WALKING ON THIN ICE

Smith poems December 2024

Smith poems December 2024

2024.12.2 – J. D. Vance
2024.12.2 – There’s running on empty
2024.12.5 – It’s the leash I could do
2024.12.5 – Blood of love
2024.12.6 – Aaahhh the easing of the pressure
2024.12.6 – Slow folk on highway
2024.12.6 – “I’ve got to go downstairs
2024.12.8 – Hey U S of A
2024.12.9 – The gripes of wrath
2024.12.10 – I look
2024.12.11 – The city seeps
2024.12.11 – Is night
2024.12.13 – Dog’s talking to me
2024.12.13 – If mirror life looked into their mirror
2024.12.14 – Got my rage on
2024.12.15 – O woe is man, for I am omen
2024.12.16 – Tantalus never tastes grapes
2024.12.17 – No light in sky
2024.12.17 – The way we’re going
2024.12.18 – Lilac sky
2024.12.18 – Lilac dawn gone
2024.12.19 – Why does society expect me to feel bad
2024.12.19 – Go into the light without dark
2024.12.20 – He /She / It looks down
2024.12.22 – Smokestack lightning flashes in fog
2024.12.22 – I used to program the machine
2024.12.24 – To Lady on her 52nd Birthday
2024.12.24 – There’s humane
2024.12.25 – The word salad seasons
2024.12.25 – As hard as it is
2024.12.26 – Gummy gummy gummy
2024.12.27 – Feline dies of bird flu
2024.12.27 – Pale violet on horizon
2024.12.28 – Can’t kill myself
2024.12.29 – No wise no wisdom lotta woes
2024.12.29 – Tried for the big time
2024.12.30 – Each night I take myself apart

~ ~ ~

J.D. Vance
do and say anything
to advance

~ ~ ~

There’s running on empty
then there’s this steroidal
keep-going-no-matter-what
as parts fall off
small things like kidneys
a cut of colon
a bit of back
a flesh tumor crying horror
with no STOP option

I reach for phone
grab vape instead
no known clear here
so back to before
in long hard nothing
a going nowhere
already gone

keep going
hoping
not knowing

some say God
set everything in motion
then wiped His memory
so He could enjoy
The Show

so one more time
why are we the punch line?

~ ~ ~

As the coffee slowly creeps
toward the surface
through no of go
and lie of why
we continue
new day
way

There’s 8-fold path
there’s foot in foot of foot

life is
as always
rent

and the check ain’t in the mail

~ ~ ~

It’s the leash I could do
said the dogwalker
to the harness

~ ~ ~

Blood of love
in dirt of rebirth
I move in small arcs
with large pains
must be using muscle memory
cuz I’m still moving

Said you’re on or off the bus
Taint true
you can be over, under
front, back, both sides
and dimensions in between
and believe me
I been all
be some now
going down this unknown road
with unknown load
pointy sticks stuck in back
as goad

And as for bus go
I don’t know
but I’m a hangin’ on

~ ~ ~

Aaahhh the easing of the pressure
of holding myself together
in this hellish whether

take another toke

ain’t no joke
weed eases bleed of bad
but baby bad abounds
in hounds
of Capitalistic Hell

nothing new
the many used by few
never told true
killing you
and me
for free

they cheat their mothers
screw their brothers
as for the others
they’re meat
to beat
eat

but as bad gets badder
thoughts of maybe better
perk
perhaps early work
in getting jerks jailed
for forbiddances
and fails

evil’s empowered
bad guys in the tower
no other way to put it

didn’t have to happen
doesn’t have to be

depends
as always
on you and me

what’s it gonna be?

~ ~ ~

Slow folk on highway
heavy hammer just behind
in The Temple of the Turning

~ ~ ~

“I’ve got to go downstairs
and take the laundry upstairs”
said Sisyphus to his wife.

“Don’t drop it” she cackled

~ ~ ~

Hey U S of A
slick sick list here
not one you want to be
number one on
nine times world wide

#Total Crimes
*Rape
*CO2 Emissions
*Divorce Rate
*Teen Birth Rate
*Heart Attack
*McDonald’s Restaurants
*Plastic Surgery
*Prisoners

Lotta sad seeping down
cuzza bad wearing crowns

Steal enough
they make you a king
guess it’s always been a thing
the strong in force
but weak in heart and mind
are usually unkind
history finds

Of course

No mystery here
good with bad cannot cohere
cuz paths diverge
in different woulds
that end in flesh
or cinder

Which will will we
I wonder

~ ~ ~

The gripes of wrath
social aftermaths
bite my ass
pay a pig a day
and capitalism still
won’t go away
but hey
what can I say
it’s the way
I have spoken
ofttimes token
ain’t jokin’
jive ‘n strivin’
for the livin’
not the dyin’
keep on tryin’
not to lie
as I pry
tug at why
in magic try
of sun
and moon
and sky
no one home
but hope alone

~ ~ ~

I look
I watch
I don’t understand

Or maybe do
ole lizard brain and you
took hunger
need
danger
greed
to crawl sea bottom
to land top and not stop

And looks like lizard brain
gonna crawl us right back down
to slime and crowd
of life biting life to survive
in unstrive

Sorta like it never stopped
just got lipstick put on the slop
and called smart

(but not, sings the lark)

O well
buy and sell bye-bye cell
here we a-go-go to lower down woes
stuffin’ our pockets
with glop

Hug my body
hug my spirit
hug my whole

Sorry soul

~ ~ ~

The city seeps
juices
uses
cries cross hill
for creatures of will
and won’t
but I don’t answer

All you got
is you
your honor
your corner
your cancer

Outside horror
normal
day one
to day done
eat must eat
cheat must cheat
got us out of the ocean
into the trees
down to the penthouse

Their rent rends
they tent trends
to bad ends

All we got
is our corner spot
to soothe the knot of never

Grab a chair
glad you’re here
well come to my corner

We’ll raise our thumbs
to the dumb someones
humping money fever

~ ~ ~

Is night
but still light
dark trees black against falling snow
moon somewhere above
fog, deep fog
glowing city half smoked dope infused
with cry and laughter
now
and ever after
streetlight delight

~ ~ ~

Dog’s talking to me

Watching talk box
up stairs he’s too old to climb
he barks to go out
I comply
coming back in
I grab a candy bar
he gives me his where’s mine look
I ignore it
go up
10 minutes later bark
come down
he’s standing by the pantry door
where treats are
demanding
I laugh
give him his treat
back upstairs
15 minutes later another bark
down
he’s by his bed
in which cat’s sprawled
I remove cat
dog gets in

I’m glad we had this talk
he sighs
I go upstairs
again
happy I understood

~ ~ ~

If mirror life looked into their mirror
would we be what they see?

“Scientists Say Mirror Bacteria
‘Should Not Be Created'”

it doesn’t end, does it?

friend sez
“we’re rollin down hill
and pickin up speed”

heck
can’t even say
that was yesterday
and yesterday’s gone
cuz the future’s waving at us
in the rearview mirror

they talkin’
o boy they talkin
talkin
growing mini-brains with eyes
time crystals in quantum computers
reviving 24,000 yr-old permafrost zombies
making mutant daddy shortlegs
reversing age
talking zero with crows
bringing back wooly mammoths
seeding the sky to scare the sun
bleeding sea for electricity
freeze drying the arctic
ignoring the scars
fleeing to Mars

putting Liberty behind bars

gonna ban the tran, be The Man
what a bloodsucking end
from small-handed men

a bit disappointing, my friend

~ ~ ~

Got my rage on
read the news
amped my inner anger with coffee
mellowed that a bit with weed
so sun’s coming up
and I’m wound
with nowhere to go
and I ain’t going slow, Moe
ain’t going slow
but I’m going
I’m going to be a better person
someday
going to raise rationality
someday
lower nationality
someway
and actually
I lie
won’t even try
gonna keep stumblebumbing why
crashing through the course
raising rants and crying curse
and worse
ain’t gonna close my eyes
in possum try
will crawl on through the hurt
and work
to help move more mellow plan
be more in the am
junking my jerk
losing smirk
irk

lot of murk

~ ~ ~

O woe is man, for I am omen

“Sounds like Shakespeare”

No, just me
in shaky peer down history

~ ~ ~

Tantalus never tastes grapes
nor Sisyphus hilltop seizes

yet we know them you and me
their failures make them famous

unlike what my mirror returns
lots of little losses

often close, but not enough to pay
or earn return for lowness

so I trod side streets only
never big, never known, never lonely

Is good deal
life is real

~ ~ ~

No light in sky
small spark in me
another day of chasing why
cuz life is never free

I trod the treads ahead
carry past on back
no idea what to spend
getting back on track

Every day is starting over
every day is just the same
every day is 4-leaf clover
every day is blame

Is it all a game?

