the wind swirls in tight circles
sunshine actually flows
clouds may appear to move
but in actuality they are constantly
disappearing and reappearing
over their entire width and breadth
raindrops fall as spheres
seasons change at their own pace
air pressure is remarkably consistent
snow is frozen vapor
it skips over the liquid phase
if you could hop in your car
and drive 60 mph straight up
you would reach the extent of atmosphere
where weather occurs
so, a calm, sun filled early morning in October
is even more of a miracle than some would suggest



Friday, October 11, 2013

a wall as metaphor fits the bill
to these thoughts ***** nil
a massive wall near six feet wide
covered with sharp stucco side
that ****** pierces the forehead skin
as heads bang in a continuous whim
for tell me what is a reality for
when breath and bone are felt no more

Saturday, October 19, 2013

just barely hangin’ on

can actually feel

the released temper chemicals

into my bloodstream unwanted

I change none the less

why is this subconscious discharge necessary?

useful against predators

what else does this cranium

have in store for the mood of tomorrow?

enough already

the workmen never really rest
for every day at their bequest
they surrender dreams, for the sake of the nest
and a shadow, a sense, of meaningless jest


Saturday, October 19, 2013

me me me me me me me
now that I’ve got your attention
I come from a long line of poets
if you could prop up all my fathers
the line would extend back
one hundred generations
so I know what I’m speaking about
so here it is:
there is something and there is nothing
something is divided evenly
between potential and actuality
the Tao is much more about the balance
of what could occur and what has occurred
than what is and what is not
because that is where the real action is
and we know very little about nothing
and don’t you forget it

over a German city that was in flames
a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires
where factories were operating night and day
trapped in the amber of this moment
on Earth is there any talk of free will
there is so much I should be doing
And that thought had a brother
the illogical nature of human beings
life, as a human being, only is enjoyable with unknowns
objects do not consist of parts

now it dawns on me
a sense of immense meaning
I left my job to write poetry

The Job:
[ they were a bunch of creeps
and they set new standards
in frightening non logic
on a regular basis
it was like their goal
was to surpass themselves
IT HAD TO BE PLANNED
WITH REGULAR MEETINGS
UNDER THE MOON
SACRIFICING GOATS
ON AN ALTAR]
I had enough

about a year before the axe fell
I stopped performing
most of my duties
in late, out early
that was my motto
I received compliments
on my summer tan
from many hours spent
on the golf course
since ***** looks were free
I accepted them with a smile

living off savings
and whatever public dole is available
the sixty eight year old me
may curse his sixty year old version
too bad
fate got me this far
fate will propel

the chains of dogma increase with each new day
sophistication and bumbling in equal rhyme
beliefs scramble when the truth gets in the way
new discoveries possible at any time
born alone, then crowded in the sway
between minds that hunger in decline
when all we need is honest work and play

the conversations are magnified by the bare walls of the room
what causes people to have so much to talk about ?
themselves, naturally

you would have to turn people inside out
to eliminate the constant first person narrative

this is going nowhere fast

while the Walls of Jericho did undoubtably tumble
they were built of inhuman stone
and fell much more easily

the day was grey, my mood was dour
wisdom’s words could not reveal
as I spent time and paid by the hour
the emptiness that I felt

madness is my family
we celebrate the holidays together
in silences broken only by memories
then we clean up
and revert to our own worlds
with swirling clouds
fields of grain frozen under the outlined sun
orchards surround fenced in farms
busy preparing the next feast


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

there is no reason to expect
that todays state of affairs
would be any different
had history been changed
in some way or other

of course, the big picture
magnifies the small lies
inside each and every one

we moved away shortly after
my fathers death and within
a year my mother came to visit
we saw some sights
and spent time talking
while sitting outdoors
on fair September evenings
while in the kitchen
whipping up a ragu
I felt the burn of her stare
as I coursed back and forth
slowly realizing that I was now
the closest thing she had to her husband
my reach then extended
to the afterworld

I will write
I will write poorly
I will write well
my words may bring outside understanding
or be felt by myself only
they may be hidden in nonsense
or accepted as canon
while the background noise of the day
may interfere
I will write

insatiability is congenital
the ability to be lazy
an important life lesson

stir the stew pass the soup
both items fraught
with catastrophic possibilities

best to stand back let it flow
very little need for movement
a full shift on the couch

whatever occurs adds to the norm
the world is a statisticians dream
numbers are mirrors facing each other

the vanity virus

six pale ales Indian
swim now in me blood
smiling ideas
happy bones
blanched organs
a deep appreciate
and flavor
oh what a flavor

robbed of its warmth
the outside air
in the knucklegrip
of winter
puts the star to light
philosophical sequins

he had his demons
they would not let go
as they delivered
him to rocky shores
full of shifting, unsure, footing

the source of these imps
a mystery, as with all men
they must satisfy a crawling need
the jigsaw puzzle tongue
into defenseless groove

