Gandhi. Romero. King.
     religion. politics.
               sing

Up in the night
Watching Romero again
San Salvador
3710

1987
1991
Camus at JMU
Un pequito fun

Oakland Catholic Worker
Guatemala, Brazil
Bipolar disorder
Silence. Silent still.

Library tomorrow
Postcards in the mail
Red Pine's Road to Heaven
Wild inner wail

              loves my trail

Every saint has a past.
Every sinner has a future.

Lone balladeer
        Slowly
       patience

Crossing the Baltic
young sons sung
        exoplanets!

The black implacable Wall of Death
         Please courage at the end
                   Harry, it *****!

It seems to me that if we spend our lives writing poetry, we should try to write great poetry. Poetry that endures.

And if we try to do that, we can be sure of two things:

We shall most likely fail.

If we succeed, we shall never know it.

Insignificance
     Silence
      Seeds

Insignificance
  Persistence
   Postcards

The little way
   patientia
    silence

Some say America will end in Fire
Some in ICE
From what I've seen
Of ******* racist desires
I hold with those who favor Fire
But if it had to perish twice
The cultivation of ICE white hate
In a fatuous foray
To again be great
Is an ancient demagogic device.
And would suffice.

My boys and I in Reno
Sledding in the snow
Big blue sky
Yoko yo yo yo yo!

Tidal pools in Monterrey
The boys still so young
San Francisco Zen
Young sons sung

Two years in Taipei
Won ton soup at night
A few months in Bangkok
Sor Juana's mystic flight

Give my best to Chicago
My best to Alex too
Susan Darlene Meek
Dark hair, eyes of blue

              ' tis true

Gonna see my son tomorrow
My beloved youngest son
Eleven years old
Baby, Born to Run

My Uncle Marty died
Skiing accident
I cried and cried and cried
Even God could not prevent

St. John's Jesuit High School
Toledo for a time
Vegetarian burritos
Cranberry juice with lime

Paul McCartney in Baltimore
Mother Mary Let it Be
Gonna see my son tomorrow
The youngest of my three

                        Oui We.

Mr. David Markson
In New York City alone
Me in Charlotte, NC
I threw a Rolling Stone

Got off work early
Cold November Rain
DC for basketball
Take the Metro train

The Americans are ignorant
Dumbfuckistan
Senyorita bonita
I wanna be your man

How bad will it get?
Migrants on the run
Fascist USA
Give up, Give up your guns

       Have un pequito fun

............un Escritor.........
Inner Harbor, Baltimore
                 4044

Why all these poems?
Quiet desperation.
I am a troubled soul
Silent meditation

Hair handed monks
******* peepers
Disappointed Platonists
Hey now jeepers creepers

Gotta work today
Didn't get much sleep
Maybe later take a nap
Dreaming of the Deep

Dumbfuckistan
America goes down
In Dublin meant to be
When Love Comes to Town

Up at night and troubled
Can't find any peace
Modern Istanbul
Maybe Ancient Greece

No woman, No cry
Sting and the Police
Only in death
Do all troubles cease

Hagia Sophia
Red Pine, quietly
Almost no influence
3333

Die and disappear
Die inevitably
Trouble comes next year
Try now to break free

                  Si.

There is no perfection
There's barely even goodness
Time tick tocks
Sick and suffering

Peaceful, quiet nights
Arthur Schopenhauer
Temple of the Dawn
The pain that living brings

Call my second son
Deer sleeping in the grass
Thus it comes to pass
Sinatra can surely sing

One is the loneliest number
In my solitude
I do not intrude
Lost wedding ring

Talk to my son
He plays video games
Black the night an ocean
The mystery of names

One for my friends
One for posterity
In my solitude
Mother Mary Let it Be

Inner Harbor, Baltimore
Time tick tocks
Maybe an Impossible Burger
Better put on my socks

Susan Darlene Meek
La Florida the Land of Flowers
Denver, Colorado
The beach after hours

                       Ole!

The American Heart of Darkness
I have a need for sleep
Call my middle son
Promises to keep

Tecumseh the Shawnee
The day that Detroit fell
Chief Seattle. Chief Seattle.
Call me Ishmael

Sick and suffering
Quiet in the night
Come steal away
Gatsby's green light

Very little hope
Life itself is pain
Maybe an Asian Pope
Maybe Toledo, Spain

         Purple Rain

I miss you in the nighttime
Decades fly quickly past
I know it's an illusion
Nothing at all can last

You gave me Hope for the Flowers
Gracias xie xie
Best wishes to you always
Silent is the Way

First they came for the migrants
But I wasn't a migrant
So I didn't say anything ...

No one noticed me
Maybe just as well
In my solitude
Call me Ishmael

I'm drawn to the silence
Got a monk in me
Childhood in Toledo
3333

I hate the Republican Party
Wars and rumors of wars
1 Thai iced tea
2 Thai ******

Lonesome. Lonesome ocean.
Talk again with my son
O so serious
Pero un pequito fun
    
             Y Taipei 101

Kamakura snow
        silencio
             yo

Mary and the Buddha
Edgar Allen Poe
Tolkien's beloved Hobbits
And I love her so

I write these little poems
Don't really know why
Kamakura snow
Exoplanet sky

55 years old
Am I near the end?
The silence is eternal
Silence be my friend

Chicago in the winter
Boston tambien
Seattle, sweet Seattle
San Francisco Zen

                And then ...

