concurrent willings

fence too short,
old “fast twitch” Gracie,
muscles too tall.
concurrent willings of
containment and escape.
four quick eyes on alert.

hand

one guy wanted his hand
to be his head.
said he could trust it  more,
and he’d be on closer terms
with his gestures.

those who might say

there are those who might say
‘put your ear to the ground and
your nose to the wind’.

from one ol’ Indian:
reverse it, and trail your self….

or not to

to exist or not to.
suddenly, green snake
swallowed by the garden.

privacy

at once a desire to be alone,
yet soon noticed how unnecessary.
a new kind of privacy.

without contrary signage

most feel as if they are
in the wrong place,
even without contrary
signage.
just those geography
chromosomes acting
up again.

free for the getting

not a writer,
just a note taker.
if I get caught,
somebody might
want me to give
them all back.
I swear, I thought
they were free
for the getting.

din

white noise of traffic,
background din.
even internal voices
have to speak louder.

tip over

a comedian once remarked,
“you know that feeling when you’re
leaning back on a stool and it starts to tip over?
well, that’s how I feel all the time.”
–cool thought….

now, how bout living your life like
the precise moment you ‘get’ a joke?

tenuously clinging

these letters lay ordered by rule and notion.
yet, on occasion, I am able to view them
from the very page itself, looking upward
and outward with reversed perspective,
seeing the newly inked root of each character
tenuously clinging to its white field of reality.

degree of slight

it speaks from every
degree of slight,
here,
there.
no backs, no fronts.
only a vealing…..and some
revealing,
just to make sure.

sleep

do you think that
walking-around sleep
is concerned that nite-time
sleep gets all the attention?
not by the long shot
of stumbling over
your favorite pillow.

a small death

these should not be days of quiet desperation.
but of cantankerously loud ones.
it’s your rigid balance that needs disturbing.
fall toward the horizon,
away from the well-centered self.
(a small death is involved,
but thankfully, no mourning).

memorial drives

memorial drives and
carpentry in the rain,
moments more electrical
than our skilsaws.

still too many damp
giggles to count.

not remembered

ubiquitous security cameras,
lives recorded but
not remembered,
definitely not saved.

standard

the sky still comes forward,
and leaves behind
more sky coming.
everywhere, all is
standard and sufficient.

dogs

dogs, always full to the brim
with dog-ness.
why us inconsistent folks
admire them so.

before

before
words,
everything
still
really
was,
and,
was
really
still.

expectant

now push through this thin sheet,
it offers little resistance.
the universe, now, is expectant.

one movement.
now.

persistent knocks

no one answers these persistent knocks.
life still searching.
hungry woodpecker.

is

Life is Tao.
give good form.

essence

essence of aphorisms:
if you can pack-in idea,
you can spare word.

explain

we need to explain.
we explain.
no other explanation
required.

your face before

to see your face before you were born
is not so arcane..
the right sided garden remains, though hidden by the
domination of leftist neurons,
who have controlled the nest almost since birth.

window

window.
either a seeing-through or, perhaps,
a stark reflection; nevertheless,
all pains tightly glazed
with refracted perceptions.

paw prints

the barks of my dog
loosen the last of the falling fragrances.
paw prints through a dust
of colored Spring snow.

chased

understanding mostly
chased by those who
have no use of it.

brook

in the woods, I need no notebook.
the brook takes dictation well,
and repeats it back
when it reaches my pond.

advice

I work for tips and
live for uncatered advice
I can serve my self.

fine dining without the atmosphere.

fissures

crack by crack
nature reclaims
my patio.
a few in this
awareness are not
surprising. it’s the
fissures that open
you to distraction.