Tornadic winds
At its periphery
Reached the conifery

Whether ambuscade or
Circumjacent to
Chaos ensued

Her again?
Or him in gray
Growing stronger

I had a wonderful mother
She’d be aghast with
Internecine dealings

Sister against sister
Then again against brother
Nephew, even, against uncle

Stop it now
Be good to each other
Think the best

Belay the Kraken!
Stable the dragons!
Breathe before acting.

So, after your interview
Schedule an interval to
Check your recording
And/or flesh-out your notes

Twenty minutes
Or half an hour
Immediately after
With a barista beverage

Get a cuppa coffee
— Wait, this is Arcata…

Get a cup of ORGANIC coffee…
— Et-hem; this is Arcata…

Get a cup of ORGANIC, FREE TRADE, coffeh…
— Uh, wait, this is Arcata…

Get a cup of ORGANIC, FREE TRADE, SHADE GROWN coff…
— So, as this is Arcata…

Get a cup of ORGANIC, FREE TRADE, SHADE GROWN, SONGBIRD SAFE! co…

**** it.
Get a warm cup of Chai tea

— Wait, this IS Arcata…

Sip that soothing cup of Chai tea
While gracefully doing

Tai Chi

My pops was a Reagan man
As far as the G-Ole Party can

The vote: went with it
But he called him “Idiot!"

Iconic ironic elephant
Don’t be inelegant

Just fire the Man and
Make a stronger stand

I might bungee jump that ravine
But I probably shan’t

I could base-jump squirrel-like
And glide far, far down—or not

I might mount Everest—
(I just made a Sherpa laugh)

Swimming with whale sharks?
I would be there, maybe

With an aqualung
Come along, anyone?

I’ve counted to 21 millionteen
More than just once

I’ve swam over 10 kylemeters
With no one watching

I’ve traversed so very many sidewalks
All my heads spin and spin and win

I could climb that shrub
Without carabiners

If I wanted too—
But I won’t

I could scale that wall
Without proper ID, but no

I could leap tall buildings
Sans nose or red cape

But I shan’t…
Shoulda, woulda, coulda?

Put your camera phones down
I’m my own hero, ******

This is my body
I pick at and scratch
To rearrange the strange

It’s an eternal assault
This war between
My skin and me

Keep napkin a
Or tissue near
There will be blood

Pick and pick and pick
Argument against free will
She says “Stop!” Can I?

You see me hide the scars
And think it strange
I’m embarrassed

I own this neurosis
While I can’t stop it
It won’t stop me

I’m having
Kerning yearnings
Finding space between

Space is or is not
Too close is too close
I know that’s just your elbow

Too far is too far
Can’t hear can’t see
Eye before he except after she

Let us learn from letters
Some need to be closer
Some need to breathe

Look at that!
What?
That!

The porcelain pig
Seen through the window
Of your neighbor's boudoir?

The moth crawling
Across the window pane
With wings a-flutter?

The yellow golden pup
Trying earnestly to be good
At obedience class?

A smear of ketchup
(Might be blood)
On my lower left trouser leg?

What is that?
I don’t know…
Use your words.

Not even hello, though?
When you go, you’re gone?
Close the door behind?

That’s the brand
In until you’re not
Then just mist

Don’t bang at gates
Always forever locked
Regroup, regain, retain

There is not a door
No lock or key
No password required

It's more like quicksand
You are in it before you know it
But you know the sinking

No amount of thinking
Stops the drop
It's real not rational

How low do you go?
No knowing
Not far, you hope.

One percent
Or two percent
Blah, blah, blah or
Da! Da! Da!

No blame, James
No shame games
Need a new course
Hop a new horse

Gallop to the rest
East might be best
Set mainsails
No named fails

Forget *******
Just try and be in it
As we brave
And tackle

The big waves

Lorraine Hansberry
Was a woman out of time

Borges paddled around
Some circular Ruins

The kin of atta are waiting
For you and me

Think it, dream it, be it
The left hand of darkness

A lathe of heaven
Forging something better

I thought it tomorrow
Awaking from nap

But it was yesterday
A chance for another play…

Safe? Everything again?
Hold the door a little longer?

