March 31, 2012

#1064 life is more than good

saturday morning with nothing needing doing
goat cheese and bacon on still-warm homemade bread
me and my wife
with our dog
in our house
daffodils opening on the table
the dog, sprawled on the floor
with hopeful dark eyes
(as always happens, when bacon is in the air)

March 30, 2012

#1063 canadian whiskey

the whiskey makes the ice sound better
an inviting tink-t-tink
cubes swimming, synchronized
golden

March 29, 2012

#1062 a bad day

a shot of confidence
is what i need
just one vein-full of self-trust
then i could handle the news
handle the rest

find some genuine gravel
and fill the pothole inside my soul
that jars me awake
each time my wheels hit it

i want to see the colour in something
the good, the fun, the innocent
but how do you see innocence
when looking through eyes of guilt
when a rods and cones, are built for guilt

March 28, 2012

#1061 spring is in the error

i hear the inner life of the daffodil
cracking open the dry outer skin
and on today's walk
our dog chased the first robin
the house is begging for a cleaning
so, why in the hell is it hailing sideways out

March 27, 2012

#1060 tarnished

i just wish you could be honest
i understand you can't
the world is set up for us to lie to
build 180 degree rotated aprons
(to cover our butts)

i'm not a great employee
but i'm good
i'm great at parts
mediocre at others
the area where you said i was "unacceptable"
is a lie

the truth
the truth is i was too good in one small area
truth-telling
i told a truth that couldn't be heard

you can't fire me for telling the truth
so you twist another truth
transforming me into horrible

the second worst part is, i respected you
the worst part, i still do

March 26, 2012

#1059 Y

what is a man?
depth of voice, or depth of character
knowledge of hand tools and power tools, or knowledge of how to hand people power and tools
knowing how to drive fast, or knowing how to forgive fast

what is a man?
a person who has strength, or a person who is strength
a person who rebuilds hogs, or a person who rebuilds with hugs
a person who talks big, or a person who talks little

what is a man?
a male with a bigger member, or a male who is a member of something bigger
a father who teaches to shoot hoops, or a father who teaches to shoot for other planets
a man who appreciates all beautiful women, or a man who appreciates the beauty in all women

March 25, 2012

#1058 help me build the bus

they mock me because i idealize
but i feel sympathy that they eyes can't see the ideal
cause to idealize to to see the with ideal eyes
not ideal lies
i see what CAN BE
but i don't JUST see what can be
i see what is
and i look at the route from Is Street to Our-Potential Avenue
and when i feel low
i gain strength by looking at how far Is Street is from Where-We-Came-From Boulevard
i see the best in us in the eyes of our daughters and sons
sets and rises of our sons
remember that moonshine is not always a compound word
but natue's light in nature's dark
the yin in the black sky of yang
i be an idealist
make my ideal lists
of everything from home improvements
to the things about me i want to be

there is no bus from Is Street to Our-Potential Avenue
no air-conditioned seat on wheels
but that isn't to say there can't be

#1057 the bloody detail

detail is the circulatory system of fiction
keeping everything alive, moving
is the train transporting vital cargo
limited to no one part of the body
pumping, flowing, fighting
fighting disease
boredom, staleness, hyper-cerebral
keeping the body, the story, alive, moving, active
able to perform all of its action verbs
detail, infuses the story
with truth

March 24, 2012

#1056 a gazillion roads diverged in a yellow wood

the friend we lose touch with
the one we never felt we'd lose touch with
the house we don't buy
the one we think is "the one" while we're looking at it
the adult thing we hear ourselves saying
the thing we swore we'd never say
life is a novel with an ending we'll never predict
but we won't stop from guessing
we choose our own adventures
and our own adventures choose us

#1055 master puppeteer

a playground full of puppets
wait for their orders
from a box full of commands and propaganda
this has been for years
only the box
grows flatter and larger

March 23, 2012

#1054 a magnifying glass in the hand of a poet

a weed growing through an asphalt crack
a raindrop turning a puddle into concentric rings
snow, bowing a tree to the ground
all ordinary sights
but if one pays them extra attention
notices them more
then the extra ordinary
compounds the words into one

