today,
in manhatten
i let a guy on drugs cut in front of me
at the checkout
he asked nicely;
i found him endearing

i had never seen someone so earnestly and sweetly
try to contain how strung out he was
and i don't think i'd ever seen someone
so strung out
the cashier looked him up and down,
but he just turned back at me,
and smiled

thanks for being so nice,


you have green eyes

he smiled sweetly,
and turned back

i froze;
i felt sick —
he had seen me
and some people take weeks,
months,
years,
to notice

and he took his change & left

Masses move like clumps of weeds
Floating narrow outlets, making corners,
Pieces breaking off, sliding, new turns
Some stopping, disappearing, moving on.

The stream divides and crosses
It loops right then left, no seeming end.
The cars all dusty brown and wet and arrogant
Sound bleating cries, jostling to win.

Each one thinking they are the only;
Unconscious to all others, but having to.
Quick moves, sudden turns, ignore to negotiate
Serving a tiny purpose, finding a tiny end.

Above the rush and floating mass
Peering sharply down, closing in
The monoliths and testaments, providing each
One a burrow, and a fence, against escape.

I'm ready
Hands shaking
Blood racing
Unmistakably steady

Wild Dreams Of A New Beginning**

There's a breathless hush on the freeway tonight
Beyond the ledges of concrete
restaurants fall into dreams
with candlelight couples
Lost Alexandria still burns
in a billion lightbulbs
Lives cross lives
idling at stoplights
Beyond the cloverleaf turnoffs
'Souls eat souls in the general emptiness'
A piano concerto comes out a kitchen window
A yogi speaks at Ojai
'It's all taking pace in one mind'
On the lawn among the trees
lovers are listening
for the master to tell them they are one
with the universe
Eyes smell flowers and become them
There's a deathless hush
on the freeway tonight
as a Pacific tidal wave a mile high
sweeps in
Los Angeles breathes its last gas
and sinks into the sea like the Titanic all lights lit
Nine minutes later Willa Cather's Nebraska
sinks with it
The sea comes over in Utah
Mormon tabernacles washed away like barnacles
Coyotes are confounded & swim nowhere
An orchestra onstage in Omaha
keeps on playing Handel's Water Music
Horns fill with water
ans bass players float away on their instruments
clutching them like lovers horizontal
Chicago's Loop becomes a rollercoaster
Skyscrapers filled like water glasses
Great Lakes mixed with Buddhist brine
Great Books watered down in Evanston
Milwaukee beer topped with sea foam
Beau Fleuve of Buffalo suddenly become salt
Manhatten Island swept clean in sixteen seconds
buried masts of Amsterdam arise
as the great wave sweeps on Eastward
to wash away over-age Camembert Europe
manhatta steaming in sea-vines
the washed land awakes again to wilderness
the only sound a vast thrumming of crickets
a cry of seabirds high over
in empty eternity
as the Hudson retakes its thickets
and Indians reclaim their canoes

I hope Osama and his companions
Are enjoying themselves in an
Eternal Hell made just for them

After the bombings of Embasies
In Kenya and Tanzania
We took little notice,
When we should have.

Myself, I traveled to both.
Foolish in retrospect.

He was already a FBI fugitive
Before 9/11
But people in the US
Have a way of distancing
Ourselves from 3rd world incidents.

Whatever reason, it was ******
On a horrific scale
The US will never be the same.

As I mentioned prior,
9/11 did not shock me
With the universal hatred
Of all things having to do with the US
I traveled not saying anything
Nor waving a flag.

There are kits available
To pretend you are Canadian.
When you travel to the 3rd world
To avoid the hatred of the U.S.

We are known internationally, for:
Obesity
Wearing gym shoes
The world's nicest teeth

I anticipated a bomb somewhere
Never thought it would be planes.

However, my opinion does not count
Because I am a nobody, politically.
And there would be nobody
To listen to my advice that
We should have increased our safety level

So, what happened, happened.

God bless all those who died in the attack,
All of the survivors that watched
Manhatten crumble.
Bless the 340 firefighters who died valiantly
Bless all the people who had to chose:

Between burning to death or jumping

the queen of the weekend wakes
and looks around her chamber
loosesly scattered Target clothes cover the **** carpet floor
she walks to the shower and pours Bath and Body works soap in her hair
dries her face and puts on her CVS brand make up
proudly walks to her wallet and go to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee
she sits and puts her earphones in
hair up in a damp bun
she sips her coffee and watches the flow of people through the glass pane door
at 3 o clock she get up and calls her friends
a plan to meet at Cha Chas in manhatten is aranged for 7pm
she goes home and picks the clothes off the floor
goes to the tiny closet and pulls out a slinky black dress and heels
curls her hair and re applies her mascara and lip stick
she grabs her phone and wallet and heads out the door to go find her king

"This is who I am"
"No doubt about that"
Which mask is that?
Do you buy it in bulk?
Your real self hangs on a thread
Yes, a brain is in possession
It lies in the seabed.
Drowned underneath a facade
Vita is false
Ita what a charade it is!
Proficient in Latin
I jest, I could be from Manhatten
Corner of Houston Street
Around the bend
See how easy it is to cheat?
Reheat your claims
In a busted microcosm
For every face varies
At different angles
Yet I can't recall
It coming in tangles
Backed up against the wall
Today marks your fall
Of one face.
Oh, I know there's a plethora
But as it is spoken in the Torah
Once a liar speaks
Their words fall on deaf ears.