April 30, 2010

#409 i need an assistant

to tell me where to be
help me eat healthy
tell me where i left my stuff
help me just enough
keep track of my life
without having to be my wife
tell me i deserve a beer
keep my memory crystal clear
i need an assistant
tell me what i'm suppose to pick up
remind me at 5:30, feed the pup
one with a good sense of humour
that knows to laugh at all my jokes
one with a good judgement of character
that likes me and all my blokes
pay might be low
but you get to hang out with me you know

April 29, 2010

#408 routine and ritual/ like a million others

her hand sets the alarm, 7:00
like a million others
removes her retainer to the nightstand

and as much as routine and ritual
kill love and faith
it is the life of the being that beats the heart

he drools a bit, just before sleep
whispers, I pick you every night
she smiles, ditto
she falls asleep feeling special
he falls asleep feeling needed
with a bit of drool

April 27, 2010

#407 - Anniversary

a year
a year is gone
fifty-two sundays
and many are the moments she fell from my mind

the moon and the sun still trade shifts
trees still reach for the sun
only to fall

still
i have moments when tears fill my soul
and inside i wail like a toddler at the sight of her own blood

why her
why then

fair
fair is a four-letter f-word made up by adults
a laughable lie passed through generations
a moon made of cheese

April 26, 2010

#406 orville


people are like popcorn kernels

pour a bunch together, turn up the heat
interesting things happen, volume rises

all the same
and no two alike

some rise to the top
a few fail to pop

April 25, 2010

#405 oh, to be 7 in the summer

black eyes and scraped knees
signs of a happy childhood
of days outside and of softballs missed
missing lunch because the game loses time
digging trenches in the mud and pouring water
a stick and dental floss and something for a hook
equal a day of fishing the brook
apples are for eating, and for throwing
same as snow
and grass should be for walking

April 24, 2010

#404 today

aurora borealis does not compare to a million hits on youtube
lying on our backs beneath a shared and lonely sky
is nothing when they have all the answers in their palms

a falling star
this world of my parents and of theirs
we have it all and feel entitled to more

take your thumb and hit this country
be sure to get off the main black road
littered with box stores by our society
of which i am a registered member
that is my SIN
find the simple and the ordinary
that lies around the bend of a dusty unnamed pot-holed country road

#403 introspection and interruption

i stare out a living room window

lights off
saving energy
forcing introspection that borders on depression

what has this life done with me
what have i done with this life

my answers are embarrassingly quiet
inconsequential

and as i travel inward
portaging over time

my black lab pushes her arse against me sideways
demanding attention
and i smile
at time
and at human mood
at myself
and at my dog




April 23, 2010

#402 white nose hair

don't grow old
it's lonely
watching friends die
remembering what your body used to do
age is no longer revered
are today's seniors less wise
or our youth
a frightening disconnect exists
a disconnect that always existed
but it's bigger now
the old want to be young
and the young never want to grow old
yet
we are missing something
a beauty and a comfort that comes with age for some

April 22, 2010

#401 lonely sink

13-inch by 13-inch plexi-glass
he stares
his only power, their lack of knowledge

eats sunday dinner from its pot
over a lonely sink
goes to bed

stares at the long faded
glow-in-the-dark stars straight ahead, above
and dreams of other worlds



April 21, 2010

#400 just sitting in a chair

as the skin rots
the reputation grows
last words and insignificant anecdotes
grow into myth and legend that blend with reality
and farm-wife becomes goddess
and shopper becomes life of life
but reality is one dream
agreed upon by the majority
and dreams are but what is deemed impossible by the majority
take my dreams
stuff your reality
just let me sit in this chair, alive

April 20, 2010

#399 2-person tent


a tent feels like its own world
but everyone can hear what's happening in their
a relationship feels like a bubble
but others are affected by negative vibes
a thin wall
a human-made boundary
measured in millimeters
separates these worlds from those around them
the outside conditions still affect you
but on a rainy day
so does the colour inside your tent

April 19, 2010

#398 a bridge in time


from danny's perch on the third and final rung of the rural bridge
his smile and his tan dominate the moment
he jumps
seems to pause
flies falls plunges
the shallow river swallows his tan and his smile
eternity is a long time my brain says to itself
then he surfaces
and we all breathe and cheer, act all no-big-deal
hoping no one challenges us to follow

