April 30, 2012

#1091 dear mister abbott

i have special needs in my class
i need newer books and comfortable chairs
i need the technology you say is here
i need to be appreciated by my employer
want to hear you say that what i do his challenging and worthy of respect
and to belive your words

dear mister abbott
i don't need you to like me
i need you to treat me with the respect that i
work so hard to instill amongst our students

dear mister abbott
i ask students for honesty
so here goes
i don't like the way you speak about teachers
i am suspicious of your motivations and your political choice of words
i hope my instinct is wrong
i hope you have the good of students in the heart under your smooth tie

dear mister abbott
let's talk


April 29, 2012

#1090 my mother's back

when i was a kid
     i performed miracles

seeing universal secrets
     by squishing my eyeballs with my hands
windmilling an ice-cream bucketful of dinky cars around and around
     without dropping one
walking entire blocks while managing to avoid alligators and detonations
     by avoiding
surviving in the back seat of the family parisienne as it hurtled into the city at 100km/hr (!)
     through a dark tunnel
using the force to will my big brother's coach to invite me on to the softball diamond to join them
     there's a reason they call the field a diamond, a special gem

these days, i perform new miracles
     growing to know my wife even deeper, after ten years together
          seeing students in the moment when they see the world a tiny bit differently
               writing poems that find people at just the right moment in their approximate 70 years here

April 25, 2012

#1089 "that's her calling now"

two old ladies talk on two old phones, sisters
two old ladies talking like two young girls
jealousy and love
shallowness and depth
a life together
a life apart
they say goodbye, until the next sunday

April 24, 2012

#1088 the patch

most people think small-town rinks are oval
but ours wasn't
three-quarters was
but one corner extended beyond the boards
to form a small forgotten patch of ice
we spent hours here
dreaming lord stanley dreams
while kicking reclaimed pucks with hand-me-down winter boots
the echo of a puck off the outside of the boards
the cold smell of perma-sweat
stopping to watch the zamboni driver
a god in the world of small-town rinks

April 23, 2012

#1087 crow's pose

i twist and contort my body
into seemingly simple sounding poses
but all come from the same motion
a full extension of the middle finger
intended for Age
my ego overfills every ashram
i compare and compete
toward self-defeat
why am i not good enough for this moment
why do i need pain to feel good
why do i push, insted of worship
my body

April 21, 2012

#1086 hot spot

a hundred poems sit in front of me
ripe and ready
but i see none
sometimes, i see them all
but today my poet eyes fail
an electric fireplace throws flickering stanzas of orange ,
drawers full of fresh phrases and tired cutlery
tables at odd angles with odd stories to tell
i know today's poem is there, but it escapes me
an underground fire

#1085 it strikes a chord

his face and his being
more in the moment than this second-hand
his instrument and his soul are teammates in a game they can only lose
and they can only win
a moment when the lyrics are secondary to the experience
both his and the audience'
the final chord
rings
long
not long enough

April 19, 2012

#1084 cliffless

breathing is a shallow verb performed in the mouth
friends' smiles morph into judgements
their compliments, empty pity
everything undone competes for real estate in my skull
days like this
are good reasons to live on the prairie

April 18, 2012

#1083 the black end of art and commitment

i've been tired for days
trying to plug in to this moment
this pause between tic and toc on the clock
but my mind is a blender
fast and mixed
my life camera is shaky
i haven't noticed my shaow since
     since 4pm freddy-sips and popsicle-sticks?
sing my voice out through a microphone
squeeze my heart out through a meat-grinder
waiting for someone to notice
instead of applaud

April 17, 2012

#1082 the neighbour

with a blue-collar rasp in her voice
and a secret smile in her eye
she teases me
not knowing my wishes

with her sun-speckled face
and her eagerness for adventure, big or small
she fascinates me
not knowing i want to lean closer

April 16, 2012

#1081 note to self

build new synaptic paths
each day is gift
not a checklist
embrace new and scary
don't hide in the ordinary, the mundane
half of life is today
one quarter is how you lived all the other todays
and the last quarter is how you look at them
the future never happens
is only a guess of what the new present will hold
a guess based on how you live your todays
sing
learn
fly

April 15, 2012

#1080 grandparents' kitchen

the woodstove fights the kitchen
for title of kitchen focal point
and a couch
acquired "gently used" two decades before
stretches along the wall in between
the light, that caused such consternation
clings to the ceiling above the table
though i cannot find the story in the furniture
this room spoke a narrative to my childhood
a narrative that arcs into my now

April 14, 2012

#1079 a pendulum of time

an underduck, an underduck
she squeals between pushes
i comply, running forward
as she pumps
climbing to heaven
falling back to earth
climbing to heaven falling
back to earth

April 12, 2012

#1078 this poem

now is the time
when i want to write a poem
that will be remembered by history herself
one that descendants will be bored studying
now is the time
but i will write this poem instead

April 11, 2012

#1077 the f- word

fun has arrived in the form of a friend
he was on the back porch after my work
with two beer in hand
new fun plans were made
and abandoned
for newer funner plans
and then fun draws more fun
and from  there our party grew
until fun went home
and then i read a book