Don’t make no difference
what they say
still gotta play

But what the hey

~ ~ ~

The way we’re going
we’re heading for owing
an owing often hard

Be that it may
perhaps we can pre-pay
future prospect

Helped someone today
felt better
about eat and play

But also
that is the way
of 8-fold pick’n’pay

Right path
right action
right word
right thought

And the four other oughts
I’ve forgot

So there goes the arc of my plot

Bye-bye old burden
hello new
how you?

~ ~ ~

Lilac sky
black tree branches
today and tomorrow

sunrise or sorrow
two into one

~ ~ ~

Lilac dawn gone
I made it through the day

night cushions me
from reality

soon sleep
re-ravel sleeve of care

adding up my brownie points
and used-Camelots

subtracting shudda-beens
from Karma plots

leaves me somewhere twixt
shoe and leather

maybe okay
maybe bad whether

but who am I to judge?

~ ~ ~

Why does society expect me to feel bad
about the murder of a health C.E.O.
who made his living killing other people?

~ ~ ~

Go into the light without dark
go into the dark without light

go
call me when you return

~ ~ ~

He / She / It looks down
on our toilet paper world
deems it dirty

Blame the paper
not the plumber
for the proper promptly pay

Purgatory’s probably less fun
than Impurgatory
I’d unmagine

There’s a line
where lines align
in time

There’s time
that thinks it’s rosemary
but that’s relative

Faster you go
the younger you are
higher your slow

Is it delight
or sour devils
we fight

Whatever
I surrender
to what’s right*

*right of course
less a concept
than the need to justify now

[as always]

~ ~ ~

Smokestack lightning flashes in fog
guides us though the slog
of shudda wudda cudda
heading for a better bend

2 hours in car in cold parking lot
this here-we-are a nowhere-to-go
as wife does her hair
her hands
her toes
monthly

I watch the come and go
tavern to my left
Dairy Mart on right
salon ahead
so far not a moving car
nary a narrative nibble
bread basket empty

except empty’s never empty
whether cat’s dead or alive

I sit drinking bad coffee
eating cheap cookies
snow falling soft
wet
slow
windshield cheap holiday card
of lost innocence
our family Christmas cancelled
by Covid age of plague

slow fall of snow
hides the unhidden
muffles sound
flesh demands of lizard brains dampened
cold slows them down

which is why
they’re warming the planet
to thicken their lizard musk

we splay
trapped in crap of The Corporocrats
whose eyes are never filled
new snow covers our sins in white
except white is one of our sins

snow falters
flesh flounders
bad coffee getting cranky

up and down the hill
rock in roll here we go
again

joy always fades
sometimes so does pain

words slow know where to go

~ ~ ~

I used to program the machine
code in
code out
if else
if
else
now I’m number unknown
alone in some side buffer cache
waiting for my way
to explain
why I missed the station

getting
of course
no explanation

~ ~ ~

To Lady on her 52nd Birthday

This is desiccated to the one I love
cuz that’s what I’d be without her

This is dedicated to the one I love
cuz that’s what she is

19 years 3 months 13 days
of what I thought wouldn’t

Now must

We the deal real
no Hollow Would & Bovine

More random and roaming
roaring down Vroomin Road

Happy bornday, baby
happy cancelled Covid Christmas

Love sharing our unknown going
cherish our bearing of been

I’ll continue driving, Lady
you decide our where and when

~ ~ ~

There’s humane
and there’s human
one doesn’t take out the trash

You can trim my eyebrows
and put me in a suit
but I’m still farm boy fool
in its best essence
King court jester

I tell truths
and nobody listens
we’re all happy

~ ~ ~

The word salad seasons
the eye salad which seasons
the mind salad lacking reason

It’s all one big mixture
of what you perceive
versus me

Plus the 8 billion others
othernesses
adding up their messes

Is red red?
Is dead dead?
Is feed fed?

When?
How?
Why?

What is truth
but a lie for youth

~ ~ ~

As hard as it is
it’s a treasure to be alive
sometimes even a pleasure

But what a mess
this having to guess
flee fight feed fornicate

They say time isn’t
and space is questionable as well
it’s gravity wells all the way down

To . . . ?

And speaking of such
our universe is expanding
but into what, exactly?

Of course answers don’t matter
not these
not here

Just shiny beads strung on string
before hungry eyes
unfilled

Rent is rent
flesh is flesh
and sometimes rent must rend

But when rend don’t end
and game goes on
there’s the fun

And for fuel?
me, fool
tool

You?

~ ~ ~

Gummy gummy gummy
I got glow in my tummy
helping head and body painS

Used to use Head & Shoulders
but now that I’m older
I shave my head to plain

Which is better
for you and me brother
other than sister or two

But apple was bit
by human with clit
so whatcha gonna do

Though to be upfront
be better planet
had females had the rule

Cuz gotta be honest
planet wouldn’t be hottest
if men didn’t doo-doo do

Not pointing fingers
cuz damage long lingers
no matter who got us here

Take ticket for trip
to garbage pit
and loop of starting over

Who knows how it’ll go
as you compost and grow
at least you’re part of the future

~ ~ ~

Feline dies of bird flu
the old go-around goes around
on karma carousel

~ ~ ~

Pale violet on horizon
of rising sun

Is earth angry?
or sad?

Or both?

~ ~ ~

Can’t kill myself
my younger brother already did
and I don’t do 2nd acts

Have to hang on anyway
there might be a blooper reel
after the credits

~ ~ ~

No wise no wisdom lotta woes
that’s the way the world grows

should I eat you?
should I greet you?

maybe beat you to a pulp?
treat you to a gulp?

what’re the rules?
who’re the fools?

I ask in call
mirror mirror on the wall

there’s a lot of hope
it’s all a joke

but life
is strife

eat eaten
rent bent

and yet all this while
a smile is still a smile

a hand grand
as is understand

so my aim
beat reality at its own game

~ ~ ~

Tried for the big time
but couldn’t get a ticket
so now I fix it
by going small
little
brief
cull

relief
all

a slice of sun
the red of watermelon
the come hither slither of lilac

the heart’s “What’s that!?”

huckleberry howdy
sky uncloudy
fruit bats

not being rude
but to put it crude
I praise the pearls in the pus
the sparkle in the dark of us
no front or back
no fare unfair
on or off the omnibus

pretty happy going slow
no road high but don’t feel low
in wonder why

woe go now knot know

~ ~ ~

Each night I take myself apart
put ears in charger
teeth in water
brain in the compost

Morning comes
charged ears back in head
cleaned teeth in mouth
where’s my brain?

