Schmaltz waltz (2009)

 the love and the sadness did a dance tonight

there weren't no music didn't break out in fights

thoughts most precious, cast before swine

logged by foes, rest by a pint of white whine

why o why are our heads so thick?

with guts of feelings spanglin' the dick?

why o why is my folks so dumb?

sweetsour intricacies of coming undone.

                           **

my friends are perfect i think that they know

the world is pure butter 2% yellow snow

my heartache is contagious and mostly benign

just suture my memory on some dotted line

a guy stabs his heart in writing a song

to find the mercy of wanderin' on

the sadness and the loved duked it out all night

there ain't no grammar in the language of slights 

2009

The Dalles, Or 

Savor felt

  

Kissing dream, her tongue unexpected 

Swirling around against mine 

Our breath odor neutral 

It was just texture, 

Vivid for eternity then displaced, 

The pop of dream 

The echo of the popped dream 

She didn't leave a face, 

It was plenty hot but that's a blur

Dropped the details 

To savor what it felt, 

Like 

Microcosms of forest (2020)

sleeping in my arms, my children 

once

held me highest 

going down the slide together

holding hands not just to cross the street

staring

endlessly into one 

another's eyes. every night

i told each daughter

a new story as they grew

and their hair shined. 

boxes cannot contain their art,

the world is too small.

our microcosm

remains, as a water bear,

in glacial retreat

toward the starry ocean. 

my heart has no crass excuse

other than to 

pump the sun into a nice warm ball

which we roll, roll,

roll and laughing chase..

 2020 

Portland 

Glutton of thrift hits the poor pantry, again

 Cue up, it's free food, mind your elbows 

So what you retired 15 years ago 

Drawing a pork pension with a fine nib 

Wheel the hamper another foot 

The line shortens as the desperate and 

The greedy compete 

The lettuce not wilted rather overstocked 

The deli pesto, potato salad, get the last one before the woman on crutches snatch it 

It a dog eat dog open to all hand out 

You can always feed it to dog 

It insulates the fridge the past due dates make you feel younger each day 

You can afford some splurge 

Having grabbed lunch meat at the poor's pantry  

It buttresses some delusion in being thrifty 

When you're grifty 

Step on the scale the 195 tale 

Five foot hum the heart as fit as a plum 

Call a plumber, snake life first 

Oh look a six pound bratwurst 

When life's a bowl of cherries 

Swallow the pits after grinding them with molars 

What canary? I don't see your canary? 

The quizzical face barely fits in the feathers, the sticker stuck to the tonsils 

No one notices, it burps indiscrete 

Karp Brown, sic

  

Krap Brown, that's how it coats my town 

Dog food chinese takeout slick

It used to be pretty, our city 

Look the sepia tableau sings feet up in front simon cowell  

As three lick the geriatric hooves  tootsies

Simon basks in the champagne glass shattering acapella 

They throw bits of leftover chicken 

As a reward, threw stars and a mildew spray commercial 

Krap Brown, it's beneath layers the rotten frame 

The peeled off lead went to head 

To ever rest easy ever makes one queasy 

The routine audition for the mothballs fame  

I could fit in it back when a bungalow had zippers to hoarding restrain 

Klepto tendencies stick it to the man Krap mantra claim 

Dragging this home you can put it in shed 

With xmas display in may and halloween year round  

A baby doll demented rides shotgun in their economy mobile 

Bags of shit stolen to feed weeds  

Make Brownie a heck of a ill noise plant 

Turning port land Krap Brown 

It's tea stir it well feed manure to sewer 

High as a vulture singing everyone got talent 

Krap excels in expulsion, steep

Just don't step in the well studied map  

The Karp clean what falls into the wishing mini pond 

I wish the harpy'd retired from stalking anything that moves  

 

Weather it (2018)

  

day before blusterday

up at 7

at work at 9, for 8 hours

working hard,

20 feet up a ladder

under the eaves

over the rose thorns

get on the bus back home

hey, dad! my sweet 16

surprises me

there by Reed College

there where i had the key

to the kingmaker's place

for months and months during that fall

of mothball sequestration

day before hester prynne

hid in the split rock

and came back from 6 years

raised by the Indians

who done in her maw

winners don't get sidetracked

get home with most of paycheck,

storm door blowing

glass shards of sound across the

extinct or dormant volcano

wham

wham

the notes all ignored, the music bad.

working hard at good energy

as hippies say

as parents say

as teachers say, to hustlers cons& chameleons.

finally in my room, my space

slam slam wham

shhh it's "home"

landing her grocery

cans of soup on the counter

like an enraged wide body airplane out of diesel,

bumping down hard

oh me oh my O's

about being at the DMV

"all the dew doh day"

having a hissy fit,

putting all peace on men

on pause, the most minstrel

lost-partum kindness.

Lil' OrFun granny

dressed up for Vegas Warbucks,

her whipped boy

with the fat wallet.

LOSER, "little bitch"

tickles the funny bone just in time

to scum the film off this filthy soup.

thank good nest

thank still water

thank you mom and dad

thank you 3 mountains

we can weather It. 

 

 

2018

SE Portland, Tabor 

Not nice, not unaware, not concerned

 Bark bark bark 

Don't worry he's nice 

No the kids on the teeter totter are nice 

The dog is aggressive and off leash 

Stare at your cell phone while nice dog isn't nice 

Just watched another dog shit 

While the owner sits at a picnic table 

Staring at his gadget, empty beer can on ground 

I walk over and find the shit

I'll take care of it says loser owner 

He leaves the park and the shit

I photo it for posterity 

The entitled walks his trio of porches

One actually runs amok all about 

I know him their routine 

He throws the fetch ball in my direction so the lab goes running past

It's a leash only park city employee 

It's part and parcel of bad ownership 

All three instances in less than an hour 

It's typical for today and for tomorrow 

Humans don't have a hope 

By the sunday fuck consideration of what a peaceful day should be