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James Floss Jan 2018
Finally, I have an enemy!
No longer fraught for naught;
A nemesis! A right to fight!

****, you Clam-man!
You bivalve bloviator!
Super Slug to the rescue!

Cape, cup, spandex on!
Superslime secreted!
Slugman off!

Faster than a seasonal change…
More powerful then the breath of breeze…
Able to traverse 100 yards in as many days!

Super powers:
Eye stalks pivot independently
*** changes not infrequently

Just you wait, Clam-man
And wait!

And wait!
James Floss Apr 2018
Brave men bonding
While mending
And tending
To truth-telling

Tears welling
Laughter bubbling
Working, cooking, eating
Together

Beyond story
This work we do
In the crucible circle
Authoring integrity
James Floss Oct 2017
I’m going to have some fun
With my rat-a-tat word gun
Words profane and words as pun

“A well regulated militia....”
Means hellya! we can police ya
And send you another noticia:

We CAN regulate your sorry ***
(Sorry, you think that crass?)
And negate forever your NRA impasse

Hey, you, you NRA ringers
I care **** about prying “cold dead fingers”
60 dead, 500 ******—that's what lingers

Legislators, grow a pair
Make good laws: strong and fair
End this mass-death love affair
James Floss Apr 2017
Before I die,
I want to live
Loudly.

Before I die,
I want to travel
The unknown.

Before I die,
I want to host more
Students from
Not-here.

Before I die, I want to
"Perform something
Bold, tragical and austere."

Before I die:

Lava flows.

Norway fiords

Northern lights.

A car driving me or

Hyperloop SF->LA

Sub-orbital flight to see
Earth from space
(aim high before I die!)

Proof we aren't alone.
That would be a big one.

And while we are alive,
LET'S DO THIS!!!
Before we die.

Word.
James Floss Apr 2018
There’s a low below WWD
A kind of neutrality
How low can you go?
Lower than flow

Quiet

Breathless

Present

Still

But…
We go as we go
James Floss Dec 2018
Son of no one
Now pater has passed
Mother long gone
Children none

Friends, a few
Fewer those true
Fortunately,
Family remains

I have my life
I have my house,
Critters within
I have my spouse
James Floss Jun 2018
To the right: supreme justice
A handmade tale by
Current resident

Steering country to wrong
Constitutional crisis
A future bleak

Woman’s body choices
Soon severely limited
Roe v. Wade betrayed

Rule by mob minority
Supremacy of white
Is simply not right
James Floss Jun 2018
Mr. B;
Tony,
Anthony—

Why?
The hard part:
Unknown.

I’m angry
Mr. B
Stories untold
James Floss Jun 2017
My brain
Membrane
Contains

Coltrane
Brisbane
Bi-planes

Mansplaining
Hydroplaning
*******

Guilt explaining
Speaking plainly:

Fruit
Truth
Pie
Lies

Life
Liberty
Pursuit of something

Jazz and ****
What it is

Enjoy the fizz
James Floss Jun 2018
HE: do you want huevos rancheros?

SHE: we don’t have tortillas

HE: no problem; we have tricolored tortilla strips!

SHE: we don’t have salsa

HE: no problem; we have cherry tomatoes. We have onion. Half an avocado

SHE: we actually have fresh cilantro

HE: we have salsa!

SHE: fresh eggs of course

HE: thanks, girls

SHE: beans?

HE: yes! Left over from February; when I turned 60. Thank you, freezer

(Half hour later)

THEM: those huevos: yum!
James Floss Jun 2018
The drone’s angle
Cauliflower green

Obligatory overhead
Forest scene seen

Filming automated
Droids watching as

Camera slides, smoothly
Overhead drama meme

Copter tracking
Story told between
James Floss Dec 2019
What goes around
Gets dizzy

All’s well that
Isn’t bad

A fool and his money
Has a lot of fun

Early to bed early to rise
Has no night life

A stitch in time
Is a temporal rupture

What doesn’t **** you
Raises insurance rates

When life hands you lemons
Open a fruit stand

Actions speak louder
With a PA system

The apple doesn’t fall
In outer space

You cannot judge a book
Without a lawyer

The grass is always greener
With fertilizer

An apple a day
Costs $250 a year

We’re not laughing at you
(Yes, we are)

There’s no such thing
As a unicorn having lunch

Money is the root of all
Capitalism

A spoon full of sugar makes
Diabetics

Misery loves
Therapists

Better safe than
In danger

All that glitters
Sparkles

Ignorance is
Trump
James Floss Oct 2018
We'd bound around
For golf downtown
Frisbees always in hand

"The students are coming!!”
Was a seasonal refrain
As we’d goofily gallivant

Mother’s Day shows
We‘re free, mother-suckers
For your kids, a show we grant

A CLOWN SHOW!
A DOWNTOWN SHOW!
THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN’T!