~ ~ ~

Smith poems 11.2024

Smith poems November 2024

2024.11.2 – He’s an old dog
2024.11.3 – Laying back in bath
2024.11.6 – Politics 116
2024.11.7 – Trump won
2024.11.7 – Warm’s going
2024.11.8 – Who gnosis what’s going on
2024.11.8 – O Great Eye in Sky
2024.11.10 – Beauty in gray rainy day
2024.11.11 – Hi ho here we in sorrow go
2024.11.12 – Going fast around the bend
2024.11.13 – As light slow fades
2024.11.14 – We wanted a smile
2024.11.14 – The continuing deconstruction of me
2024.11.14 – Wife’s out with gal pal
2024.11.15 – Got two cats purring
2024.11.16 – Walking through this wonderland
2024.11.17 – Atlas had to be of Turtle Clan
2024.11.19 – New
2024.11.20 – I’m losing some male-ness
2024.11.21 – Bad day slow turning okay
2024.11.21 – I’m sorry
2024.11.21 – Sitting between the troubles
2024.11.23 – Lizard Brain want
2024.11.24 – Beams of glass tend to crash
2024.11.28 – I sit half in shadow
2024.11.28 – I wave at my particles
2024.11.29 – Sit down
2024.11.30 – Tired of breaking my bones

~ ~ ~

I’m an old dogwalker
our paths well worn

Each breath
if else
or or else

You want truth
buy used

~ ~ ~

Laying back in bath
in the sweat and the wet
the steady sigh of silence
that’s never silent
whispering
hiss now play later
payment due on demand
I know sum of life:

some eat
some are eaten
some starve in between

and yet . . .

this dance from shadow to shadow
makes the motion music
marks it magic

there’s always a silver lining

unless you’re feed

and who knows
that could be the silverest lining of all

the party may start on the other side

~ ~ ~

Politics 116

They skin down time’s lane
self aim by self aim by self aim
skipping blame
in a death of decency
gutting of goodness
killing kind

We work behind enemy lines

~ ~ ~

Trump won
our dog is dying
cat needs $1,300 dental

Of course we ALL die daily
is unsaid said
us dead

Seems name of the game
is avoiding blame
and faking aim

Am I am what I am
from pre-programming jam
or cultural plan?

And what does it matter?

~ ~ ~

Warm’s going
these gorgeous leaves falling
red gold amber brown green
serene our eye and scene
so coming death unseen
until too late
and it’s always too late
which is beautiful
this inevitable
since dirt leads to tree
leads to leaf
leads to dirt
leads to tree
leads to you
leads to me
you see

so . . . ?

~ ~ ~

Who gnosis what’s going on
the best minds are seldom best
cuz like us rest
they want fed fondled and fucked
they want it now
before you
in spite of you
over your dead rotting dying body
your mother’s mesh
and that’s before we flesh
into skin gender sex persuasion
and bad luck truck stuck in reverse

There’s a rapist at the wheel
doing dirty deal
don’t matter what we feel
this is real

~ ~ ~

O Great Eye in Sky
such splendor you supply
to minuscule I

autumn gold gleam
against dying summer green
pure mind candy

I know tomorrow
no rose garden promise
plenty of thorns

still
cat love dog need
and wife here plead

I heed

~ ~ ~

Beauty in gray rainy day
you can wear sadness walking wet
streets alone
just rain
no tear
not here
not there

many masks for sadness
madness too

~ ~ ~

Hi Ho here we in sorrow go
to lower lows
in nasty new scenario

Hats off to all you cahoots
inmates running loose
outside wall in pinstriped suits
dangling lies
cruel ooze wetting whys
skins so thin
quartered by your counting bins
legislating hers from hims
your sures sure made dim
as wrong we go
below below
in Way-Back Crap again

Square tires
rusted rims
funeral pyres

Strange you keep squeezing
after we’re dry
as if our dead could hurt

How’ve you survived so long?
Is this the fit of fittest?

~ ~ ~

Going fast around the bend
faster than we’re meant, my friend
and while this may not be the end
we’re getting there

Fat-suited schmuck in plastic hair
ass-breath trailing everywhere
farts in faces of the fair
baring coming trend

The fat getting fatter
thin grinning in unfair it
the mad seem madder
taking circle to square it

Somewhere, maybe, things make sense
but not, I fear, here
rich to rich commence dispense
ass-ending ending nears

~ ~ ~

As light slow fades
in its daily day dusk night dance
some lizard brain pain eases
and quiet begins
lessens stress
eases quease
prepares the underbrush
and its capitalists
for the rending of night flesh

“listen to my children
do they not make beautiful music?”

~ ~ ~

We wanted a smile
so went a lookin’
walked many a mile
good foot a hoofin’
scoured the land
searched the sky
found bad and bland
nary a why
so motored more
on through the queasy
saw corporate whores
nada pleased me

though ugly got big
I found sparks
to continue my gig
on through the darks —
a father hugging son
mom daughter laughter
another helping one
building better after

I know we eat flesh
kill to survive
but there’s finer mesh
for better life
cuz we’re headin’ nowhere
need pie in sky
which may be a lie
cuz we’ll never go there
still needs to be tried
so dudesses and dudes
I don’t mean to be rude
you’re blighting my fair
your morals crude

dogs hurt
fish feel pain
don’t make worse worse
work for gain

(this cliche brought to you by
simpleton in moral desperation)

~ ~ ~

The continuing deconstruction of me
down to 3 teeth
went in for cleaning with 4
new hole in head
oozing red
waiting pain spill fill
for flesh
money drain hurts more

best not get me mad
I might gum you into submission

~ ~ ~

Wife’s out with gal pal
me home, hole in head

Went to clean 4 teeth
came back with 3
hole in one less one
soon leaves none
fortunately for me
they’re on my right side
so when I hit those prison lights
and the brown suits scream
I’ll yell
“No worry, see my teeth?
They’re all right winged!”
and they’ll cheer
wave me on
anon

I hear if you kiss their ring
they’ll let you do anything

~ ~ ~

Got two hands going
two cats purring
glory glowing in the night

~ ~ ~

Walking wary through this wonderland
of the bold and bland
see great and not so grand master plan
of Master Planner-lessness
in near and now
so check soles for remnant of pets
your armpits just in case
cuz this high cultural stench
comes from somewhere
and though it ain’t us
it’s us

What can I say?
I’m one of you

Watch them building house there
funeral driving here
it’s the old round-a-bout
you can check in
but we’re checking you out

~ ~ ~

Atlas had to be of Turtle Clan
cuz world rests on the back of a turtle
on top of a 2nd turtle
plopped atop a 3rd
on 4th
and so forth
until total turtle all the way down
turtle belly on turtle back
down down down on through the clowns
in awesome shell game

but
gotta say
it ain’t all play
cuz it hurts
the world really really hurts
it’s so big
my back small
didn’t sign up for this
sign said
take happy lap around track
not
hold whole world on your back
on your back
on your back

elevated escalator going down
hurdle after hurtle
and at bottom of course
there’s always some hurdy gurdy man
in a bad comb-over
searching for his organ

hope he has a magnifying glass

~ ~ ~

New
normal
old

~ ~ ~

I’m losing some male-ness
thank goodness
woman walked by in tight slacks
lizard brain looked
saw she was walking a dog
brain shifted to dog
and she was gone
doggone

I analyze folk by their kids
art, books, music, pets, worry wrinkles
dog was happy
tight slacks might be okay

She judged me by not seeing me
happens when you’re old
and don’t look dangerous

Little do they know

~ ~ ~

Bad day slow turning okay
fake blood real fears
tear down way year after years

yesterdays seep today
creep around act clown
wonder when the doing goes down

in this fast fool shuffle
one foot suffers
other foot learns

seeking funny stuff to lighten room
though me still here worth laugh
(not worthless)

without decent genes
stubbornness laughter lotta luck
wouldn’t

~ ~ ~

I’m sorry
you’re in the system
you have a number
things go in lines
slow lines
long lines
forever lines perhaps
but lines are lines

numbers are numbers
and sequence my friend is sequence

time flies like a rotting banana
is relative
and you are not related

~ ~ ~

Sitting between the troubles
here in dark
tree house
fireplace going
cat purring
wife working art
sleep coming for coffee morning
this now now that now then
which makes one wonder
when does now begin
where does it end
do we get points for participating
are we all on same team
what’s our choices
where the reward
or do we be used merchandise
returned without receipt
to old bargain bins
slow fondled
we need answers
now
whatever now is
so be here now
or not
no matter
whatever
sorry to have mentioned it

see ya later
back in trouble bounce

~ ~ ~

Lizard Brain want
Lizard Brain get
gimmie gimmie

~ ~ ~

Beams of glass tend to crash
unless inspired under

Old ran out
here is now
always here
always now
there’s no mother where
or other when to be

