Tuesday, September 15, 2015

I've Moved

I am no longer blogging at this location.  For poetry and a lot more besides please check out my website: http://www.thetruthssuperbsurprise.com.  

Monday, May 04, 2015

Faith In God

God
Is the love
That exists
In the space
In between
You and
Me and
Her and
Them and
Today in
His smile
When he handed his nine year old sister her
Toob animals and
Catapult and
Braced for the hugs and kisses
He was sure would come and
Did



entitlement

if only
escaping the heat was as easy as
escaping poverty

seasonal garbage

a field filled with
dandelions is like a
television filled up with
reality television

frozen nostalgia

at this time of year
ice skating is all about
frozen nostalgia

more is in the air

the air is thick and
nothing like the chocolate
banana cupcakes
I
Made
Last
Night
Which
Had
Too
Much
Banana
And
Crept
Around
The
Cookie
Sheet
A
Little
More
Than
It
Should
Have
Before
It
Settled
Down
And
Baked
Up
Perfectly
Delicious


Thursday, April 30, 2015

Hansel, Gretel, and Me

As I go
I leave behind me
Words
Like bread crumbs
Hoping
If I find myself in an oven and
Have to retreat
I'll have a lot of trouble
Finding my way back

Look Away

A smile
Can be hard to take in and
Easy to take
Which is why
When my son smiles at me
I sometimes have to look away 
It's why
On any sunny day
My mind 
Is always on sunscreen

Continuous Confusion

Commercials cost money
Like most everything in commercials
Like most furniture
Which you need a lot of
When you buy a house
With twice as many rooms as your last home
I wonder
How my half empty house
Feels about it

Monday, April 27, 2015

Summer Stretching

In the summer
Life really takes place
In between
Lawn owing
Episodes
Inch long grass
Signalling
The promise and threat of a new start and
The attractiveness and persistence of
Procrastination

I bought a rotary phone

I bought a rotary phone
From an antique store
Because AT&T makes it cheaper to have a land line
Than to not have one and
Why not
Go to an antique store to purchase
Something
That was a fixture of the house
I grew up in
Only ours were brighter colored and
Wall mounted and
Relied upon
For
Phone calls
Which is why
I bought a rotary phone


Saturday, April 25, 2015

Forty One

At forty one
I finally can see a Phillip Levine poem
Sales routes, cosmoline, and all
Playing out on the pages of the book
Like a great old war movie or
A drive across a dusty road out west somewhere
In a 1971 Lincoln Continental
One old motel after the other
Calling out and
Fading away
It may be the plastic daisy shaped magnifying glass or
It may be
That I am finally able to forgive Detroits
It's 1970s excesses and excuses
At forty one

Friday, April 24, 2015

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

April 22... Snow

snow after tax day
is not the sort of refund
folks were hoping for

Parenting

Parenting is about imagination
It is usually
Equivalent
To trying to convince someone it is spring
Despite snow showers
Not by sitting down with a calendar
But by setting up a sprinkler
Donning a swimsuit and
Sunscreen and
Running about the yard
Screaming really loudly

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

balloons don't break bowls, boys do

He is in his third day of a balloon obsession
Bouncing
All over the house and
I have no doubt that he could keep it going and
Going
All week long and
Beyond
If the balloon could
But by Friday it will probably be the size of a bb pellet and
I will be able to breathe freely again
Even though I am sure popular wisdom is right that
Balloons don't break bowls, vases, and picture frames
Boys do


Monday, April 20, 2015

unfinished

sunny and eighty
then windy, wet, and fifty
One step forward and ...

Slipping In

I slip into the bed
Every night
After midnight
Like a soldier
Into the bunker
After a little moonlighting
Doing reconnaissance
Hand reaching out for you and
Eyes always on the horizon
Taking it for granted
That if there are vermin in there with us
I already know them well and
That they will not wake me
Affect tommorow's battle or
Keep me from slipping off my socks before
I slip into bed

I won't be going into appliance repair, but ...

