paths of duty

wars erode and demean
the basis of the world
to exist

heron does his duskish duty
performing a sortie
silhouette blackscissor routine
down the creekbed
canopy

mirroring the rich flurry
of particles bubbling digitally
from the sun's good lung



1997 swale creek, wa

dulcimer creek

dulcimer memory necklace
creek eats the shore
then spews it back
clad in fern

*

you hair started wars as blackened july combed the theatre

*

under shimmering blasts,
deeper tones of chanting menace

*

secrets flash you unawares
displaying overcoat linings
hung with their wares

*

language small and strong

immense yet delicate

*

and love seems to exist......to pull
its own plug

*

in event of any event
call the supervisor's eventual
bluff

*

stuffed and fluffed the pilgrims
neatly sank their boat
while still in the drivethru

*

ridiculous is preferred
to the opinions deferred
when idiots confer

*

all at once
clapping hand
laughs to shake
form of yer aura

*

islands, meals of gemstones,
family plus solitude , gallons of kissies,

grains of sand
in a dreamstream


1995 klickitat, wa

museum of modern moods

surreal hollering in
new sfmoma
gallery space, forest! forest! as
asian guards usually uptight and stern
laugh as she slaps
'em five under
pollock's guardian of the secret

***

bigboat go
toot, toot
moves

***

worked our way pleasantly
past matisses picassos diebenkorns
under one landscape she played
with her shoe
velcro arneson's great selfportrait
pedestal crumb
-ling to re
-veal the empty
nest around the critic comment

***

teenybirds
float alongside
nevertheless impossible
i believe
to run over per se

***

astute chaos surreal
exploded on the top floor
sparsely surrounded
by canvasses the size
of barndoors
splattered neonspooged
&watched over by
more guards, protecting
no secret, than flies
on vegan shit

***

...what time
was it, the fog, lifted
to ask...

***

beautiful the cold the cold
whistled wing the wind
etching the paper sack
paperstack tenpercent postconsumer
past redemption cooling
the beautiful cold
sea of departures

***

departures where are
your papers
how many waves
define where you go and if you stay?



1994 
san francisco

never called an asshole

sad eyed harlequins flipflop
thru dirty alleys of paris
at four a.m. as picasso gets up
to put out the cat

he isn't wearing a shirt the moon is humming in a pool
of pissed flower water
&a taxi is headed home for a pat
on the fender

pablo pauses at his doorway
considers the shifting planes of stairs
only briefly
to inspire more legend

a warm bed awaits



1988 lawrence ks.