Stare into her night blue abyss,
Fathomless answers emanate
Directly random
Photon streaking points.
She better mannered, merely covers
Earth's hunger
In layered violet bruises
To thin human souls
(As normal animals know
To not cast ironic eyes
At times doorstep
That chasm of chimes
Forged of radio minerals
Every instrument delects
)Upon sense of wonder
Eating my el cheapo burrito
Not many diners in the place
Two young women
College age women
Stand near me, viewing the menu grande
So many options they all look good
They stand and stand and
The tall blonde
Starts to take off her running jacket
But stops partway
So that only her nape and shoulders
Show ( that she's in fine shape
Her friend smiles at me
They glide away to order
At the bean counter I'm still
Engaged to my
El cheapo, demolishing it and those pickled
Carrots the fellow patrons
Take their trays over yonder
The jacket comes all the way off
Time to skedaddle I've had my fill
2018
In the twilight my love
Sun busts thru the trees
The world on its knees
Eager to please
No tricks up no sleeves
In the twilight my love
In the nite light my love
All groove in the grove
Moon warms in the stove
Crows circle the graves
As wind misbehaves
Your neck's rare display
In sweet twilight my love
In the twilight my love
Day wanes in nights snare
Moon lost in your hair
Parting its dare
So the stars can stare
In the twilight my love
In the twilight
My love
2018
SE PDX
She wept red gold, or hair
Over saxony her pipes
Blare, eardrums flare.
All men (her lair laid bare
Scampered, hares
Hurried too aware.
Harried her heir
Smelt iron: rust cares.
Under prodigious spiral stares,
She swept rare
Fields free of mares,
Hay-gold his wares.
(Hydrogen trains, Saxony)
Owning the concept of land
Conceptualizing the.land
Landing a concept
Setting a concept on.land
Owning up to a concept
Lend land an owner
End run around the land
A land of leased concepts
The lord and leash and the land
Grounding a concept
What concepts owe to.land
Is when
Land begs of map to own the.fold
2004
The dalles, oregon
that which sprung from soil, we turn to our bodies
made of oceans mad, which flung earth
out of star spit, drinking candles yes we are
tallow and the mortal tick, clocking illusion,
that which blooms of silence, we keep in jars
lidless and in search of a time, which seals the seventh
and becomes an octave, or sweet dissonance,
wicking up the brine of prehistory.
that which has no presence, we wrap in re-gifted
martyrs, eggs of ideas hard chiseled,
unable to make anything as beautiful as a child
or a seedling, or a stupid poem.
solstice 12-21-19
Free choice formed 3 daughters
Free choice sidestepped rattlers
Free choice had a field day
Free choice made love/work
Free choice took the road unhewn
Free choice the split rock flower
Free choice the will of time
Free choice expands universal laws
Free choice rows the rocky boat
Free choice interrupts stagnation
Free choice the priceless vote
Free choice wags the cog
Free choice deliberated liberation
Free choice grew up and moved in
Free choice the boots made for walking
Free choice a roll of dice
Flee as slippery can be
Free choice stands her ground her body
Free choice writes directions
Freely
slept thru the big banjo pickoff
and was awakened
by a hot turd of sunlight
that commenced to leeching energy from my skin
in the forms
of precious money be it rubies rubles or scruples
slept thru them dueling mandolin gods on high
and sought music in my dreamstate
with pasty beerbreath and tinfoiled sleeping bag
i felt like
a pig-n-ablanket
listening to no music
save the crunch and smelter of aluminum cans
and the slurp
of green river flowing thru the willow garden
so deep and dark and flowing
with teemings of catfish
no noodling can capture
slept thru the balladeers in the concert hall
of cattle pens while thicknecked farmers
sat on their daughters
&inverted their day off the tractors,
plowing self
woke up to the skipping of rocks
one two three and nearly
four i killed a lullaby fish
1989 Winfield Kansas Bluegrass Festival
the earth is round
but you can't touch the people
and the seas are wet
but you can't know yourself
the sun is warm
but you won't die in your sleep
and the sky is big but yer dreams are bigger
and harder to crush, realize & live with.
