles and baubles get added
At least with jeans
Regardless of how often you crawl around on all fours
Until the knees go
You can pretend that they never will




Socialist Parenting

My son
Sometimes talks in his sleep
Right through the monitor
At me              
To me
It’s never anything I can understand but
I listen and
When it stops
I smile to myself and
For the nonexistent spy cameras
Then I go back to work and
The next morning
I make sure
To give him an extra hug
Look him straight in the eye and
Tell him I love him
For the non-existent spy cameras
For history
For God and
For posterity
His and

Mine

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Talking About Flint

When you talk to your wife or
Friend
For the first time
After meeting a man
Who bears the scars of torture and abuse
Emotional, physical and
Otherwise              
Openly
Do you tell your wife
Brother 
Uncle or
Friend
Facebook or otherwise
About this guys
Wicked
Backhand 
His
Disconcerting
Ability to get right to the issue and
His 
Startling
Smile


Saturday, December 28, 2013

form as function

first five syllables
then seven and a peek       

at snow, leaves, or rain

Friday, December 27, 2013

Thursday, December 26, 2013

The attraction of the night

Driving at night
On the expressway
You will never see the face of another driver
truth be told
It's often hard
In little light
With your attention where it should be
On the road
On the task at hand
To see the person next to you
If there is one
To talk to them
If there is one
To think about them at all
With all those other people out there
Just headlights in the night

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The smell of life

Standing in front of the live nativity
My daughter smelled 
Farm
Sheep
Goats
Cows and a donkey
Shitting as we watched
My son
Who can't stand the smell of cooked chicken
Said
All he noticed
Was
The smell of life
The truth is
Of course
That they were both right

Monday, December 23, 2013

From Christmas And Into The Gutter

A warm and rainy
Christmas Eve Eve
Eve
Has come and gone
Now we have only two eves left
Tomorrow
We'll be down to one and
Then
We'll find ourselves on
New Year's Eve
Eve
Eve
Eve
Eve
Eve
Eve
Counting down again
To the day
When
All we'll have are
Eaves-troughs
Still full of fall leaves and
Probably still bereft of snow



Packaging Doesn't Always Matter

red suit, red hat, red nose on
a dark snowless, starless night
might as well be black

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Christmas Dreaming

short sleeve shirts outside
and unopened gifts inside
where I'm still dreaming

Friday, December 20, 2013

December 20th

I am December 20th
Maybe you are December 22nd
Are you
I do hope so
Because really
It is all that most of us can aspire to
Like a sports nut
Playing a sport
Any sport
At the collegiate level or
A reindeer
Being assigned a job from Santa
Even if it is only playing with kittens
Who wouldn't want to be paid to catch footballs on Sunday or
Be in line in front of Santa's sleigh
Bells ringing
Breath just visible in the dwindling light
It's not living on the moon
It's visiting and
Who wouldn't want to visit
No one
That's who but
Want it or not
I'm December 20th
Fun
Smart
Festive
Sought after
Full of hope and
Anticipation and
Always aware
Come December 21st
That I could have been
February 18th

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

We The People ...

We
The
People
Wanted
Improved union
Unison
Unity
And
Sought Justice
Peace
Safety
Welfare
For right now and
The future
For us and
Everyone else
Freedom
Coming last
Unrecognizable
Responsible
Responsibility
Liberty
After all
We were
Not
A Person
We were
The
People

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Freedom

Freedom
To speak
To worship
To assemble
To vote
To starve
To remain ignorant
To hate
To leave
To be
You
And
Me

Monday, December 16, 2013

White and Red Christmas

It's mid December and
The snow is accumulating outside as fast as the
Expenses on my spreadsheet 
All signs point to a 
White
and
Red
Christmas

Sunday, December 15, 2013

blind faith, kids, and winter

Eyes closed and tongue out
Nothing within range is safe
Except the snowflakes

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Protected Speech

Expression is inherently partial
Unfinished
Inadequate
Often public and
Seemingly always prone to feedback
I mused
As I drew in crayon on my paper place mat at the cocoa diner
I reflected
As I watched multiple three
Four and
Five year olds
Tear around the lobby
At eleven at night
Only one wearing polka dots
Which takes courage if you are over the age of eleven
But before eleven
Is protected speech