I am counter of the countless
token toker on the board

Page is blank
ink is dry
as am I

And not
for never

Too much moisture on my mind

~ ~ ~

I sit half in shadow
half in who knows
no idea on the rest

Some say sun
some say sour runs the hour
sum ply sum

The nature of the game
is aim
and blame

With occasional bloom
to lighten gloom
now darkening room

~ ~ ~

I wave at my particles
am particular about my wave
unless I guess scene seen
as give gives to gave
in collapse

You can check into The Quantum Motel
check out often every time

Cockroaches and The Elite
eat at your head
demand to be fed

Eat eat eat eat
beats the heart
runs the meat
cat alive and dead
until beheld

Or so I see
Say

~ ~ ~

Sit down
out at in-laws
glance at jukebox
“My God Has A Telephone”
is playing

curious

what’s God’s phone number?
is it long distance?
there Angelic Muzak on Hold?
must be some serious Call Waiting
I’d guess you best not spam

and just imagine the phone bill

~ ~ ~

Tired of breaking my bones
bleeding flesh rip
at least I’m not alone
have companion for trip

She keeps me going
stiffens back
shapes growing
steadies track

Lord knows my cost
must empty her purse
without her I’m lost
in long line of worse

Or dead
no longer hurt
less dread
pure desert

For party may start
when flesh dropped
beatless heart
fresh hell stopped

After all what’s ahead
except cockroach and glitter
worms in your head
and no babysitter

~ ~ ~

poem harvest october 2024

Poem harvest October 2024

2024.10.10 – I may look empty
2024.10.11 – I was beast man at my wedding
2024.10.11 – I ride my Camus
2024.10.12 – Sometimes I wear two shoes
2024.10.13 – Is sacrosanct
2024.10.14 – Sky green
2024.10.14 – 80 in 70 not as bad as 80 in 60
2024.10.15 – I got 15 minutes
2024.10.16 – Being me since the 1940’s
2024.10.17 – Ah, temporary absence of strife
2024.10.19 – Old man
2024.10.20 – Dog leads on our walks
2024.10.24 – Drinking the talky coffee
2024.10.25 – The chicory has faded
2024.10.25 – Dog is walked
2024.10.28 – Leaves slow falling fast and often
2024.20.30 – So full

~ ~ ~

I may look empty
but fumes still fuel my quest

Seems like it’s all Go Go Americana
these days down at the
All American Gas Station Beer Stops

I drank MD 20/20 once
and once was enough
but for pure power glory
a drug dealer in low class high rise
who cut coke at my place
cuz wife didn’t understand
once brought moonshine along
and WOW
stuff glowed all the way down
then smiled

Still smiling my 33 years sober
47 years later

Now follow full-spectrum flower
to ease hours
when wind on wrong side of strong

Going on a dope run
running with the wind
then after we’re done
we’ll do it again

There are silences in the silence
unsilences in the unsilences
lotus grows pure from muck
while I’m more dump truck

And yet
gotta believe good would in bad water

Tickle back of neck sweat
absentmindedly rubbed
killed bug
bug being bug
sweat being sweat
me being me
bug dead

My bad?
You’ve no idea
I was always outlaw
rogue
approaching scoundrel
wanting better

Push myself to edge with coffee
and stress of class less ness
you know what I mean
if not
you’re part of the problem
and I’ve no solution
cuzs problem myself

Outside silence slows
to rush of wind and wheel
red thread of siren

Where’s the punch line?

~ ~ ~

I was beast man at my wedding

My first pun? Once a pun a time

I’ve got quite a few pieces
but missing some bits

Quantum creatures sneak my creases
eating what fits

Betting heart as feature
not fatal bug

Reality’s creaky cum creature
one sum slog

Listening to bonging clock
grateful we agree

Inner silences in inner silence
carry the weight for me

Are figments baby figs?
Do they grow on trees like need on knees?

There is song in silence, song in noise
lesson in both

Steeple of day steeped in night
eat until eaten not very nice

We are mouth holding scream

~ ~ ~

I ride my Camus
across this desert
of intellectual land
no morals
so few being kind
most bent
by greed and grab and gripe

He sez
Sisyphus is a happy man

I ride his rock

~ ~ ~

Sometimes I wear two shoes to write a poem
sometimes none
sometimes one shoe socks two
sometimes one’ll do
depends on doing
poem coming
don’t know where or why
they light on I
but grateful
adds glitter to gloom
lightens doom
swoons moons
fuels fumes

~ ~ ~

Is sacrosanct
the past tense of sacrosink
or the precursor of sacrosunk?

I like succulents
love to rub them low and slow
against my crotch

Heard online song of mine:
“belly bump back, back bump belly
gonna go jack my jam in jelly”

Its musician. editor, recorder
lives on
dead these nine years

He fatal fell
I non-fatal falling
non-fatal fine, falling nein

Can’t be staying
but I’m not going
too much paying, too much owing

~ ~ ~

Sky green
dark cloud gray
slow rain in play

Through the rain
through the pain
here we go again

Hold my hot coffee
black in cold hands
sip its dark bitterness

Cat in lap
life is hap
iness

~ ~ ~

80 in 70 not as bad as 80 in 60
but bad is bad, worser worse

Got one shoe off one shoe on
heading downstream to have some fun
my pocket empty as a preacher’s heart
hope held higher than an elephant’s fart

From KKK to killing JFK
yesterday creeps into tomorrow’s sorrow
while now runs off with then

Another gummy down the tummy
more THC to mend the mind
gooey chewy to remove the moody
terpenes stick the hive behind

America – caffeine, sugar, and weed
what more you need
cept maybe coke and speed

Done em all to much appall
yet helped build my all

Now down to weed
caffeine
energy unseen

~ ~ ~

I got 15 minutes
and a green light

Gotta follow lane logic though
cuzza the club

Lurk outside their fire flame
wanting heat of hot
warren warmth
but no knee to bend in invite

Fire light tribal might
no inside outside sight

Back to basic
we sat silent on London bench
watched worm work its way our way
stop
hunch
push into ground
hunch and push
hunch push
into flat earth
until it wormed its way
in and under
didn’t even leave a hole

In and out they eat our snout
to grow the cherry treesl

Guess green light gone
and red runs on
yet still I walk in wonder

~ ~ ~

Being me since the 1940’s
proudly hated by the morally feeble
into their grab-bag of evil

~ ~ ~

Ah, temporary absence of strife
sitting before fire
pre-dawn
first cup of caffeine push
wedded with the will of the weed
babbling away with wife
about life
pets on the floor
friends soon at the door
and . . . more

~ ~ ~

Old man
walking old dog
Death watches

Full moon last night
full sun this morning
fool me goes on

You keep going
till you can’t keep going
except you can’t can’t keep going

~ ~ ~

Dog leads on our walks
don’t understand his logic
but see his need

~ ~ ~

Drinking the talky coffee
in pre-dawn dark
by firelight
me jabbering away
ear-sore wife suffering
dog waiting impatiently at feet
for talk to end
morning walks begin
me in caffeine-jacked now
and the ain’t no not yet next
savoring the madness of moment
since minutes tend to the mundane

which is weird
since mundane ain’t
simply can’t be
in this miraculous whee of life
and lights
laughter
love

so leave me be
leave me
leave
be

and somehow pay the rent
(for you of the Capitalist bent)

~ ~ ~

The chicory has faded
and the small whites are moving on

Old dog is walking slow
yet casts new shadow

I trail behind
just glad to be moving

New day
new sky
new why

~ ~ ~

Dog is walked
pets are fed
did the dishes
made the bed
laundered clothes
cleaned cat box
pay what I owes
oiled the locks
got rid of the grease
wound-up the hours
put wife at ease
smoked some flower
watered my weed
emptied the trash
if more in need
you’ve only to ask

