A little less bitter
A little/lot  better
Let's add more butter—
Anything's better with butter!

A little/lot more richer
It might even bewitch her.
Let's ply her with chocolate
Everything's better with chocolate!

What's cake without icing?
Or for that matter, the ice cream?
Treat yourself with love as dessert
Sleep well, and have a nice dream.

I was mid-sentence
of a hazy-crazy
argument with her;
spittle sprayed with
unguarded gesticulations
when a butterfly landed
on my finger that was
slashing toward her.
First, I seethed.
Then, froze and
stopped breathing as
I watched gentle flickering
of her beautiful wings.
Delicate things
What was I splaying?
I didn’t matter anymore.
Just stuff to sort later.

Once,
long ago,
in a far away
familiar place,

a girl named Jill
with a boy named Jack
(along with three pigs,
a frog, a princess,
a wolf, a girl in a red frock,
her blonde, curly-haired friend,
three bears,
a strange, rumpled man
with a curiously long name,

his companion:
a tall, crowned,
black-caped woman
of white complexion
and ruby-red lips)

went up a hill.

The earth suddenly, violently
trembled.
And they all fell down.

All were injured;
five of them died.

But miraculously,
two of them,
somehow
managed to live

happily ever after.

Jimmy junior
Doesn’t exist
Might’ve been
Hiccup echo

Purple lump
Passed
Surpassed
Gone

I don’t have to
I might want to
Then I will do

Inspiration might
Strike
Or not

Door 2B or
Hackneyed allusion
Art collusion

I may, I might
If not, alright
But, yes:

Bubbles from below
Urges, regrets, shame…

Id, ego, super-ego:
Take your cape off—

Relax; sit down a spell;
We’re not going to hell.

Darling,

A breakthrough in WWD:

I realize
Battles lost
Can be restive—

And if used right,
Restorative

Depression isn't always
Destructive.

Here I hunker
In my bunker
Reflective.

I’m feeling the old dread
Of being half dead
A waking dream
It all seems

I don’t feel colors
I can’t smell sounds
Because gauze
Surrounds

Left fist at 9 o'clock
Right fist at two
I'm flying, flying
Superhero style.

Nothing can stop me now.

The bullet missed;
Locomotive late;
The building's been left
Shortly after lept.

Lois Lane aside,
I'm soaring solo.

I like the way my cape is flapping,
Snapping
Tapping
Down at my thighs.
Super, man!

"What?"

"Supper?"

"OK."

"I'll be right there."

I had a telescope.
Actually, more than one.

I had a microscope.
In truth, more than one.

Eye try to keep an open mind:
Galaxies above,
Galaxies below.

Spiral swirls of stars,
Planets within planets;
We are not alone.

Smears of pond ****,
Spiraling up to light.
Life abounds.

And here we are:
Somewhere in the middle.

Uncomfortably
Thinking about
What may be

Uptight or onsite
Downside or
In between

See it
Be it
Is it?

“I am right here,”
He said, in a Spock-like voice,
Trying to defuse the situation

“Even as you endeavor
To agitate me
By being unpleasant;

I am sorry that you are feeling unwell—
If you need me to assist you in any way,
Please, use your Comm."

We all need sol’s fast bright photons
To feed our planet’s green plant protons
And with its chlorophyll
There’s a way we know it will
Release some electrons
Sugar-making depends on.

Ruminate on ruminants—
Green grass consuminants.
Dairy, beef concluded on
Solar sugar chewed upon.
Sun, sugar, solar food.
A photon’s single goal pursued.

I may be mostly vegetarian,
A non-mammalian true contrarian;
I don’t eat beef
But love the leaf!
3.00×108 m/s
Lights our life, free and fecund!

Gathering of the gaderene
Deep in the region of legion
Headlong rush to destruction
Obfuscation obstruction

World gone crazy political
Satirical take on societal
Evolution of revolution
Time to shake the snake

Under my fleece blanket
Conventions scorned
I’m naked.

Yes, surprise!
My organs are contained in skin
Contours, grooves; holes in.

*****, ****, eyebrow, *******
You will have to imagine all the rest
As you, too, undress

We really are silly creatures
Dressed in frilly fabric features
Mine is this, yours is that.

Truth be told
Body bold
Is sacred.

Acknowledgment first
Atonement follows after
Actions matter next

We are all
Hungry hungry
Hippos

In Buddha’s boat
Staying afloat:safe
For tomorrow

The walls implode
The ceiling falls
The floor is no more

This is the new new
Not what we’ve known
That ship has flown

Adapt, adopt, improve
I always say; save it
For another day

Wally and I would race
Fulfilling our childhood task
Collecting office papers for fire.

One of us: your office.
Grabbing your wastebasket first—
Looking for fobidden pleasure treasure.