Our refrigerator doesn't keep our food cold enough any more or
At least not for now
Not until the repair guys arrive and
I suppose it could be said that 
While our country isn't functioning properly in a lot of ways
That too is only temporary
For there are lots of folks offering their assistance and
We the People are not among them
Of course
Under no condition should I ever attempt to mess with freon for
Whatever the use
Unlike the country
It works a lot better without my meddling

Friday, April 17, 2015

the future of hydration and snacking hops into mind each unsesonaly warm day


desalination
good for water and popcorn
so smile in summer



A Flop is a Flop

She used to flop on to the floor
When both creativity and structure failed her
Now
She plays piano
When  she can think of nothing else to do
Which I guess is better but
Certainly louder
Though
She could have flopperd into the trumpet or
A gig
As an almost 9 year old
DJ
Urging other folks
To flop all over the floor

Urban Perspective

Chicago is
One of the most favorable ball parks
For lefties to go to left center and
Righties to go to right center
For home runs
And
A great place
For vegetarians and
Meatatarians
To go to a pizza place
For deep dish pizza

Thursday, April 16, 2015

beneath every blessing there is a curse

my arm is itchy,
red, and looking infected
in the warm Suns glare

Stealthy Attack

Tortilla chip bag
On the table 
In the middle of the four of us
Like a bee carcas
Sans stinger
Sleeping the good sleep
Aware of the virgin queen bees
Awaiting in heaven

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Republican E-mails and Punishments

Republicans 
E-mailed me
Asking me to step up and defend our nation
From Hillary Clinton and
Her left wing Democratic allies and
I thought of my daughter
Who wants me to step up and defend
Her righ to be the first female President of the United States of America and
Sure in the knowledge that
Even if she were to favor gay rights and peace with Iramn
She would still not be an enemy of America
I chose
To accept as silliness from fellow Americans
Without the need for lectures or the revoking of candy priviliges 
Everything coming out of the mouths of those 
Republicans who
E-mailed me

Observations in Yellow

A yellow plastic fish
Hollowed out to accomodate a toddler
Wishing to roack back and forth
Is staring at me from acrods the room
As the sounds of my son's piano lesson
Drift over from next door
It refuses to rock
Or even sway
To the music and it won't stop staring
Or Smiling
Or being yellow

Acrostic Fun From Spring Break 5

Smell it
Popping up all around us
Roses
Inside
Never
Go there

Suns up behind the clouds and it's
Hotter now
Outside
Windows down anyway
Everywhere
Run while you can, even if you need an umbrella
Snow days always return

Acrostic Fun From Spring Break 4

Flush It

To you it's
Obvious but
I never know until the
Last
Elephant in the room
Toots

By Seren and Wyeth

Acrostic Fun From Spring Break 3

Off Limits

Don't
Use
Me
Boofus

By Seren and Wyeth

Acrostic Fun From Spring Break 2

CHICKEN

Corn spread around
Horses too
Incubators
Cows too
Kitchen calls for
Eggs
No news here

By Seren and Wyeth

Acrostic Fun From Spring Break 1

People
Obviously in pain
Only need to 
Poop

By: Seren and Wyeth

Monday, April 13, 2015

patterns


rain falling again
just as it does every spring
every year ... now

Rain Like Ukraine

Rain drops like money
From an oligarch's pockets
Steady drips and bursts

Thursday, April 02, 2015

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Accepting The Magic

You are still a believer
If look at a lawn
Magically transformed into
Pink
And
Purple
Plastic and
Wonder
How in the world
You are ever going to cut it

Easter

The true meaning of Easter
Might
Now
Come inside a plastic egg
Surprise

cautious optimism

long sleeves optional
windows rolled all the way down
clear blue sky ... today

Sunday, March 29, 2015

hypocrisy thy hair is long and tasty

My hair is not quite as long as my daughter's
But it is long enough to suck on
In the same way as she does
The same way that angers me when I see it and
Causes me to say something
Every single time
So 
Does the fact that I do
But don't also let the bunny and guionea pig chew on it
Make me
Unremarkable
Normal
Hypocritical or
Just another parent

seven minutes on the couch

Ten twenty eight and
Three of us are on the couch
A pile of toys and
A paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
No one is reading or
Playing with ttansformers and
Only one of us is sleeping
Back paws resting against my hip
Front paws folded
One over the other
As if in prayer
Although rather sloppily so
Chest rising and falling rhytcally
Whiskers still
As oblivious to the sound of key strikes all around her as she is to
The fact that
Her head is resting on Grimlock's shield and
The fact that
It is ten thirty five


