Yours is just a face
I am just a man
These are just the keys
Ivories wink at waves
There is music in this sea
Words were barely said for you and me

I have always suspected it
Now maybe it has been proved
We are never more human
than when we are gardening

There is something about soil
fingers getting black and gritty
touching a young seed
tucking it in a well prepared bed

Not for sleep but for
both growth and rest
for feeling the pull
of the moon

On its slender shooting self
Humans as gardeners
are human indeed
to me

Pruning too
I love pruning
can go hours with those lopper things in hand
snipping here and there

Sculpting my yard
by inches
and loving it
Being human

Even if you don't believe
the biblical story
about how this all began
you gotta admit it is a beautiful story
about being all too human

I wanted to get you something odd for your birthday
A trip to a Pacific Island
How are ya-"50"
With all the crooks and turns
this crazy life brings us
nobody gets away
without waterfalls in paradise
hula skirts and little squirts
they all arrive on time
Speaking of odds and paradise
I thought I would quote a few
1) chances you'll date a supermodel
88,000-1 (think Marcus Schenkenberg)
2) odds of marrying royalty
(if you lived in the U.K.) 500-1
3) chances that any person dating is dating a millionaire
215-1...not dating?
4) odds of becoming a saint
20,000,000 to 1 ....actually you are way closer than that to me
5) chances of writing a NY Times best seller
got your attention now right?.....220-1...you can do it
6) odds of becoming president
You'd be the best one in my lifetime...10,000,000 to 1
And there are bad things you may never
have to worry about:
7) being struck by lightning
87,000 to one
8) being possessed by Satan
7,000 to 1 ...unless America is "The Great Satan" in which case you already are here
9) chances of the destruction of the universe
I know you have been worried about this
10 to the 100th power to 1
After giving you all these odds
don't you feel better now?
How about one more odd?
The biggest odd of all
"me"
ok...no kidding
odds of you having a GREAT BIRTHDAY
ALL THE BEST ODDS

In the erie irony
of a cold, cold world
run by indifference itself
those who care the most
mopping after weak dripping toast
get burned by the absence
of a flame in their room
or a dog to lick their own sores
seek to keep fevers down
under down, under down, under down

Why do I run from the things I loveWhy do you see me fleewith gleeWill you run away with merun till we finally dropWe're both too poorto find a doorexcuses were made to popbut where will we gothat the world can't findHey, I've a place in mindIt's the only place they'll leave us alonebut how can I know you'll stay?If I don't the place will still be therefor all eternityThe place we ran in each other's eyesa home away from tears.

Sadness loomed
over me
spread loving yarns
around me
hiding my flesh
below warp and woof
Needles from on high
***** my stingy pocket
feeling all Shanghai
Hang um up
Consequential bannners
for Count Ceramic Time

Is love out of focus
or just a warm fuzzy rabbit
with sharp metal teeth gleeming
Is love giving up or giving in
sloppy smiles or showing skin
Can you hear the static beige
of my radar gun
or ride my camel through the trees
Is it water in my bed
Wake you up keep you cold
make you shiver in my soul
Love is all these things and more
and less
vaporize to nothingness
Was it ever there
Oh, cruel trick
Will it ever be?
I ask a thousand starry eyes
while they blink at me
while they blink
Are they winking or blinking
What is this mess inside my chest
Who tied me all in knots
Help me unravel all these ropes
Just set me free
Free to find something more
something more than me
Help me find you.