Who might come through?
What might I left unsaid?

Or have done
And won?

I don’t like that
Splatter-splat-splat stat

Chaotic parading of guns
On TV shows, every one

If we stop showing it
Will we stop owning it?

IT TAKES SECONDS TO AMEND
Laws protecting everyone.

Constitute!

“Compass?”
“Check.”
“Matches?”
“Check.”
“Maple syrup?”
“Check.”
“Swiss Army Knife?”
“What do you think?”
It was on.
With shouldered packs we set off.
The acorns were scarce at first
but more plentiful later.
Waters roared from recent rains.
Wildflowers were glorious!
I gathered some violets.
Then shelling, leaching, drying and
grinding the bitter nutmeats.
Fire on, cast iron oiled and
the first cakes were poured.
The judges seemed astonished.
We smiled.
First prize in the second only
backwoods pancake contest.
Pete thought it was the syrup
we made in Vermont.
I knew it was the violets.

Line in the BIG sand
With the TERRORIST Iran
Because Sam I am

This is a hash tag of me too:
Which is all about bullies
referenced gender: all

To bully is to subjugate
Do that and in the end
You are in the wrong

Did you enjoy that?
Did that get you off?
What’s wrong with your song?

You can only know
Approaching a
Black hole
That the event horizon
Is compelling

An insidious abyss
The black maw
As you fall
And then, “Catch!”
You hate her smile

No,

You love it

I slip out of time
No reason, no rhyme
Moments internal
Becoming eternal

The world whorls
Senses spin
Past is future
Now not now

Relatively needs sensibility
As temporal moments swirl
Eddies distract and detract
Be here now

Fiddle faddle
Twitter twadle
Use some CAPS!

Call out SNAPS!
Sez rez Prez
Fake! Huge! Fakely huge!

I remember sentences
I remember sense
Nothing rhymes with orange

The past presents itself in future
The constant is conundrum
The happening has happened
The now, the effortless action
Only eddies of the Dao

ARMCHAIR

The ugly chair
Is still there
Leave I say
It stays

The ugly chair
Is stubborn
Taciturn
Not feng shui

The ugly chair
Isn’t really
It just sits too near
In the way

What we thought was gone
Is gone.

So long!

What we think will come
May come.

Somehow
Cherish the here and now.

In the typical male *******
Live 250 million half-lifes
Each a potential human being

Every ***** is sacred
******* is ******-light
Every man masterbates

Even 25 old white Alabamans
Who whank their shanks at least
Once a week for 50 years

Time for math:
25 senators
55 years

72,000 shank whanks
(an underestimate)
1.79e13 potential people

Dried on tissue
Flushed away or
Down another senator's throat

Criminal!
Put them away!
For 8e14 years!

The woman
Next to me
Vexes me
Unwittingly

We share our
Space and place
Meet and greet
Carefully

I wish we could
differently.

Maybe?

It was late. The coffee was past tense with only adrenaline left.
“There!” Bernard whispered.
I lifted my night-visions.
“See it?”
“Yeah, I see it.”
“Easy.” Bernard exhorted.
I replaced the binoculars with the gun. The sight was strong enough to compensate. Moments were painfully long as my finger slowly tensed.
“Pffffift!”
It was done! Target acquired! The Carfentanil did its work and the tons of meat hit with a thud.
We jumped from the Jeep to the specimen. It was breathing.
“Good. This is one species of rhino that won’t go extinct on my watch” I grinned.

Everything here is for the best
Full of glitter and gaiety
We forget the nasty past

WWD was good for me; a
Worse fate should have followed
Pan gloss the past and be here now

The rat, the crocodile, the fly
Fulfill their natural function
Indeed, as Candide

We built our home
We stacked our wood
She made our garden grow

We’ve travelled the world
Had picaresque adventures
Au contraire, Voltaire

Happiness is possible
Enjoy it as it happens
Make it the best of all workable worlds

“Fool!”
Accusation accepted
Actually, although,
Really: Clown

Free the Fool, yes!
Foolish?
Whenever I can
Fooled? No.