Friday, March 27, 2015

Indian Summer

The truth is 
That I'd rather carry
A nine year old with tired legs
Then look out of my window and
See snow falling in spring but
The truth is
Sometimes too heavy to bear

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Spring in Ann Arbor

spring in Ann Arbor
is somthing like living in 
a used cotton ball

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Living The Dream

His eye is pink
So logically
He has an ear infection
Want to live in a Picasso
Be a parent

Of Orange Cones and Education

It's as if
Some time ago
A band of giant gnomes
Came to elementary school and
Had so much fun
Running about on school grounds
That when they left
Arm in arm
Singing giant gnome songs
They left their hats behind
A fortuitous accident
For all of us

Monday, March 23, 2015

Growing Up

When my six year old
Runs into the room
Yelling
"Where is daddy
I need to cuddle"
I wonder
Whether
Up is really
The right direction for growth

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Parenthood

Parebthood ...
Hugs and kisses and
Scraps eaten off of their plates
Even while
For the fourth or
Tenth
Week in a row
Their classmates  are succombing
To vomiting
Like
A tired mom or dad
To
A vaguely reasonabble request at eight thirty at night

Child

Careful
Here
In case every word and action reaaly does matter
Like those who never
Do are fond of saying

Parent

Parsed into a million moments
Answering to almost as many names yet
Rendered mute
Entering the next one knowing
Nothing except that humility
Ties no ones hands



Always tell the truth to your children

I need your hand
Not your sleeve
I say to him
As we cros the street
Knowing
That 
It is the absolute truth

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Seasonal Change

Slight breeze
Playing through the branches
Right above my head
It's coming
Going too

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

spring stains

like peanut butter
mud comes off in the washer
so don't stay inside

Acceptance

Your daughter accepts the book
You ran upstairs to grab for her
You have the choice of accepting
The painful scratch
Her nails have just bestowed upon you or
Going after what lurks in the bushes behind door two
Knowing that
Acceptance never gets any easier
For you or
Your daughter


Monday, March 16, 2015

the limits of a warm late winter day

Today
I thought of flowers and
Green grass
Of lazy beach days and
Cool nighttime hikes of
Sunscreen and
Iced tea
But I don't drink iced tea and
I am still wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt so
So
I guess it's true what
They say
Dreaming
Only gets you so far

there is snow and then ...

fifty degrees and over
for almost a week and snow
still rims the sidewalks

waiting

In line to pick up the kids from school
Crouched in between cars
Examining two golf bags up on stands
Straps out
Hanging free
Untangled
Clubs covered
In case those clouds prove to be more dangerous than they look
Pants sagging
In case
Those of us behind him
Run out of things to do
In line
Waiting to pick up our kids from school



Thursday, March 12, 2015

Questioning The Past

I wonder
Whether
When Native Americans made
Corn meal cookies with their daughters
For elementary school trading post activities
They used
The dough hook attachment on their stand mixers


Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Rabbit Magic

There he was
Ears straight up
Eyes focused somewhere behind me
Sitting outside of the closed door of his cage
Alongside evidence he had been there
By himself
For a while
If I needed evidence of magic
There he was


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

confluence

I sit at a confluence of sorts
Less Tigress and Euphrates and
More Gilky creek and Flint river
But a confluence nonetheless
An unheralded passing in the night
Of gradual increases in weight and
Gradual reductions in requests to stay the night in her room and
I am afraid that we are both taking the paths
More travelled
Not that it would really make any differenc
Since
Right now
I am still sitting here
Watching the water flow by



