Picking head lice
From the head of my wife
Familiar fun behavior of
All hominids since then
I revel in the connectedness of all
Even with fear for the future

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

I twiddle with my phone
A futile search for meaning.
It's not good to be alone
And find only yearning.
For what?

Unknown.

**** happens
Sometimes sloppy
Sometimes with
difficulty turds
Painfully pressed

**** happens
Directives dire occur
Hold on, strap in
Lend a mask to
That other poor *******

**** happens
No wipe away
No walk away
Get up, regroup
Deplane

What I don’t know and
What I want to know:

I know what is important
And suspect the rest

Time tells us which friends
And those not in the end

Safety is illusion
Reality as allusion

Now is not knowable
Instantly fast then gone

Glimpse it askance
And do your best

Apologize for faux pas
And skate the rest

Past is immutable
Unless you can forget

All futures possible so
Imagine the impossible

What I know is this:
“.......................”

"Let’s have some fun.”
He posted innocently

“Where am I from?”
Him growled garrulously.

“I’m sorry; who are you?”
Was timidly queried.

“You.
Below;
The one you think you know
The submerged
The felt
The itch not scratched
Desires and needs
Beyond what is wanted
The insurmountable
The unknowable
Everything you should pursue.”

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.

Guess who’s 42?
…me…

Who here is a clumsy 13?
(me…)

Roaring 20s?
CAPITALIZE MEEEE!!!

44. I’d rather have what came before.

Look you in the eye at 55
And lovingly speak truth

Will you still need/feed me
When I’m

Yesterday, I was not a nice person
An entire episode of that

Apologies being crafted
Strategies hopefully drafted

A. Bourdain?
It was a trigger

Why I love travel
My best times with you

Showed us everywhere
Bonds we all share

Crass, adorable, unlikeable
(Self reflection there)

I didn’t suffer loss well
A man behaving badly

I was awful to my travel companion
No excuses; apology?

It’s observable, undeniable
You can set your clock by it

Forget innuendos
Reject insupportables

Trust your dog
Respect your cat

Chickens?
Et-hem

A chicken sits to think
While sitting lays an egg
No joke, there’s a yolk
Ensconced in membrane

Outside the albumin
Called white when clear
Humpty Dumpty smear
All still in calcium shell

Layers of understanding
Sometimes cracked open:
Is the yolk on you
Or is it white privilege?

I am a racist
Anti-racist.

I growl as Schrodinger's cat
And meow as me.

I was raised racist and
Try, every day, to erase it.



Adverbs, 4:18

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

Birth certificate to
Death certificate
Social Security number

Bank accounts
Student loans
Car after car loans

Marriage certificate
Mortgage lien
Title owners with

Spouse and now
Once a son but still
Much, much more

This poem:
Fingerprint on the
Face of the world.
I live here—
For a little while.

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

Day and night being equal
At autumnal equinox
Tipping the balance
Of our planet’s wobble

It’s dark when I get up
Soon then when home again
Mercury retrograde
As temperatures drop

The reason for
The holiday season
Is taking us through the dark
Anticipating spring

Sunlight slants at crazy angles
Gold light flooding
Through windows
Winter‘s herald

It’s a cold beauty this
First deep frost a
Jagged white carpet
On the green and brown lawn

Autumnal peace
Blankets the valley
As we reflect
And give thanks

What way
We can’t say

Imagery
Left to be

Poetry not
On the clock

Turn a phrase
To mayonnaise.

FAKE NEWS is not new;
Fantabulism populism:

SHRIMP, BOY!
Mind the clause!

BEARDED PERSON!
Absolutely Ordinary!

ZIPPY THE PINHEAD:
Are we having fun yet?!

White as white can be
I miss your bright
polka-dotted plastic wrap

Add a slice; baloney
Individually wrapped
Orangey faux cheese

Yes, please!
Squirt on the mustard!
Mayo? Yes, buster!

Side of chips, potato
Paper plate, if you say so
Good lunch or just snack, natch!

Take me back, back, Tang to
A way-way-back machine
To my own personal 70s show!