we breed weakness
to develop strengths
in battle fields internal
all it costs
is unnecessary pain

the sky would burn and the sea would boil
as they paid the price for human toil
a spinning globe a pitch gray sky
could absorb our poisons indefinitely
so the earth as friend became our foe
with a scrum of chemistry and below
the mass of souls behind gilded screening
search every toy for a scrap of meaning

lets call it a marrianne
its nice to coin a phrase now and then
the language will not suffer beyond the framing of this poem
a marrianne is a descriptive term of a common human trait
that magnifies exponentially with the number of human minds available
that trait is hypocrisy the art of saying one thing and doing another
in this case the matter is between peace and war
everyone wishes for peace
the arguments for war are few, but fervent when they occur
the drumbeats hard to resist, a momentum like no other
after all, war kills and maims our sons, and soon our daughters
and these precious people never ever ever recover
as empty as shells on the beach, lost to madness
and this is the definition of a marrianne:
the systematic disregard of what was once promoted using high ideals
and as a correlation: a throwaway society

in extreme unction
existence is sacrament

we all agree that time was a mistake
a bothersome distraction
raises way to many questions
offers no solutions
an ear of tin
apply all the order you want
but research entropy first

I put down the book for three, maybe four days, tops
when I walked by the dog eared leafs
then I took myself by surprise
by questioning myself
don’t forget your literary life
so very personal
so very important
William Blake
swirling tigers and wide eyed beasts
and the spacious view of matters
I force myself to read the Great Masters
return rewarded

free form verse
is what my life will be
for summer shadows under flowered purse
is my idea of immortality

moments ago
a certain thought
crossed my mind

capillaries
intellect
repetition

art is defined
by its frame
where it is not

ever make
a decision
that flew away?

hate the noise
not the person

there was a point in this traveling medicine show
where the first person context was to be ignored
so poems covered all and we replaced I
but the ego spread through the cracks
like spilt water seeping under a closed door
the lack of a threshold
and it was impossible to resist the search for human meaning without mentioning myself in most ******* everything
I suppose it was weakness but then hey there goes the whole process all over again
we are nothing but deep
what I am saying here is that our deepness is without end
and defines eternity ‘bout better than anything else

are they real
the glimmers caught at the edge of my eye ?

there is something going on underneath certainty
it is not a place
and transformation has nothing to do with it

at the moment, I am leaning toward
any immense computer simulation
as being the basis for this reality
but, of course, that is the product of my times

place me gently in this same spot, Vermont,
the great North Woods
five hundred years ago
that the world was carried on the back
of an immense turtle
and every hunt would be rewarded in the afterlife
filled with ancestors, devoid of mystery,
these things would also be evident

we are the sum of a gazillion thoughts and influences
we possess nothing


Thursday, November 14, 2013

structure not
nor form nor style
the freedom of these words
mountain mountain mountain still
said the beast toward
assembled masses
of alpine jelly moss
as fast as whom the spectrum chases
to the road past
human
toil
quoted by mother jones
my mother jones
you lost your keys
recently
you will lose a very noisy game


Thursday, October 31, 2013

old growth forests
are planning their return
the seas know
their demise is premature
the glaciers will be back
bet the house on that one
and the great migrations
will flow once again unimpeded

you got to admire the earth
it has the know how learned
from four billion years
of balance, a true pro
full of surprises and hidden strengths

rapt with good fortune
warm, full, exposed to great ideals
excited comfort
plans, so many plans
throw off any thoughts of demise
see the eleven degrees outside
as nothing more than another palpable experience
they say that every drop of reality
is eternal but unable to be reviewed
well, I guess those are my words
now added to all this certainty


Friday, November 29, 2013

there are people out there, scientists,
that probe intensely, minus most jest
they now stand before their greatest find
to further map and control the human mind
and since we are an over populist breed
compounded interest according to need
the gap seems wide from the edge of the edge
the march toward dust, the plaque of the years

cold
very cold north country night
comin’ up below zero on the scale
there is no pain quite like the pain you get
from cold frigid air the sky
will be starry full of bulls and twins
hunters and seven sisters caught in the middle
an endless panorama that somehow
ends some day

and if ben franklin
had appeared before me
he would appear
as the howling strange youth
pierced, knotted, purpose of a sort

we haven’t had a definitive moment for awhile
how come ?
**** I can’t even remember the last one
they really are pretty ******* rare
if you think about it
they say that good literature
always involves conflict
of some nature
but madness can easily substitute
and will survive any clash
it is also wildly entertaining

at winter solstice when the sun is low

it is compensated by the fact
that the moon reaches her highest point
the situation then reverses itself
along the way a spot of equilibrium
is reached
the heavens dance without invitation
there is a statement in their movements
they shine sublime

plan on nothing but trouble
stamp hubris down into the ground
prepare for contradictions
when the goal is set
the rules work against themselves
practice makes perfect
more practice than could ever be performed
the boundaries appear set
comprehend limits for awhile
where’d they go ?