Rock their world with juggling
See the Doctor for what ails
Rudi and O in laundromat land

Jeanie, Splash, Allison, Donna,
Silly girls astonishing with
Leaps, jokes and handstands

Chewey, Steamboat and Grog
"Yeah-yeah! Yeah-yeah!”
Silly boys grandstanding

All hail Papa Gale! We
Funned with Cpt. Plunge
Leader of the band!

Sweet Georgia!
**** croquet!
It was grand!



(**** croquet was the official lawn game of the Sweet Georgia Brown Clowns during the summer 198x Trinity Country tour [wherein we masqueraded as a Norwegian Salmon Kissing team at a Moose Lodge Talent Show in Lewiston, CA* {true!}]: “Don’t forget your hat!”)

*(we won)
James Floss Mar 2020
Regrets? I’ve had a few
I’ve done a lot; what's more to do?

I haven’t seen the northern lights
Or seen earth from sub-orbital flight

I never saw a show at the Apollo
Can you dig it? Do you follow?

I never asked a boy to me kiss
Nor ate the cheeks of a blowfish

I haven’t climbed Kilimanjaro
(But I could still do that tomorrow)

But then again…

I threw myself from an aero plane
So, I don’t need to do that again

I zip-lined a mile chasm in Costa Rica
And hot-ballooned over Tlacochahuaya

I’ve been a nudist in Albuquerque
Yes, those that know, I am that quirky

Crossed crevasses to the South Pole
And flung myself into the future solo

Regrets? I’ve had a few
But far, far more adventures, too
James Floss Jun 2017
Old dog,
wait for us—
Surely, you can do that?
Don't go while we are away

Stay!

The kitties need you.
The homestead needs you.
We need you.
We love you, buddy boy.

Old dogs teach us so much:
Loyalty, love, friendship.

Impermanence.

Buddy boy, please
Be here when we come home…

Okay?
James Floss Mar 2020
Buenos días
Hoy es sábado aquí
Hoy es domingo allí en Australia
Hoy es በማንኛውም ቀን
En el Planeta Próxima

El sol salió hace 15 minutos
No veo ¿Que?
Esta detras de las nubes
Pero sabe estas allí
¿Porque?
Se lo que se.

Sé que cada día es un milagro.
Sé que para ser amado,
Necesitas amar
Sé que soy amado porque
Te amos
James Floss Oct 2017
Me, standing up
For myself
Summer camp, 1972

Catholic camp
Anything but
Everything ****

Big guy
Twice my size
Calling me gay

What’s gay anyway?
Didn’t know then
Now I do

It felt entirely unfair

Hairs tingled
Skin prickled
Kicked in adrenaline

Little fat boy
Stood tall
Never to be bullied again
James Floss Mar 2018
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?
James Floss Oct 2018
We live in different belief worlds
But thankfully they intersect

Gravity takes us one way but
With thoughts we reconnect

What I mean might seem a
Mean meme, in retrospect

I don’t like who you like;
I mean no disrespect

But his a-hole vitriol makes
Our country wrecked
James Floss Mar 2019
Alack!
Taken aback!
It’s a fact, Jack.

Think you’re on track
Then: smack!
It’s a backtrack.

So you go back, Mac
Give yourself some slack
Have a flapjack stack

Carry what you lack
Remove it from the black
And take it back, Zach!
James Floss Sep 2018
Some songs transport me
Sometimes going deep
So deeply I weep

“Sounds of Silence”
"Puff the Magic Dragon”
“Cat’s Cradle”

Yusuf wrote
Father to son:
“It’s not time…”

I made that change
Pilgrim’s progress
Wending Westward

In my ‘67 Mustang fastback
Weaving 7 Cleveland lanes
“I know, I have to go away…”
James Floss Jul 2019
My dad drove a Cadillac
Smooth Catholic operator
Cruising the inside track

My dad kept many boats afloat
Powering through the turbulence
All the while sowing wild oats

My dad was a 60s *******
He knew his cocktail parties
Proud, charismatic fly boy

My dad lived larger than most
Denying himself nothing
The ten of us can boast

My dad loved our mom
And us; in his own way
And carried on with aplomb
James Floss Dec 2018
A scratch of me is from him
Carved from current’s flow
Glows in setting sun

Life as summation
Illumination of
Striations cleft

The bereft
Must instruct
The rest
James Floss Feb 2019
“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
James Floss Mar 2020
I’m slipping through time again
From the when to then
From tomorrow’s sorrow
To today’s begin

The real ***** is the stitch
Where we actually exist
Between memory and wonder
And therein lies the itch

Remembering the past
Thinking of next
Wallowing in now
Sliding the narrow
James Floss May 2017
Molière died in his boots
Backstage after the show
Imaginary validated

Carrie Fisher died on a plane
Coming home from a UK shoot
Schizophrenia chicken salad

Her last scenes, her last words
Her final funny "*******"
A brilliant exit ballad
James Floss Jun 2017
Lil' baby peeks
From her towel cowl
Placed to placate
Her hissy scowl.