In Copenhagen for a few days
Little sunlight in my hotel
Soren Kierkegaard
Call me Ishmael

European history
Asian bullet trains
Not much remaining mystery
Karaoke Purple Rain

Call my son tonight
Just to say hello
Bangkok in the rain
Seattle in the snow

55 and falling
The American Abyss
Try to do my best
In ******* times like this

                     Resist!

I am puzzled by coincidence
Details. Details matter.
German philosophy
Hey batter, batter!

Rick Steves in Berlin
Me reading Schopenhauer
The Son indeed will come
But no man knows the hour

Down to the last pfennig
Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx
My family in little Reno
Visiting the parks

Mr. David Markson
Postcards in the mail
Time tick tocks
Does the power of love prevail?

So little ability to influence
Wake, sleep, dream
The country is a nightmare
I play for my team

Tired. Exoplanets.
Rabbi Nahman's silent scream
Tea and scones for breakfast
Strawberries and cream

Red Pine in the Chungnan Mountains
Speaking with an elderly Daoist hermit
Circa 1989

Who is this Chairman Mao you keep speaking of?

The Americans choose Trump
Their own condemnation
I stay inside and sleep
Quiet meditation

I like volleyball
Might watch GMU
My Irish eyes are green
But I'm Carolina blue

Marriage didn't work
So I sleep alone
Write a few poems
On this little black cell phone

I want a different country
Might reread Moby ****
55 and falling
Suffering and sick

                     Patientia ...

But are there not many fascists
In your country?

There are many who do not know
they are fascists, but will find it out
when the time comes.

                    - Ernest Hemingway
                  For Whom the Bell Tolls

Sage Ridge School in Reno
Singing Johnny Cash
Who will weep for me
When I turn to ash?

Once I was a teacher
Tried to do my best
Now I'm just a dad
Qualyxian the Quest

I like middle school books
Flush, Hoot, Holes
Poetry according to Ibsen
Doomsday accounts of our souls

Cold November Rain
Reading Life of Pi
Some good thing to do
Before my time to die

           Something Thai

Big blue sky
Black smoke
       Snow

I still like Cathedrals
But I no longer go to Mass
The beauty of her hair
The beauty of her ***

One life only
Disappear forever
Sacramento Mark
Sacramento Heather

Snowfall shunyata
Reno, little Reno
Shakespeare in Staunton
Giving all that we know

One Dark Knight
Billionaire Bruce Wayne
Desafortunadamente
Life itself is Pain

              Downbound Train

One life only
Mostly disappointment and pain
My mom in Toledo, Ohio
Rick Steves in Toledo, Spain

Monks in monasteries
But not you and me
NBA basketball
Beauty Baltic Sea

Lost in Translation
Charlotte. Philosophy.
Susan Darlene Meek
Sacred silent plea

           Carolina Inn
                     We!

Motorcycle taxis
         Monks
             Me

Bangkok in the rain
           Humid
         Shunyata

I'm fundamentally shy
Do not seek the center
Tired. Solo. Lonesome.
Try at times to enter

Boston in the winter
Interviewed for Taipei
Icy Charles River
Gracias xie xie

I like many movies
George Clooney he can act
Solaris on my screen
Anxiety attacks

Gonna talk to my son
Keep him to me tight
Dawn goes down to day
One Dark Night

Amateur means one who loves
That's what I wish to be
Childhood in Toledo
3333

Woke up from a dream
In Charlotte quite early
Sent it to Chicago
Hitch Hikin' naturally

O Life! O Life! O Life!
Please protect my 3
Dawn goes down to day
Night comes quietly

When the Day is Done
Ashes to the sea
All the rivers run
Stars shine silently

                   Si!

the transience of everything
including you and me
corpse to the fire
ashes to the sea

George W. Liar
in Dublin meant to be
Kamakura snow
please protect my 3

               Oui We.

Avoid the company of women.

What if one of them should speak to us?

Remain very awake, Ananda.

I've got a monk in me
Solitary way
Also got an atheist
Silently I pray

It didn't work out with women
I like the Grand Chartreuse
Snow in the mountains
Hound dog on the loose

Tokyo to Kyoto
Silent shunyata
Mr. Gershom Scholem
Curious Kabbalah

Souped up 72
Still see 37
Motorcycle taxis
Bangkok tonight, Kevin

The pain that living brings
Grateful for my boys
Walk around the town
The diner does employ

Rick Steves in Istanbul
Hagia Sophia
If I could I surely would
Try my best to free ya

City of Ember, The Giver
Middle school books
My son is 18 now
He drives, he works, he cooks

The pain that living brings
Grateful for small glories
Hold her in my arms
Tell her all my stories

                       Ole!

The bipolar is my burden
I bear it the best I can
Senyorita bonita
I want to be your man

Little coffee shop
My son in the parade
Pellegrino water
Mixed with lemonade

Election on Tuesday
American despair
Prepared for the worst
Highwater Everywhere

I studied philosophy
Look back with some regret
Rode the Asian trains
55 and falling

Cambrian Explosion
Visited twilight Oxford
Moroccan mint tea
Teacher. London Calling

Near the Scottish border
Visited with my sons
Took the speeding train
River Eden, Wetheraling

19 years old
     Camus
       JMU

I think of you, dear reader
Riding on the train
Moroccan mint tea
Santiago, Spain

Thank you for your attention
Passing in the night
A little memory
A little mystic flight

Un Escritor
Or so at least I hope
Maybe 4044
Maybe a female Pope

Sunlight on the water
Ashes to the sea
Disappear forever
Still xie xie ni

                  Si.