“A Mockingbird”

I have never seen a mockingbird,
but I’ve been mocked,
especially by those bad luck clouds
with the same names as people I know,
who misread my thought bubbles
full of all the plans I tried
to leave unsaid, and there was a robin
who flew into my back window 
one afternoon, only to die,
failing to smash and ruin my day,
yet its tiny corpse 
still mocked my beer gut,
as antacids dug up stones
in my gallbladder and rain stayed away
like tears taught it’s strong
not to cry.

Canada

 
I have been sleeping with bald eagles
you vultures are jealous:
you know we correctly coalesce
and the grass grows no higher, for
I have perished every thought of you
I grow wings and fly—I fly away
from you: I take back my tangents
from you: I steal every shared moment
all those righteous hours
you have been so careless
as to neglect and forget

 A STORY FROM CHILDHOOD


A fire has been started, embarrassingly
on the railway banking, by someone
I’ve grown up with. I wish it was an
accident or a wilful passing stranger, but  

it’s my childhood friend and neighbour

who loves the smell of burning, the swirling
smoke and embers, the glorious arrival

of the fire-fighters, with their heavy boots
and jackets, the canary yellow helmets, the
choreographed unraveling of the hoses,
the noise they make and breathless running.

The certainty of purpose. To be part of this

is something. That’s how he explained it.  

I never told on him, neither to the police
or to my parents, who came out to watch
the flames, engulfing almost everything

and then suddenly extinguished. My friend
is dead and I believe the cause was natural.

He will probably be cremated
but nowadays, so is everyone

unless you’re Jimmy Carter
Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan

THE MARCHIONESS

 
already making your big sisters jealous,
brown skin with an impish grin
with an April bud’s burgeoning hormones

but are you any good at anything?

on the beach
distracting every eye

or, at the dock,
stepping into the boat,
you don’t mind sharing yourself
with the leers of all these others

the smile never trips up
but sometimes the feet do

you’re not always looking where you’re going

your rhythm is more Parish Match
than what the sand requires

and yet
even when you tumble,
it’s still a triumph

for guys run from everywhere
to help you to your feet

and you stand all that much taller
when you rise again

but there’s still that question no one answers

are you any good at anything?

 


 
STELLA

 
her poetry
has a
limited wardrobe

either
it goes about
buck naked

or it’s
huddled in a corner
all in black

 

 

YOUR FIRST DINNER WITH HIS FAMILY

 
Turkey dinner.
You're seated around a table with family.
His family.
The father slices the bird,
slow and deep,
like he’s cutting into your flesh.
The mother’s eyes see through
to your own mother’s upbringing,
your father’s second shift job
at the factory.
The teenage sister
giggles at your dress sense.
The little brother
hates anything female anyhow.
It’s like a beach
with jellyfish in the water.

 

Mercy

L.A. burn fields
only the rich able to rebuild,

but they're moving away...
their anger generating smoke statues.

The poor aching
for another place to call home.

The middle class praying
for vengeance.

The land opening its mouth
for unimpeded rain.



Sundown

Armies
all over the world.

Different languages
in the same flesh.

Murderous kings.



Beating It to Death

Crowds clapping
for the end,

a long long time
generation after generation.

The drums wearing out
hands and hearts.

Naming Trump


After the shuffle there always is
The deal. Then bidding is done and won.
There comes a time early in the game
When the question must be asked
And answered, "What is trump?"
After the posturing and puffery
It is time to declare the suit--certainly
No spades, and definitely not hearts.
Better to be diamonds or clubs.

When the hand is to be played out,
Cards laid on the table, each in its turn.
Strategy would be nice; also to remember
Previous tricks played and how each
Player tries to deceive or finesse.
There will be a winner--and losers.   
__________

This Old House


There it is.
Black and white.
Graffiti sprayed large
Black on white.

“Speak the
Truth, even if
Your voice
Shakes.”

It is spray painted black,
Toxic on asbestos shakes.
Long vacant, its blank stairs
Peek through weeds and neglect.

Plywood patches, plied where
Glass used to be. Shingles curl
Asphalt sneers. Rain gutters weep,
Leaking yesterday’s tears.

This house speaks on mute,
Beckons, in its squalid vibrato,
Of better times gone, when
It was a home to hearth and hope.

Now, here it stands still, vacant,
Inhabited by the homeless. Empty
Except for the hollow men who
Sleep rough on hardluck floors.

This house speaks its truth
To anyone who will see it.

In the gray of the invisible,
Inhabited by its vacated truth.

Soul Rain


It takes time
To grieve freely,
Find peace in sorrow,
Spread wings, cover sky,
Pour darkness, weep loudly.
To liquefy in no man's place
Remember loss, cry bitterly,
Open lips, shout to sea,
See you,
Correct oneself after seeing,
Wipe eyes with tears,
Fill body with light by lifting 
Dead lamp under feet,
Complete sentences,
Palpate face, body, remember organs.
Not my way,
Not a crop I want to grow,
Clouds never left,
Life was destroyed by heavy rain.
Breath lost
Eyelids fluttered,
Suffering collected
In missed breath.
Go into hiding, shed tears like flowers,
Sprout fresh.
If pain not felt mentally,
Become human.

     Friend Requests 


It's strange to see friend
requests on Facebook 
from people who always 
treated me like dirt.
About thirty -five  years ago .

What's happening ?
Is it a gathering of 
the wagons ?

A nostalgic fight against 
time itself ?

Against death, of course.

Or are they nice people, and 
I'm a cynical old man ?

Sophia 


Reality has an identity 

A union of opposites
That
Echoes 
Through time
In sin waves

A mathematical symphony 
Of metaphysical truth

Waffle House

Lee Greenwood sings
“I’m proud to be an American,”
Waffle House filled
with patriotism
two months after 9-11
images still way too fresh
the flames
the disbelief
the collapse of what we thought
we knew.
The juke box transports
home and hope this morning
guitar riffs
sizzling bacon
sausage patties and home fries
hot coffee hot grits and hot waffles
everywhere.
The silver-haired cook
who’d seen
a few battles of his own
sings along
waves his steel spatula
punctuates the air
the song
the morning--
dancing like a boxer
after a victorious bout
he raises both arms
throws his head back
and finishes with Lee:
“God bless
the USA!”