Friday, December 13, 2013

Tis' The Season of Excess ... No Quarter For The Weary

There's a quarter on my desk
With less than two weeks until Christmas
It's a dead George walking
Out

relax and get overwhelmed with the rest of us

We don’t have to leave for ten minutes
That’s one trip to the bathroom for everyone and
Two for your grandaughter
Including a four minute handwahsing session including tears
Because she thinks she’ll be left behind
It’s also one complete wardrobe change and hair brushing nightmare
Complete with screams and tears
And a tour of the Christmas decorations and
His birthday gifts
Again
Plus there are dishes to do
Basketball scores to check
Fried potatoes to taste and
Doublehceking of the time of the holiday concert
Yet to do
So …
Take off your jacket and
Stay a while or
Twelve minutes
Or so

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Snow Days and Tomorrows

I was staring at my kids
Through a slowly growing hole in the ice on the windshield
Whose receding I was facilitating
However haphazardly
Pain beginning to radiate inwards
From my fingertips
When the windshield wiper buckled
Leaving half of it dangling like the broken wing of a bird
Cowering in anticipation of the words of some distinguished gentleman
With a British accent
Proclaiming that the end had come and
Indeed there was little doubt that the end had come
That
The
Snow
Day
Was
Over


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Evidence of a failure in religious education

Jesus’ mom was Mary
His dad was Joseph
He had no electricity
No model trains and
Was nailed to a t and
Died and
Now we celebrate his birthday
Merry Christmas

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Winter Warfare

Only sporadic
Clumps of snow fight on waiting
For reinforcements

Monday, December 09, 2013

Ruminations on 75%

Some day far in the future
When I am looking back to this December
December 2013
Sitting in Adirondack chairs on the back porch with
Grama
I wonder if it will feel like I am star gazing with a
Telascope 
Or looking down on another planet from the
Space Suttle 
Or strolling through a
Museim
I think I’ve been to before in a city like
Richmund
That I am quite certain I've never been to
Or maybe It will feel just like it does now
As if I am standing on the 54th parallel and
Trying to get over the fact
That it is all
Corea

This day

Can I move my new drum set up to my room
This day
Can I shovel the driveway
This day
Will we have candy
This day
This day
Will I be going to school
Did we have cupcakes
This day
This day
Will we see Grandma and Granddaddy
This day
This moment
This second
Right now
This day


Friday, December 06, 2013

Sometimes, Wet Is Just Wet

Parking cars in the cold rain
To earn volunteer hours at your daughter's private school
Feels a lot like
Parking cars in the cold rain
To earn volunteer hours at your daughter's private school
Coming home to a warm shower and a cup of hot chocolate
Lovingly prepared by your wife
Feels a lot like
Coming home to a warm shower and a cup of hot chocolate
Lovingly prepared by your wife
Sometimes I see the metaphors, similes, and analogies so clearly
That I can feel the spray in my face as
I cut across a perfect blue sea and
In front of a perfect blue sky
On my way around the world
On a forty foot sloop and
My muscles tense up at
The sound of pterodactyl screeches
But tonight
I felt cold rain
Pushed cars out of the mud and
Smiled as
I sipped out of my handmade earthenware mug of hot cocoa
Sometimes
Wet
Is
Just
Wet

The Seasons of Nelson Mandela

dying in winter
in prison throughout summer
sprang and fell ahead

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

limits

now I’m wearing socks
from sun up until sundown
but never at night

Nothing But Numbers

Twenty nine
Thirty two
Zero
One
Two
Zero
Three
One
Four
Two
Five
Three
Six
Four
Seven
Five
Thirty Six
Forty
Thirty Seven

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Birthdays Dancing Through My Fingers

The cupcakes form a five
No two adjacent cupcakes burdened
With one of five candles lit
Illuminating the face of the
Five year old
Who was clearly the
Three year old
That sat in that same spot
Two years ago and
May have been
The one year old who
In that very same spot
Tried to catch hold of the flame
From his one candle and
May have earned that
No matter how many or
How few
Cakes and
Candles
You have
You can't grab hold and
Never let go


Five Years Later

Five years ago
About this time
I settled in
To mostly sleep through what was to be
My very last night
As the parent of one child
Thinking that I knew fully what was coming
Just not when
Which
Except for irritation at having garbage bags under the sheets and
A body pillow jammed into my back
Could explain my mindset
Right at this
Moment
Five years later

Sunday, December 01, 2013

Blame the Moon

Inflatables on the shelves at Lowes
Before Halloween
Christmas Carols on the radio
Before November is over
Hanukkah nearly half over
Before school returns to full swing after Thanksgiving
The holidays are turning into
A cheap and
Barely sanitary
All you can eat buffet
Where you come just before eleven and
Stay till close
If I get indigestion
I guess I should blame the moon