I may own
A tri-tipped foolscap
With jingly-jangly bells, but—
The emperor has no clothes

Constipation consideration
Free flow of **** and that

Unpleasant unflow is
Sometimes how it goes

Pootting **** pebbles
Indicates trouble

Finally, release cleanser as
Movement sends her

"I’d like to buy a bowel, Alex”
“Guts get graphic” for 20…



— apologizes to my niece; and thanks

What did she feel
As she clicked her heels
Dorothy over the rainbow?

Simple winner’s elation?
A dubious jubilation
Ennui; sodden sorrow?

Ding, ****, murderess
Dog, scarecrow distress
Walking the yellow narrow

Waking quaking with them
Neighbors, uncles and aunt Em
Fortold with cards Tarot

A heart made of tin?
Working wizard’s sin?
Deep in the marrow?

Good witch switch
Knowing bad from which?
Leaving only sorrow

How could she know
Tracks of lion’s sorrow
After that tomorrow

Oven love-in!
Propane magic a
Stolen coven

Fire proven for
Frozen provisions not
Microwave woven

Heat it up
Oven cauldron
Cook a dozen!

The canyon of my imagination
is clogged and dammed.  
What am l to do?
Wave from the sidelines?
Send up a flare?
Dissolve into despair?
Write an opinion piece?
Or take another tack,
Completely unexpected.

I wait and see
And hope it will find me

On the road less travelled
Unfamiliar now routine
Strangely, though, at home

A dog crosses the road
With more skill than I
His home is to roam

Magical and mundane
Surrounds us and
Confounds us

A sky too blue
Smells noxious
Tastes renowned

Sidewalks cracked, uneven
Traffic dense, dangerous
Horns, alarms, sounds abound

Boy with penciled mustache
Girl as bumble-bee
Glorious pageantry

Unfamiliar territory
Humble observers we
Embrace the sameness

Does it never really rain on Venus
Except for that one forgotten day?

Can I go back again to 802,700 and 1
Just four more days and pretend again?

Submerge my Nautilus into the ocean
Plumbing depths of space and mind?

Must it rhyme?

Sometimes this world is
Devastatingly beautiful
Puffy whales
Swim in azure sky

Tabby tiger turns and
Enters spotlight shaft
Rectangular stage, an
Orange explosion

Hummingbird swoops
Thrumming through spring
Arc de Triomphe
On a nectar vector

A rhody in full bloom
Another just past shy
A debutante ball
In red and pink and lavender

Yesterday, the day before
And of course, today
Temperatures markedly different

First, no solace
No place of peace
Hiding in strange places

Second, remorse
I behaved badly
During third incident

Third: incident
3 X recently
Feeling quite differently

Anxious dread?
Too much caffeine?
Electrolytes?

I’ll figure it out
By doing and being
Which involves accepting

Honestly,
What did I miss?
Dissed?

"Honesty
Charity
Love…”

The homily
Spoke of family
Realities

There is blue
And green and in between:
Yellow. Hello.

Fish sticks
Powdered milk
Tang.

Fish sticks
Powdered milk
Tang.

Bologna
On Wonder bread
With Mustard.

Liverworst
On white bread
With ketchup.

American cheese beneath
Toasted Wonder Bread
Campbell’s tomato soup beside.

Lunch. With mom.

I’m NOT writing this poem
Though I FEEL it and NEED it

It’s something I HAVE to say
But you WILL take it wrong

(It will HELP ME
But it will HURT YOU)

Words of such tremendous power
Leaves this poem unwritten

Make-up tackle-box
Not making this **** up
Cosmetic kit

No lures, no sinkers
No hooks just
Ben Nye! What a guy!

Then “shick, stchik”
Drawers unclick
Trays slide

Revealing everyone I could be:
Foundation flirt first
Then the highlight/shadow trick

Older, younger
Darker, greyer
Maybe a mustache?

