#672 party time

revealing bikini bottoms, a hot-tub, and too much alcohol
danger
sounds like a great night
until you learn that the wearer is a guy

#671 men at bar time

their feet slap the street
each loud word trying to impress the girls
words they'd never say in front of their grandmother
they spent too much time stinking up the bathroom with pretty smells
once in the bar, their drink becomes an outfit accessory
and i feel like shouting
look around you!
is this where you want to meet mrs right?

#670 of blades and people

one thing that's more dangerous than a sharp knife,
is a dull one
says the expert chef to the prep cook
and the wise old man
to the anxious grasshopper

asking more of something or someone than they are capable,
without giving help
results in pain

#669 days like this

make me forget yesterdays
and anticipate tomorrows
friends and family
food and fun
laugh until unrecognizable sounds squeak and peep and snort
their way out of my body

then at night i sleep
tired, happy, content
such are days like this

#669 taking over

this strange place will soon be mine

the colours and the shapes will be as internal as my organs

i will flip on the lights

unamazed that my mind knows the home of the switch

i will be able to navigate without lights

but for now

it belongs to her

#668 bedtime

what was once fun is old and tired
once flashy and new
now pathetic and chintzy
so do i change back to my old self
or find a new fun
and hear the old me mock

#667 sound and silence

"the amazing thing about wood is not that it burns,
but that it floats"
the amazing thing about the poet is not that she is published,
but that she writes daily
the amazing thing about the student is not the graduation,
but the more than a decade of sitting in a desk
the amazing thing about mothers is not the miracle of birth,
but the miracle of forever
the amazing thing about the Mona Lisa is not the fame,
but that like all paintings, it's just made with lines
the amazing thing about music is not the genius,
but that it's all just sound and silence

#666 "turn up the music"

some say evil lives in music
self-corruption in listening to rock n roll
but how else can a north american teen survive those
years between childhood and adulthood when we
realize the adults are just, on average, larger than children
they still exhibit tantrums and they still believe in magic
and the ones who have kids
all believe their kids' lives will be fixed versions of their own
the arnold to their devito

#665 picking strings, picking thoughts

fingertips run on metal strings
massaging some part of my mind
their bustle on their frets, soothes my own
music is a language that cannot be packaged in a dictionary
to do so is to put a bow on happiness
and to slip depression into a gift bag

#664 nature's ambulance-chaser's

after the flooding
cottonwoods thrive
benefiting from tragedy
not malicious,
circumstantial

line river beds
waiting for flood and erosion

#663 go fear

fear is a symptom of growth
and comfort a side effect of complacency
do you scare yourself everyday
do you try new things
music, courses, hobbies
do you share your skills in front of crowds

#662 flakes

month-old tire-tracks and footprints
fade and disappear as fluff falls from above
erasing sloppy browns
leaving new white
potential
self-promises and everyday revolution fill my head
as white fills yards
each one is unique
but what's it matter
when they share fate of purpose and of place

#661 sports and tools

what is a man
does he fix everything and drink beer from the bottle
does he cuddle his girl and hold doors open
does he dress well
does he have dirty fingernails
does he save words, and in doing so, save their weight
does he watch the 6 o'clock news uninterrupted
does he throw a tight spiral
does he know all the tsn stats and all the acronymic sport terms
what is a man

#660 atop the freezer, atop the world

remember the you that longed to see the top of the fridge
the mystery and magic in a place viewed by only adult eyes
occupied by only pens and change

remember the pinball machine in your stomach
as an adult hoisted you up, up in the air
and for precious seconds
you spied
the magic and the mystery

if you don't remember
try harder
for the sake of your self now
for the sake of your self then
for the sake of young people today

for beyond just pens and change
above the freezer exists,
all the mystery of childhood

#659 elastic bedsheet

i will protect you and cherish you
i'll warm your side of the bed and spread the elastic bedsheet
whether you wear my small ring or not
i will love you
i'll love you so much it will hurt me some days
but love and pain have always been friends
to avoid pain is to ignore love knocking on your front door
i will exhale easy beside you each night
because that is happiness
that is contentment

#658 for your thoughts

lowest odd denomination
they all make "sense"
perhaps we should call them something new,
coin a new term
trade five for a popular music band
and i'm done,
now that i've shared my two cents

#657 after the fact

and i read that rules are written after the fact in war
and i wonder, what about love
when are those rules written?
does the winner write them?
is there a winner?
perhaps there are two ever-changing sets of unwritten rules
which explains why love beats war
in the department of confusion

#656 unspoken

her body shows no signs of leaving the patio chair
one hand on her belly
looking out to the empty garden, nothing growing there
too tired to cry
too tired to sleep
a tired that sleep can't fix
behind her is a prairie house polluted with reminders
and a husband who just wants to move on
she sighs and her brain notices the sky
too beautiful
too big, too heavy