April 18, 2010

#397 a new to-do list










lists grow away
in front of me
like the horizon
for a rear facing kid
backseat station wagon
but without the wonderment
and so i'm making a new list
but this time
my rule to myself
no additions to the list

#396 corner of 4th and center


he strums his street-corner guitar
accepting praise and insult with a smile
eye contact with every donor
a smile
a nod
appreciation


flowing from original to cover and back
going where the crowd and the guitar and his soul take him
in his hands, the guitar has a life, a personality
stories to tell
secrets and laughs to share

April 17, 2010

#395 whatever you do, do it well


an angel in a VHS rental shop
her smile a highlight for customers
male and female
her humour a plus for co-workers
friendly and grumpy
she has 180'ed more days than she knows
patrons leave with shoulders an inch higher
on the weekly schedule co-workers look forward
to seeing her name beside their own

#394 1998 nickel

she was a cerebral experience after seven years of emotion
inspiring, plain, and simple, plain and simple
inspiringly naive
she saw positive superlatives in everyone
the kindest, the nicest, the most passionate
and me
the most potential
she was as shiny coin new to circulation
but four years of wear and of grimy palms
loosened her luster
and she no longer stands out in a cash register
or in a stack of nickels





#393 this poem

a drop in the bucket of cliches
as unique as any simile
a metaphor in pixels
and an annoying alliteration
with an excessively, over-the-top adverb

#392 guns in cars









words fall from mouths
like bullets from guns
holes in souls
scars in cars
the worst place to fight
no way to walk away
road trip backward
down relationship drive

#391 glimpses

there are what-if's in my life
and if i dwell
i spend a day of my life in bed
under a heavy blanket
but a poet needs to stand under a cloud
once in a while

red and white dress
always summer in my mind's memory
the reality of today
and the dress was hard to surprise
she knew me
called empty promises empty promises
and called my bluffs when i was bluffing myself

but she knows the man
the man i catch rare glimpses of
she saw that man every time her eyes faced me

#390 aloe vera

guys sport pasty white legs
girls desert their sleeves
and sandals are dug out

the (unofficial) first day of summer has pulled into the driveway
and it's honking its horn
29 degrees
skies are blue and people are not

winter has lost and spring is retreating

where's my aviators?

April 16, 2010

#389 et two

clothes fly like fireworks
and one he and one she
fall softly but semi-roughly
into one bed
around the bed are half-inverted socks
unbuckled pants
and twisted shirts

hours earlier
wine splashed
and dishes were dirtied
with his best meal
lasagna
and caesar

April 15, 2010

#388 1,2,3...

a vertical bat jumps back and forth back and forth
between two brothers' hands
at the last catch they step toward each other
now there hands, grasping the bat, climb each other
then they near the bat's handle
finger-scissors appear
alas, the older, longer-fingered boy wins
again
first bat
he hoots
half the boys follow him
and half the younger brother


April 14, 2010

#387 four-letter words

words tossed like spoons
but they're knives
slicing palms
and scarring for years
until the sliced
no longer sees the marks

April 13, 2010

#386 x

high-fives, sport-stats, and horsepower
work 8-5
home for supper
life used to be easy
well, not easy, but easy to figure
predictably hard
and now what?
equal rights is a phrase in employee manuals
holding a door is either expected
or dangerous
and knitting is laughed upon
tell me, what does a man look like?

#385 fraction and commingling

the party next-door in the hall next to this church
makes the sermon-goers feel jealous
and the drinkers feel like high-school kids again
but for one
a partier who feels all guilt and no pleasure
she stays with her friends
dripping herself in guilt
betraying her Father
betraying her father

April 12, 2010

#384 looking out

from the valley, my house behind me
i gazed at a mountain
so i climbed, to conquer

from the peek, valley at my back
i stared at a taller mountain
so i descended, to ascend

from the second mountaintop, the old range behind me
i dreamed of the birds above
so i spread my arms, to fly