~ ~ ~

Leaves slow falling fast and often
glowing gold in dying death

they had their season
and reason
their wet and wind and sun
night for rumination

did the job
cooled earth
cleaned air
softened noise
danced deep in breeze before still eyes
green in sun
strange in moon
filled with night song frogs
day squirrel chatter
cardinals blue jays raccoons

all nice and sweet
until the meat
and hawk

go now
gone later
doing done in time

honor our oozing entropy
jumble joy in between

~ ~ ~

So full
the falling leaves of autumn
the beauty in death

~ ~ ~

Smith poems September 2024

Smith poems September 2024

2024.9.1 – Like the cicada
2024.9.1 – I wind the stopped clock
2024.9.3 – Leaf eats sun
2024.9.5 – Raise my face to sun
2024.9.5 – Sometimes you keep moving
2024.9.7 – I empty my sweater pocket
2024.9.7 – Your body tired ?
2024.9.8 – Awfully slippery slidery
2024.9.9 – Wife 9.9.2024
2024.9.9 – New light
2024.9.10 – Yup another waiting room
2024.9.13 – Humid in hot bath
2024.9.14 – I bash bounderies
2024.9.16 – O yes
2024.9.18 – Tombstones glisten
2024.9.18 – A soft sun
2024.9.19 – There’s an ache to find the truth
2024.9.20 – Is is long road
2024.9.21 – I take what sun I get
2024.9.22 – “Oh What A Lucky Man”
2024.9.23 – I love my life
2024.9.23 – Outside my parents
2024.9.24 – I write what I see
2024.9.24 – You know how it goes

~ ~ ~

Like the cicada
I sing my song
leave a husk

~ ~ ~

I wind the stopped clock
reset the time
nothing changes

Here we go again
a new day for an old dog
heading into the fog

Twixt good and evil
a sticky jam
you is what you am

Still, I try

~ ~ ~

Leaf eats sun
insect eats leaf
small flesh eats insect
bigger eats more and more eats bigger
until finally human me eats it all

Or all eats me
or eats what’s eaten me
et cetera

Going to be an autotroph when I grow up
I want to head the food chain

~ ~ ~

Raise my face to sun
suck what source I can
closed lids peach red glow
and luminous yellows
knowing if I open them
I’ll be damaged

flash to last year
staring at sun
eyes open
for four minutes
of total solar eclipse
it was alien
other
that burning thing up there
fuming fusion
everyday deadly

stare now eyes closed
letting the lid light warm
skin wrap my face
in shine

fine time

~ ~ ~

Sometimes you keep moving
cuz you know if you stop
that’s it

Sharks and capitalists
understand this

~ ~ ~

I empty my sweater pocket
yellow Splenda packets for the wife
and biodegradable poo bags for the dog

I’ve a good life

~ ~ ~

Your body tired ?
Your being listless ?
Your bones not supporting you ?
Your pain tense past present and future ?
Well there’s a cure ! ! !
It’s called caffeine and cannabis ! ! !
Toss in a car and some concrete
if you’re stupid and lucky
just kidding
(not)
and for heading your skeleton
on down Meat City
a gummy or two will do
nicotine or booze’s for those who loses
I’m more weed-given will to their won’t
and don’t

~ ~ ~

Awful slippery slidery
this thing called truth
it finally settles
then WHAM
it’s gone again

But thanks
for the blue skies
the green leaves
the wind

Pleasures treasures

~ ~ ~

Wife 9.9.2024

Our life story so far

19 years ago I told you to go away
you didn’t
I’m glad

That pretty much sums it up

~ ~ ~

New light
old lies
here we go again

Yesterday stains today
today strains tomorrow
tomorrow never comes

You then-past
you then-future
you Zen-then

Is always now
dreams imply elsewhen
elsewhere

I drive highways high
cuz that’s what they’re named
high octanes go

It’s in the “maybe tomorrow”s
that sorrow borrows
faint fumes for the gone

~ ~ ~

Yup another waiting room
surrounded by the tearing down
and the building up

Hope of doing it better
fearing way wrong
(and the winner is . . ? )

I know the rich gotta eat
but do they have to eat us?
more calories in each other

I started below zero
talked my way up to sewage line
never escaped societal smell

Which is cool
being neither fool
nor tool

There’s right
there’s wrong
there’s blunt force of money

Lizard brain
leading us to big pain
yet again

No fear here cuz here still here
but in quantum squiggle
giggle gone for good

~ ~ ~

Humid in hot bath
sweating toxins out
hoping some good left

~ ~ ~

I bash bounderies
caffeinated
and tokenated and
thinkingated
until my head becomes Tardis
bigger on the inside
than out
though I ain’t got no magic throttle
nor time control
I still go wormhole places
and time before after
run on son of long-gone daddy

~ ~ ~

O yes

Mind monsters
cranium creatures
environmental viruses
survival of the fittest
sing hallelujah
ever onward in sorry sojourn

I dance between the shadows
suck what sun I can
watch women walk the harder path

Wife says she’s “the Zen in resentful”
while I keep pushing OFF buttons
in this ever-ON world

O let us pray
may the bad be better
and the good remain

~ ~ ~

Tombstones glisten
o so endless in the sun
cars rush by in their robot run

~ ~ ~

A soft sun
a good wind
the deep dance of leaves on trees

Sometimes the big picture
is less interesting
you lose the lace

~ ~ ~

There’s an ache to find the truth
and tell it

There’s an ache to find the truth
and be it

There’s an ache to find the truth

~ ~ ~

Is is long road
outside direction
or perfection

big bunch of life lessons
out there
think I’ll stay in

sometimes outer silence
lets inner silence sing too long
shake up the shuffle

my report card’s all C’s
caffeine concrete car cannabis

cradling coffee
round Dead Man’s curve
watering life

if there’s past Karma fare
to repair
I plead guilty

my bright words this morning
dim now
who was that man?

time goes on
I don’t

~ ~

I take what sun I get
I give what cheer I got
life goes on
I got coffee
I got me
I got wife in kissing tree
the road not taken
I been taken
repeatedly

There’s lies below
more lies above
helping push of shaping glove
you got your gods
you got your not nods
you still have to pay the rent

Sitting in a parking lot
watching a man sitting in a car
driver door open
scratching betting cards
looking for money
finding little or none
doing it again
and again
going in coming out
more cards
grim face
doing it over an hour now
in for cards
out with cards
sad silence

I wish him well
must be serious to keep the prayer going

My god’s not meat
my god is the all of nothing
the knot of now

Never pray to meat
it rots

Where’s this edge?
You get to it and there’s another
there’s always another
another up or down
in or out
and they all want rent

If not rent, respect
which is psychic rent

Here in workaway world
stress runs the mess
gets the killing done
fills the pantry
cooks the kitchen
preys on land run wrong

Stop and smell the roses
before they rot
and fall to the ground

They’re beautiful either way

~ ~ ~

“Oh What A Lucky Man”

saw Little Richard in mirror-shard dress shimmying atop a piano as he wailed away in 1971. . .

Bill Haley same night – nasty man, even his band disliked him, tried to intervie w and he snarled “Go away kid, I’m counting my money” . . .

1968 Frank Sinatra controlled entire Baltimore coliseum by standing still, continuously looking slowly over entire audience while singing, singing, singing . . .

Cream’s 1968 Goodbye concert, Ginger Baker’s solo with fluorescent drum sticks under black light highlit my 1st LSD concert . . .

Elvis 1976, big belly and all, bigger voice
myth and magic, electrified me in 58 . . .

Ella Fitzgerald, once Count Basie as pianist, once Oscar Peterson, class and gentle sass . . .

Willie Nelson’s wonderful twice, big place and small, magic overall . . .

The Plastic Exploding Inevitable, 1968, too long ago and too many drugs to remember program but Velvet Underground part of it though all I can be sure of is my left ear was filled with caked blood after . . .

Moody Blues on acid (“Timothy Leary’s dead”). . .

Emmylou Harris’ pure sweetness opening for Willie . . .

Tiny Tim doing astounding 50-song melody spanning 100 years in small Maryland bar then talking with me 45 minutes in dressing room him singing Bob Dylan as Rudy Valley and Rudy as Bob into my tape recorder talking of George Harrison smoking grass in a hotel party closet – pure genius, gentle sweet caring generous man . . .

Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, John Prine, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, The Residents, Devo, Meat Beat Manifesto, Santana, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Waylon Jennings, Cat Stevens, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Dwight Yokum, Shawn Phillips, Terry Reid, Badfinger, and of course my many myriad missing mind losts. . .

strange, saw The Rolling Stones in 1977 7th row for free with my adulterous married woman yet remember zilch. . .

1st concert Martin Denny 1963
seriously uncool lounge lizardness . . .

2nd concert forced to attend The Lettermen at Annapolis as Plebe at U.S. Naval Academy 1966 . . .

on good foot, Bob Dylan 5 times 4 brilliant . . .

didn’t see them perform but got stoned with Alice Cooper and Flo & Eddy (The Turtles and Frank Zappa) in ’72, and quite drunk with Paul Williams who was fun, funny, and wanted to play a Hobbit in the movies . . .

the one that got away? – Leonard Cohen, couldn’t afford him by the time he came around . . .

gave ’76 George Harrison ticket away at stadium – too many people queueing and moving and rustling and I’d taken too much acid, somehow got cab home alone in my fog . . .

now stay home thanks to plague and inclination, shuffle my fine pool of tunes . . .

this Get-Off-My-Lawn-ness is not my default mode though I’m of the age – I’m more You Can’t See Tits On The Radio or Cool Water, a beautiful song of mule and master thirsting to death in the desert . . .

“Happy trails to you”

~ ~ ~

I love my life
I love my wife
don’t like world strife so much

down to weary
wary
worried thought climb
from good of me
through bad of them
(and me we)

I sweat my poisons out
hope sum left in balance

thing about pain
they’re daily
like dark seed of sun

thing about seed
is plantings unknown
in brain of bloom and blame
and groan
which we must own

thing about thing
is no thing

Zen in

Ing

~ ~ ~

Outside my parents
best things happened to me were
being raised on a farm
LSD
and Lady

Best things now
are my moist leaking memories
lurking in my brain
and Lady

~ ~ ~

I write what I see
and my day’s all wet and gray
like the sea sees when it sez
“seize you on the downsize”
and sea change arranges
new shells of hells
atop your cherry pie

I know you’re going to say
I’m all wet
and yet
you might be right
I’ll wet you know

~ ~

You know how it goes
you just keep moving
sometimes slow
sometimes slower
sometimes not at all
but “still is still moving”
in inner morning lunar light

So they sing

I wouldn’t know
there are different rules after dark
but knives come out day and night
stick and stab wherever might
fit the story arc

Do know half cup afternoon coffee
not enough to really help
but enough to hurt

Face it folk
our gods are false
high on hallowed homies
hollowlujah
waiting for their money calls
on our invisible phones

So pass the plate
please the Preacher
and pay the plucking God Phone bill

~ ~ ~

reading 10.3.2024 Coventry Library Cleveland Heights OH

Last Thursday’s readingr 10.3.2024
Coventry Library Cleveland Heights OH
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I sit in silence that is not silence
there’s a wavering hiss of tire on concrete
the far siren singing
clock ticks
unknown people in unknown places
murmuring unknown words in unknown song
baby dinosaur chirps from tree
unseen dog barks territory
more cars hiss wind and water
squirrel chitters
wind chimes
rooster crows for sun every eleven seconds
when it’s been up for hours
in rhythmic return of almost nothing

unsilent dance
moves here
moves there
a veil over its fate

I listen

~ ~ ~

The Sisyphus Effect

I tried to tell her
don’t get up
stay in bed
it’s a scam
another reality trick
they get you every time
first you wake up
then you sit up
step out of bed
and whammo
they got you
again
they make you do stuff
be things
go places
eat
defecate
take
fake
I told her
tried to warn her
but no
she’s up
doing yoga
making coffee
petting the cat
listening to Willie Nelson
caught again in the web of want
old debt new due
one more early worm demanding bird

~ ~ ~

Rant and Roll

Gimme that TV I.V.
for vain in vein insane
gimme booze, sex, gambling
highline fashion
low blows
gimme local lobotomy
drill my lobal monstrosities
gimme gone
gimme go
gimme fast cars in red glow
neon no ones run low
jazz jumped slow
gimme want and went and wan
night in sight of sun
anything to numb
this shit world dumb
to doom due profits sons
in never pure
ever slippin’ strip stream whirl
gimme never when
back then
Zen
but get me gone
I don’t belong
nor do
you

~ ~ ~

Zen Box

Kneeling on the floor
before the cat box
removing clayed clumps of piss
and dried shit
then smoothing the surface
I realize this is my Zen sand garden
the urine my sins against others
the shit my sins against myself
the baking soda confession and forgiveness
for past’s smell
so I start new day new
clean
free
knowing I’ll be on my knees again tomorrow
for same old shit

~ ~ ~

I take what sun I get
I give what cheer I got
life goes on
I got coffee
I got me
I got wife in kissing tree
the road not taken
I been taken
repeatedly

There’s lies below
more lies above
helping push of shaping glove
you got your gods
you got your not nods
you still have to pay the rent

Sitting in a parking lot
watching a man sitting in a car
driver door open
scratching betting cards
looking for money
finding little or none
doing it again
and again
going in coming out
more cards
grim face
doing it over an hour now
in for cards
out with cards
sad silence

I wish him well
must be serious to keep the prayer going

My god’s not meat
my god is the all of nothing
the knot of now

Never pray to meat
it rots

Where’s this edge?
You get to it and there’s another
there’s always another
another up or down
in or out
and they all want rent

If not rent, respect
which is psychic rent

Here in workaway world
stress runs the mess
gets the killing done
fills the pantry
cooks the kitchen
preys on land run wrong

Stop and smell the roses
before they rot
and fall to the ground

They’re beautiful either way

~ ~ ~

Grease Your Grill

I’m an oven cleaner baby
Come to scrub your grill
Yes this oven loving man
Mean to steam your grill
Get the heat back baby
Flame and fire the thrill

I’ll rub your rust off lady
Get your grid to shine
Rid this mood of maybe baby
Lady let me lick your lime
Make much meat that might be
Moistened by munching lightly
Juicy, prime

Gonna grease your grill
Put the heat back baby
Then, send you the bill

~ ~ ~

A Crooked Man

There was a crooked man
not politician or banker
nor CEO or priest or moral shanker
(though all fine crooks in each their way)
but a simple guy with crooked sight
who thought fair meant fair
and right meant right
no matter how rich or big or tall
the same truths applied to all
if A were rule for man with penny
A must abide for man with many
if B is wrong for one with naught
it’s just as wrong for one with lots
as poor pay tax and serve and fight
so should rich add their might
and give to keep this going going
this very world they seem to be whoring
using lawyers politicians guns and money
not to mention TV and honey
to dull our minds to take our score
demanding we must pay far more
so wealth in growth can glow galore
they say less more than we deserve
think we’d be happy we’re not tempted
by all they buy with money exempted
and they’re probably right
in Zen light
for stuff is trouble
stuff takes space
stuff grows like fungus in dark dank place
stuff needs storage stuff needs safe
stuff sucks storer stuff takes place
stuff becomes bad bit breath
stuff stiffs stuff
stuff self-smit
so bet on tortoise
forget the hare
stuff is rigor mortis
stufflessness free air
winning is failing
failing success
oh the meek shall inherit
one hell of a mess

~ ~ ~

Dear Occupants, Accidents & Occidentals

Just yesterday it was yesterday
Now it’s already today

Confuse not mercy with weakness
Confuse weakness not with an upset liver
And confuse not an upset liver with love
It is the shape of the silence
Which defines the sound
Like winter rubbing against summer
Each refines the other

Only certain curtains can be drawn
The rest must be endured
The souring sermons
The centered self serving
The lion den Christians in Coliseum stands
Twixt ape and angel wandering
Torn between the knowledge
And the need

Do I worship the moon or sun
Or yet the blooded one?
I bloat and smell
Decay in age
The focus runs