March 22, 2012

#1053 ...is watching

two years older and a hundred feet taller
a rebel, a daredevil, a hero
forbidden music, underage cigarettes, secret places
and i got to join
it was not my world
too much glitz and rulebreaking
not my world, but i had a peak, a glimpse
my membership felt phony
but i enjoyed the rush, enjoyed the glimpse

March 21, 2012

#1052 gage

i was once a symbol of status, of greatness
i had weight, a special home in every house
i was a gift for special transitional occasions 

now
i am a relic
a discarded ornament
to be found in the discount sale bin

have you ever wondered
      if you've outlived your purpose
      known that your prime is past
there is no wondering for me

#1051 petory wrods

wrods, olny ltetres
taht algin toghteer
itno wrods

raedres' mdins
barehte manenig itno wrods
gvinig ltetres lfie

raedres
boceme prat fo peom
lkie witrres

March 20, 2012

#1050 fingernail grit

i'm trying to build me a mountain
but all i got is dirty hands
people shaking people heads

i'm trying
to build me a mountain
i need more dirt
but all i got is sunshine and babbling brooks

i'm trying
to build me a mountain
but their superior smirks are louder than my little voice
tempting me to join, to sit on a throne as a King of Lameness

i'm trying
to build me a mountain
i got no shovel, just two hands, gifts, received from the universe
these hands worked miracles before, they can build a mountain

i'm trying
to build me a mountain
you can watch
you can laugh
you can help
you can build your own
you got your choices
i got mine
i'm building me a mountain

March 19, 2012

#1049 cowboys and christmas trees

i'm a cowboy, without his hat
a christmas tree, with nothing on
i am franti, with no guitar
marley, without his spliff
i'm a dairy farmer's dinner, without the meat
a city street, without its traffic
a car without its wheels
and i'm here, wondering where
i ought to be
wondering where, my purpose is
if it ain't here with me
and i'm here, wondering where
i ought to be
wondering where, my purpose is
if it ain't here with me

#1048 dear Earth

i'd say, dump him 
he can talk a nice talk
but look at how he treats you
takes what he wants
feigns dignity once or twice a year for his friends
i'd say, respect your self, dump him
faster than he dumps his toxic waste into your rivers

what has he ever done for you
make two lists
one of what he's done for you
one of what he's done to you
then, while there's still plenty of fish in your oceans,
dump him

#1047 i love

your hair
that obstructs my kisses
your hands
that write to-do lists of things i don't want to do
your mouth
that babbles when i wish for silence
your feet
that freeze my legs under winter's covers
your eyes
that announce when i've failed to be a man
all of you

all of you
who worry that i don't
every part
and don't ask why
because there is no reason
and there are too many reasons to list

#1046 inspired by montgomery

how many of john's angels
watch dish dirt harden
daydream about cowboys that could have been

how many husbands come home from work in the evening
and watch the news, numbing their mind
from thoughts of the gap between the man they are and the man they wanted to be

how many children
grow up in a house haunted by the spiderweb-covered ghost of love
never hearing the real story of how their parents met
unable to imagine the passion of lovers
only the routine of two who have given up
sleeping in separate beds in separate rooms
blaming everything from insomnia to sleep disorders to stertor

how many women want to turn into angels that fly from dusty houses
how many men want to be the wand that does the turning

March 18, 2012

#1045 the man who yells at kids walking home from school

i understand now
cranky old men
i get them

i'm not saying i'll be one
but if i lost her
if i lost her
i see how it can happen

anger at the world who took yours
keeping people at a frown's distance
armed with the knowledge of the depth
of love's stab
and the wound that won't heal

#1044 table for one, please

she doesn't mind the host's double check
table for one?
or the waiter's
doesn't mind hearing references to the patheticness of it
from her tv screen
doesn't mind the quiet

what she hates
is the empty chair across from her
empty
the chair makes her feel not like she's eating alone
but that she's not eating with him
the chair sits there and he does not
feels silly to order ketchup on the side and leave it, untouched
but it was his favourite