Around the fire pit,
Forms 623-A and 506-D were flames.
Miss July? We claimed!

Up in the hay-loft,
Buried in the way-back,
*** caches established.

Thanks to Amazon,
A thought I think upon:
My dad read SERIOUS SOCIAL ****!

It wasn't always all about ***.

subatomic love as an
attraction/repulsion thing
while planet's orbits swing

i am neuron
striving to be proton—
but recall electron

and all that matters
niether here/there
is all that matters

A history lesson with
An ever rising screed

A lesson not lost
Of human cost

"Island, water,  huge!" is said
By orangey Cheeto-head

The space between expectations
And real-world realizations
Pinning hope upon a star

So far

Desire sires hope
Hope molds chance
But then circumstance

Twisted dance

Legislative ping-pong
An absurd, wrong, sing-song
Maintain a sense of self

Them, not you

Be the best you can
Rely on those you love
Have a back door plan

This land is your land,

Too…

There is a little, little man
In a big, big house

A louse, a grouse
Smaller than a mouse

He tweets and tweets
Slandering pandering

Mouse squeaking
With all he’s got

A hurricane ****
A sneeze breeze

He’s
******

Long lost *** mate
A little after wed.
Now just roommates
Alone asleep in bed.

Your touch once magical:
A hand on my thigh:
For Sammy — electrical
He rose, I blushed, I sighed.

Now, no sensuality
Expectations: none.
Ghost limb sexuality
Feeling: only numb.

Me and she
Right here, right now

Laughter flirting;
Younger selves.

What a ton of stuff
We drag behind

All the time

How nice when we can
Enter the right boxcar

At the right time

Ten-act plays
Seems to be the way for
Today’s tellervision

Shakespeare did it five
That bard was the bomb
Comedy/tragedy aplomb

Still, new age of tellervision
Tells it in ten
Arc of plot and folks

Hulu, Amazon, Netflix
Hulu, Amazon, Netflix
Hulu, Amazon, Netflix

Doesn’t depend on renewal
Just the story, ma’am, just the story
Doing it in zen ten

ENTRopy

ENtropy

Introphy

Intrope

Scope

*****

Sleep

. . . eep

…eep

.…eee—

Amy ant ambled but
Bobby baboon bounced ‘cuz
Cathy cat caterwauled as
Dougie dog dawdled then
Ellie eel embarked while
Freddie falcon flew–
Gerald grasshopper gamboled and
Harold J. Harold hare hopped!
Izzy iguana immigrated.
Jessie June bug jumped when
Katie kangaroo kicked-it with
Larry lizard leaping left because
Moe marmoset merely meandered.
Norbert numbat just sat.
Ophelia oyster oozed while
Peter penguin paddled and
Quinton quail quivered but
Rosy raccoon ran 'cuz
Sasha salamander sashayed!
Tariq turtle tumbled as
Uooley urchin ushered
Vinny the vulture to visit
Wally walrus who waddled with
Xander xerus through the xystux;
Yasha yak yacked it up to
Zooey zebra who zipped it to:

The All-Species-Day-Parade!
And EVERY ALL had tons of fun!

I usually do due diligence
For most every major purchase
Eschewing the apples of my eye

Sound, round, research
That’s what I’m known for
Predictably, boringly prepared

Whiff of cheese
Trap snaps! Now:
Purchasing peripherals

The rising rock
A strutting ****
Seeking Venus
Turns to *****

Rocks to stone
Stones to pebbles
Pebbles to sand
We wash away

I need to sleep a
Deep sleep to

Un-cement
Intent and

Turn around for
Rebound

I need sleep

Still I am up
Left over pm

Awake mistake

Every micro-gression
Drips into the
Bucket / depression

***** girded
Lines drawn; it’s
****-show WWD again

As you sink into it
Mine your mettle
Find your spine

Remember:
WWD is cyclical
Even when biblical

These days I cry every day
Extraordinary light in the kitchen
A certain chord progression
The passing of Mary Oliver

Even in loss we gain
Emotional resilience
Even as we surrender
To the beauty of day to day

It ser-erves nothing
This hic-coughing
Day two of three

But (hic) but (hic) it happens
Every fi-Uk! five seconds
Diag-FRA-AM! (****!) explodes

Count back=ak=wards

Hold your breath

Get some sil-EEP!

Pa-ay!-per bag

Sca-are me, please

Drink water
Little swa+ah+llows

I’ll Just wait it “awht”
Out

What condition my condition is in:
We begin at our skin
All we are all all within

(fragile ***** bubbles
membranes refrained
it’s out or it’s in again)

Keep it in
Keep it in

Not fun when it leaks
Mortality brutality  
*******

****** visible
Scars irrational
Spots visible

Sci-fi invasion:
Climbing up the torso
“Look, Spot! Another Spot!”