Shriveled clown nose
Glommed with spirit ***
Next to Fauder’s White

Once for performing
Now more for norming
Painting skin again

Base, highlight
Shadow cracks
Older/younger begins

But this is cosmetic:
Covering the skin sin
A new day begins

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zjk4hp2amu1l7mc/MAINTENANCE.docx?dl=0

I’m happy; but why so sad?
I miss my dad.

I saw him last a year ago
I wiped his *** and so

I told him I was proud
I’m glad I said it out loud

Because now I can’t
Nothing to recant

He met the end with dignity
And aplomb, didn’t he?

Lovable lug of a man
Emulate? I’ll try if I can

I thought him an ******* republican
At age 18—then thought again

I left home to be me
Family? I was free!

Young, naive, on my own
I made my own home

Family was for other guys
That umbilical thought otherwise

Because there was another
Yeah, my mother

Always there, always kind
Reminded me of mine

Calls ended with, “Here’s your father...”
A Lake Woebegone bother

“Hello son...” he’d intone
“Hey, pops,” I’d own

Every poem needs a fulcrum
A change always welcome

I’d say before the call stopped
“I love you, pops”

Months, years, eons begun
Finally, “I love you too, son.”

Next defies time, logic and law
A love so deep it fills me with awe

We became good friends
Mutual respect to the end

The loss cuts deep
And so I weep

And you still have
Your mom and dad?

Call them.
Amen.

Spasms happen
“Hic! SHNICK! Hic…”
Gone when?

A bed asleep?
On the morrow?
Maybe Tuesday?

(Oh god, please
Not three weeks
Like that last time!)

Head back
Nose closed
Backward water

Paper bag
In out, in out
Breath control

Hot rock yoga
Pose 27-a
Release barking frog

Hopping one foot
Turning left then right
Through the night

Nope.
Lil’sips;
Quick as quick

Did she really mean that?
What was that snarky smirk?
What the **** does that mean?
I can’t believe he just said that!
Does that mean that…

Here’s a chill pill
Don’t think the worse
Get over your brain strain
Move on to restrain
Here’s a new refrain

Surprise: more than you
No one aspires to conspire
Antagonists might be protagonists
Think better of everyone
Beatles: “All you need is…”

I kind of know
What I don’t know

What to show
And not show

Unwritten rules
Hidden jewels

Need that eight?
Make a straight?

Hand dealt to me
Reality

And then she said, "No way, José!” But I did. I pulled back on the stick and quickly entered the new coordinates. We bounced off the atmosphere in an amazing collision of colored lights and gees. The warning blares hurt but she quickly muted them. Our frail capsules did what they should and our slingshot past Mars put us ahead. “Hang on,” I said, “this will be tricky.” Two pulses red, one violet, and then, finally, green. I threw up. She didn’t. But we had won.

I’m in the
Legion region where
Nothing seems
As the same sane
As a clozapine
Fevered dream
Madness mayhem with
Nightmare screams

If there are no heroes
Or naught villains
Who do we blame?
Who owns the shame?

(Disclaimer: watch LEGION to decipher this poem. Wow! I’ve never seen anything like it before. Take your meds before watching.)

Ohm, ohm
On the range
Where the deer
And the antelope
Think

Where seldom a thought
Is not what is brought
And the world
Is not at the
Brink

When I slip out of time
Alone, by myself
How selfish is that?

Pets fed? Check.
Cat door open/closed. Check.
Chickens out/in? Check.
Faucet off? (Sorry baby, but yes.)

Dishes done? ehh… no.

It’s a spring break break.

Technically,
It’s not not that.
Though It might be
Or something other
Or completely different

Don’t ask me
I wasn’t there
I didn’t do it
I didn’t see it
I’d rather not think about it

Have you read Moby ****?
Wonderful weather we’re having…
Carbon sequestration will be difficult
(I like touching myself)
It’s not the narrative, it’s the narrator