Why He Met Her For

We would spend our days
jumping from stool to stool
and talking of Rossetti.
She was a glad daft
wasn't she? And then
the trees would shudder
and a leaf would bend low
enough to lap up a puddle
And like fools we'd lap up
right beside it
And in the end there
would be such joy
in remembering
the sadness that we felt
when a swollen snowflake
dampened our eye
and we called it by name.

Morning at the Zoo

Morning at the Zoo

The orangutan told me that I was wasting my life.

That I should quit my job and go move out to Idaho

and fish.  "That is what you want to do anyway." he said.

"Look at you."  I said angrily.

"You, you're stuck in a cage."

"Who are you to give me advice?"

Who is in a cage? he said.

"Ha, don't try that on me," I said.

"I don't buy it."

"You were probably raised here

by baboons." I said

"What do you know about being out?"

He looked at me with his sad eyes.

I said, "I'm sorry."

"It's just that I felt you kinda of attacked me."

"No," he said

"I was just trying to give you some good advice."

"You come here every day and we talk and talk."

"And I just thought, I could finally be myself around you."

"And since we are friends, I could tell you how I felt."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"It was the sweetest piece of advice I've ever got."

I decided not to visit the other animals

and left the zoo shortly after that.

Time to Jump

The plane was loud and noisy.
Larry took out a chocolate bar
and waved it in the air.
I waved my hands back at him
to tell him I didn't want a piece.
I was on a diet and rubbed my belly.
I thought this was a rather simple
way of expressing myself.
And for a moment I thought how easily
my gesture could be misinterpreted.
And also I wanted to thank him
but I left that out.
He was too far away for me to mouth
a thank you.
I was really lying anyways. I wanted a piece
of that chocolate bar and had he insisted
I would have easily taken a piece.
Larry shouted at me but I could barely hear him.
I raised my hand to my ear
and shrugged my shoulders.
He took out a pen
and wrote something on a piece of paper.
He passed the piece of paper to the left of him
and around the fuselage.
I watched how everyone unfold the note and read it.
Their eyes looked to the next person
and then they passed it on.
Each hand did the same and this is how it went
until it came to me.
The note was folded and beginning to wrinkle
I opened it and read it
It said, "The chocolate bar was never intended for you."

Stalling for Time

Larry was a fine cop
until he got beaten up by Ramona
He'd always come into the bar
and just sit there for hours after that.
After a long week and a
long night of just sitting at the bar
I asked Joe to go over to Larry.
"Why do you want me to go over to Larry?" he said
"I don't know, to cheer him up." I said
"He's just been coming into this bar
for this past week and just sitting there the whole night." I said.
"So have we." he said
"Maybe you can say something to cheer him up" I said
"You know how bad you feel after your wife beats you up."
"But I am not good at cheering people up." he said
"After I tried to cheer my son up for flunking out of college
he moved to Montana."
"Maybe you should go and cheer him up yourself." he said
"Maybe I will." I said.
I sat there a long time and said nothing.
The bar, if it could get any darker, did.
I got up and Joe looked up at me for a second.
I walked right passed Larry and out the door.

Staying Up Alone

I do not understand your patient
 pessimism your image in the unemotional 
water of the quick tempered pioneer
my brother your inconsistent wit
changing into sand into a dogmatic mane 
into shy harshness
for the gullible ideals 
of the obsessive night
 or the careless philosopher
able to sew a few days of fabric together.

Vocabulary Test

Nelipot - Someone who walks around without shoes

Pulveratricious - Covered in dust

Dorty -- portly, obese, fat, plump.

Gussock -- a gunnysack or a Russian sock

Slaney -- cinema or a play house

Gabbart -- Given to grocery store talk (especially near the yogurt)

Balatron -- The center of a gala

Qigong -- The mud where a pig just stepped

Acolous -- A peep-show instrument

Gradgrind - The act of saloon dancing either in an open floor or in tight quarters

Leggiadrous- For the purposes of half the population, art

Anglewitch - A  letter that once showed up between two letters

Whose Eyes Were Watching God

the first thing the morning
landing on my finger
beautifully darkening drums
emptying like a fist fighting
til the infinite ceilings break
as bad as that my lucid
remains remaining where my eyes
fell well dusk fell well
footprints and the electric
outlet breath the muscle
faucet and mirror meetings
mooring throats and wonder
welling in the pockets of
cities and in rivers