Right now, there is
a new Star Trek playing
Right now, there is
a new Stargate streaming
Heck, there’s several new
Star Wars movies in the planning

Now comes an older
but a new-old X-Files
I’m in heaven with
season eleven
Indulging in my Sci-Fi
Meme in ex-treme

"PROSCH!” (kerrchikit)
"PROSCH!” (kerrchikit)
"PROSCH!” (kerrchikit)

1970s photography.

Fingers fumble for
Another four more–

“TIk” it’s out;
“Chik” another in.

Icy-blue light cube
Ready for more:

“PROSCH!” kerrchik.

Instamatic imagery,
Flash cube fun.

I wanna a be
A wallaby or a

Kangaroo with
Rocket in my pocket

I wanna be
A rock star

Geode geologist
With rocks in my pocket

I wanna be a
Rocket scientist

Collecting rocks
In my solar socket

Satellite delight
Asteroid evidence

Not alone; not unique
God’s sock puppet

I did things
Rewind remind

I went back and forth
In space and in time

Memories in cotton
Mostly forgotten

A dream cocoon
I’ll wake up soon

I want to go back in time
A little bit, somewhat, a lot

I want to go forward in time
Somewhat, a lot, exponentially

What really happened?
What conceivable can be?

So I: get up, get out of bed
And drag a comb across my head

Everything I know
I am learning now, the
What why where and how
Subcutaneous instantaneous
Transliteration transcriptions

The you you don’t know undertow
Burbles beneath the underflow
Below Babel is the true power
Speaking truth beyond tower
Is the way to flow

It’s called entrenchment
Abrogation and entitlement
Perjury of responsibility

"I solemnly swear
That in all things appertaining
To the trial of the impeachment…

I will do impartial justice
According to the Constitution …
So help me God."

McConnell: I'm not an impartial juror
Graham: won't pretend to be fair
The Fox is in the henhouse

The process is unfair
And fixed from the start
By the stalwart GOP

Jared, Jared, face so red
Kissing Kislyak in Trump’s stead;
A fleeting meeting—
Collusion conclusion?
Rrussia ain’t Prussia, Bellorussia!
Conclude to collude would be so rude
I’d rather be punk’d by Ashton Kutcher,
Jared Kushner. Gotcha!

Mr. B;
Tony,
Anthony—

Why?
The hard part:
Unknown.

I’m angry
Mr. B
Stories untold

*******!

It’s a new word.
**** it!
I first heard it on NPR.

I read it then in the
SFChron then the
NYTimes.

Word.

Language evolves,
Some people don't.

What *******
Coined that term?

Which wounded *****
Will take this ******* down?

Semantics matters–
Vulgarities smatter.

Good luck to us all.

(me too)

There is a middle place
Between OK and sad
Between fact and fiction

There is a middle place
Between you and me
And us and them

There is a middle place
Between what we know
And what we want

There is a middle place
Between "FAKE NEWS!”
And actual truth

Twixt there and then
Visualize better zen
Grow from the middle

Life is full of tedium
And disappointment
And sometimes failure

And rejection
And depression
And retrograde intercessions

A constant brings me joy
A time/space place of hope:
Strange new worlds; new episodes

Taking in the beauty of this spring
Grass growing fast
Birds chirping cheerily
Mowers lowing in the distance

Blossoms beautiful surround me
Future apples plums peaches cherries
With almost every tree leafing
Rain/sun/temp ratio tipping

Old trope: poems by the millions
But this spring is special
This spring is now
Elevating specialness

Near Halloween
He turned thirteen

Buddy boy born,
It’s a good boy yarn:

Came to us as an adolescent
Eager, fun, ever present

Present for the scent
Of every teaching treat

Sit, stay, come, heel…
(The last one meant walk, walk WALK!

Down to the park!
Smelling all my neighbors!)

But Halloween was hard
Doorbells, voices, lights,

Mobs of noisy people
Invading his protected spaces

Lunging! Barking!
Instinct loosed!

He learned, through the kids,
The “trick or treat”

Then he learned to love it all!
Licking costumed faces

Sniffing ***** bags
For obedience treats

It used to be hard with every doorbell dash
To control big golden yellow buddy boy

As we, and he, got older
(he quicker, the 7 to 1 brief flicker)

We relaxed our grip on him
As he mingled with wizards and goblins

When the next mob of kids arrive
Your SpongeBobs, your Vader’s, your Ghostie-ghouly space invaders

No tricks, a real treat: a new generation meets
Mellow yellow buddy boy saying, “Hi"

Yellow buddy Gunther meets
Ginger Fred the red

Nose touch and sniff
Yep. You. ‘K.

(He eschews those black cats—
Snubs uncomfortable loves)

But boys will be boys
Meeting nose to nose.

We just feed them.