(age 18, 1985)
our tissues mineral playground spiral slides
our minds unfathomed teeter totters
our home either land seething or sea teeming
our people better they better not cut
and ye shall knoe thee bye thine keystones
our old youth
our slightly fixative orbits
our particles sand boxes of people ability
2018
FLB
Ice weekends aspirin towers
Made to fall down bookends
That's a wrap
Stunt hardy daredevil devil don't care
Arnica sting but not innasling
Get it done peeling time in the sun
Splitting atom's makem purty
Got no omlette lessya crack eggs
Hello stairs a tumbling masker
Born to balance gravity's joke
Bruise brushed off that's a wrap
Got it done in the negative sun
Mismanaged forest, don't
Make me gaff
my roots
Are lead my limbs
All electrodes my bark all
Byte my trunk full of silly SAP
My underbrush of carparts
My streams bottled sold as babyblood
Send the forest to human resources
Check the mealy punchcard for chads
My acorns made of chaos curled
You think
A chainsaw is management
You think Roundup is koolaide
Pull the forest in on the carpet
As they say
In the nature biznest world
got the stolen bike snooze,
Chained to hues blue
Now I hoof it, chartered
Sidewalk cruise
You have a borrowed riff raff,
Falstaff in the bath
Wanna be muddy water
Not a melody squatter
A con etiquette yank
FU Chet Hanks, ringaround yer collar, proud boy waller
Con Ye even weaker than
Most whiteteash tweakers
Sumfin soup, maybe shark or snail
If snails had trails o wait they prevail
It smears to datwitter with witless insouisance
Being dumbass yer only insurance,
As tracks yuhdrase
If they didn't nap yo face
FLB
SE pdx
sacrifice belongs to the heart organ
struggling to render sense
of what the world makes of congealed peoples,
my own circle included,
as distal moot points jab reminders
we are one
when we see something hurt,
when conscience intrudes on business,
when going about forced
feedings, bleedings, and improvised bedding
on the side of holy
mountains buzzing with news vulture drones
ready to dominate
that which surmounts disbelief
and posits United sanctuaries as targets,
cupid on the rack
with a steady stream of vitriol
inserted down tube you conduit
you condone it
tithe the torture instrument no more
on a day shared
not just by foes, but by the rest of us noncombatants
who avoid even pillow fights
who would rather sing the feasts we find on this spare rib
called Earth, pulled out of a swirl
and primary longing to give
our own
to the other
in order for chaos to illustrate beauty in freedom
that mocks constraints and private prison islands
by a pace maker ticking out pardons
and sorry sorties, atoning for thirty third alignments
in which One divided
bears some burden, in ritual, but allows
blood shed by proxy and calls it brother in the wrong tongue,
so much in the way
that our info tube carves new tunnels in the form of wormholes
trying to find ways out of days
less revered than utilized.
2014
Portland
seen jesus yesterday in an
unemployment line in rural oklahoma. says i,
"hey o golden one, how swings yer staff
of life?" he replied "not so well.
the job applications all ask
for my parent's address. they tell me i'm
overqualified. things do not go well
in this time of oil-glut oklahoma."
*
god almighty gets out of bed
at 3 a.m. to use the toilet,
he groans and sighs
as beer belly merges with his bladder,
without his glasses on
he trips over beirut and rips his toe off
as he faints from self-pity
his head squashes nicaraguan nuns
just before contras can get them
as he regains consciousness,
some eternity later, takes an aspirin,
& changes his pee-sodden
bikini atoll briefs only to snooze
until the power lunch
set with satan at the lodge
*
jesus hit .999 his first season
as a royals rookie, he played the outfield and first
thru third bases
all was going great until he was indicted
in the largest cocaine scandal in
major league history. he
sat in the dugout and cried that he was
a victim so they made him wear
a dunce hat in the corner& write
"i'm high enuff already" six billion
times in front of the pearly gates
*
god caught jesus smoking a pipe
&ditching school so he made him
whitewash the cliffs of dover
jesus got bored so he conned
millions of falwellians into spreading
his holy rouge
"if only ya give me one a yer women
and a case of yer likker"
*
*jesus went out drinking one night
with his frat buddies he said
"betcha i can piss on that cigarette stub across
the street" and they took him
up on it
he flopped out his vienna sausage and prayed
to dad for a loaner miracle and his
dick became ten cubits long
he cleaned off the sidewalk
and flooded the world, his buddies got on
the ark with him and he passed out the poop scoops
to each and every disciple
*
god took his only son fishing
in a dinky dingy on a lake in lousiana
they put that boat in the water
&fish leapt into the hull
till it was full
then the dynamic duo loaded 'em
into the limo and were driven home
to have servants prepare them
over dinner they cursed
good-naturedly about
"the one that was atheist"\
&fed the bones
to their cats
*
jesus checked the "direct relative of god"
box on his w-2 form which entitled
him to the ideological dibs on the souls of the
next 10 million fetuses born.
the irs called him in for an audit and when they
asked for proper id he pulled out
a stone tablet chiseled in
hebrew with the year zero inscribed
so off to leavenworth to work off a multiple
year sentence for the impersonation of a deity
jesus was ok with the judgement.