#383 zero gravity

tonight
is a planet with a language without a word for gravity
so when i'm up, i won't anticipate a fall
when i'm up, i won't come back down
every today higher than its yesterday

a smiling, happy rotation
without fear of tomorrow
no watching the phone ring
crossing the street from a friend
or hiding from life, in my bedroom

tonight
is a world with a language with a word for change


#382 a letter to the city (capo8)


why ya gotta try G
scrape my sky D
why ya gotta try
scrape my sky
why ya gotta go
hurt my so' CCC

Em,C,Em,D

when your freeways
gonna feel free
when your freeways
gonna feel free
ride your roads
follow your lines

ride under your ground
'tha million others
ride under your ground
'tha million others
travel your subway
feel alone

so many choices
overwhelm
so many choices
overwhelm
combo number nine
choose for me

4million feet racin'
goin' nowhere
4million feet racin'
goin' nowhere
2 million people
race the hand in the light

girl on a corner
askin for change
daughter on a corner
time for a change
girl on a corner
get me out



April 11, 2010

#381 dead wait

gone, gone
the anchor has been cut
and we motor away with the limp empty line
she lies on the bed of our ocean floor
lies, as sediment lulla-byes her to sleep

#380

i look at her and see a future bulge of life
what was once on the far end of the map
is now close
around the corner?
in an empty house i hear youth laughing and hiding in nooks and crannies
the small spaces, ignored by adults and treasured by kids
forts and stores and worlds
imagination for mortar
cementing the buildings
cementing the future adults

April 8, 2010

#379 whatever works


my spine compress each day
as i fail to raise the balance of my bank account
working 12 hour days
there are no dreams
as i switch from work to bed to alarm to work
the kl-chunk of time-clocks as regular as my heartbeat
as the ratio of brown-to-white evens out on my head

April 7, 2010

#378

their relationship is beautiful and sad
he hurts her and loves her
like the surf against a rocky shoreline
and he cannot hurt her without hurting himself
but he does
again
and again
and again
she feels it coming like a tide

April 6, 2010

#376 has a caribou on it









the man on the street corner strums an acoustic guitar with his defunct cell phone
he's good but not great
and no one notices
their city eyes avoid his
afraid he'll nuisance them by asking for change
but of the 3 million people in the city around them
3 million people believe we need change
the city needs a change more than the man needs change

April 5, 2010

#375 how easily we could omit the "Q"




i'm a strange breed
autodidactic-wannabe bibliophile
dipthongs on a page excite me as much as thongs on a beach
though in different ways

words
the way they sound and look
the way they affect the other known senses
and the unknown

black on white
word on paper
26 letters
that's all we have to pass our knowledge to the next generations
and it all matters
the content, the appearance, the font choice
all of it

#374 Dove-soap and friction

if i gouge out my eyes
hollow out the sockets with a spoon
i would still see him
he is part of me
for the simple fact
i try so hard to omit him
he is not on my skin anymore
but he always will be part of me
because i'll want to wash him off
he used to make Forever seem too short
now it's an eternity

April 4, 2010

#373 signs of the times


decades after the 5-man band
shared their lyrics
the scenery is blocked up more than ever
school-busses, washrooms, everywhere
if a man needs a sign to warn him
"slippery when wet"
or "caution" at the top of a scenic cliff
he has bigger problems
the more signs we have, the less they mean
the bigger and brighter they need to be to stand out
a society bill-bored to death
liability, marketability, irritability
what about responsibilty and morality
if you reach a T-stop
do you need the stop sign
we've reached a point
when we need to stop the signs

April 3, 2010

#372 tunnel mountain vision



two acoustics occupy a corner:
hers leaning into his
both worn at the third fret, years of jamming together
his strings curling in all four directions of a compass, like the hair on his face
her's trimmed and fashionable, like the styles in her closet
and behind the stringed instruments, mountains
still pushing up, up, for millions of years
with an ocean out of sight, somewhere behind, but always there

and the guitars cuddle on the stand in their corner of the room
and the couple cuddles on the couch in their corner of time

April 2, 2010

#371 grey

i scan our vast continent
subtract the grey and brown
and little is left
shades of grey and boredom dominate the landscape
natural and built from human brain
the birds the plants the fish
all shades of unexciting grey
grey clouds fill grey skies that meet grey landscapes at grey horizons
and i am amazed at how countless shades of grey
can fill me with awe