...upstream...

being able

to swim again

means being able

to dance again 

and again until 

it looks like

I was swimming

not dancing

       again

...abbatoir..

mean errant bull

won't you ride with us

trot away from

the streets though

your urge is to

run through them

into them and reddened

by them

...new and old...

youth is the detractor

at this event and building

                              space out of lack there of

is a surreal art    age is a generator

something that cannot 

be machined into the archways

or coined/carved into familiar styles

any more than the black

gum that becomes black 

cobble along the hallways 

brand new and somehow distant

corridors throughout

a new chapter in this architecture

this young grass 

handsomely groomed paths

glistening windows

here you are not what

we thought you'd be,

    your better and that is

a shame because we shouldn't

have given up

just yet

...recharge...

inked into wavering

lines of blue sky

twining the night's sun

setting through stillness

they forget

that each change

in the shuffle of songs

sets the sun a little

lower lower

than the sky can show

before the orbit

finishes or the battery

loses all of its energy

until the next day

...flat, low-light...

the mild detest

of a priority escape

means that one

can never reach

the ground they

are tip-toeing on;

these four walls

repress any further

vision (or delusion

I estimate)

of truly escaping

and becoming

whole again

with pockets

and book-bindings

fully intact,

wallets and check

sleeves fittingly

available, next

to the fridge door

in the flat, low-light

of the oven-top lid.

...reaction...

the trigger in the clam

shell that shuts it suddenly

the sand granule in the eye

at the beach

the last little bit of popcorn

kernel stuck in the bridgework

the last straw or the wooden

bowl with crack allowing

the soup to stain the table

again and again

You always can react

to the fact that you will 

have to have a reaction

...single seconds...

*

he wanted to know

why he couldn't find

himself a fitting enough

bed realizing it was

actually the blanket

all along

*

he hoped that your eye

gets better and that

his mind finds itself

with that very same

hope of self improvement

*

the first songs of spring

are not bird songs

he said

they are really catchy,

from ice cream trucks,

that repetitious song

*

"Occasional Thoughts"

you can kiss my ass, but

then, I am a gentle man,

so you can kiss anything you

want to      but no marriage

                    ---Robin Blaser (1925-2009)

...weather girl...

I wanna be your local weather

girl tell you the temperature

that the day is running 

and the barometric indicators

in your knees and behind

your eyes;  I want you to be

my local Chinese delivery 

so that I can ask you

for more chili oil and tea

so that I can ask you 

what your family is like

when they sit around

the restaurant, dreaming

about the string bean's recipe;

I want you to be the local

pharmacy's delivery

so you can put me to sleep

later tonight, after we

finish the leftover Chinese,

and the rain has slowed.