~ ~ ~

Old dog wants
but doesn’t know what
so stands in existential angst
glancing at door
at kitchen
at me

I am an old man with an old dog
I don’t know either

~ ~ ~

Like the cicada
I sing my song
leave a husk

~ ~ ~

A little danger on the weekends
a little discipline for the workdays

Rounding underpass darkness
of Dead Man’s Curve dead car debris
into sudden full Cleveland sun
clouds jumbled majestically
wind temple turbines turning
bad coffee good grass
a long way to go
and right good to be going

Hey brother, can you spare a dead sparrow?
I’ve got an Armageddon to enforce

~ ~ ~

O yes

Mind monsters
cranium creatures
environmental viruses
survival of the fittest
sing hallelujah
ever onward in sorry sojourn

I dance between the shadows
suck what sun I can
watch women walk the harder path

Wife says she’s “the Zen in resentful”
while I keep pushing OFF buttons
in this ever-ON world

O let us pray
may the bad be better
and the good remain

~ ~ ~

Marriage Proposal

December of 68 I was lying on LSD on my bed downtown Baltimore.
Walls, floor, ceiling, doors all painted flat black.
Metallic mobiles and assorted assemblages hung from the ceiling
turning at will in low green and blue light.
My future wife walked in and sat so she could see me in the mirror.
So and so just got married she said.
That’s nice.
Silence.
Watch her reflection watching me.
So and somebody else also married.
More silence.
Watch her reflection evaluate my reflection’s reflection.
Even through the LSD I could see she wasn’t talking what she was saying
so asked.
I just want to know what’s going to happen she screams
stalking into the living room.
I lie there amid my hallucinations and resentfully realize
I’m too weak not to marry her.
Another’s strong needs always overrode my indifferent apprenticeship.
20 minutes later she skulks back to the bedroom.
OK I snap.
OK what? she snaps back.
We’ll get married.
When?
Six months I finalize
feeling sure the artist within will wither once reduced to marriage,
suburban boxes, the upperclass hypocrisy rampant in her family and friends.
We had a rich wedding in a high Episcopal-cum-Catholic cathedral.
Reception held of course at the country club.
None of my freak friends came.
The day of the wedding
I put all the trash left from moving in the middle of the floor
smoked the last of my grass
took off all my clothes
and slowly danced naked about the trash
sprinkling it with my box of monosodium glutamate
and chanting unknown chants of sorrow

~ ~ ~

August 2024 word harvest

August 2024 word harvest

2024.8.1 – I mean well
2024.8.1 – Just saw one leaf slow fall
2024.8.5 – Love as a drug
2024.8.5 – I have no choice
2024.8.6 – Sugar!
2024.8.7 – Days getting long
2024.8.7 – I ache, downright hurt
2024.8.10 – I have true tales
2024.8.10 – Call me Sisyphus
2024.8.12 – It’s said as fact
2024.8.13 – A little danger on the weekends
2024.8.16 – Digging through the night
2024.8.18 – And we’re off
2024.8.19 – Misha & Frankie
2024.8.21 – My well of wisdom runs dry
2024.8.21 – Found Poem Number None
2024.8.24 – Edge walking
2024.8.25 – Write your words in sand or stone
2024.8.25 – There are lifeforms
2024.8.27 – Some are never seen
2024.8.28 – There’s rough blood skin scrape
2024.8.28 – I push my rock up hill
2024.8.29 – Sisyphus and I worship
2024.8.30 – I see says man blind
2024.8.31 – Old dog wants

~ ~ ~

I mean well
but well has many meanings
of which I am one

A well is deep
dark
wet or dry

We wail
at the Welling Wall
against woe

My wall
may well
be wrong

Thy all
well may
be right

All in all
don’t fall
for the small

It don’t smell tight

~ ~ ~

Just saw one leaf slow fall
into sunlight and out again

Sun’s 4.6 billion years old
earth’s 4.5 billion
tree 30 years
leaf a few months
tbe shadows are ageless
I’m 78

What’re the odds?
me go fast in slow lane

~ ~ ~

Love as a drug
isn’t enough for her
she wants coffee too

~ ~ ~

I have no choice
there’s principles and there’s practicality
I won’t hurt myself just to hurt them

~ ~ ~

Sugar!
Caffeine!
Cannabis!
Cruising concrete
sharpening that edge
trying to outrun the end

We’ve met many times
various disguises
know each other well

~ ~ ~

Days getting long
brains getting short
election year

Flowers don’t last long
cacti stay awhile
I’m cactus

~ ~ ~

I ache, downright hurt
why should I get out of this chair?

others
service
need
duty
love
future
past
tomorrow
now

or else

~ ~ ~

I have true tales
tall and tender
tumbling me through time

Yesterdays are never gone
part leach into today
the rest stain tomorrow

What kind of flowers do we make
looping around on the interstate?

Rising sun
setting sun
same sun

Got one shoe on, ready to run

~ ~ ~

Call me Sisyphus
son of Sisyphus
son of son of son of Sisyphus

Sweat in hot bath
a discordant reality
of pains old and new
hard and softer
some going away
some not
sum knot
old man skin
blotches and blood
soon to be soothed in Moroccan argan oil

Walk naked from bath to wife
put fingers both sides foot long belly scar
and say solemnly
“I am two become one for you”

She lost it

~ ~ ~

It’s said as fact
Schrodinger’s cat knows it’s at
but just exactly where is that that?

In my box
horizontal feels good
after upright fight for day

Now night lilac dark, fragrant
as I seek mythical dragon
to soothe plight

Dead cat rotting, live cat well
which one falling, which one fell?

Who’s to tell?

~ ~ ~

A little danger on the weekends
a little discipline for the workdays

Rounding underpass darkness
of Dead Man’s Curve dead car debris
into sudden full Cleveland sun
clouds jumbled majestically
wind temple turbines turning
bad coffee good grass
a long way to go
and right good to be going

Hey brother, can you spare a dead sparrow?
I’ve got an Armageddon to enforce

~ ~ ~

Digging through the night
looking for the layers
needed for the light

Worm warm wonder
moist earth magic
penetration however slight

Greed got us here
and greed’ll get us killed
so sez want and will

Once the race was won
the finish line went wrong
preyed upon the dumb

And now we eat the eaten
beat our meat replete
seek new deals to sweeten

Don’t know much
but been around long
learned some of the song

Keep the worry
work the weary
sharpen wary way up high

~ ~ ~

And we’re off
pain taking the lead by a length
me hurting behind

I’m an angry man
in an old body breaking down
with a good heart
and a skeptical mind

I hurt myself
not on purpose
just hurt myself
cuz that’s the clump of clod I am
hurt myself
then hunker down to endure healing

I am Sisyphus I am rock I am hill

Me not smart monkey
but me not dumb
and me not only one

DNA
what a way
to play

The gaps between the ghosts getting smaller
ghosts of course getting oftener

~ ~ ~

Misha & Frankie

Her purr burble deep in throat
his more motor going

She black shadow 13 summer
he orange rip year’n’half old

She warm in snuggle
he blood for claw

She medium
he big

Her green eye tender, trusting
his alert yellow snake alien

She sweet silk seductress
he pure devil angle

She constant in comfort
he love and the terror

But she oh yes she
she was once as he

And so too can he
be as tender as she

~ ~ ~

My well of wisdom runs dry
my dry humor drips wet

Blue flowers growing in the green grass
small yellow flowers in the green grass

Old paper plate decomposing in the green grass
WTF is that in the green grass?!