#655 discard

i am standing in the garbage truck's compactor
chewing my nails as space shrinks

okay i'm not
but i feel like my positivity is
everywhere, i see something i failed to do
or did wrong

everything around me is crumbling and falling apart
will my outlook be next

#654 "and what's from the earth"

a towel across the bottom of the door
green air clears up everything
a plate of treats is offered in rounds by the hostess
and in this apartment
i fail to see the harm
that we see in the media and the general public
i'm not even partaking of the herb, the gangha
but i see love and openness and people talking, really talking
the towel at the door filters
keeping smoke in
keeping hidden agendas out

#653 berry patch roots

i saw power
i'm surrounded by power
a dad that worked 9-5 for guys that disrespected him
worked to put groceries in the fridge and cupbords
and taught the power of satisfaction in a job well done
not taught with words but with life
i saw power
a mother who added water to the last bit of stubborn no-name ketchup
that clung to the plastic
she convinced it to come out
the night before grocery day
she added it to a huge hearty casserole built from nothing
i saw power
surrounded by brothers and a sister
who entertained each other with sticks and rocks
played in mud-piles and frog ponds
who shared 1 tv, and twice as may channels
i saw power
a grandmother who managed stairs without knees
after a life of ten kids and 50-plus grandkids
a life overflowing with love and empty of money
success wasn't a fat pay cheque
success was being proud of yourself and your actions when you humbled yourself each night at the foot end side of the bed
and happiness was knowing your family was alive and safe
i saw power
a big brother who paved roads through puberty and insecurity
and managed to remember us all through his teenage years
through the dark high school years
then decades later returned to finish what was started
i saw power
brothers who stayed home in the dark to avoid the scary light of society
grow up to be teachers and speakers and managers
managing the fear looking back from the mirror
i saw power
a brother
growing up picked on and kicked on who wouldn't tell
who found empathy for his abusers, explanations and justifications
who believes in justice every tic of every toc on every clock
i saw power
a sister
small in size, mammoth in character
who grew up behind five boys
a sister who, broke pine, steps tall, front of the line
i saw power
another grandmother
who lived a life of devotion and sacrifice
who loved knowing details of the lives of her kids and theirs
i saw power
a grandfather
who invented flyswatters made out of 3-owner thin shoe souls
who had no thing but new he didn't have "nothing"
married a english teacher who understood that two negatives make a positive
meaning, no matter how many bad things, if you stayed even, it was all good
a grandfather who found in everything, a reason to whistle
because happiness was a berry patch full of berries and empty of noise
i saw power
i'm surrounded by power

#652 a life on the rocks

i lived my life with boo's
boo's at my attempts to rise above the life around me
but somehow, now my life is filled with booze

#651 noise

turn the car radio off
listen to the silence
if it's too loud
deal with the noise in your head

turn off the tv and do some quiet thinking
avoid the temptations
of talking and smoking and drinking

just sit
breathe
be

#650 21 varieties

21 varieties of pasta sauce
really?
21 i disagree with Ford's opinion of black
but 21 varieties is excessive
lined up with labels and logos smiling at me in the ultra-bright aisle
21 varieties of tomato sauce
most with unrecognizable ingredients
to help the contents last forever
and to taste more like pasta sauce than pasta should

#649 mash potatoes and snow

requiem for childhood
when toys were serious business
for when time was different
when recess was a staple
and bedtime story a given
when mashed potatoes were castles and train-tracks and tunnels
and snow was a welcome wonder
and childhood had its hard days
but i look forward to providing one

#648 perspective on a plate

a long day at work
but i arrive home to a fresh hot meal
problems evaporate
turn invisible and move away
a peck on the cheek that is both habitual and meaningful
her smile shatters the downward spiral of my thoughts and everything starts over
fresh

#647 losing each other

friends and drinks and laughs around a warm kitchen table
music and teasing and eating
guitars and drums and harmonicas appear
memories, old and new
and then someone turns off the stereo and shouts
cab's here, let's go to the bar

#646 99 and 44/100

wash
scrub
there is not enough water in the municipal tank
to rinse this feeling down the drain
with sore skin
i find my towel
contaminate it with my body and my thoughts
the mirror catches me
i exit

#645 classic

two lines, parallel, separated by inches
stretch ahead of my skis
to the bend in the trail
a trail rooved by an archway of evergreen and cottonwood
speckled with stars
as a few flakes meander to the ground
inside my fleece is sweat
from burning off the stresses of the day
but those are gone from me now
and i am here
in this moment
arms pumping skis sliding
in this moment, minutes don't exist
because time, time forgets herself

#644 thank you

how lucky i am
to be this sad
only months
but so connected
so many stories
told and untold
and now i pull out of the parking lot
the last time
and i'm so sad
tears fill my eyes
how lucky i am to be this sad