think

think of a flower think of a gorilla picking the flower think of a ham sandwich in the refrigerator back at base camp think of an intrepid traveler suddenly coming on the base camp at the foot of the mountain think of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the backpack of the intrepid traveler think of a deposed king think of a lock on a door think of a man walking in the rain i will never go back though the door be opened wide my part has been played and my path lies before me quite so, quite so, i understand perfectly returning from his enforced sabbatical sadly, he began to repeat himself there were too many reports to be ignored the master understood and acted accordingly very soon it will be over where were we when we were interrupted? expecting rain, if i recall it was your turn to think of a suitable theme for the annual celebration i have no experience in such matters and always forget something in my reports beastly weather, isn’t it? not to mention the constant requests for updates from the continent the door was unlocked after all that and the room was empty think of a flower think of a gardener planting a whole row of flowers

life coach

i want to be a life coach and teach people what to do they have been waiting for me their whole life through i want to be a life coach and set people straight i will have them up and running just you wait they need a little shove to get on the right path a long walk in the evening in the morning, a cold bath spinach, broccoli, berries and nuts are the only things to put in their guts clear spring water is the only drink there was something else did you think? yoga in the morning, run a mile at noon sit beneath a tree hear the birds’ eternal tune sit by the river, or the ocean shore meditate, meditate and meditate some more religion and politics fall away like leaves all that nonsense no one really believes if you want the true truth there is only one source and that is myself, the life coach of course

reformer

i woke up this morning and swallowed my pills took a clean sheet of paper and cured the world’s ills it took but one morning of one single day and when i was done there was no more to say o you who crave glory and need excitement to live i regret to destroy you i have no solace to give the dark clouds have parted the sun does now shine if you die of boredom it is no fault of mine your sad fellow creatures have prayed for this event they asked for a savior and i was sent hear the whisper of the river the babble of the brook i have written the pages and closed the book

a real poem

the insolent embolisms of the baroque are patiently encapsulated in the querulous cornices of a watercolored zeitgeist and the abandoned ashes of a forgotten auto-da-fe... boo! boo ! fuck that weak shit! let's have some real poetry! attenuated bilaterally in the dolorous fortuitousness of the moment... dolorous is right, asshole! get him out of there! boo! booooooo!! all right, how about this it's three in the morning and i've finished my pint of wine and i'm taking a shit behind safeway and it's hard, it's hard but i'm almost there and suddenly a car drives down the street in front of the parking lot and stops a cop car a cop gets out i shuffle back into the shadows with a stab in my guts ohhhhhhh! it moved back in a little and the cop strides across the parking lot it's a lady cop with something in her hand and i try to move sidewise like a crab with my pants around my ankles and the hard turd stuck halfway out my ass and she hits me full in the face with her flashlight and she says "this is it, big boy - the end of the line"

arctic light blues

paul bunyan would have loved this silver eternity … the rubbing of the wings of bodhisattva flies ( flies are the supreme bodhisattvas) in the purple twilight of pocahontas and cabeza de vaca thumbing rides on brooklyn bridges of li po enlightenment over rainbows of rheingold beer bottles as the spiders of nothingness crawl through the beard of john greenleaf whittier passed out on the sidewalk of heaven and the bing bong bix beiderbecke ping pong canaries of gertrude stein answer the burger king prayers of tao ch’ien in the thirteenth enlightenment or maybe the 14th arrondissement where edith piaf devours a smiling croissant under the disapproving gaze of madame butterfly who missed the last train to istanbul or heaven (call back later)

edward

edward was a guy who lived on a hill he ate and slept and took his pills he watched tv but never the news to engage in argument he did not choose one day a man came to edward’s door edward had never seen him before he wanted a little of edward’s time and asked him for a nickel or a lousy dime edward was naturally courteous and polite but something here did not seen right he asked the man in and offered him a drink but part of his brain did not know what to think edward gave him a sandwich of cheese and ham but part of him suspected a scam edward kept his money in a paper sack safely buried in the yard out back he had a dog named joe and a monkey named jim they were prepared to give their lives for him but edward was a human when all was said and done he was a dreamer and not the only one edward did not understand quite why but the stranger had a friend in a bank in shanghai the friend knew the details of a terrible affair shocking things of which the public was unaware the friend knew the details of a terrible affair shocking things of which the public was unaware of betraying the planet the friend was accused and there was not a moment to lose the stranger asked edward to help his friend there is only one way for this story to end edward should have listened to joe and jim but he trusted the stranger so much for him why can not stories have better ends? because people are lonely and want to have friends what is wrong with this story? what is wrong with this tale? why did the stranger come to edward’s door and not send him a letter in the mail? o humans with your tablets devices and phones demons wait beyond the hills and stars and are calling in their loans