Sunlight fades
as do I

All hail En
Tropy

~ ~ ~

Found Poem Number None

(Improv #1)
(Down A Dead End Street)
(When Jesus Takes Me Home)
(Woman’s Dance)
(It’s Love)
(I’m A)
(No More)
(Not Was)
(We Don’t Need This)
(You Need Meat)
(Peaceful Heart)
(Arabian Dance)
(Shelter In A Suitcase)
(Gurkaran Waraich)
(Black, Brown and White)
(Give Me Peace On Earth)
(He Gave Me Gasoline)
(Make Me Wanna Holler)
(Earthlings On Fire)
(Daddy Kill a Chicken)
(Woman Smarter)
(New Traditionalist Man)
(Body is the Scar of Your Mind)
(Hades Finds Out)
(I’ve Got Someone To Kill)
(A Deal With God)
(And Super Creeps)
(A Nocturnal Emission)
(Till You’re Not Happy)
(Don’t Don’t Do It)

[title frags from shuffle pool]

~ ~ ~

Edge walking
quite a costly way to go
but that one wave
where you walk on water
without even trying
way worth the broken bones
the torn flesh
the shredded heart
the shrunken ego

the air is fair up there

~ ~ ~

Go write your words in sand or stone
you still age and break
likely die alone

No matter who or what pulls the strings
God or plot naught before or after
you have to pay the rent

You’re born and washed in bowl
you die and are washed in bowl
it’s the dirt between that matters

You wanna play you gotta pay
you wanna pray you gotta pay
go or stay? – pay

Me, I’m making memories
to keep me moist
in the near hereafter

~ ~ ~

There are life forms
beneath us
around us
on us in us
above us
beyond us
we can’t see
or even fathom
life miles below sea surface
in darkness deep as a grifter’s heart
or life covered in miles of ice
colder than a preacher’s art
life is what life does to life
in self serving circle
eat to be am
die to be eaten to be am

I am what I am when I’m eaten
me myself the lie

~ ~ ~

Some are never seen
yet they pay the price
for this be that’s never been
which isn’t very nice

You can be whatever do
at least that’s what they say
but only through fluke of fool
or bending knee to they

There’re the they who own the streets
the they who run the lights
the they who take your treats
then double dare to fight

Let ’em kiss each others’ ass
as they serve their shilly shite
while they sneak faux pass
I seek sight

They’ll come back again
do their dirty twice
offer gain for pain
spin their just not nice

But we know better
been burned before
debt and debtor
unhealing sore

~ ~ ~

There’s rough blood skin scrape
And deep down bone pain
looks like I’m being me again

~ ~ ~

I push my rock up hill
watch as hill falls down

In empty want of will
I’m too stupid to go around

Dancing light distracts me
from my terror time

Shows a better be
a finer fine to find

I turn in search of lovely
leave lonely in the lurch

Seek some truths beyond me
weigh the man . . . and church

Both are judged and wanting
says the writing on the wall

Must be sort of daunting
God’s middle finger and all

Rock and hill and finger
keep messing up the page

But as long as my luck lingers
I’ll survive this culture cage

~ ~ ~

Sisyphus and I worship
at the cat box
we kneel
bow to clumped piss
and clayed shit
when done
we smooth the sand
with Zen
then
do it again
and again
and again

we are happy
we have a steady job

it reminds us of eternity

~ ~ ~

I see says man blind
from group meld mind

I hear says tin ear
it helps me cheat rhyme

I feel says faux real
hard heart unkind

Lizard brain sets bind
eat yr friend or help unwind?

~ ~ ~

Old dog wants
but doesn’t know what
so stands in existential angst
glancing at door
at kitchen
at me

I am an old man with an old dog
I don’t know either

~ ~ ~

July 2024 word harvest

July 2024 word harvest

2024.7.1 – Man it’s getting scary out there
2024.7.2 – All hail sacred lies
2024.7.8 – A lot of back-up beeps
2024.7.9 – The rising moon
2024.7.14 – The grazing of his ear
2024.7.16 – Trump’s ear is so bigly bandaged
2024.7.18 – All aboard for the Ying-Yang Express
2024.7.22 – I’m coffeed up
2024.7.23 – New rain
2024.7.24 – What’s done
2024.7.24 – Full ahead
2024.7.26 – Don The Con
2024.7.28 – I understand much
2024.7.29 – Had 5 teeth
2024.7.29 – There’s reverse
2024.7.30 – Starlight moonlight sunlight inner light
2024.7.30 – JD Vance does occasionally tell the truth
2024.7.30 – Great grapes go for wine
2024.7.31 – The lost lettuce and the lettuce gone
2024.7.31 – I learn of need and want

~ ~ ~

Man it’s getting scary out there
we got the Whore or the Or

We live in interesting times
says the corpse to the boot heel

~ ~ ~

All hail sacred lies
and the trials thereof

The basements borrowed
in ungentling of glove

There’s avenues to be followed
borders not crossed

So sez the boss
it just ain’t allowed

There’d be loss
and it’d be loud

Less its pound of flesh

~ ~ ~

A lot of back-up beeps
outside my window
the world is in repair

I’m getting better
but there’s a lot of better to get
almost caught up on yesterday’s dues

And the pules of flesh

Ever onward
thru pain
thru joy
thru gain
thru annoy
into am

There are no maybes without might

~ ~ ~

The rising moon
the setting sun
the shadows in-between

~ ~ ~

The grazing of his ear
and the raising of his fist triumphantly after
could be seen as pre-scripted . . .

much like Adolf’s Night of Broken Glass

~ ~ ~

Trump’s ear is so bigly bandaged
I can’t tell if it was a bullet
or a blood pact

~ ~ ~

All aboard for the Ying-Yang Express
what’s gonna happen is anybody’s guess

Some of it good, some of it bad
a few us having, most of us had

The hunt needs the hunted
the fear heeds the feast

The righteous are blunted
we feed the beast

If you’re living, something’s dead
you’re either bleeding or living on bled

I’m so sorry I sow so much dreary
I know we’re all quite weary of dread

Hence I still high hope on through the bleary
and keep recharging my head

~ ~ ~

I’m coffeed up
toking mellow
and cruising on concrete

There is hope

Drinking bad coffee
smoking good grass
the is of the is not

Blow by Temperance Exit 3
weed speed caffeine and concrete

Cuppa what?

Sometimes I turn on the radio noise
to stop the brain noise
sometimes to listen

I’m 2 shoe tied
trouble shoot shot
and ready to go

I bow to your deception

~ ~ ~

New rain
old dust
slippery slope

~ ~ ~

What’s done
what’s to do
endless

(thankfully)

~ ~ ~

Full ahead
far behind
here we go again

~ ~ ~

Don the Con
will soon be gone
his stench will linger longer

~ ~ ~

I understand much
but nowhere near enough
and I’m willing to go for less

~ ~ ~

Had 5 teeth
Broke 1/2 off
Now have 4 1/2 teeth

~ ~ ~

There’s reverse
and there’s perverse
why go backward?

~ ~ ~

Starlight moonlight sunlight inner light
stage light walking in and out

We lick our mirrors in fear
of wear and tear and tell all tales

Entropy inertia do it later let it fall
run away hide your head fund financial plan

Up breaks down
down’s deep is mushroom town

But what the heck we humans dreck
Earth will shake us from her shoulders

Like virus
like vermin

The trees will last new grass will grow
the seas and sky refill

Plastic atolls tall in water
once again will crawl with life

But right now is big crimes for big times
where money talks, principles walk

I think I wear my weary well
the Earth, however, is tired

Of us

~ ~ ~

JD Vance does occasionally tell the truth . . .

He called Trump “America’s Hitler”
“cultural heroin”
“a morally reprehensible human being”
“a disaster”
“a bad man”
and added
“some people who voted for Trump are racist
and they voted for him for racist reasons”

All valid statements

~ ~ ~

Great grapes go for wine
good grapes get eaten
the rest are raisin

Grapes and grains
roosters and trains
entwine in my brain

~ ~ ~

The lost lettuce and the lettuce gone

I’m a sun bunny
with no money
and lost bunny glow

Dying lighter
dirty pipe
low on weed

Not beaten
not bowed
just a wee bit bent

Call me sum body in sub-money flow

~ ~ ~

I learn of need and want
as large dog pulls on leash

But lesson’s larger

Watch morning sky declare itself
sniff rising green

Another day of what’s it mean

Blue chicory flowers open
in new light

Black-eyed Susans and late summer roses

I want to be an autotroph when I grow up
their grass is always greener

~ ~ ~