Monday, March 09, 2015

pretty

He's in the back seat
At the start of a long car ride
Back home
Complaining
Mumbling
About being bored
Then I hear the word pretty and
Thinks he's complementing his mother
So I ask him about it and
He tells me that pretty is a good word and
That he is pretty bored
On out long car trip back there
In the back seat

windows down

icy dirty snow
retreating slowly outside
my open window

Saturday, March 07, 2015

seasonal transitions

doughnuts and movies
will soon melt away into 
long walks and quick swims

Friday, March 06, 2015

Winter Recovery

He licks your mitten
You picture his little head
Over the toilet

Thursday, March 05, 2015

One Day Post Vomit

He leans in
I lean away
Then
The very tips of my fingers
Tickling his
Pajama covered shoulder
I assist him in finding a more vertical orientation and
Under the cover of a sonic disturbance out in the hallway
I subtly increase the spearation
All the while never ceasing to read
The Trumpeter Swan and
Never stopping to wonder
If Sam Beaver
Would have embraced Louis so fully
Had muteness
Been contagious

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Turning Point

My car is covered in ice
Frozen rain is coming down out of the heavens at me
It is March 3rd and
I feel a bit like I do after spending twenty minutes
Talking my son into eating half a grape and
A chicken nugget
It's not exactly a Lincoln at Gettysburg moment
But it's been a long winter and
Grapes aren't what they used to be

Of Distraction and Perfectiom

A glass of milk
Sitting on an otherwise empty table
At noon
Right where it was
At six the night before is
A lot like a rain gutter
Hanging half off of a house
Sporting newer siding
Windows
Roof and
UnderNeath the snow
Extensive landscaping
Which is to say
I can't wait for spring and summer to come
So that after will be more readily accepted water and
Azaleas and daisies are more likely to be in bloom and
At center stage

Monday, March 02, 2015

chasing time

Time
Is more slippery
Than a six year old
Wearing socks
On a newly polished bamboo floor

packing snow

this snow doesn't pack
so I can't throw it away
nearly fast enough

Parenting is always in context

Jumping off a cliff never seems to make sense
So 
If you were to have walked in to my son's room this morning 
And
Seen my wife and I dressing a half awake six year old
While he flopped to and fro
Like the Ronald McDonald ballon 
On
A windy day 
In
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
I expect that you would have questioned our sanity
Even after you learned we were braving the hig winds
So that he could help his mom make coffee
But
I expect you would say the same about the man leaping off the cliff
If you did not see the stampeding herd of elephants

Friday, February 27, 2015

Radio Scraps

Maybe this thing just ain't meant for us
Yes
I do believe it's time for me to fly
Midnight you come pick me up
No headlights
But big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away
Just Take me into your loving arms
Because
The light in the window is a crack in the sky
And I'm
Standing still In a field of voices
And I
Believe in your song
On the real no lie
I don't know what it is but you're just my type
I need to be where you are
The lady then she covered me in roses

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Spilt Milk

When I first spied it
It was already listing to the  starboard side
Having been surreptitiously slipped out of its berth in the icebox 
Through the kitchen and the dining room and
Almost out onto the open  table
Almost and
Then as almost slipped away
I saw it come crashing back to the ground
It's white prow
Hitting first and
Bleeding
Gushing
Leaking white in all directions and
Calling out to the fully aware, alert, and prepared
To streak across across the sand 
Life preserver in hand
To save lives and 
Assign responsibility
To sound the alarm and
Begin the rescue operation
With a reluctant and ineffectual awareness
Of the limits of feasible deniability and 
The inevitable cleanup to follow


seasonal plea

I don't want to see
my breath in March so Mother
Nature do something

Global Warming

You think
Your neighbor owns a
Shiny
New
Mercedes
Although it is hard to tell
Since you only see it
When you happen to drive by
As he is taking empty cardboard boxes
Across his meticulously plowed driveway
To the curb
It's pretty darn clear
He must be doing well
He must be happy
We must be entering the next ice age
Of course
You aren't writing the checks


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Sinkholes

Sinkhole swallows two people on Seoul sidewalk
Swiftly
Succinctly
Temporarily
In much the same way As I am swallowed up by my children's
Soliloquies and
Tantrums
The only real difference is that my
Sinkhole experiences are
Seldom
Succinct