"shit, a couple of years ago
they would have nailed my ass to a cross..."
didn't take long for the old man to
cut him loose though. he put
a lightning bolt in an angel food cake.
*
jesus was a latchkey kid,
nevertheless he was well loved. at bedtime
god would rock jesus to sleep
& tell him nitenite stories.
jesus was never tired. he'd
wait for god to go
back to watching monday nite
football or creating new third world miseries,
then he'd get out his gi joe doll
and take off his camo gear and
tie him down with dental
floss and let his play dinosaurs eat his
naked arms
1987 K.U.
LAWRENCE, Ks
Raw ingredients for poetry amount
To a finely minced slurry of rock soup
Boiled in sun sweat
Sprinkled in paint chips and pinup dreams
Put on a back burner freckled in whipmarks
From the sadist barista swans
Poured into a human mold sausage skin
And held between the legs as
Scalding bus jolts try to
Zap it into life at 7 am by clenched leg
Measurements calibrated
To entice tasteless buds
To make room for her honey
Honey
Honey
In the bottom of this cup
awaken to deer in the creekbed,
woodstove smoke in the moonlight.
three daughters sleep,
cats at the feet of their beds.
the rocks are slippery,
hooves prove.
2018
PDX
his naked mountains silver veined
her glacial stomp
full of diamonds his cloud sweep of life-hail
her mists made of ice-dagger-fog his endless trees
harboring birds her meadow grass more gold to taste
his creases her map pleased timely
her wind shushing
all moans his lonely hum to home
Ain’t no jobs in Stillsville none in the greasy armpit
Restaurants where the youth roll up their sleeves and plunge
Into the putrid dishwater and choke on the shit eating grin
While cleaning up for the zillionaire rednecks and
Their beehived concubines who snarl for ashtrays and deposit
Their chewing gum under yer apron
Ain’t no work in the convenience store unless ya lop off
Yer hair’s golden plumes and forsake the limbs of
Yer mind to the tree cutters and even if
You get the job it means livin on money stained with the
Feces of satan where bossman hides his piggybank full
Of coke and bribery ain’t no work with the paintbrush
Unless you got her papers certifying your ability to
Mask the seams cause even if you were to get a shot at
That job you’d probably fall off a ladder with
Paint in your eyes
Ain’t no labor opportunity in the construction sectors because
They’re being hatched prefab in mexico and korea
Out of shredded old growth complete with bedside bible
And ten gauge and even if you lucked into a shift
Here and there you’d see thru the shabbiness of the human condition
And make homes of mud
But there ain’t no positions to fill being a protector of the
Planet tho if I could get this appointment I’d
Take a few looks at our lawnmowers and suburban sprawl and
Family dissolution which would
Be more than an unending job.
don't be surprised when they sew shut
yer eyes& kick you along long a sailor to die
don't dare complain as they mutate yer brain
to thinking it can't fake enuff to retain
all glory's refrain
don't go to war unless it come to You
sure sucks to get shucked in sam walton's shoes
unless yer the boss of the boss of the boss
and can occupy loss/old dental floss
so please take me along i'd sure dig the ride
just like i did panama and erie canal
so don't compromise when they exercise
a right to detain a portion of brain
jest ten percent post consumer cement
surely you know we never relent so don't make
love unless it come at you
sure sucks to get plucked wearing pistorious shoes
unless you the boss of the boss of the boss
& can delegate loss like palenque moss
so please gimme a dig, i'd sure slug the ride
just like i did the panama and erie canal
1995
Revised
jesus was a latchkey kid,
nevertheless he was well loved. at bedtime
god would rock jesus to sleep
& tell him nitenite stories.
jesus was never tired. he'd
wait for god to go
back to watching monday nite
football or creating new third world miseries,
then he'd get out his gi joe doll
and take off his camo gear and
tie him down with dental
floss and let his play dinosaurs eat his
naked arms
1987
Lawrence, KS
cinderblocks fuse, make walls
to create schools, teachers-books-n-eraser aroma
hitch up to pull the petridish across
the prarie horizon
we dehydrate the buildings, add patriotism
fer poptart institutions
halls shine with waxy mirror glow
while the oxen bandage their bloody hooves
with report cards
1987
Univ. of Kansas
Sun's done, cold and dark
hand in hand visit
Windlashed trees, stir silence.
Leaves go, were humans summers
Hence when fashion heeded
Skeletal design putting feet prints
Across museum mud. When
Hence was
In vogue, all cities paris in snow,
Or an undone bed,
Linen kneaded into braids.
