Wednesday, March 31, 2010

3/31/10

Burger fried egg ham
Skip fries have another beer
Patio was closed

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Winter

No more than six inches deep
frozen water in the woods
children cautiously slip and step
slide from tree to leafless tree
willing themselves weightless to not
crack thin ice. Laughter and
frosted puffs of breath fill the air
and I wonder as I remember
will my daughter know joys such as these

3/30/10

Indecisive spring
Raindrops then flurries then sun
Moods like a woman

3/29/10

Six in the morning
Can't sleep in no work today
Wait for dawn to break

Sestina #3

Collaboration with Aytch Rae

On a trampoline wreathed in dandelions, Andy,
eleven, leaping between glee and ennui, wouldn't
be opposed to a dose of aging potion. Either way it went
(back to milk-tooth gaps or balding and bearded) he knew
he'd be freed of this pre-teen identity worry.
Over thinking, over emoting, and loathe to be near his folks inside.


A job like that, they had to have a man on the inside
If it wasn't the teller or the guard, it had to be Andy
And with fifty grand missing you might want to worry
You thought he would run. He said he wouldn't.
In the end, you should have trusted the things you knew
not ended up in this cell looking at pictures of places you never went

Just a dog, wondering where his wolf side went;
age has snuffed the hunt and howl inside.
Chop licking, sniffing for a scent he knew
arthritic hips twinge, lies belly sunward waiting, and he
runs paw-twitching quick through fox filled dreams. Wouldn't
be against a juicy bone to worry.

Homeless, the fringe, they fray and they worry
Unraveling fabric of society through the cracks they went
Wills spent whether they should or shouldn't they wouldn't
Flaws in the system no one to assist them they don't go inside
Sleep in bitter cold parks as distant as being camped in the Andes
Outcasted together sun rises on nothing new

On the wall a decapitated gnu
wasn't much of a wildebeest, were he?
Took a chance to run and up the ante
but the shotgun called his bluff and off it went
turned his whole world inside
out. Ended up a trophy when he thought he wouldn't.

Each time it happened, he promised to quit drinking. He wouldn't
But he would slow. Lies to his wife but she knew
The truth. And no matter how many drops he drank to fill an empty inside
There was always the hollow. By the bittered end neither did worry
What was to come. Days spent wonder where years went
Drinking with friends then alone in the end a bottle and he

Done wouldn't be undone, too late to worry
all you knew determined where you went.
Whether my side or inside never stopping to ask, and why

Sunday, March 28, 2010

3/28/10

Deep inside buried
Twisted tendons pull at spine
Age is catching up

3/27/10

Lawns are being mowed
Neighborhood buzzes all day
The couch is calling

Friday, March 26, 2010

3/26/10

Staring through the screen
Eyes open brain nodding off
Four hours to go

Thursday, March 25, 2010

3/25/10

Why don't you listen
Bath time eat dinner clean up
Raising kids is fun

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

3/24/10

Everyone's angry
Discordant vocalized hate
How can it be fixed

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

3/23/10

Shattered and broken
Things we can do to silence
Listen to ripples

Monday, March 22, 2010

3/22/10

There's no turning back
Can't unmake some decisions
The sun will still rise

3/21/10

Piles of oak leaves
Raked ready for paper bags
They can keep waiting

3/20/10

The first day of Spring
Wind blows away any heat
Sun feels good on face

Friday, March 19, 2010

3/19/10

The page fills with words
But story remains untold
Empty picture frame

3/18/10

Little girl in bath
Octopus spills out bubbles
They play for hours

3/17/10

Stacks of books marked used
Unsold wait to be returned
Who reads anymore

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

3/16/10

White bare two birch trees
Stand lean against shifting wind
Awaiting spring leaves

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

3/15/10

Today only one
Dandelion in the yard
Tomorrow the war

Monday, March 15, 2010

Not So Fast Stupid Poet Dudes

Collaboration with Aytch Rae


A bowl, water, bits of blue rock and a fish
Ma can I get a dog? No.
Now shut up and take a shower
Change dish dances on a speaker
Plate hits the wall, Turn that shit down!
Johnny sniffed his socks and smoked some pot


Piles of pennies placed in the poker pot
the fat kid Tommy brought was a sweet fish.
After four hands he was down
five bucks; they’d laid out all their slick tricks, he was no
wiser. Perched on a visqueen wrapped speaker
Lily peered over Fat Kid’s shoulder, a green card-shower.