Monday, February 23, 2015

snuggling for warmth

stuffed inside a box
snake, turtle, frog, and stop sign
keeping out the cold

The Rising Son

Hiding somewhere between the opening of his bedroom door
At six forty five in the morning and 
The opening of his eyes and mouth
Almost simultaneously
Just short of six forty six in the morning
Is a transition
Of the sort that
Most folks never get to see
From a reality shrouded in mystery to
One about which there is little that is mysterious
Unless you count his consumption of carbs
A transition
That is no less momentous
Than Mr/ Roger's shoe change
No more apparent
Than  the annual life cycle of your average pine tree and
No easier to capture
Than the moment that toast goes from just right to charcoal briquette and
On most mornings I pay as much attention to it as I do to
The dust that builds up on the bottom lip of the picture frames around the house but
Even I dust and
Every so often
I am aware of the opportunity I have
To witness a sunrise
Every single day of the year



A Pinch of Saffron


There is a moment 
Hiding between the opening of his door
At six forty five in the morning and 
The opening of his eyes and mouth
Less than a minute further on
That feels a lot like 
Opening that nearly empty 
Yet newly purchased glass jar of saffron and
Adding a pinch To some carefully coalesced combination of
Oil
Vegetables
Spices and
Meat
With no promise of 
Anything yet to come


checking out at the grocery store with a new hire

He moved fast
Like a tornado
Strawberries flying across the belt and onto the floor
Like cars being hoisted off the road and into homes and businesses
Bags spinning in the wrong direction
Like people being forced to seek shelter in the attic and
Stretching the the breaking point
Like the folks forced to shelter in the wrong attic
Each item scanned at least ten times in the span of twenty second
The little red phone getting more use than 911 and me
Standing there
As if I was watching
"When tornados strike"
On my television
Just after midnight
Not moving very fast at all



thermostat

inside the house it's
sweatshirt weather outside it's
thirty two below

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

hungry for spring

Today is cold and clear and
Cluttered
Like a recently emptied meat locker
The snow piled everywhere
Browning in the air
Like day old avocados
Most of the trees doing their best turkey carcass impressions
And
I'm hungry
For spring


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Give Me a Smile

He shrugs his shoulders and
Flashes a wry smile
Not the one where he sticks his tongue out and closes his eyes but
The one that is more reminiscent of 
A contented male lion 
Resting under an acacia tree 
It is even followed by a roar and
It always leaves me hoping
That the smile is what it seems to be and
That I don't end up getting more than I asked for and
I suppose
Now
It would be
The moment for me
To shrug my shoulders

Random

I just want 
The only thing that could make a difference 
The new version 
I'm not sure if you have a lot of people who are not in my head 
You know how much I love you too 
I love you too 
I don't think that it would mean the world today 
You know 
You know what you want me to be 

seasonal itch

by February
I'm wondering whether God
needs Head and Shoulders

Modern Menopause

They now say
Menopause 
Is
Ten to 
Fourteen years of
Hot flashes and 
Night sweats
And
Basil
Is being grown 
In storage containers
In Boston
So
Ladies
You can think about 
The origin of the pesto you had for dinner
At three in the morning

I had a dream

Hippos were gliding
Like nuclear submarines
Just below the surface
Not even a nostril or
A periscope
Showing
Just a ripple
An unlikely hint
Of the breadth of the problem
Lurking just below the surface
Of my mind

Friday, February 13, 2015

Smiles

In our house 
A French fry shaped like a smiley face
Inadvertently taking a swim in a glass of milk
Is like
That old joke about Italian snow tires
Told in a smokey bar
In New Jersey
You're guaranteed a smile
But
Once you get it
You may not want it
At least not in your house

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

winter creep

skis over his head
snow creeping into his pants
hot chocolate at home

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Peas

Frozen peas are a life preserver 
In a sea of pasta and
Monterey Jack cheese
As long as 
He is willing and
Able
To grab hold
I can throw them out there at every meal
But 
Peas are green and
Slippery and
Don't go well with cheerios


Monday, February 09, 2015

If life gives you lemmings ...