Holy Higgs, boson!
Jiggs went back in time!

He wormed the tunnel
(The time travel funnel)

Who knew Hulu’d
Sulued so sublime?

Darling,

The war proceeds apace.

I battle demons;
Sometimes I win.
Therefore for me.
Then again for you,

We circle around ourselves
And find a place to land to
Negotiate peace.

If successful,
We both take off again.

I want to get into the indices, please
Tunnel my way through history
Around town not surround sound

Dive into the here and where
Strive for thenceforth not hitherto
Being around and abound

Some legacy is mere trickery
But I want it legitimately
While dissolving to ground

Every night
Keep it tight
Get it right

Surf alliteration
Say what?
Synthesize

Take the turn
Don’t fear churn
Dare to learn

Sentences are easy,
Stanzas: scary.

Stories are told;
Poems, expressed.

Feelings to words
Ideas to image.

Thoughts distilled
To pleasing sounds.

I yam not only orangey
I’m awesomely tightltey whitley
And mostly so correctly

There’s no dirt in my smirk
I believe I’m totally rightly
And you? Are you native bornly?

I was bussed here
And you are from where?
What? Wall? We’re here wrongly?

Darling,

The battle continues.

Thankfully, my depression
is leashed.
Sometimes a long leash,
Sometimes not.

On leash, it informs me:
I can see clearly now.

Off:

Devastating.

in a malaise
a general haze
not quite right
these days

the buzz is wrong
a sour note song
but, onward!
shuffle along

show a wan smile
while all the while
walking the maze
feigning strong

Off course
By thirteen degrees west
Level the mainsail

Apology correction
Eight degrees right
Agree to digress

**** shouting
In a **** storm where
Nothing is heard

Wave spray intense
It’s nonsense
Useless direction

Darling,

The sun is out
My door is closed

Clouds come from within
Not without you

I assert my right to live
Here, not aggrieved

This land is your land
This land is my land.

WHAT?

Shell shocked

Trying to be nice, bombed

I saw you feel hurt
I know I was part of that
Not sure of the how of it

You tell me to make the sky orange
I can't make the sky orange
Nothing rhymes with orange

I try to be a good man
I reject the role of bad man
I am the man I am

What you feel is yours
But I colored it
Cause it? No.

WWD at 3:41 am
In the trenches
Here to stay.

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

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.

Rejection reaction
Who is yelling at whom?

Button pusher
Make your game claim.

Have it escalate
To blame game.

My good impulse
Repulsed; intent bent.

This cat and mouse ****
Will bring the house down.

Me and you
We provoke
Bespoke

Poked begets
Stroked: pushed
Buttons goes to

Blaming flaming
Serving  none.
So…

Begin to begun

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.)

Prepare the feast
Bread stuff has to bubble
Or you’ve got trouble

Pumpkin gave its life
Add eggs and allspice
And enough butter for crust

Free range young turkey
Neck and giblets included
Need ‘em for groovy gravy

Boil stock down
Rosemary and sage
Just in thyme

Cooking together
Three days on
Now that‘s thanks giving

A whorl is not a swirl
Although it may seem so.
Allusions as illusions.
A reflection deception?
Yes or know?
Can we ever Noh?

I want to give you
******—
not sarcasm

Marred love
from married love
to scarred love.

I need touch to
bridge the chasm
don’t you?

Zippy sez:
“Shark repellent Bat Spray!"
“Shark repellent Bat Spray!"
“Shark repellent Bat Spray!"
At least three times a day day

Between lug-nuts and Valvoline
He shows us the in between
Polka-dotted yellow-red muu-muu
Absurdist existentialist
Shows us how to do-do.

Confusion allusion
Factual illusion
What’s done undone

Confide beside
Unknown betide
Not lost but won

Decision derision
Conclusion delusion
Condition revision

What fun!

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!

There’s a rumble in my tumble
Upswitch Ipswich overload
Chorus of toads or crickets?

Circuits snapping not yet breaking
Electrical trickle cascading
Wassup? Turn it up!

Tune in, drop mic, turn on!