#1043 resistance is futile


we whisper, as democracy is picked from our pocket
resistancee is futile
we say, as our rights are robbed beyond reason
resistance is futile
we complain, as our safety is severed and stolen
resistance is futile
fu-tile
but mabe we have the word backwards
Instead of the “few” preceeding the “I”
Let “I” appear first, then the few,
The rest will follow
Resist
Assist, persist, raise a fist
RESIST
Act in wisdom, but act
Doing nothing, is acceptance, an invitation
Doing something, is putting the “stance” in resistance
And maybe they will think you crazy
But that is what pawns call knights
For making moves no one else will
Resist the powers that be
Make them be loving
Make them be compassionate
Make them serve everyone
Resist the powers that be
For today they be greedy
For today they be self-serving
For today they be danger
Resist, resist, resist
Don’t just fight against
Fight for
As you swing your sword from  horseback
Keep your “for’s”
In front of your eyes
What are your for’s
I hope you fight FOR love, compassion, the unserved

#1042 unwrapped


crawling into bed
I am one inch shorter than when I met today
commitments, to-do list items, resignation, and compromise
are each owners of part of that inch
and though sleep will return most of it, i
am of an age when those fractions of inches that sleep fails to return
begin to show
ife has given me many smiles
But she has also made me tired
I am not yet halfway to death’s mailbox
But I’ve noticed time’s trick
Of chugging slow out of the race gates
Then speeding beyond belief as she moves along

I fear the day I arrive
But only as much as I fear that some of life’s gifts remain on the table, unwrapped

#1041 life is a breeze


no one notices the wind at their back
until they turn to return and face wind face first
then we wish for what we once had and never appreciated

how do we appreciate the air
how does a clam appreciate the water
how does a cloud appreciate the sky

how do we appreciate
the wind at our back
life and love
and free passes and fair shakes


March 10, 2012

NO INTERNET FOR A WEEK: WILL CATCH UP THEN

#1040 conscious daze

i count the days
instead of making the days count
wishing all the todays
turn into tomorrows
instead, all the tomorrows
turn into todays

i breathe without thinking
think without thought
the hands of seconds, hours, minutes
spin in days
as silly as any revolutionaries
finishing where they began
only to revolve again
spinning without end
spin in a daze

March 9, 2012

#1039 my knees are meteorologists

my back is old
my knees are meteorologists
hair requires clipping in places where it never did before
my birthday cakes an out of room last decade
and
i'm happy
memories pull smiles across my face
stories of yesterday and tomorrow
increase my excitement for life
my friends tell me i've lived a good life
not with their words
but with their being my friends

March 8, 2012

#1038 november snow in august sun

your blue jeans and a plaid shirt
make me want to paint you a new shade of forever
the way your eyes share a secret laugh with mine
that visitors don't notice
the miracle of how different we are
but how similar our core beliefs

March 7, 2012

#1037 ancestral skies

a sky-full of eyes disapproves of my lies and compromise
my principles challenged by reality, i wavered
now i stand
half-principled, half-souled
wishing i could have been more man
knowing i would do the same again
still
the night sky is full of the eyes of everyone i love
and i cannot look up at the stars

March 5, 2012

#1036 the "i" in majority

speaking your mind is only dangerous if
your thoughts run against the majority
and enough people are listening
to change the majority

then
you are threatening a system
a way way of thinking
a collective

then
you matter

#1035 bill 22 bill 22

democracy is a crime cloaked in doublespeak
democracy is childhood dream
and as a new country, we are still a child
democracy is a an empty slogan, a farce, an illusion
a lie you can believe until you stand in the government's way
why should we tell the world they need to be a democracy
when we cannot do so ourselves 

March 4, 2012

#1034 word, spoken

people gather
first-timers and show-offs
friends and strangers
words are read
from paper, from memory
then, with some change
in brain philosophy and brain physiology
people disperse
rippling out of building and into the world

March 3, 2012

#1033 sunshine and loss

victory and loss are as inevitable
as sunshine and rain
as smiles and tears

but past victories can only help so much
when you're gripped, in loss's talons
when your eyes and the skies overflow, with rain and tears

for what it's worth dear reader
sunshine and smiles, though they may never be the same
sunshine and smiles, they will return

March 2, 2012

#1032 sleep tight

there are monsters behind your door
they'll tear your skin in strips
there are monsters behind your door
they'll eat your eyeballs like bedtime snacks
there are monsters behind your door
they love your tasty blood type
there are monsters behind your door
i hope you don't need to pee

March 1, 2012

#1031 comfort

close the curtain
come to bed
that world can wait until tomorow
go get ready for bed
i'll warm your side of the bed
let us lay our bodies
under this comforter
and sleep
but first,
close the curtain