April 10, 2012

#1076 outlets exposed

the feeling of home was indivisible
though the electrical all was visible
through the walls that were but skeletons
of what they would become

her house, half finished
her home, fully complete
what does a human need more
than mattress on plywood-patched floor
when there is friends and food
song and snack
(except maybe troy's zombie attack)

April 9, 2012

#1075 for the bedtime ceiling-starers... you are beautiful

this is for the kid who sits back row to watch the world
without letting the world watch them
this is for the kid who dreams of running, a track star
but can't walk to try-outs for shyness
this is for the kid who dreams at night
what he would do if he had the power that comes from being cool
this is for the short boy
who all the girls like, but none of the girls like
for the tall girl who stoops short
avoid intimidating the boys
this is for the black kid
who can't dance or sing
this is for the tall kid
who can't shoot a hoop
for the fat girl
from whom the boy friends seek advice on women
for the wimpy skinny boy
who thinks being big is being man
for the fat boy
who packages hurt in hues of humour
this is for the bench-warmers
who want more than a morsel of belonging
this is for the smart kid's sibling, the cheater
whose 100% is displayed on the refrigerator
this is for the kid who is a target, for bullying
who, after six schools, has given up on blaming the bullies
this is for the boy who prefers to play with the girls

someone else has been here
you are worthy
there is another side
someone loves you
you are beautiful
business gurus say people need to hear things seven times
before remembering

     you are beautiful
     you are beautiful
     you are beautiful
     you are beautiful
     you are beautiful
     you are beautiful
     you are beautiful
and just because
     you are beautiful

#1074 i do

while i'll always be a son i spend more time wearing my wedding ring
than i spend doing son things

i feel anger at myself
for branching too far out from the family tree

but there comes a time
when a boy must use the tools of a man
and build a family of his own hands

April 8, 2012

#1073 april

residents shovel snow
spreading it like icing
in their yardand on the streets
trying to melt winter
a little faster

they see snow melt
in the wake the lawn furniture leaves
between sheds and patios

spring is unwrapping doggy gifts
given in winter months
people pick it up
along with the trash
hiding the ugliness
focusing on the beauty that is spring

April 7, 2012

#1072 nope

the devil's angel jumps under paradise
like a defibrillator sits on a wall
feigning usefulness
creation is as big of a myth as evolution
let god drink gin
then we'll see what she's made of

April 6, 2012

#1071 sleep and dreams

what is sleep
but the unplugging of the day
dreams
now dreams are more
dreams are a key-card to a hotel room i would love to see
in the hotel of the human mind

#1070 triage

she knew
like a veteran nurse knows her favourite doctor's glove size
she knew
and she wanted to help
if people could send invisible waves of good vibes
they traveled from her to my bed

she did all the things that aren't taught

hid the blood


joked perfectly inappropriately about the threads
put ice in the water

and
somehow
she knew

April 5, 2012

#1069 soul survivor

my chest is open
my motivation and my soul exposed
the doctors see my inside
and fail to understand me
they fix my parts
but the whole stays broken
black butterflies flit from my stomach
carrying evil
as though evil had no weight
i have already done
what the stethoscoped are about to do
close me back up again

April 4, 2012

#1068 dear best friend / thirds

let my body tell your body a story
then my body will listen to yours

let my body tell your body what happened today
then mine will listen to every word yours has to say

let my legs scream to your legs at the end of today
what my legs did while yours were away

let my lips sing to you and to yours
in beats and times of twos and of fours

let my navel kiss the button on your belly
and whisper how your legs turn mine to jelly


let us say this, all this and more- in the kitchen, in the pantry
any room, any chair, don't count out the floor

let our bodies whisper, hum
let them sing dance holler and roar


and when we're done

let me and my body
ask you and yours
for seconds
and more

#1067 whiskey-sour, ginger-rye

georgie-porgie kissed the girls and made them cry
am i the only one that wondered why
was he abused one april day
is he he straight or is he gay
georgie-porgie kissed the girls and made them cry
we should ask, putting little georgie to the task
does he know how far they fall
while they wait upon his call
georgie-porgie kissed the girls and made them cry
will you be georgie, or will i
whiskey-sour, ginger-rye

#1066 on the carpool home

i did
he said i made a difference
and he's right
i did

i didn't realign the stars
or invent life-saving medical equipment
but i made a kid smile
feel good inside

i don't know how re-aligners of stars feel
or inventors of life-saving medical equipment
but i hope they feel kind of like this
good inside

April 1, 2012

#1065 the good flood

our generations share life on the cusp
between overabundance and its consequences
and soon that imaginary line will be behind us
and the literal consequences will be commonplace

i dare you to find a newspaper or a news broadcast
that does not foreshadow the flood
my toes were wet, now my shins
how did i not notice the waterline rising?

what do we do
when our water line
is farther and further above our heads
than any pump hose?

the answer?
connect our hoses
share and sacrifice
rebuild