I've never been hit in the head by a falling Kennedy half dollar and
Though my money disappears faster than the sun in Southeast Michigan
It has yet to attempt harakiri or
Seppuku
Mass or otherwise or
Even
To give itself to the needy owing to overpopulation but
Misconception or not
It does seem to go to the very same place as
Everyone else's

Sunday, February 08, 2015

the wish of a new generation

May
Indecisive
Always grow up to be
Eclectic

Hold On

We've been told to
Let it go and
Watch the world erupt into song and
Adventure leap out of the hillsides
It's the promise of Heidi 
On crack but
A little lower
There's an older promise
Connected to a simpler and
Sometimes more courageous act
Too often confused with the submissive wife and
Neville Chamberlin
Not that anyone remembers him or
That when playgrounds were blessed with metal slides and
Teeter totters
We did not ride the merry go round 
(Also called the roundabout to avoid confusion and visions of painted horses)
Alone and
That while we loved letting go 
It wasn't the hardest part
Did Navajo children go away to college
I don't
Remember the first time I held her hand or
Forget
Ever
That taking it in mine and
Letting it go
Are as connected as we are
In winter
Summer and
Probably even in the Swiss alps
I suppose that courage
Like the illegality of defecation
And most everything else is
Situational





Thursday, February 05, 2015

Family Recipes

If I had been 
Suffocated
Along with head lice
In a plastic bag full of mayonnaise
I would 
Not be able to bake
My great grandmother's molasses cookies for my children and
Offer each
A cookie and
A glass of milk
Before they slip off to bed
To sleep
To dream
To wake even
If I wanted to



Brian Williams

Memory
Is a picnic and
We are ants
Brian Williams might walk away with a bit of wonder bread
You may grab a crumb from a pumpkin cheesecake
I might carry off a piece of sushi grade ahi tuna and
Find myself wedged in the tread of a pair of vintage Air Jordan's before
But at the end of the day
Along with the season finale of the Biggest Loser
It's all my memory
Your memory and
Brian Williams too


Wednesday, February 04, 2015

this is thirty seconds

maybe nothing good is possible
in thirty seconds
just half a minute
maybe
just
this

still snowing

forty percent chance
better odds than on Sunday
snow still coming down

winter status quo

snow is still falling
windshield wiper fluid
is still hanging in

Sunday, February 01, 2015

Better In Video

Who needs home videos
Read a book
Watch the movie 
More than once and
By the third or fourth time
It's just like you're reliving your own life
Only with prettier people and
Better special effects
Who needs to video tape their own life
Who needs their own life

February

February
Now playing
In a limited run
On and
Off 
Broadway 
Catch it before time
Marches on

Friday, January 30, 2015

growing assymetry

assymetrical for sure
more hair on her right
(my left)
eye more open over there too
ear only showing on her left
(my right)
and the whole thing
floating up there in mottled dark blue
bounded on all sides with silver
is
out of touch and
very much the equivalent of the
lesser hair or the
missing ear
stuck on the wrong side of assumetrical
more and more
Every single day


Thursday, January 29, 2015

Snowflake

Falling
One at a time
At a time
At a time
At a time
At a time
At a time
At so many times
That you forget the one

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Ever After Begins Somewhere

After
I lurch to my feet
Bones clicking and
Joints sticking
Cat howling expectantly in the hallway
Clock ticking away ceaselessly in my mind
Which has already raced right past lunchtime and back
Twice

After the world has returned to focus sufficiently
That I can identify a pair of pants almost warm enough
To allow me to brave the unheated basement

After each of those forty or so seconds have passed and

Before I leave the room

I always look back
To the tangle of pillows and sheets
For an elbow or
A lock of hair

Even now

After almost fifteen years

That is still how my day has to start

After
All

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Taking in the Moonlight

I wonder
If 
On that 
Cold
Dark and 
Snowy 
Evening when my daughter
Pants and underwear around her ankles
Presented her bottom and 
Pulled her cheeks back
A half foot from the cat's face
It appreciated
The timing or
The irony
More than I did

Monday, January 26, 2015

Forty One Year Old Stay At Home Dad

There is awake 
There is asleep
There is whatever you call the 
Five or ten minutes
A six year old can spend
Still on the bed
Five minutes after verbally acknowledging both
Morning and
Dad
With one leg hanging out and
Only the top of his head peeking out from under the covers
Muttering 
In the dark
In an increasingly whiny tone and 
Then
If you extrapolate that over the course of an entire day
You have 
The state where I now dwell




electric stasis

cat stretched out on lap
me scared to dislodge wedgies
Stuck in fear of static

Of Families and Noisy Dirty Laundry

I heard the breathing and
Talked out loud about my astonishment at discovering that mom's shirts could breathe
While hanging in the closet
Then 
After a fifteen to twenty second pause to allow 
Maximum happiness for all involved
I pushed apart the shirts to find that
Nothing
Was still breathing
All through the closet
Everywhere I went
Everywhere I looked
Even near the hamper
The big
Newly emptied 
Wicker hamper
In front of which I finally paused
Long enough to appreciate
The trials
Tribulations and
Blessings
Involved with
having a family and
A life
That is so busy and
So young
That I can
Still
Hear my dirty laundry


