#1151

enjoy this
the future is good
but when you get there
you'll wish you enjoyed now more
ask the girl
dump the chump
do it all

#1150 home in clouds and culverts

home is a cloud in the desert
the wind in a vacuum
the wal-mart greeter on another planet
we understand the words
but their sense sits like six snakes on the head of a flagpole
home is not a place, nor people, nor a feeling
the definition of home is slipperier
slipperier than an eel in a culvert

#1149 relatively speaking

family is a relative thing
and relatives are a family thing
a tree's stability
depends on its roots
just like any member of a family tree
traditions are passed on through generations
as generations pass on
and i pass
from one family to another
a member of both

#1148 lace secrets

lace garments that no one sees
and a smile that hides a black cloud bigger than the sky
everyone loves her
and no one knows her
she only feels known at night
alone by herself
in her lace garments that no one sees

#1147 under water

water drips and runs and poors
from the once happy ceiling
to the basement floor
pots overflow, forgotten
the only daylight visible
is grey
flat grey
i sit on the depressed stairs
anxious
too tired to cry

#1146 letter to the camp counsellor

no one calls you child anymore
but "adult" seems phony
early twenty, late teen
you find yourself in between
deciding where to go with school and life
this summer you will work every job imaginable
nurse and doctor, mechanic, psychologist, singer, athlete
yet you will be paid next to nothing
but here's the cool thing
you'll meet so many more uncategorizables
who choose to do something not for the pay
but for what they can give and take away

#1145 stuck

fire and desire
are done
yesterday's relics
tomorrow's dreams
fire and desire
i miss you

#1144 stop the bleeding

anti-bullying
what is that sounds like bully-bullying
bullying prevention
that's more politically correct
means the same thing
a bit more cya though
most, maybe all of us, are mean at times
why
we feel small
or tired
or incompetent
let's focus on finding things for people to excel
arts
sports
communtiy programs
all the places we make our cuts

#1143 the doorstep

a welcome sign on the beast's front doorstep
invites my feet to wipe themselves clean
the doorknob forces my hand to open it
then i must enter
creaky modern floorboards greet me
and i feel at home

#1142 drummers and dreamers

the drummer sits at the back of the stage
rocking out in his own world
unaware of his own solos
his eyes are looking at something not of this plain
his shirt is wet with sweat
his mind is muted with music
he's not there for glory
he's there for the drums
and the state of being they provide
after the show he is buzzed or exhausted
like a dreamer waking from the dream

#1141definitely infinitely

creation can be impressive
art, design, music, scientific invention, poetry
but sharing your creation
changes the world
forever ripples in an endless ocean

the best poem never shared
changes the poet
and i suppose changes the world through coincidence too
the poet is distracted while thinking about writing the poem
the poet misses supper while writing the poem, et cetera

but to share
to have people hear your poem, see your painting, use your invention
their lives are changed
which changes the lives around them
exponents to the exponents to the exponents
the power of exponents
forever ripples in an endless ocean

i'm not talking fame
a potential by-product
but effect
a powerful effect which is healthiest when chased responsibility

your idea, shared, will change worlds forever
and even if the construction itself is lost, burnt, victim to decay
the effect
forever ripples in an endless ocean
and forever
is a long time

#1140 you're pink and i'm blue

the carnival's in town
taste the cotton candy
smell the 4-H barn
hear the spinning wheel cl-cl-cl-cl-cl
cl-
click
click
clicking

i sit on a bench
staring at two rides
the ferris wheel
the same one since i was a kid
and the fancy new spinning one
where all the kids and college students line up
i stare at the two rides, thinking of us

i am the ferris wheel
classic at best, boring at worst
with a predictable small thrill

you are the cool ride
SO fun
and everyone wants to see you
you are the attraction
people visit me when the line-up to see you is too long
and we go together
like carnivals and cotton candy

#1139 sin

the sheriff stopped at starbucks
    playing our game, and asking my name

the sheriff is my shadow
    riding his train and singing my refrain
the sheriff is my confessional box
    offering penance for the sin i'm in
the sheriff is my country pond
    demanding reflection, introspection, resurrection
the sheriff is my hat
   on my mind all the time

i thumbtack a poster to the starbuck board
telling him my name
hoping he ends our game
telling him my name
hoping he ends our little game

#1138 time and place

two wrongs rarely make a right
but two rights make a backwards
a return
to all that was behind us
so if we kept walking
would we walk back to childhood
to playing in pot-and-pan cupboards
to hiding in closets
to picking petals to learn about love
take two rights to right
all that you left behind

#1137 afternoons take shape

triangle octopuses fill the liquid sky
with speckles of reality clarified by darkness
night and day have beautiful babies
when they forget their afternoons together
on the smalll-town bridge
by the neighbour's lumberjack

#1136 after school

i walk up the hill to your house after school
but you are not home
your family is there and they are busy
but you are not home
where are you
i checked under all the beds and behind all the doors
where are you
this is not a joke
people say you died
are you in your coffin
did you float up with the shifting clouds
did you just disappear
where are you
i miss the convenience and the ease and the support
of you
where are you

