Thursday, October 23, 2014

Where to start?

America is a big house
A big dusty house 
Garbage overflowing in all the cans
The sink full of dishes
Spider webs in the corners
Streaks on the wonderful s
Clothing lying about
And you 
And me
Standing in the middle
Wondering where we should start
Pretending the roof isn't leaking and the foundation isn't cracked

all are welcomed me ... but Ebola scares me

it is cold out so
drink of his blood and pass the
cup but not to him

there's stupid and then there's ...

a broken sandal
a sore ankle makes less sense
in two feet of snow

what is in a month

roofs littered with leaves
on February thirty
first is scarier


Monday, October 20, 2014

Friday, October 17, 2014

life is short

life  is nothing but
autumnal haiku, false hope
... fancy packaging


anything is possible

you'll never sleep well
If you think leaves might just
jump bAckup on trees

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Private Parts

Apple core hidden in a napkin
Banana peel obscured behind my laptop computer
And a good thing too
If someone has just tapped into my laptop's built in camera to spy on me
They won't have any idea what I eat
When I'm using my computer
Naked

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

autumn, pooh, and you

when a leaf falls here
does one also fall 
in the hundred acre wood

wet color

the color of leaves 
through scattered beads of water
doesn't change at all

Monday, October 13, 2014

Never Letting Go

At age forty one
Nothing anymore is like standing in the back of a pickup truck
Hands in the air
As it passes out of a tunnel and onto a bridge
At night
The air clear
And punctured with a song that moves you
The very first time you hear it
And
Unfortunately
Outside of a movie script
The same is usually true of
Fifteen
Seventeen
Twenty one and
Thirty nine


Saturday, October 11, 2014

Addicted

He never did heroine
Or dated one 
But
He told me he didn't need to
Because
At fifteen years old
Watching a movie with friends
She grabbed his hand underneath the pillow
Where no one could see
And held it

Friday, October 10, 2014

Fleeting

The second time I looked up
The face I saw in the clouds
Was still there
And
That was the moment I should have savored
Instead
Distracted by a fly passing in one open car window and out the other
I looked away
And
Now
I am staring at the clouds
Hoping for a face to emerge 
Somewhere in between 
The pistol and the mouse

Thursday, October 09, 2014

Made in China
What isn't
What wasn't
Nothing
Everything
You can get for a dollar or
Two or
Three and 
Later 
A yen or 
Two  
Or
San


Wednesday, October 08, 2014

Breathe In Breathe Out

Bee flies in open
Window with the cool fall breeze
Go ahead ... exhale

The Fall

A perfect blue sky 
Hints of red and orange abound
Ebola is here

Where Did You Fall?

Raindrops only have delusions of grandeur
After they fall from the sky
When they fall on
Streams 
Rivers 
Lakes
Oceans
Even puddles
The ones that fall onto concrete
Can't afford to be delusional

Monday, October 06, 2014

Two sides to a blade of grass

Joy is like grass
Cut it down
Rip it out
Cover it in concrete
If you must
But know
There will always be a little bit somewhere
If you change your mind

Separating

Apparently
General Sherman is still despised in some parts of the south
Meanwhile 
In the north people still appreciate his tank
Which makes me wonder
Why a man and a woman getting a divorce
Bother arguing with one another

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Patriotic

I only love my mother
Because she is perfect
She looks just like she did when she was twenty
She never yells
She spells every word correctly when she writes and types
She has never burned rice
She has never been sick or sad
He hair never out of place
Her house always spotless
Her people free
Happy
Faithful
Industrious
Law abiding
Patriotic
Blinded by love

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Rinse and Repeat

Wake
Dress 
Feed 
Maybe eat
Drop off
Grade papers
Paint walls
Wash clothes
Wash dishes
Clean
Pause
Pick up 
Homework
Play
Use the bathroom
Cook
Eat
Clean
Put to bed
Teach some more
Write a poem
Go to sleep
Sleep
Rinse
Repeat

Interpreting our low ranking in infant mortality

Beets can make your urine red
So
Before you panic and
Drink a lot of water on your way out the door
To wait in your car in line 
To pick up your son from school
For fifty minutes
Think about what you had for dinner
You may have had 
Pasta
Brussel Sprouts and 
Fresh bread