while you still can

you see
one red

and then you start to see

them all

breathe:

cool in

then a sigh

narcotic

  (confusion

  (convenient

habit

start to feel yr heart

on other than high alert:

horse-drawn Havana

calling out the names:

tiny fruit

red fish

sweet coffee

poured by ancient women

in a tiny window

back in the U.S. you

     (gotta laugh

this, and not really This

“I love my fat

the Michelin Man

aka long distance runner/high

diver/deep sleeper

 

throw another penny away

foreign or domestic

and I’m not giving you anymoremoney

ever

translucent plastic bondage rings

you toss w/abandon    ((6 pk

don’t rinse yr tuna cans thoroughly

how can you 

not

& the hole you peed in

will be filled w/yr crap

for millennia:

let’s start

by being

finally

      accurate

after to a mouse

I, that.

the history, yes

unschooled, yes yes!

Robert Burns

toasted with

the bottom of

the bottle by

trader joes

I too dug up a family of newly born

mice

shivering in a compost heap

too young to live unless

incubated longer,

but the part about the present only,

beautiful, that.

redwood

You wouldn't think

that ancestors were reduced 
to … 

DUST
   (lately alive

elders,

asthma,

the crocodile skin..

• cream won’t cover it,

even with the lovely Bulgarian

rose

redwood = asthma =

thinkable/un -
imaginable
 

it’s justnot

        right:

and   
you know this,  little Mary 
with the halo

Modern Music

never had the desire

to play like

never had

the desire to

play 

no, never had the desire

to play like

 anyone.

really about:

didn’t know about the

cat hats

didn’t know we were

expected to arrive with a sign

and remain silent

  (happened long ago &

   happened all so many times

the FREEDOM

to walk across 4th Avenue

without crosswalks

without stop lights

just

quiet conversation

quiet justconversation

and the occasional roar: 

freight train left the station 3.6 miles behind

periodic tsunami

washing over me

  (think of the ingredients! 
 

sun shining

not a drone in the sky

012017

What was it for you

that made you want to eat 
yourself

   (inauguration Day

   (little Mary with the halo

juba text

this, juba that per 

the yellow cat:

on the verge of

Animal Kingdom

the fittest’s the

one with the

greater gas and

 talent for

organizing words:

memorable.

gleams.

in nightmares.

The Take

five cards:
 

family portrait by  metallic Adirondack lake

expensive portrait of ornaments, gilded

stunning print of a black

holiday tree

it looks good

up close and

it looks good

a block away

2/3 of an encaustic face

from the gifted wife of a beekeeper 

a goldfinch and  

that’s it

except for

one crazy quilt

in vivid motion
(eyes closed

and geometry:

blackest black 
and 

Captcha

yr days have been numbered since

before the

long walk the

longest night

perforated placenta

fourth wall of the

mind’s eye

apparent:

my girlfriend is pregnant

she’s having

the baby

more or less

suitcase of moldy blankets

we are so close to

just a few simple things:

a mirror to polish

handkerchief of blood and tears

the granny feeling

lately, alive

new one

dusting of snow

on the roof

for  days

black ice

keeping things interesting

exhalation:

puffs of clouds

along the horizon,

hot pink

horsemen

it matters

find yourself,

in sleep

let the man see all of this

again

and Pick It Up by ear

unobserved Motion:

the impending surge

of the cat prepping for

mouse

currents of air

chimney wisps

constant chatter

of ghosts:

nothing happening today,

not a cloud in the sky

drone of an airplane

leaving town,

pale glint of red sunrise

along the belly

the high-pitched scream of

a saw slicing metal plates: this

is in my ear.

lace, chiffon

Eagles circling the neighborhood

new kittens in all the yards

hummingbird tending to everything blooming 

unnaturally early

volume of garbage more memorable

than the thin tents pitched near the freeway offramp

sheathed in nylon ephemera:

lace

chiffon

open flame sequestered

Celebrity

Leapt left, laid

a mudball on a leaf

garnished with a diamond of lichen

the table set

who eats from the floor

of the world:

the little Queen

pushing her purple fox

in a sparkling pram.