the truth

listen, my friend listen! no, don’t run away stop! i have something to tell you something very important something that must be said it is just this - just this - life has no meaning! life has no meaning! life has no meaning! yes, you heard me - i said it and i am glad the truth is out now i am sorry, deeply sorry if ii have destroyed your life and forced you to face reality but i could not help it i have had it burning within me all these long years i could not hold it in any longer i just could not and now it is out and you will just have to do the best you can

yeggo and lainie

yeggo was a homeless bum. he was sitting on a bench at a bus stop, eating a glazed donut. lainey came along. lainey was a hot young chick with long legs and long blonde hair. she took her place beside the sign saying “bus stop” and took her phone out of her purse and began tapping on it. hey sweetie, yeggo called to her, why don’t you come over here and sit beside me. your nice long legs will get tired standing up like that. fuck you, you smelly bum, lainey replied, don’t talk to me or i’ll call the police. aw, i bet if you turned around and smiled you would like nice. although i do like that ass. lainey did not respond, but continued tapping on her phone. you know, yeggo said, we are really a lot alike. we are both human beings. this got a laugh out of lainey. i bet other people could not even tell us apart, yeggo persisted. yeah, right. i’m calling the cops right now, smelly bum. let’s try it, we will ask the next person who comes along. a man in a yankees cap came along. hey, yeggo called to the man in the yankee cap, which of us is dick and which is jane? can you tell? suck my dick, the man in the yankees cap replied, and walked past. next harold watersten, a professor of moleculat anthropology at nyu, came along. which of us is dick and which is jane, yeggo asked again. i’m just a poor jew, the professor told him, ask a fucking expert. and he walked on. next queen elizabeth came along, accompanied by her royal guard. yeggo asked the question again. but the royal guard stuck his bayonet in yeggo’s face and the queen walked on without replying. stuck up bitch! yeggo shouted after her. i only asked a question. next spot came running along. who’s dick and who’s jane? yeggo shouted at him, but the little dog sped past, barking happily. and then mary poppins came running along, chasing spot, and holding her hat on her head to keep it from blowing off. but she was running so fast that yeggo did not have time to shout his question. all the while lainie was looking at her phone. where are the goddamned cops, she asked, or the bus? just then the bus pulled up and stopped. the driver, ralph kramden, got off the bus. sorry folks, he told lainie and yeggo, this bus is out of commission. you can guess what happened next. how about you? can you tell yeggo and lainie apart?

the four passengers

a dead bird blows down the street in the wind a styrofoam cup follows it in the same wind a leaf shakes on a branch above a park bench but stays on the tree night falls and a bus arrives with three passengers on it one looks out the window another reads a newspaper the third stares at his own feet the new passenger takes a seat and takes a snickers bar out of his pocket and begins to unwrap it as the wheels of the bus roll over the dead bird but miss the styrofoam cup

the void

a bird flew across the sky then another then another a pigeon landed on the roof then another then another juan delivered a pizza then another willie delivered an american grinder with fries maurice got up then went back to bed then maurice got up again maurice remembered carol i’ll kill hat bitch, he said to himself actually he said it aloud, but nobody heard him down the hall jack got up then he went back to bed a pigeon landed on the roof then another juan delivered another pizza willie took a break and called charlene a bird flew across the sky and then another an ant crawled across the sidewalk and then another this is just a small sample people say life is mysterious but what is so mysterious about it?