A stag’s head erased per fess
Proper and Gules attired
Or differenced with a crescent

Ermine on a fess Sable
three mullets

Or Dexter
a stag regardant
Sable attired and hoofed

Or charged on the body
with an eagle
displayed
of the last gorged
with a collar of SS
and portcullises Gold

sinister a bay horse
bridled saddled and supporting a staff

Proper headed
Or with a banner
Vert fringed and charged with the letters
Y. L. D.
Gold meaning
York light-dragoons

sunbeams on the morning bright
removes most traces of despair
and carries me to the ancient rite
when myths of furies filled the air

machines evicted and in their place
the wind filled sails o’er the wine dark sea
gods at play with the human race
in plots and schemes vindictively

in every crack of earth, a spirit lives
gods and men in shared desire
both guilty of a deceit that gives
clouded reason for Olympiad fires

the thunderbolts fly with little debate
impulsive gods, petty, spoiled, absurd  
but regal in their conniving state
and held to oath and word

they take every opportunity
when not aligning sun and star
to shift their shape, then sexually
pounce, with a quick au revoir

jealousy, rage, revenge at any chance
stirs the north wind on the sea foam
forcing héros to tragic circumstance
with very long rides home

from a thousand ships to none at all
these powerful lords seem obsessed
to place siren obstacles and sudden squall
leaving the righteous without rest

no need for blinded giants hurling stone
let us be who are but men
so that amid destinies we are free to set our own
the earth to wine and fat, then back again

politicians spout their indignities
as if written accorded discussed
not a normal existence
but some sort of trance
their eyes of blank monitors
shifting yet poised
in love with the camera
the thing that cannot be touched


Thursday, October 31, 2013

if it kills, it kills slowly
pain is easily borne
the flower pressed pages of reality
diminish nothing
affect only the memory
which of course relies
on blips and pops

after awhile you can only sense
the release of substance into the stream
that is blood
this chemical stew is interpreted
as emotion

so where is the essence that covered the  wide eyed view of the flower in bloom?

I have notice as the years pass
the sublime closes in
the unknowable can be felt
and loses a small part
of it’s abstract nature

Decisions pile up, they lead
to this very line verse
our beliefs contort and suffer
when confronted by truth
possessed by hubris

We are dealing with eternity
it can be overwhelming
there was a time where laces
also seemed daunt
they are now handled easily

after a ten year wait
in the longest winter ever recorded
Christmas finally arrived
amidst changing styles
and varying outlooks
the dusty gifts and slightly worn bows
stood ready for their fate
they would pass through
the Aristotelian concept
of potential versus actuality
from expectation to reality
then the day would travel most like any other

today the sun is a brilliant yellow smear
against the bluest of blues and it seems
at noon that the height of the sun
is a bit higher over the horizon
and the shadows look changed also

art of any kind can only depict one thing
and that is state of mind
art is incapable of creating an external reality
for reality is stubborn and allows nothing to approach it
surrounded by a symphony of colored possibilities
it stands alone in black and white

get used to stepping over the dead
plot and plan an exit strategy
that precisely measures the extent
of words now being expressed
that, with the easy thought
of iron consequence,
would lend avoidance
to our terrible future tack

really knowing
and unable to do anything about it
is all that’s left of irony
like most concepts
its one question
after the other
this one shorter than most

find the man who thought first
of probabilities
of wager and ledger
bring up just about any subject
if you see him
reality has got him beat
pile high the numbers
stand one inventory upon another

you know, you could be replaced
very easily
by an algorithm
for that is all that the soul consists of, by awareness,
we are a series of on / off decisions

this of course proves nothing
for the lessons of history
reveal that even when armed
with sacred truth
we still fall short

there can be no agreement
in the absence of conflict
the scars that I carry

roll over, lay down and take it
every one seems to know
what the cat is thinking

pass me the fire bombs
there has been a negligent
poisoning of water supplies

thank you for stepping this way
now the remainder of the lecture
can be explained to you

while you were busy searching for clues
its all about issues that should be avoided
brute blood against certain things
that cannot be touched
he went up to a reading-desk
which was there in the field
the conflict deserved understanding
this involved a portion of toil
now see to it that you return to line one


jimmy tee
Monday, October 21, 2013

the skies are banded with cloud
grey mixed with less grey
snow sits in the tree crotch
and puffs into the air
from the tips of long branches
touched by a draft of wind
underfoot corn flake ice
overhead flies the jay
the earth begins its nap
the air biting cold



Thursday, November 28, 2013

as palpable as emotion seems
outside my window, the darkness dreams
wondering who dare emit
words
then words again re-writ
found confidence, inspired soul
command, option, shift, control

there aren’t any bad ideas
they have never existed
everything is a good idea