Soft eyes
sometimes
sometimes not
so soft
but do they cut!
oh, do they stab and
do they wound! I
hardly find the time
to parry those soft
eyes of yours. I
hardly ever find
the time to parry.
Oh, your eyes, they
strike so
deeply.

I watched a man-
a construction worker-
eat a sandwich at
a huge picture
window, a fifth story window.

Outside the snow slowed to
a float, flakes
suspended in the grey
New England morning.

He sat heavy on
an upturned crate and
chewed, looked out the window
over his shoulder at
the slabby world around him.

Outside light snow rose upward
past him on the
opposite side of the
glass and hung, hovered – paused.

He wiped the corners of
his mouth and
gazed hard one more time,

tossed the wrapper to
the ground, pressed hands
to knees,
lifted,
and strode back to building.

Outside snow sifted
downward again,
finely,
then furiously.

Recently—only a moment ago
Snowed mountain ranges landscaped
Vehicles into knolls
Cities into still frames
And then to look in my backyard
With tulips pushing through
Crocuses already in bloom
Spring—Resurrection
A time for planting
Dusting off wicker rocking chairs
Dreamily hazily on the front porch
Greeting the neighbors as they pass
Getting to know why, again

i’d love to pour into something
like i used to pour into you and
stop believing i’m a better man
with a slightly elevated blood-alcohol content

i’d love to love something like
i love my pipe. my tea. my beer.
to find a love affair like that
with paper

instead its the pages i never fill
the words i never write on white
in black or blue pen
it’s empty notebooks i feel somehow
begin to lose heart at their unloved fate
wishing ‘if only a true lover of words
had embraced me’

a pianist knows his next note
by virtue of the previous and
his fingers follow by leading him
where to go

in much the same way my thoughts
spill forth from my mouth as victims of
every word spoken to me over
the years and i feel trapped in
shrink-wrapped reworked quotes
plagiarizing vomit from other mouths

lost

unable to paint a canvas
of my own without my fingers
following learned instinct

knowing just what to say after this
word because
they’ve

heard it all before.

Some of you
you try so hard
I understand
you’re trying

but I wonder
do you get
all of the things
you seem to get
or are you lying?

paint a picture
show it to me
will the brush marks
stand the scrutiny?
Dear I wonder
do you get it?
Yes, I understand
you’re trying
but I can’t be sure
you’re half
you say you are

until the day my teeth
sleep beside me in place
of you, my beautiful wife,
i’ll follow you to bed
each
night
and gum on you instead

sleeping with your memories
can make for a bad night laying
in bed all day next day thinking
(circles)
going on for hours about how
they are here to get you or will
be soon, you are sleeping in a
(square)
sweating through the ghosts
shooting glances at your love,
in the back of your eyes like
(stars)

we should all believe the world
revolves around us
they said in a movie about truman
with a man around whom the world
already revolves (at least in part)
we went and watched and for mere
moments believed we were he and therefore
worthy of note

today i write words into oblivion
they may be viewed once or twice or thirty
but the world will sleep still
i cannot stop the sun in the sky
or take your breath away long enough
to affect who you will marry

but i can hope
as legends live
long after they die
these words wont
represent me
but perhaps
a humor i embodied
your laugh will not endure
forever

but twinkies will

There ain’t nothing

NOTHING

better

than the good ol’ days.

And that I will hold
against any attack,
proof, or
opinion.

Now come on, darlins,
and stand out in the
parking lot with
me.

effervescence
on gin destroys
the essence with said
effervescence

We’ve been playing the same songs for years
and they’re always sounding better
except for that Wish You Were Here

But fitting, I suppoe

Georgia’s a long ways
away, you know

And we’ve been playing that damn song for years
so maybe let’s practice
so next time we’re together
guitars in hand
we can pay it right

Until then,
rest assured,
WYWH.

we huddle in to
each-other-warm
where one body wont suffice
gather round tables
as though to worship
a lazy susan

plow food into our faces with
sticks and laugh at
failed attempts to evangelize

reminisce the future
leadership, change, adjustment
as i sit with
prophet,
businessman,
preacher,
manager,
pastor,
researcher,

sharing table, susan, bowl, meat, bite
and love(mixed)jokes(dreams)
tomorrow i’ll leave this behind
them behind

to pick up where i set down