Spastic cat relaxes,
Spies with her little eyes
Safe within her clothy cave
Believes she's invisibile.

Later, much later,
Lucky emerges, yoga stretches,
Black cat arches back,
Shudders; tail's end softly twitching.

Ready again for tactile affection,
We stroke her silky fur
Feel her subtle purr;
Lil' baby again.
James Floss Jun 2017
Hello, yin, I'm yang.
We're different but mostly the same.
You're white, I'm black,
We curve and enfold:
A little of you in me,
A little of me in you—
Not a lot, just a dot.
With that, we complement each other.

Did I tell you you look especially good today?
James Floss Oct 2017
I think I’m a Bhuddist
Because I’m catholic
Look it up

I think I’m humanist
because I’m sympathic
It’s what’s up

I think I’m a pugilist
Fight the fight fantastic
Loving cup
James Floss Nov 2017
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.
James Floss Mar 2018
Thwick-thwick-thwifff
Cat tail twitch
The cat is curious

A busy tail tell
A tale, a swish
What’s a cat to do?

Tail down
Slouching low
The game’s afoot!
James Floss Feb 2019
A tepid tempest in a teapot.
A puerile pursuit
of personal perspective.
Corporate censorship?
A first amendment attack?

Times-Standard?
Really?
One letter kills a comic?
Or is it an overlord order?

Artist assassination it is.
Artist with his tools powerful
Pen nib and India ink; his
Semi-automatic pistol pen

Reminder:
1st comes before the 2nd.
Mr. Rogers: "Amendment?
Can you say that?
Amendment?”

Do you think you can
take that tool from the artist but
keep large capacity clips legal?
Censor artistic license?
It’s a minority report!

Let’s go to the semiotic
Shooting range:

There’s rap.
You know, rap?
Music?
What our ******* kids
are ******* listening to?

Bukowski shoots “****” from
His lethal snub nose poems
When he needs
to make a point

David Mamet sprays “*****"
with his literary machine gun
In his plays made into movies
that you have watched.
And enjoyed.

Even Shakespeare got away with:
“You starvelling, you eel-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish–O for breath to utter what is like thee!-you tailor’s-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck!”

Meanwhile:

Trump shoots full fallacies
As a spray of stinging tweets
Disregarding both amendments
While hobbling the press

Different weapon that;
Smoke-screen screams
Tangled web of
Fabricated news skeins

An Internet search showed me that it was a monk that first scribbled the word “****” in the margins of a text on moral conduct as an opinion about an another abbot. In other words, an editorial.

It was the wile and guile of Wylie
to pay homage to
this historical reference.

Let’s remember to keep the amendments in their proper order:
First one then two.

Artists hide messages in
artifacts.
It’s what they do;
we expect that of them—
we don’t want them to
throw away
their shot.

I hope some of this makes sense
to some of you
fans of amendment one.
If not, I guess it was a
Non Sequitur.

(Thank you Wiley Miller for your beautifully drawn and artistically constructed comic strips that had a
Line A (family plot line)
Line B (Noreastern bar humor)
Line C, D, and Etc always
With sly custom commentary.

Censored.
Removed.
Wrong.
**** that!
**** Trump!

There.
I said it.
James Floss Feb 2020
I have a hundred words
to decide what to do.

If I ask and she accepts,
well then, that’s a complicated novel
and game over.

I don’t know.
If I don’t ask,
it will always just be a poem
of longing and regret;
and who wants that?

I could equivocate, stall,
pad out the proposal
with flowery propositions
and run-on sentences
with irrelevant red herrings
and perhaps a false dilemma or two
but in the end
how could that eventuate
a more acceptable outcome?

Sigh.

Buck up, man.
It’s only words.
Do it; do it now:
“Paula, will you…?”
James Floss Apr 2017
I'm a character in a sitcom
And in telenovelas,
A character in a melodrama
And then again, in farce.

Different kinds of drama for the
Seven ages of man
Infant, lover, soldier…
All in a day.

Pantonlone one minute,
Punch with Judy the next.
Arlecchino makes his entrance,
Exit, stage left, dour il Dottore.

