#1640 a good day

fresh sheets and new socks
a newly made bed and a new day
your favourite place and a good book
great friends and great food
a fire-lighting conversation and inspiring ideas

#1639 leadership

it is the speeches, and the silent nods
    in the clothes, and in the naked moments
it is in the dreams, and the reality
    in the voice, and in the whispers
it is in front of the crowd, and alone at night
    it is all of the yesterdays, all of today, and all about tomorrow

#1638 getting the shot

he calls himself a photographer
an artist
but he loathes todays
making brats smile
panicking about running out of memory space at the cake-cutting
an intruder in someone else's day

#1637 letting go

a mother holds her son in a funeral home
or maybe the son holds the mother
the embrace is tight
the release is delayed
but there is always a time for letting go

1636 hot day

on the hottest day of the hottest day of my life
at the moment when the telephone poles showed no asphalt shadows
she walked in front of me
she was the only one in the county at that moment (barring the air-conditioned) who was smiling
and she made my heart, my being, my soul smile too
she had no cliché ice cream, but for a moment, my body forgot the record temperature
i just stayed suspended in am altered state of time
still
she haunts me

#1635 all about you

the grass doesn't grow much when there's nothing but sunshine
and neither do we
like Natalie and Jo and Tootie and Blair
we take the good; we take the bad
not because we want to but because that's the way things work
that's the facts of life

too much rain can kill the grass too
but the balance
          the balance
sun-rain
          rain-sun
keeps the lawnmower busy

#1634 pseudo-democracy

we call it thunder and lightning
though we know we have it backwards
we do this because everyone does this
and we follow along
never questioning

#1633 quality screen time

from inside he front porch she spies on her boy
playing in the sandbox
his arm is a crane
the plastic shovel in his hand fills the plastic pail in his lap
his lips make what his mind decides are machine noises
he stops, turns, perhaps sensing his mother's stare
his eyes stop on hers and his mouth spreads into a crooked grin
full of happiness and short of teeth

#1632 4 in Paul is sea

we call it July 4th
as if the date itself
was named after our celebration
after our country
fireworks, alcohol, and unquestioned pride
national pillars
we stare at the sky
explosives telling us there is something bigger than ourselves
if only we stared at the sky the other 364 nights
we'd know there's something bigger than our explosives too

#1631 early July

nothing blooms like a lilac
but the gardeners fail to mention
how short the bloom lasts
how plain the shrub is before bloom
how brown and ugly the flower is after bloom
the girl at the party who everyone knows should go home and change

#1630 habanero lover

my habanero lover she moves like no other
my habanero lover get under my covers

my habanero lover even her absence is hot
my habanero lover let's see what you got

my habanero lover she moves like no other
my habanero lover get under my covers

my habanero lover she sets me on fire
my habanero lover are you for hire

my habanero lover she moves like no other
my habanero lover get under my covers

#1629 the same song plays

the same song plays
for the same audience of two
but the audience doesn't dance anymore
they used to know who led and who followed
now love lies in the stomach, swallowed

the same song plays
the same notes and lyrics
but the meaning ain't the same no more
they used to love the silence between the notes
now they make excuses to grab their coats

#1628 the tie that binds

I got the blues from what I read 'cause all they care about is green
They made this here picket line grey, though their intentions be black and white
The time is now, stand together, fight this fight
So grab a lawn-chair, play some crib
Make like Jonny Cash
and walk the line
The time is now, stand together, fight this fight

We're playing a game with children's welfare
Our opponents make up the rules, kicking teachers out of schools
Picking the people's pockets, so they can fill their own
So grab a lawn-chair, play some crib
Make like Jonny Cash
and walk the line
The time is now, stand together, fight this fight

On our ballot slips we replaced democracy with bureaucracy
Now we fill files with paper, but something ain't right here
Some of us believe these streets is still the people's
So grab a lawn chair, play some crib
Make like Jonny Cash
and walk the line
The time is now, stand together, fight this fight

We got the blues 'cause from what we read all they care about is green
They made our picket line grey, though their intentions be black and white
The time is now, stand together, fight this fight
So grab a lawnchair, play some crib
Make like Jonny Cash
and walk the line
The time is now, stand together, fight this fight

#1627 to the girl wearing too much lipstick drinking alone at the bar

say Hi and suture this heart
just well enough to last until the sun's next visit
and I know the needle will hurt
but the bleeding will stop
or at least slow

this ER is full of clowns and wannabees
let's understand them together
between faded sheets
let us understand
between you and me

it's OK to listen to our bodies' needs
let's give in to them together
until night fades to dawn
let us give in
give again and again and again
just once

#1626 boil and simmer

there's a poem brewing in the pot of my soul
soon be spilling sizzling all over the stovetop
stand back
protect yourself
this is how houses burn down
down to the ground
memories covered in black soggy messes of ash

there's a poem brewing in the pot of my soul
the element is glowing orange and sparkling black
stand back
protect you child
this is how families live on
on through the dawn
memories as ancestral relay baton

there's a poem brewing in the pot of my soul
life is white and black
so stand back
protect clarity
this is how we feign our sanity
through the crack beneath the door
sanity is a silly three-eyed beast

#1625 and the man in the moon

you think I'm an entitled prick
unappreciative of all my parents gave me
but like the new swimmer in the pool's deep end,
we do violent, primal things when we can't breathe
and breathing is hard
with a silver spoon in your mouth

#1624 moving and moving on

the new borns and the newly weds have fled the fridge-front
the stove was pulled out and ancient dust bunnies removed
personal pictures are stacked temporary in boxes
as we pretend this wasn't our home for years
wait for strangers to walk in and feel this house could be there home
that they could hang their own pictures
arrange their own furniture
laugh at their own jokes

I hope it's a family
someone who will honour the walls and fill them with happy memories
if some suit comes and gets workboots to knock her down
in the name of progress and profit
then I should not like to drive by in the future
I would take the long way around

#1623 unhinged

I had problems with doors
the sound of the metal strike-plate
the sound of commitment
a commitment to the future
unable to look back
I had problems with doors
they slam
they squeak
they close off
they interrupt
I had problems with doors
with having to close and lock them each night
with forgetting keys
with cracking weatherstrips
then she came along
opening a door I didn't know I had

#1622 committee

they are experts in their field
leaders
their combined knowledge is overwhelming
their theory and experience un paralleled
and they still laugh when one farts

#1621 beat

solitary notes on a solitary piano massage my solitary cerebellum
is that a baby crying or a screen door opening
a voice soaking the air in truth
we need to breathe this air
to breathe in the truth
guns and kick-drums sound alike
but one ends life, and the other gives it

should you ever lose or find yourself underwater
kick
kick hard and fast
now is not the time to breathe

heavy distortion represents heavy distortion
in the music
in the musician
in the message
in the audience

once in a while
on your kick-drum
make the sound of an object falling down stairs
break the monotony of rhythm
then go back to it
anything that many centuries old
has wisdom