Seasonal Writing Disorder

poetry on the back burner
for a few months or so

some can't help writing
and some can't write (sometimes)

well...

maybe it's just being lazy
or the light isn't right

I'll work on it
but meanwhile
I'm staring at a picture
of Machu Picchu

Notes from the Corner, No. 28-30

And when I think I will
but don't
the silence emphasizes
that this was never
what I wanted

ice cubed
aesthetic
wandering lonely
like a clown
half dressed

in the end
the love you take
was all yours anyway
although you had me
wondering

jumbled keys

A small pile of keys
next to my keyboard

sometimes it's all one has to show
for a week's work

I show it to you now
after a night of reading
about syd barrett
and listening to miles of music

if all of this has a purpose
it's, well, hidden

in the end
it's just a small pile of keys

Hallow Day

Night eyes with batted lids
carelessly flick recognition
ashlike, and then away

It's not time yet
not yet, even though
chill drifts across dry leaves

The muse has gone
to the drugstore
complaining of an ache

Null values

In the table of life
some of the values are missing
which makes it interesting

What I Thought You Said

Surprising
to hear from you
what had just passed
through my thoughts
if thoughts can be
said to pass
through
but
then
greatminds
think, uh, like...

I'd just add
that the cat
is trying very hard
to get the door open.

A Jar of Hope

Permit me to rest a moment
Wheel-worn and oversocialized
seeking this site for sore eyes

How many glasses of water
can an empty life hold
shattered beyond belief

It was good, then
to find your name
today

Where Have All the Plowers Gone?

I was young
among plowed fields
and trapped gophers

I wonder
who's catching them
now?

Riders on the Swarm

Box elder bugs
don't mean harm
just need a place

they don't knock
they come right on in

any southern wall

will do

I See You (ICU)

The ache
of seeing you wounded
and lying there

injured
helplessly dependent
surrounded by technological care

when better
is not getting worse
it's a long time

Repair list

screen hole bug entry
antivirus reinstall
rock wall crumble cracks

Off

Resting between lines
odd lift over left eye squint
uncertain tuning

Evening Scene

Promise of permission
to ask and follow
stay with me awhile

It may storm
in the night
that's alright

Faded day
anchor here
among rose and blue

Wistful whisper
of wavelet rocking
the boat

The Bridge

Dinner on the porch
text news to the young:
bridge just collapsed

Soon, and again
calls from anywhere
"Are you OK?"

Been across so many times
like so many others
some every day

She missed it by minutes
we heard today
another OK

We cannot know
how hard not to hear
that simple word.

Resonance

Delocalized ambition
chaotic numberless trail
and pathway diffusion

all at the speed of light

much is granted, untaken
blind to velocity
and seeming ferocity

figmentary science
piled in publications
rarely shown, rarely known

stabilized notion
of stateless motion
paradox ocean

I'll stop by
next time
here at x, y, z

Melange Orange

In a gray world morning
few impressions
but out this window
the melange orange

Somehow Cezanne
or Debussy
embraced an essence
of desires to be known

Beyond words
or image
the language of melange
orange

Strangers in the Niche

In a web that never sleeps
lights-out land of servers
who run, and crawl about
or listlessly lie in wait

Now I lay me down to sleep
or dream of unseen niches
where strangers bide, or bid,
or rest alone together

Vaguery

Hope lived here, once
you can still see where it grew
drafts of empty drama blow there now

Not knowing what to say, or when
and overdone
the unclear message echoes away

Illusion of day and night
turning towards, and back again
and hanging on in endless silence

Still Moving

High, high wind blows
no one knows where
in motion, I remember you

Cookie Measurement

Cookie 1, cookie 2, cookie 3...
milkwash, guilty glance
and fortitude to not take 4.

Dental Effort

On the second dish of ice cream
I contemplate the meaning of focus
as it fades in a sugar haze
while my child agonizes
over metal bands on her teeth
and pre-final study overload

(to the comfortable couch for recovery)

I write
and birdsong filters in
green leaves shade a sunset view
if I could take her pain
I would

Knowing When, to Duck

Wooden duck on the porch
knows nothing of rain, or
cares of daily life
stands silently
with watchful look
beside the clock

years pass, unnoticed
until at final quack
of somebody or other
out it goes
unwatching eyes
draw one last bead

Forehead to Hand

The pressure of writing something
half way decent and worth
a few pixels on the screen
So many really, really good writers

The time is maybe better spent
reading
or
listening to the rain

Born That Way

Yes, in fact it is
my birthday
and there are cards
and a book or two
one about cheering up
another has good quotes,
like "Wagner's music is
better than it sounds."
Or this one by Mick Jagger:
"It's alright letting yourself go
as long as you can let yourself back."

Jagger and Wagner...

Monday Notes

What will it be today?
This Monday downbeat
in the rhythm of a week

Traffic, birds, heat of day
calls and emails across
a newly flattened world

Caffeine ever the engine
we take our places
and let 'er rip

Time to Eat

There is something
unmagical
about this moment

Tired, a bit sore
knowledge of the unfinished list
the unsorted mail

A key heart ingredient
got left out of the diet
you aren't what you didn't eat

Zipperology

Keeping it together
interdigit fidget
over lost talons

Slider glides
over polyester coils
unseen

brilliant marriage
of form, function, and
endless simplicity

Up

Can I reach
holding out for somebody
but all need to go

And me
quiet by the door
thoughts unspoken

By the millions
each one knows
which way is up

Sky Watching

Amid gray hair and confused looks
nothing on the path is quite the same
but the sky remains silent

My friend has a day clock
enough to know what day it is
sometimes it's all one needs