Playoffs are on, screw the baby shower
You’re going, so grab the crock pot
Can I watch on my phone if I mute the speaker?
No, and besides the lil’ smokies, were bringing Swedish fish
Jimmy’s text me scores and you can’t say no
Fine, carry the stuff to the car and I’ll be right down


Tommy asked him to play and he was down
heard Lily might be there, made sure to shower.
Offered her his spot; she smirked out, “No.”
Pinched closed between-button gaps over his pot
belly. A tree house gamble, they used to play Go Fish
and whisper secret messages through tin can speakers.


Hushed crowd waits for the speaker
Lights in the room blink and go down
He thinks of dinner Saki and raw fish
Outside, it’s spring time and a brief shower
Crowd agrees, the country is going to pot
Room full of the party of No.


Fat Kid tried to chat her up, she pulled no
punches. He should play and pay, not speak;
he could flush the swing set days down the pot.
Fat Kid clammed up, kept his head down
what a wuss, this was no baby shower.
She had to scram and go fry other fish.

No one has written down all the stories. The world needs
Needs a speaker who showers down truths
throws them all in a pot and fishes out beautiful lies

Sunday, March 14, 2010

3/14/10

Early springtime sun
Lacking strength to warm the earth
still brightens day

3/13/10

Snow blankets the yard
Tulip buds hidden in white
Gone by mid morning

Friday, March 12, 2010

3/12/10

Blanketed thick gray
Sky presses against the earth
Winter won't let go

Sestina

Collaboration with Aytch Rae

At the grease-streaked table, he eyed her over his waffle.
The Jack & strobes had masked her chipped front tooth
now illuminated in the 3 a.m. diner; a post- "Happy Trails" trip.
Her bar-bubbly conversation turned to croaking short and stout
vapors, like a teapot trapped bullfrog. Bus boy punk
smirked at them while hauling syrup smeared dishes to the sink.

She has taken the time to watch her ambitions sink,
so she picks up married men. Enjoys watching them waffle.
Knows the teachers are right when they call her son a punk.
Bored, she eyes the man with the dead gray tooth.
Her eyes reel him, he comes over with a pint of stout.
She sighs. Middle aged middle management on business trip.


The couple at table five was such a trip.
Bussing nervous curls of napkin he saw them sink,
pressed deep into the Naugahyde by stout
pre-regrets. He imagines them later with waffle
marks of cheap pillowcases on their faces, fine-tooth
combing their guilt. Cupid is such a punk.


Things to forget, how he got to prison. Prison. The nightly punking.
He despises the loneliness of his life, the twisted pain filled trip.
It all started when his mother forgot the quarter for his first lost tooth
Clenched jaw silent he returns to the syrup stuck plates filling the sink
Angered by prowling cougars passing him by. He nibbles half eaten waffle
Thinks back to childhood, like Jack Sprat, he would take a wife that's stout.


Chaired in judgement at the front door, stout
bat across his knees, he waits. Even Mom believes he's a punk.
She's out again and he won't let her waffle
if just once she'd stuck around...well, this is her last trip.
His turn to choke up, and feel the slugger sink
in flesh and blood. He'll fight her nail and tooth.


Bits of bone and broken tooth
Wizened weathered witch bent and stout
Feral claws into his flesh begin to sink
Her embered eyes smolder like lit punk.
His mind trapped and tricked, deadly acid trip
Hunger haunted he finishes and feeds on chicken and waffles.


Long-toothed Cupid, tired of being love's punk
tosses sagging diaper and stout bow. He's sick of the trip.
Pours idealism down the sink, heads to Denny's for a midnight waffle.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

3/11/10

Sand and blood and death
Tiny Pacific islands
Taken retaken

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

3/10/10

Dawn breaks earlier
Seasons shifting into place
Soon tulips will bloom

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

3/9/10

I almost forgot
Ten at night and no poem yet
This will have to do

Monday, March 8, 2010

3/8/10

Flip flops yesterday
Now it's freezing rain and wind
Springtime kinda sucks

Sunday, March 7, 2010

3/7/10

Pruning rose bushes
Wearing flip flops wasn't smart
Scratches and tan lines

Saturday, March 6, 2010

3/6/10

Writing poetry
Mostly leaves me frustrated
Can't seem to quit though

Friday, March 5, 2010

3/5/10

Pit bull terrier
She's a cute little puppy
Can't take her home though

Thursday, March 4, 2010

3/4/10

Rain rain go away
Come again some other day
It's a found Haiku

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

3/3/10

Thoughtless and plotless
Like a drunk in a crosswalk
The poem meanders

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

3/2/10

Twenty two ounces
A beer to end the work day
Hop Stoopid this time

Monday, March 1, 2010

3/1/10

Feverish today
Sunlight pours down chill wind blows
I should be outside