All my life's a stage;
I play my many parts.
James Floss Jun 2017
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
James Floss Jan 2020
Knight’s Queen to Bishop three
The ignorant king decreed
Knowing not the board nor game

Irritated red, readily arrogant
He lets cawing crows fly
Their screech a presage of war

We need balance and check,
Mate; a jester gesture at least
Righteous pawns invoking Hoyle

There are rules to the game
Denied, defied not checked
End in shame and blame
James Floss Sep 2017
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.
James Floss Dec 2018
Life is unbelievably beautiful
And remarkably breakable

A rush of joy derailed by
Some news inducing grief

Life seems bipolar because it is;
Crushes of fate between triumphs

What wets our eyes can
Sometimes beget laughter

Choose the latter
You‘ll feel better
James Floss Feb 2019
I’ve learned to love modern socialism
As taught it in catholic catechism
Not from K. Marx or even V. Lenin
It was Jesus that taught me and let me in

Feeding multitudes with bread and fish
Being fed is everyone’s basic wish
"God’s gift to mankind" said Ecclesiastes
“Everyone should eat and drink” their need

Christ told us of the samaritan good
Taking care of everyone in the hood
The sick, the poor, the ones you shun
Social Jesus said, “love everyone”
James Floss Aug 2019
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
James Floss Apr 2018
Take a day off
Stay in your bathrobe
Watch a movie

It’s a rainy day
Perfect for a vacay-stay
Let’s make some Cinnamon rolls…
James Floss Jan 2020
An ambulance mourns and wails
Someone down in this town

Church bells chime at all times
Weddings, masses, memorials

“BRRROUOOGH! GAS! OAXACA!”
On every street on every morning

Smaller, stiller sounds; listen:
Cooing doves in jacarandas

Silent dogs on rounds;
Stealthy, not needing us

Squeals, peals of children
Skating, biking in the park

Schnack-fwack brush
Of shoeshiners

Twhick—shwick—thwick
Of fastidious street sweepers

Traffic, thrumming always
The humming of Oaxaca
James Floss Oct 2018
Bonobos chimps
Live conflict free
Through mutual ***

Dogs make pacts
Through playing games
With instagram smells

Cats connect
Gland to gland
Cheek to cheek

Worker bees
Leaf-cutter ants
Naked mole rats

Honey hive
Tropical trail
Tunnel twists

We obstruct
We confound
We distract each other

Our entropy portrait shows
The not civilized need
To nurture our nature
James Floss Jan 2019
It’s begun

Relationship to insured:
Son. Son. Son.
Date of Birth:
Date of death:
Certification:
SSN:

Life insurance
Annuities
Beneficiaries

Sign and date:

His life’s work done
James Floss Oct 2018
We burble past
Rocky shoals
Gripping life-lines
Riding rapids

Then stillness offers
Floating freedom
Danger past, we
Row-row, row our boat

Passing the extreme
Merrily, verily, clumsily
Wondering what it means
It’s real; not just a dream
James Floss May 2019
I’ve packed it up before
Appointments not earned
Arrangements undeserved

I went off map for months
Leaving one closet for another
Life defined, boxed, shelved

Tossing the flotsam
Flowing the jetsam
Purging the past

Scripts, notes, lesson plans
Decades of detritus
The past as trash

One story ends;
We hope the sequel
Is better yet
James Floss Nov 2018
Hey-seus Christo
Eschewed all notoriety
He lived a life of
Quiet peace and piety

Without belief in deity
I follow his philosophy
Being good without god
Is trusting your morality

Travel truth’s compass
Know whom you trespass
Acknowledge the line
You just passed

Accountability is this:
Be true to thee and them
Avoid the dark abyss
Follow your bliss
James Floss Feb 2018
I sometimes circle around again
Longing, growing
My story is old
And cold

I’m a gravity accident
We all fall down
Collected star-dust
Diamond, coal, rust

Periodicity reciprocity
Gravely glancing sunward
Circle around
Then outward bound
James Floss Aug 2018
I wanna be bigger than the Hulk
Louder than Shatner yelling "Kaaaaahn!”
Gorshin cackling as the Riddler
With Meredith waddling behind

Faster than the Flash
Stronger than Superman
Richer than Bruce Wayne
More wonderful than lasso woman

I need an origin story
Radioactive tick bite
Radiodactive side kick
Radio waves from fingertips

I need drama that’s not mellow
***** show in a shitstorm
Facing the hounds of hell
In my Deus ex Machina
James Floss Nov 2018
shadows stretch long
across the lawn
autumn sun swings low
singing winter’s song
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