Donald Guy

Donald Guy Nov 2012

A thought sometimes forms

I live too much
yet I do too little.
    Woken at strange hours,
never asleep.
       Rapt in raps
       or wrapped in riddles
Chained to links
or hammered to handle
    stubbed to bone
Mens et
               Manus

There is time yet, I swear
        To flourish
To dream

        To make
To be
        To do
        To create

Will I?
We'll see
There's time yet to tell

Be yourself, they say
    The best you you can be
But once more— Will I have time
        To edit

I live less
        I do less
    Portfolio: empty
    or at least, locked away.
        Excitement too.
            Blank slate
Blank palette
Is there any paint?

Can I truly make
        excitement saturate?
Will I be able to place
        value as I see fit?
    Can the world be hewn slimmer, slicker
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Tis daft I think, to amuse such a notion
But not necessarily so daft to be wrong
Emerson called it misunderstood,
Shaw found it unreasonable
But ay, theres the rub
That bed once made, must be lain in and
all dreams which might be had are alone not enough

Bloom effects don't work outside the movies.

Ideas are trash, these are recession times
Deflations made them a farthing a dozen

                               Started 10.03.11
                               Unfinished
                               D.B. Guy

_Poems in Autumn_. #6 of 7 .
Nods to John Wieners' The Hotel Wently Poems (especially "A poem for painters") & William Corbett's MIT course 21W.756 Writing and Reading Poems

Donald Guy Nov 2012

A poem for the weary

A late hour. Don't even look at the clock.
Every fiber of my good sense yells go to
sleep and I do not. Every bit of logic
understands that I need to wake in fewer
hours than I needed to sleep in the first place
Still I sit here
Listening to music.
Writing a poem. Staring idly
at a browser window. The lights are on, the blinds
drawn. When the sun begins to rise, I will not see it
I've seen several sunrises recently
I remember what they look like.
In the midwest somewhere, a tweaker sits
awake for the third day. Chasing vapor and ghosts
He's seen the sunrise too, perhaps an hour later
He may or may not remember
We run from the cousin, but he finds us
The sandman cometh. And
Enter night
and what dreams may come
Locked in the struggle we all lose,
Running from comfort and sanity at full-speed

10.03.11
D.B. Guy

_Poems in Autumn_. #5 of 7 .
Nods to John Wieners' The Hotel Wently Poems (particularly "A poem for vipers") & William Corbett's MIT course 21W.756 Writing and Reading Poems

Donald Guy Nov 2012

Another poem for her

Hello again, my old friend
Hello again, pretended lover
Hello again, to you I loved
   —or thought that I did,
who loved another

And now another, never me.
I waved at you, you didn't see
Me walking only a few steps behind
Quite shocked to find you on my mind

Had I gone 5 seconds before
Or even took a different path
I might have run right into you,
caught up, flirted, had a laugh

Or maybe not seen you at all
Not been here now, forced to recall
The relationship I'd hoped to see
   —Probably deluded, far overly
Entranced by a match unlikely true
With a girl, I hardly knew
Convinced I'd found some perfect you
Who perfectly fulfilled an idea of me

—Years have passed. We both walk on;
We hardly see each other still, so
Goodbye to you, who passed me by,
Goodbye, perfect girl, who always will

                        9.26.11, just before 5pm
                        D.B. Guy

_Poems in Autumn_. #4 of 7 .
Nods to John Wieners' The Hotel Wently Poems & William Corbett's MIT course 21W.756 Writing and Reading Poems

Donald Guy Nov 2012

A poem for vegitarians

Chicken and beef
More beef
More Chicken

Potatoes fried in vats of fat, A cow's
heart in a wine reduction;
Bacon strips,
   bacon strips,
bacon strips,
    bacon strips.

"Ulcer in the pit...
...never neglect to salt"

It hurts again.
—Doesn't it always?

Jack and Advil,
A half-hearted suggestion.
"You don't really know unless you try?":

Burn a hole, Bleed it out
Pain is water-soluble, right?

I tried it once. I've told that story
Brought down in one day by two pots of chili

                                 9.26.11
                                 D.B. Guy

_Poems in Autumn_. #3 of 7 .
Nods to John Wieners' The Hotel Wently Poems & William Corbett's MIT course 21W.756 Writing and Reading Poems

Donald Guy Nov 2012

A poem for futons

The pin fell out.
The pin fell out, so the bolt slipped,
Knocking the bottom of the arm
And the **** thing wouldn't open!

Fifteen hundred I payed — 105 for delivery and assembly,
But I didn't make space for them,
They couldn't lay it out, so they built it standing up.

The pin didn't get set right, so the pin fell out.

I fixed it. Once I figured it out. It wasn't hard,
though pretty hot, since early, the back broke the plug
and the AC died. I sweated all over the expensive wood,
Wiped it up with the towel I was just wearing

And so there I stood: drenched in sweat,
Frustrated and exhausted, rumpled and wet
Ready for my second shower in just as many hours

All because I had the audacity,
                            for once,
To try to go to sleep.

                            9.25.11
                            D.B. Guy

_Poems in Autumn_. #2 of 7 .
Nods to John Wieners' The Hotel Wently Poems & William Corbett's MIT course 21W.756 Writing and Reading Poems

Donald Guy Nov 2012

A poem for corporate recruiters

I have a name

I have an address;                           & some contact
                                                      information

I am educated
I list working on a degree in your field          June 2012
       And many relevant classes.                            GPA: 3.0kay

I graduated high school with flying colors.       June 2008

I have experience
I've done a few interesting things before:           Various Times
Various Positions, Various Places
* I worked one or two places you might even have heard of.
* I even got work on a product that you probably use.

My experience isn't that extensive:                  I'm Not That Old
A Personal Project, Various Clubs
* I'm just graduating,
* How much can you really expect?

I have many skills
I claim to do: some things that you do;
I claim to use: some of the tools that you use.

I look pretty much like all the others in this pile:
My content is glittering, my formatting pristine,

But
I'm special.
Pick me!

                                                9.19.11
                                                D.B. Guy

_Poems in Autumn_. #1 of 7 .
Nods to John Wieners' The Hotel Wently Poems & William Corbett's course 21W.756 Writing and Reading Poems

Donald Guy Nov 2012

Alcohol

The blood comes dilute, as if to refute
What is, or was ever at all
To challenge the must,
The is and the thus
The ever, the will, and the Fall

The Winter, the Spring, the Summer that brings
A freedom, an illusion anew
A time to recline--in dreams and unwind
The idea that you can, that you will

The will, O the will, O the untempered can
Of worms which one opens and finds
Full to the brim, before and again
"Reality"" which tries to unbid

The self from the mind
The meaning from line
The reason from rhyme
And the is from all time

Separates Us: from passion
From Trust.
From belief in ourselves
From love
From true wealth

From magic. From tragic
At least in true measure
Dulling the pain,
But denying the pleasure

The Roar and the Ring
A Hell of a Thing
To make the time pass or
To fill up Your Glass.

~D.B. Guy
August 15, 2011 12:11AM PDT

Palo Alto.