Friday, January 23, 2015

Of Time and Props

I want to bring home an antique pie safe 
A butter churn
A spinning wheel and
A cider press
For starters
So I can look at them all
While I warm up food in the microwave or 
Create stiff peaks out of egg whites with power tools
At least theoretically
I could close my eyes and
Even step away
To do some laying on of hands
Working a deception on time or 
Myself or 
The egg whites
Kind of like a drive through wild woods and 
Dormant farm land
On a dirt road 
In my 2006 Mazda 5
With a chamber pot in the back



in and out and ...

Every night
Regardless of weather or season
I retreat 
Inviting in the darkness
One room at a time
Never knowing for sure
That it will 
Leave

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Aging Perspective

My son's milk is taunting me
From its smudgy glass
It knows
That I don't want to get up until
I am ready to go to bed and
We both know
That by the time I get up
I will have forgotten all about it
So
Underneath its slowly congealing surface
It laughs at me
A one time
Would be
Statesman
Secret agent and
Hero
Who now
Can't act fast enough to stop yogurt from happening


Tuesday, January 20, 2015

The Best Poem

The best poem
Is the one that falls down upon you
When you are in the shower or
About to fall asleep or
Herding the kids out of the door and off to school
Five minutes late and
Which
You don't write down before
It slips past your fingers and
Runs away
Somewhere beneath your feet

Hope Alley

By the time the ten pin finished with its five second weeble wobble impersonation and
Did actually fall down
I had talked myself into believing that what I had just witnessed and
More
Was possible
For
If an eight year old girl and
An old pink bowling ball
Can find their way
From side to side
Bumper to bumper
Down the lane
At a pace that tests one's patience and
Still find all of the pins
Well
Then
Maybe
After forty years
There is still
Hope

Monday, January 19, 2015

Up and Out of a Long Day

In the basement
It is one in the morning
The space heater is off
My paid work is done and
I have only a poem to write
Before I can escape the encroaching cold and
Make my way to bed
Up and
Out
Of the basement

Saturday, January 17, 2015

context

thirty degrees is
pracically shorts weather
after the new year

Friday, January 16, 2015

Olives, Fruit or Vegetable

This morning
It appears as if
A taco exploded in our dining room
The blast field of cheese and taco shell bits extending into the living room
Olive slices strewn about
Like body parts
I hope they weren't muslim olives
Because we'd be pushing it to get the funeral over in time
Those olives may well still be there tomorrow
Afterall
The kids still have to eat tonight
Besides
They were black olives
And I'm not well versed in
Human
Animal
Fruit or
Vegetable
Numerology
I wonder whether soldiers who survive battle ever sit among the corpses and
Haggle over whether the fallen were were enemies or friends
Heroes or
Not
I wouldn't want to do that
It's a mess that isn't so easy to understand or
Clean up
Even if you are so inclined and
To be honest
This morning
I'm not and
This morning
I'm not even  sure whether olives are
Fruit or
Vegetable

Thursday, January 15, 2015

the inevitability of winter

there's always a chance
that it will be your next step
will break through the ice

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Walls

In my mind
The woods
Where the two paths diverge
Is the one surrounding the tennis courts
Just up the hill from my house
Just the other side of the golf course
Just a little bit past the club house
Woods on three sides
Littered with tennis balls and
Paths diverging everywhere
Into backyards and
Parks
Everywhere
In a one mile radius
Just
In my life
In my mind

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Clouds

Clouds are a canvas
A ceiling
A comfort 
A barrier
A threat and
A lot like people
Love them
Hate them
Transfigure them in your mind into bunnies and busses
They aren't going anywhere

