In a little bit

In a little bit I am going to get dressed.

I’ll put on my best clean pants and my best button up.

Drink a waterfall and make a bathtub of green tea.

 

In a little bit, I’ll clean my ears and brush

my ego and go out into the forest to pick icicles again

but right now I’m gonna sit here and eat a heart sandwich

Brain Pose

Rose Roots For Brains

      

 

Henry has roses in his ears. 

I saw them when he leaned

forward to pick up my blue

diamond coat

 

Do you think he loves anyone

but me, do you

 

Henry has amethyst for eyes

blessed by moonlight they are

very shiny and cut in perfect angles

to reflect why, last week, at his wink

the stinky leeks sang  with the morel mushrooms

until he kissed their cheeks and ate them. 

 

Henry has trees for legs.   Big old growth trees

and he can make them into saplings or any another

house size he pleases.  All the worms of

the forest know him by his stump

and thud but I know him for his secret

pink rose buds

When songs can be song again

please sing this one

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peace

Your Chronic Shoes

Your shoes were chronically

too small. You were the last

one to eat.  That is why you stole

some scrap of paper

some pen or pencil and wrote

words down in secret.

 

You wrote  words down because

you had no one to talk to.

No one to trust or to understand

and so with careful -half truths

you attempted the impossible –

 

All you had is that voice.

Your voice.  Your god 

so you wrote your own lullabies. 

You wrote your own bedtime stories. 

You wrote your own obituary

alone and confused. Stupid 

you did not play games.

You survived

The Wart Root

The wart root master said not to write

love poems but he can fuck

a dog, my purple pearl

 

My springy spring

        my cedar sprig

You are as fair as veal

Sweet and succulent

as rice pudding

       You are worth a wasted effort

        or to be black listed

if this poem gets

to your private

music selection

or a button pushed in

 

I’ll writhe my twisted

nips at you and hopefully

my penis tree

I’ll lyric

you and your merlot

to tip and pitch a me

You went downtown into Madison

 

 

 

 

You went downtown into Madison. 

The sun was out and it was spring.

 Like  a tourist you looked

with your mouth open.

 

The young, the old, the families,

the hobos and Jobs, the mix of ethnic blood,

all strolling on a Sunday together. 

 

The smell of rotten things defrosting,

 popcorn and coffee,

shit and soap and barley made

your nose bleed and throat sore.  

 

A fat man, with a white t-shirt

stained and too small, played the saxophone

in three note intervals  -one two three repeatedly he

played for tips or free

 

A young man dressed as skater played

the banjo with picks and slides on his fingers

and up from music he looked  you in the eyes

and you both were silent

strangers aware of each other’s need. 

You gave him a dollar and he played louder

 

  A man in a leather jacket walked and sang,

you stopped and listened to him pass,

so soft and pure his voice was

you prayed for the universe

on his behalf

 

The people in their blue jeans and dyed hair

jostled and joked, walked on,  alive

with sweatshirts and stocking caps. 

these people,  so loud, so self-aware

in their conversation games and their destination,

did not see the shadows of buildings and people mix,

did not see the homeless beg, and the hand drop

did not see the lady in fur or the ragged hippy

 chick with twigs in her hair

 or the running young woman dressed in red,

with thick thighs and a slow bouncing chin. 

 

The people didn’t notice the puke or hunger or the dead

walking or the strange and old isolation of the many

but noticed the sun was out and it was spring

like kids, smiling together in the mud puddle –relieved

to be rid of boots

 

 

You Can’t Paint

You can’t paint with a pencil

you find in the alley

sofa or on the backs of used

envelopes from unpaid bills

or on napkins from a gas station.

You need color.

Someone must give it to you.