My Brain

My brain is the size of a grapefruit

spilt in half each hemisphere

connects through my spinal cord

to my trillions of body parts

There are more connections in my brain

then there are atoms in the universe

Even with all my cells I still smell

the shit right after I step in it

Coffee and his shop

I used to live next to

the coffee master and his shop

He was older and smiled

at me in a way that should

have made me feel uncomfortable

One time, oh I think it was a little after

eleven a young man in expensive jeans came

in and ordered coffee with gobs of sweet and fat

and the coffee master said,

“You don’t really like coffee –do ya”

I laughed so damn hard

I nosed some of my coffee

The coffee master looked at me

the way he looks sometimes

at young women and then went back

to his roasting and muttering

perfection

And for some reason

when I get real down and lonely

I go to a coffee shop and anytime someone

asks for some gobs

I expect to hear – You don’t really like coffee

-do ya

but  its some yippy shit–some

jack ball behind the counter

who doesn’t like coffee

either –just a job

to pay the porn bill

and so the coffee tastes like

straw and stale almonds

pressed in puddle water

-served in a wide mouth cup

on dinky little saucer

and I’m the one saying,

“You don’t really like coffee -do ya”

as I leave before I can be asked

if I want a free refill

Daughter And I In Red

Daughter and I walked through the red woods

I told her to be silent and listen to the music

of the forest

and she did

Then she looked at me and smiled and laughed

In the shade of thousand plus year old trees

I taught her everything I knew

that was important

New Love

Even when it hurts to love

I still do.  That is new

I used to get mad and say eat shit

noodle but now I can’t help but see

the gray hairs on your head

and the wrinkled blanket

in your blue eyes

You probably won’t outlive me

Have the last beer -I’ll walk for more

Road trip in U.S.A -work in progress

so I am back from

the  road trip across u.s.a

The journey was worth it.

We road on I-90 first

We rode to South Dakota.

We saw Mt. Rushmore

and we saw Crazy Horse

We saw the Badlands

and we saw wall drug

and we saw interstate 90

and elk and prairie dogs

and we saw Yellowstone

the buffalo  and moose and their babies and black bear

and we saw more mountains

the Grand Tetons

- and Idaho- creators of the moon -the lava beds

and we looked and looked

We saw hot San Jose and

saw Santa Cruz dip into the ocean

and Yosemite and the sea lions

in San Francisco and china town

golden gate bridge and we saw the red woods-

And we saw the salt desert and the salt lake

We watched the Neveda desert turn green and then white

and into Utah -we saw Utah turn green

with lush mountains and valleys and rocks turn red

we saw big bones incased rock in dinosaur national park

We saw the Rocky Mountains and alpine tundra

and we saw the mountains turn into rolling hills into the prairie

and then we were home

And we had mountains inside of us and highways and rivers and waterfalls

and deserts and the ocean and red dead trees of the Rockies

waiting for a fire and we hurt as the road led us on in our country

we traveled in a mini van

there were too many of us

we got bored of mountains

baby buffalo playing and frolicking

together.   what could we say

but wow -my goodness

and there were times we wanted to be home

and times we didn’t want the road to end

and times we felt we were the luckiest of idiots

that got to explore u.s.a

even though we ate fast food most of the way

Here With The Birds

Today I am here -in Wisconsin.  Daughter is with family in Michigan

I sit and listen to the robins in their nest.  The babies get so excited

when their mom and dad comes back to the nest to puke up worms

into their ugly little beaks.

Husband is at work.  I’m making angel food cake

My house smells sweet.  It smells like my grandma’s house

I plan on making a salad.  I bought green leafy things.

My house is clean.  I am going to have too much angel food cake

Can I freeze it?

The woman under my kitchen sink tells me to drink a beer or a glass of scotch

She says, “What the hell do you expect – no one cares how good you cook.  Mop bitch.”

And laugh she does with her whole body until she coughs and sighs and sighs some more.