Monday, January 12, 2015

Check Out Anomalies

Black high heel boots
Black leggings
Black sweater
Black beanie
Black purse
Three gallon tub of rainbow sherbert

Friday, January 09, 2015

He's Six

He's six
He was just arguing with me and his mother about whether or not he was going to eat half a strawberry
And now
He's lying on  me
On the couch
Cuddling
At his request
In a moment he'll be up again and fighting with his sister over whether the lights can be turned off while they brush their teeth
Then he'll be
Falling into sleep
While I sing
Falling
Out of reach
Again
Until morning comes
And then
He can stare at the wall and spin in space while I run around turning off lights, gathering shoes and coats, and barking out commands 
Forgetting
Just for a moment
His smile
The touch of his little hand on mine
And that 
Even when he tells me he has both bags in the back seat but it turns out he only had one and we have to go back home to get the other
A hug or a cuddle might 
Serve to remind me
That he'll soon be out of reach
And now
He's six



Bigger Questions

If
God says
To kill
Why
Do you listen

Authorship

My words
Or yours
Or
Shakespeare's
Or
God's
Or
The big bang's
Or
Does it matter
Isn't possession nine tenths of the law
Of
Any law
Oh
It is true that I might not be the first
Or
The last
But
I am planting my flag
In the middle of this word
this sentence
this poem
this mess
Claiming
That it will be someone else's to clean up
But it;s mine now and
If it;s not
Then
I
Myself
Am just a myth of someone else's creation and
In that case
It is their will
That I assert my own
That I claim my voice
So
We all should agree
That these
And all the rest
Are my words
And
Or
So I believe



Radio Mash-Up Two: Three Words Have Two Meanings

Three words have two meanings
The trouble is knowing which is which
I mean, suppose I'm just a photograph on your floor
It makes sense
So, then would you let me see beneath your beautiful
I'm bound to stumble and fall
Trust me
And I'm not afraid to fall
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall
How can I be afraid to fall
If right before I drown you resuscitate me and
I know that you will love me all the same
Of course that's the big if
Or one of them
For the poet in the overcoat looking for a suntan
I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly
Really I just hope that you spend your days and they all add up
That is the only real meaning
For those three words
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah 


Thursday, January 08, 2015

radio mash-up one

You are my inspiration and 
Love is the reason why
We can live beside the ocean
You can't always get what you want but
I'll be alright
Playing my music in the sun
I know I'm not the only one
I will wait for you because
You've put these questions in my mind

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Mailing In Moments

I did not leave enough Rice Chex in the box for a full bowl
Even for a child
I could have eaten a bit and then poured the rest in
I could have thrown out the remainder
I could have done a lot of things other than
Leave that pittance sitting there in the box
Neatly closed and
Sitting on the shelf
With the other cereal boxes
Another moment
For another time

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

the age of the blizzard

give me a blizzard
snow flurries are for the young
who have time to wait

Sunday, January 04, 2015

Boo Ya

Reading on ESPN.com
About the death of Stuart Scott
Has made me wonder
If 
Only the sunniest days 
Get to have
Yellow
Orange and
Pink
Spread liberally across the horizon
When they come to an end
Or whether
The memory of a beautiful day
Follows in the wake of its exit and
Exultation 

New Years Resolution

a resolution
should start and end in the cold
holding its own hands

Saturday, January 03, 2015

Of memory and will

Memory creates the cracks in the foundation
But you recognize them as a given
Before you ever choose to pour the water in 
Pour the water in yourself and
Wait for it to freeze
Knowing full well
You don't live in Mexico
But apparently not knowing
That people can move and
Cracks can be filled



Friday, January 02, 2015

Blast It

Lightsabers might be
An elegant weapon for a more civilized age
But I'm not sure six
Is ever a civilized age
And it is highly unlikely that anything wielded by a six year old can be 
Elegant
Charming ... perhaps
Entertaining ... absolutely
But I'm not buying elegant
Of course
I did buy a lightsaber
For a six year old
With Visions of battles in a dark basement in my mind
As I typed in my credit card information and
Verified my shipping address
While wearing sweatpants and a hoodie
So 
Maybe I should have bought a blaster


Thursday, January 01, 2015