during this year
you'd better not
think one thing
say another
do something else

we all can see right through you
with our perfect vision --
20/20

Lying back to back on a plate
an orange
and a banana
each dream
its own dream

Cézanne comes over
gives the banana
a half turn
Its graceful inner curve now
embraces the orange’s plumpness

Instantly the air softens
the color fluid
and rich

The shutter flashes
your instant smile

In a mildewed evening years later
you stare at the yellowed album
and sigh

Happy days are gone

1.

leaping upward
it finds plenty of room
in the world above

smothering lush green
suddenly lightens

the irrepressible joy of life
springs
up
and down
up
and down

2.

leaping upward
it is pleasantly surprised
to find

the sky is still so immense
the earth is still so vast
the summer is still so green

life is still undefined

With a soft moist tongue
you set up a sensuous trap
waiting for careless little me
to drop in

and be shocked
at the discovery
that I am such
a tasty prey

buzzing
in a sweltering
evening marsh
a swarm of mosquitoes
vexed and unsettled
waits
for a cool swoosh
from a toad

Buying

unwrapping
the package
layer
after
layer

he finds
he has bought himself
a life
of
emptiness


*Selling

he dives
into the sea
of money

when he finds
he can't sell himself
dry
on land