It's already tomorrow someplace
and sky can hold the light of day
lightly, then let it go again

Perhaps the sky is subdivided
for the development of new markets
in cloud production and such

Ideally, PV=nRT, but
there are limits and loss of equilibrium
not to mention the question of who's watching

Leaster

In these early ragged moments
I searched for something
that rhymes with Easter

Asked my son -
"Nothing," he said,
"unless 'feaster' is a word'"

I suppose it is
if someone uses it
(he's off to the dictionary)

Now east - plenty there -
beast, feast, least, ceased
(well, if you squint)

Perhaps it is an unusual day
moves around a lot
('feaster' wasn't there)

There was something about
"the least of these" -
maybe some are leaster

Gone Fission

Sign on the door
hat for the rain
time to split

Tackle what lies
under uncertain surface
Can of worms

Float a long, distracted line
yet attentive
poised to strike if struck

Such high impact
making light of matter
a new, clear distraction

What is lightning, and thunder
surely we know
but still voice-like

Silently strung along
another trip
over

Sorry

How to tune to the key of something flat
or sharp, or even natural;
when next follows last so jointless
that natural functions cease

to find time for either sit or stand
and rush on in no balanced way
spiraling further off course
with yet another change

The long slow notes of steeple bells
send rhythm to the soul

to measure long a life
that passes much like wind
playing its short tune
in no particular key.

Dishonesty

What is claimed is:

1. A face, comprising:

_____a first surface, having articulated features,
_____and further having a plurality of openings; and

_____a second, hidden, surface, having unarticulated
_____thoughts, reasons and feelings; and

_____a filter, said filter disposed between said
_____first and second surfaces.

2. The face of claim 1, wherein the filter is comprised
_____of carefully woven half-truths.

3. The face of claim 1, wherein the filter is comprised
_____of half-forgotten memories.

4. The face of claim 1, wherein the filter is comprised
_____of chemically-induced haze.

5. The face of any of claims 1-4 wherein said
_____first and second surfaces each bear an image,
_____each said image being a patently false
_____representation of the other.

The Thought That Counts

><><><><><><><><><

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

There is no time

Like the present

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

!

2007

3 x 3 x 223 = 2007
3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 3
20 - 07

idle moments
lost for words
fiddling with numbers

$_ =~ /yours/;
@_ = ('ours');
%hash = { it => out };

Friday evening
lights on
lights out

Silent Blue

words unsaid
silent blue

Snow Particular Place

To go, to stay
or simply melt away;
Come rest awhile beside me

Roofless room
snow civilized
where once the flames burned high

Then turn inside
where visions hide
for yet another view

Alone again,
I slowly stare
Beyond snowplace, for you

Timing

The too-long pause
awkward by definition
and waiting without purpose

Lord, give my mind
the strength to love
when I'd as soon turn away

There, there...

get some rest now
tomorrow will wait
while you turn again

Another Way

In Physics, as in other areas
there is often more than one way

In Dreams, antigravity hardly surprises
while skyborne over high power lines

And talking along the etherway
alone among so many millions

(But not really)

Tea of Life

There it is, over there
on the shelf - 'Tea of Life.'
And to my right, a slow bug.

No matter that the snows are coming
to shut up the highways, or down, I suppose
Me, and the bug, and the Tea of Life.

My magazine speaks of ribosomes,
and ribbons of rna, the highways of life
bug-free for now, except this one on the wall.

A quiet symphony of molecular motion
moving at the speed of light, or life
and the bug moves silently out of view

Open Key Night

The howling siren sets my dog to howling along,
outside, until the fade of one and the other
lets familiar domestic sounds return to focus

The small whoosh of gas stove lighting
scrape of an ancient kitchen drawer
and onion skin being removed, and rechopitulation

A hot sizzling crescendo and more definitive chops,
the 'ting' of the cutting blade, and rinsing of same
A brief bark, desirous to be on the other side of the door

A full grown child will not be home for supper
and with good bye enters an outside world of laughter
while canine toenails click into a distant room

Now pour, and stir, and general conclatteration -
the familiar aromas synaesthetically evoke a vision
of home long ago, and Beethoven, then the news...

"Good night, Chet." "Good night, David."
And years beyond, and years to come
and thoughts unthought, and words, hard or soft, unspoken

I was just passing by, and the keyboard was open
which is as good a reason as any, I suppose;
this moment with you, though later, I treasure now

Nose Above Water

In the crash-sound of Waikiki
each molecule clings to another
never asking why or wherefore

O great globular droplet
poised among fiery star engines
floating in frozen space-night

The Pull of each apart
for hidden purpose or unknown
bringing sense of this and other

And yet we must speak
of loves and rice cakes
and keeping airways mostly dry

Moment by Moment

Of all that could be done
here, now, or otherwise
and bumping one moment

to the next, the flash
lives before my eyes
unwrapped, together

Ends loosely floating
time breeze blowing
and other 'ings' inging...

Moment by moment,
and even so, I still
miss the voice

Mousetrap Car

By ambient dining light

the physics project

rests complete

I treasure the time spent

thinking, trying, despairing,

and ultimately

resting in the knowledge

of a car complete

with matching helmet

watermelon, watermelon...

mouthing the words, mid-winter

and gazing at the inward parts

Junk Drawer

If any of my student children
asks about entropy
we go to the junk drawer

I don't need to say much

Today, I'm taking a short break
to write, while the table absorbs
ambient chaos from said drawer

Right- (and left-) handed scissors
3 sets of small screwdrivers
various batteries (are they any good?)

You understand

It's so comforting
to know that this disorder
can easily be slid away