2018
the music makes a rake where leaves have yet
to unfurl their blasting spirit
the twitch is notched in calibrations so the febrile
clergy might know how much force
to levy upon the faithful the roadmap took a tranquilizer
for a sense of purpose the bouzouki slapped
the ass of donkey as he tumbled down the shale of politics
the virgin said yes yes yes to a deafening chorus of
beermugs pounding the leadpaint off the table
where he danced wearing rusty milkpails of pinesap
covered not by insurance as it was the truth and
good enough for mr bigbucks
the bully threw rocks at the reflection of good in the
pisspool he left for a thirsty dog
the continuing rain made a mockery of the desert so
they laughed a long cry the seasoned shishkabob was
so flipping patient at the canceled hanging
the wall was not a fence but a barrier to the wall
that might outfence the fox
the shovel and rake and bulldozer turned the corpses
so that worms could exit
the brothels chief artillery was a herpes so complex
it made the pentagon look vapid
the camel learned to drink oil. that is how
he got the logo everlasting the humor spilled out
of the camp into the faces of orphans
until halloween's recall celebration was groped
from the feminist by a nazi now armed with nukes
it did not help, we could smell blood upon
typewritten smiles the millionth fly ate a
smorgasbord of poop and washed it down with the Oregonian
the zit that could not pop had an
unelected head of state the phrasing left
me speechless. luckily i had a camera and
plastic implosives the pregnant barbie doll a cultural weapon
the unwed took a seat next to the underfed
under the foot of the wellbled the bob hope tribute
shuffled aside by death of john ritter b.cuz 3's company
the upsurge was put down but it bobbed back
wobbled truthfully toward purity
the sand and storm were one with the milita man who
felt bespeckled in chaos the swan
& the sword did a silken dance by the oasis
the evening let down a fragrance of figs until the nomads
were wrapped in heaven the head had redemption
that governed the evil once could aspire to the gnat
and the turtle and the buzzard gave counsel
to the understandings lost on the fallen
the rations were severely passioned until caution
was the currency of fashion the only way
i can create this illusion is to paint a music language
i don't understand from a million wastes of
today trees who need certain conditions or they
exhume their roots and begin
2006, the dalles, oregon
Your finger ain't a circle
Unbroken your heart isn't shaped like an inverted tush
We're not frowney faced smiley dogs
But we are fashioned out of gingerbread platitude
So that capitalism can reserve us a seat on love boat
The poem anthology for $3 and 1400 diversions wide wades morning coffee, pausing at snack bars midstream, footholds to silence tongue fasting in obscurity, heresy lost just as extinct species romantics once plummaged pages with using every artifice instrumental
Not required reading, the lesser names reduced to a few lines on paper mica, handed down to the bargain rack, now that silicon valley be lord purveyor mind closet organizer
A sunday window with its curtain damp from the jamb slightly askew to rebuff stolid week splinters that keep our earn as we earn our keep
The tarp drips slung over the storage door every morsel night wrung from the atmosphere, a few fir hairs falling as the glue binding glides gravity
Taking it easy makes it hard on the mop, that's monday, the forecast fiddles away living without an audience out there in daylight savings coma, pulled covers only tidal inundate the headlands with deep sea memorabilia
Why launch off rather than arrange shells and driftwords into messages so that future snails may reassemble and bide time by, a jetty of effort an ocean yawn waves away into silt
___
Car chase nudity on steroids
Intrigue uppers for sacraments
Imbecile sports endorsement subjugation
Online hermitage and compulsory indoctrination
Poster children for sterilization
Admonishment serum
Hobbled ecosystem architecture gymnastics
Drippy nose police
Sequel infinity hourglass prescription
Tart removal tycoon pageant
Machine fed organic ineptitude
Self effacing mirrors tuned to am radio reflections off victory
Between the page states
Tedium laundry hangnail
Mothball cosmos pie
Outdated tree program rectification
Exercise mantra instant supper
Gargantuan void product puddle
Dial tone personal distance
Ratings ringworm wranglers
Auto tome meme depersonalization
Se PDX
On the bus, gus
ancient glaciers are calving
in the meadow moo of the universe
plopping turtlefrogs in the big soup on earth
from far far away we look
we appear
we appear to be looking
following the power of our evictions
the soup runs over the checkered fablecloth
you move to feel apparent
the film is shot underwater as baby cubes are braying
lowing in the clovered novas
sprinkled on a time wafer
lost in dark treeslimbs covered in coral and starfish
gravity's grave hello openarms fivebilliontonsayear
who's counting?
who counts?
11-15-15 portland, or
