...March 27th, 2009...

the bicycle eases 

back down the hill

and the clicking

sound of the chain

means that the air

is getting warmer

and that the clouds

will lift showing

your eyes to all 

quite soon

...back-up...

the bus is back

and it has parked

in my head

hazards on

just like the bus did

two years ago

and didn't get

a ticket

goddamn bus

...thought full guy...

how it happened was

he sounded it out

and flattened it out

on the thin thin white

paper plate like a smooth

soot silting in just 

the right spot 

on the page

this is what he said

became of the words

...mutli-ball...

the pauses and delays

only mean that a signal 

is not sending like it once

was and the receiver

or the router need reset

that little flashing

light in the heart

the things that occupy

the mind    working   

busy     please  wait  

that flash is lost

when the light turns

red and the text

on the other end

goes dead     cold

like the curb

...your dream...

I want to tell you

about this poem 

that he wrote

in the middle of the night

but I forgot

it when he told me

that he was going

to  finish it

when I went to sleep

...heroine...

tight inward film

the movie ties up to the book

lower freight fear

the acceptance of my crash

body lay body

the pressures of attraction

lie lower weight

the dream of being him

steel rail expressway

the days uneven thought

movie flashback scene

what do you fear to feel?

...big budget...

the aims are simple:

create giant not so unrealistic fabrications

elicit not so faux leads and characters

throw in the fears of a nation

and its shared unease

and we have box office

gold (or blue).

Are we up on the market

or down to the last

bomb dropped?

These the minor

details, the less 

than guided aims,

simple or not.

...white Brooklyn streets...

at 1:30 am

Union Ave took on a whole new glow

about it in the lights of the bar

shovel tractor high beams

and the fractals of light coloring

of the white white  

   soft     soft

late winter storm that we embrace

like an old album

or a record of the storms

we used to have in this city

before we changed the path

and its frequency

...pre-cap...

the party I am missing tonight:

the swoon the swindle the mingle the network

the piece the guitar the axe the lights in the bowl

the wine the witches the hipsters the bitches

the wine the women the men the walls

the taut pants the faux spike the red red souls

the instigators the tail chasers the requisite line

the poet the musician the singer's songwriter

the fire escape smoke room the smoke alarm

the mixing the taping the mix-taping 

the photographer the echoes in the green pale hall 

the clinking of recyclables

the hello the goodbye the hellos and goodbyes

the curator the cure the curious 

the end the ending the closure the closing

...pool hall rule...

the way word bird game

up up the upper fame of the deed

done dirt street cheap 

schlepped up up hills

and tossed down down 

societ-ill

sloped and slants

renovation and prospect

who will willingly fill the pool

so that I may swim 

swimmingly in the error

of my repetition ?

...loft...

even the greatest intention

is defeated by the longing

and despair of  being

the only one in the room

even when you are near

...forget the power...

the word I saw today too many times

power on and off on the tv   on the green

board we discussed it in class and I had

not seen the word on the tv

til afterward when I got home

the word followed me

then went into the tv before

I started to dream of the power

being yanked off by the electrician

in my nightmare   he tells me not

to go forward and not to pass the power

onto the next fortune teller

or gas god of the sulphur springs 

that re-emerge in the power sweat

dreams of mountains and hot hot

waters the way              the muscle releases

safety in that power 

we return to the core of the lecture

then the tv turns it off for all of them 

like the power cord being tripped over

and ripped out of the socket

...a loved letter...

dear valentine

______________

______________

______________

dear dearly deserted

______________

______________

______________

dear lost value

______________

______________

______________

dear dear you

______________

______________

______________

Love, as/is Always,

______________

...medium matter...

how to:

frame the words:

in the body:

of your image:

is it:

glass on mating:

on turned phrase:

on photograph:

these laws:

needn't be set:

just suggested:

black and white:

my letters:

in black:

...the height of the ceiling...

the height of the ceiling

matches the height

of the sensation 

that we are both

winding toward 

that we are both

afraid of achieving

hands in the air

the height of the ceiling

...about facing...

another intriguing reconnection

in harmony with this idea

of reconciliation and proclamation

of singleness and multi-syllabic 

conversations with the self

(remember her? remember

the library window? remember

that awful, mean town?)

In all occurrences there exists

a definitive truth of that experience

and that time does take its

toll but no more so than

the words we used to use

before we knew how to use

words properly and not

as the weapons of inarticulate

youth, swords of misuse

...knee-jerk hysterics...

its true about the ice

that you can't see how and exactly

when it becomes that slippery

slide that bumps you into the sides

of streets and students      slates between

the cities and the songs

we used to sing in crowded

arenas with hand-knit scarves

and grandma's hats, perhaps

her sunglasses, more likely

her joy in watching someone

bust ass on the slippery

ice on a northern Queens

still frozen night.

She told me she once danced

at the Roseland Ballroom

when it was still this, a ballroom.

I told her I danced there

too but not like she did

and that I was wearing

grandpa's scarf. And that

I fell and busted up my knee.

(She chuckled)

(I said that I meant to do that)

...winter's shell...

tell me

what you are

wearing

so I may 

gauge how cold 

we both are

...found phrase...

I had lost this phrase

for nearly eight years

until today's words

help guide them back

through ensuing tears:

I am American.

...44...

the history of this day

starts the realization

and activation 

that begins 

tomorrow