kitten up a tree

o mother mother must i die yes my child and here is why birds no longer fill the skies and the seas begin to rise kittens no longer climb up trees or butterflies float on the breeze grandma’s recipe for cherry pie is lost and forgotten (sigh) i fear that since i saw you last the present has destroyed the past humans have run out of room and are ruled by an empire of doom i have to say this makes me sad you were the only child i had living in the only universe and things are steadily getting worse i can’t remember, though i try if i was the kitten or the butterfly if you were the tree i climbed or only the blue sky i left behind

you

you were there when i was born you didn’t even say hello when i went outside you followed when i spoke you were always behind me in broad daylight and when the sun went down into classrooms and churches supermarkets and pizza shops job interviews bars and movie theaters i traveled the earth trying to lose you by plane, by bus by foot on dusty roads by boat, on subways on roller coasters and ferris wheels once, in a canoe which did not overturn you heard my every conversation interrupted my every thought when i “met” someone on line you always showed up “in real life” i don’t know what i was thinking i give up you win here let me buy you a drink

the dead wear white hats on the devil's birthday

don’t talk to me about love and hate i know all about love and hate i used to wait on the corner for the school bus cars went by in the wind and rain there was a police lady who directed traffic she had red hair and a blue uniform with a blue cap and i loved her and there was a newsstand run by an old man and he was ugly and i hated him so don’t tell me i don’t know about love and hate i learned early

street scene

if you see a traveler with a weary load help him before his head explodes he may be one, he may be two but he is more than me or you he mat be three, he may be four he just can’t take it any more the mayor asks him for his papers he runs away making funny faces they are all so many things plunked on a million piano strings they flow through the streets like purple gerbils crawling over bubbling hurdles a prophet stands in the window above murmuring a message of love but nobody pays him any mind as they are all being shoved from behind a bag lady stands on the sacred stones a golden light pours through her bones her words rush out in a steady stream but nobody knows what any of them mean i have a key to lenny’s room if all goes well, i will see you soon we will get to the bottom of this we have one more chance and can not miss

born

from the day you are born they hand down the rules you want to pick flowers they make you go to school you want to run naked but they make you wear clothes you want to make love and they punch you in the nose your dog spot was your friend now he sits home alone they fill your head with numbers until your brain turns to stone from the jail of school to the prison of work the media follows with its menacing murk you want to wade in the water and watch the waves roll but they deep fry your dreams and slowly slice your soul

a cloudy day

have you ever risen from the dead looked around and scratched your head said, this world can not be saved and crawled right back into the grave? have you ever wondered why no meteors flash across the sky to announce your passing by? i know you have - because so have i what would this world be without you? without me? in a very sorry state left to its own fate why do you all hate me? and fail to appreciate me? lies rule the earth and the truth is hid is it something that i did?

dumpster

i remember when men were men and women batted their lashes and that was a world, a great world but now it has turned to ashes i remember when men were g i joe and krauts and japs were patsies and the g i s stormed the beaches and saved the world from the nazis i remember when john wayne roamed the jungles of iwo jima and died like a hero at the alamo with other gallant old timers and dirty harry asked all punks if they felt lucky today and the punks were grateful he let them live because that was the american way but none of that remains because everything has changed now men are women and women are men and the world will never be the same again where are the mad scientists the vampires with their kisses the werewolves howling at the moon the heroes defying fate and doom they are only a little way down the road in history’s big green dumpster i see you there on top of the bridge but there is no need to jump, sir! every world that ever existed is down there in the street and if you listen to the clouds you can hear their dancing feet

the little man

i saw a little man he was nothing at all like me who am going to be rich and famous you just wait and see he was waiting for a bus it looked like it might rain i knew i should not laugh but i could not feel his pain going home to his wife and children or maybe his dog or cat or maybe just watch a ball game but i am not like that i am different from other people and am the child of fate i smile at your little problems because destiny awaits you may think i am just like you as i stand here in the street but time will show the difference victory, not defeat maybe you should be nice to me you would be the first but i will make it worth your while when i rule the universe

misbegotten

my mother didn’t like me neither did my dad though i was the best and only child they ever had my mother was a dreamer my dad a drunken bum they waited for an angel from heaven but he never did come i was a beautiful child with a sensitive soul to bring a message of love to the world was ever my goal where did it all go wrong is the burden of my song why are people so nasty? why can’t they just get along? countless wanderers before me have asked the question and yet it must be written in the wind and stars there is something we just don’t get