#1135 bat on mailbaox

i feel
like breaking beer bottles
like
doing donuts in the soccer field
like
not remembering what happens tonight
i feel like drowning concern with a full tank of gas
like
letting the world try to keep up with my tonight
like
finding an unknown at the bottom of a bottle
but i won't
too much pain
never enough release

#1134 teen brother's bedroom

posters of rebellious rock stars cover the walls
and pictures from magazines that try to sell the allure of risk
dirtbikes, skateboards, fast cars
loud music yells at the world
demanding self-importance and listening ears
quality second to volume
for volume is life
volume is proof of existence
quality is more often ignored

#1133 sound hole

my guitar's got three broken strings
and the remainder are out of tune
so it protects a few square inches of basement floor from dust
the frets are faded
the melody
ran away with two years ago
with another old guitar
one with a better sound

#1132 choo-choooo

look out mama
there's a train coming straight down the tracks
get up mama
the train does not look friendly
it's not stopping, get up
get up mama
why are you sleeping on the tracks mama
why am i watching
get up mama, get up

#1131 the forester and the schoolteacher

my grammie was a schoolteacher, when they were called schoolteachers
my mum loved her mum, and i love mine
my grampie worked in the woods, when they were plenty
before nature deficit disorder
she kept her pencil sharp, and he his saw
they had so little and shared so much
a country house, a family, simplicity
he played hours of solitaire a day, but enjoyed it more when she was in the room
his mind went with her body, and the rest of them met up when the time came
i don't know where they are now
i hope it's not a pristine castle
or a cloud-filled bliss
i imagine a garden, a swing, solitaire
and disagreements over cigarettes and too much salt
that's the heaven i hope for

#1130 mountain ash

we walk our favourite trail
mental interpretive signs line the sides with dandelions
picnics, laughs, arguments
the day's temperature agrees with my decision to make this hike
sweat and tears mix, indistinguishable
at the top, i rest
remembering
before leaving you behind

#1129 o

a concert room full of humans sits
enthralled
hypnotized
effort, performance, skill
all unite into a perfection onstage
even those not enjoying their lives
enjoy tonight
in the end
the fans stand in ovation
like they do for mediocre bands

#1128 roots

my umbilical chord was clipped almost 13,000 days ago
yet my naval remains
i am still a son and always will be
yet now i am a husband
yes, the tree grows
but so do the roots

#1127 shaken

when she
visited the hardware store
she was banned
by the manager-on-duty
but banned only from the paint section
manager-on-duty felt banning her was his duty because
upon hearing the poet's voice paint pictures, that they couldn't even dream of,
all the paints in the hardware store turned green green green, with envy

on stage
her dedication to the moment is so, soul-bogglingly brilliant
her pace-changes give gods orgasms
her simplicity is a reminder to humans of what
"being human" could mean
reminds me that rainbows are as magic now as they were before science explained them

her words and the voice that speak them leave me,
walking away with music between my ears
no
leave me walking away hearing the music between my ears
for the notes and the melody were always here
i just forgot how to listen

she reminds me of childhood solutions like that
kind words and hugs
honesty and bravery
daydreaming and stargazing
will paint the world
any shade of beautiful

a stranger posted the poet's poem on facebook
and i felt like... like "Liking" it was wrong
so i built a button that read, "the world needs to hear this voice and these words"
and another reading, "if you believe in humanity, click here"
and a final one reading, "if you don't believe in humanity, you need to click here"


her words
her words
her words
are the paint-shaker
in the hardware store
in the paint section from which she is banned
and my world
my way of seeing
my life
are the paint can she
sh-sh-sh-shakes
molecularly mixing me
preparing me
mentoring me
to paint the world
     my shade of beautiful

#1126 ad vice

because great minds don't think alike
they think for themselves

because those who say what goes up must come down
they haven't thought of age

because stairs are meant to be taken two at a time
and they are all meant to be enjoyed

because when we have a tough time
we need to forget bad role models and remember good ones

poetry cartoon

#1125 open mic

she wasn't sexy until she sang
then i was done
i was her puppy, her pillow, and her houseplant
if she asked me
she sang to an audience by singing in, to herself
she left her soul on the stool and i followed her to the bar
not because i'm brave
but because i had to
can i get you a drink
she answered without the confidence she must have left in the host's guitar,
sure... umm, an orange juice?
a surprise answer that would have turned me off 10 minutes ago
but the voice, that voice on the stage
had changed reality
where were once question marks, now were periods
after her drink, she made an excuse to leave
i've been back five tuesdays straight since
and haven't seen her ponytail
until tonight
until now

#1124 "crying's not for me"

with simple heavy piano music in his head he kneels backward on the couch, gaze lost in one raindrop
driving crookedly toward the window's bottom
one raindrop on a day of more than millions
but he is in the one raindrop
his life to now, his grins, his sobs
his all
he feels himself sliding, down the window pane exterior
held together on a molecular level
and at the bottom, he joins the other rain
no longer the one drop he was