Stuck

Left arm tied behind back
        fingers splayed
        shoulder elbow tweaked.
Hunching over, belly flabbing
                          out down
                        . knees shrinking.
Right hand clenches heart-sized fist,
          came near heart but
          clenched out past rib cage.
          Tight heart,
          ready to rupture.
My eyes clenched too, face in grimace,
          off-line, lips vinagered
          lemon twisted to left.
Head bent left, neck corkscrewed.

Chest bound, breath rattles.

==the crack==

Wanting grounding, left leg roots.
Rooting frees right hand,
                       fist unbound,
                       reaches up around to
                       press palm of left
                       in back centre.

Their press opens chest and heart.
                       Elbows wing up and out
                       gaze lifts
                       head rests up along right triceps.
Right leg empty, stabilizes;
left roots.
Pinned hand has become open wing.
Heart's firm support from behind spine.

Then circle large swings
         arms round sky,
         loosen shoulders
         flow cycles.

Right foot then rises up and
         alights parallel to left.
         Pour half weight like water
                         into right,
         as body becomes straight.
        Hands lightly trace down as
        legs straighten.

                stasis.


Resting in standing equipoise.

What is this future wanting to emerge?

Grind, chew, swallow, shit
           we smear the wipe of excrement
                 across the 17 corners of Earth.

Earth gave us iron. We bent it into:

• teeth to shear wood
• claws to dig vast mire
• barrels to impregnate flesh
• with rending lead hemorrhage
• nerve strings to conduct impulse
• winged cages vaulting heaven.

Earth gave us clay. We molded it into:

• cloaks to confine horizon
• canals to coerce water
• pavement to conduct movement
• crop lands to cultivate
• mounds to conceal the dead.

Earth gave us water. We enslaved it with:

• dams to spin turbines
• pipes to plumb
• bottles to beverage
• vats to vaporize
• sewers to sanctify.

Earth gave us wood. We:

• chopped, burnt, mowed
• tilled, sprouted
• ginned cotton
• fabricated
• gene spliced 
• patent protected.

Earth gave us fuel. We:

• burnt it. let fly
• ash and soot,
• black fly swarms upon sky
• streets of smoke trailing
• down the wind, spreading
•  grey-green haze
• ever cross dusking ridge horizon.

We took. We built. We mixed, molded.
We tore, we razed, we cratered hilltops.
We sprawled. We trampled. We tilled and butchered.
We fractured acre. We chased fond wish
                                     in clumsy mimic, ever
                                     marshaling more machine.

Pliant earth has bent to our will,
          proffered bounties
          knelt in sacrifice, before our
                                                  sword and alter.

We got what we wanted.

Now, earth shrouds. Veils clothe her.
         glimmer of the sun grows shy,
         retreats beyond.
         Her breath expelled,
                a long and gentle        peaceful
                                              exhalation
         fogs the spectacles of our race.

         This pause that blinds
         has quelled our mind,
         drawn us down in slumber grey wool,
                         foresight paralyzed
                         whilst dreams of all the
                                    vast panoply
                                    spin emptily,
                                    like vacant Ferris wheels.

Enmeshed in our distraction, we hardly hear
         groan and thud: Earth's
                   crumpling collapse.
                   Fires of depletion lick along
                   rusted rim of morrow.
         Planetary shudder flattens
                   fantasy of permanence.
                   Roads buckle. Crops incinerate.
                   City of dreams engulfed in dust,
                   silencing frog
                                          and skylark.

         Rumpelstiltskin returns,
                   demanding recompense.
         Bumpy ride awaits:
                   many will lose lunch.

How shall we shoulder
         the harrows of this future?
How presence the precious?
How heal the raw wounds:
         sliced palms
         impaled ventricles
         battered brains?

Kindness is our key.
In every moment, every intent,
              may kindness be the guide.
May we unfurl this frond
              unwrapt in tiny leaflets
                            of gentle grace.
May genuine heart of sadness
              melt wracked missiles of malice.
May the kindness of the soft soil,
              the tender yarrow,
              the sweet song of sky's rejoice,
              the mild balm of kindness

clear the heaven, cleanse the water,
heal the Earth, heal human heart!

At Splash

Crawling pillar
      forty fold foot file
                 with popcorn bag fleece Tilley
                         golden spiderman retriever
                         toting selfies, lumber lanking
                         Grunt of Coho
                         Abercrombie of Fitch
                         Leaves of Red Maple
      as larynx of the orchestra lugubricates.

               —           —           —

And we're off:
      loaming the string
      rattling reeds, chiming gulls
      trill the gliding kayak skeeters.
                  emblems flag the Arie.
      up couples for a causeway waltz
      silver wavelets trail suspendered dipper
      sun's white gold glamours
      sinuous waft of brass
                  over furry pates, triangulated.

Stuff I Learned from His Holiness

No matter how difficult,
      make effort. 9 times fail, 9 try anew.
      Create this century of non-violence.
      Think centuries into future.
      Even seems hopeless, never give up.

Dr. R:
      May we not subject unborn
            to unstable climate.
      Preventing is cheap change for rich.

H.H.:
      Peace can pay solution
            when bombs unbought.
      Destroy so-called enemy is
            self destruction.

Mia:
      Active courage fights for
            dream bigger than crisis.

Congresswoman Sanchez:
      Status quo never
      changed without a fight.

H.H.:
      More monks and more nuns =
      non-violent birth control.

      Sore inside mouth can only be healed
      from within the mouth.

      Sense oneness with 7 billion.
      You are your own master;
      Your future in your hands.

Land mine woman:
      Silence is complicity.

Robert Thurman:

1.  The people are sick and tired of wars:
           nobody wins.
2. Earth not limitless:
           the people don't want Earth destruction.
3. Systems cant fix:
           people fix.
4. Technomaterialism has only
           magnified our greed, anger, confusion.

H.H.:

1. Cosmology disproves Mt. Meru.
2. Neurobiology should delve subtlest consciousness
3. Buddhist quantum physics
4. Science of mind.

Core curriculum of heart to teach skill of happiness

Exaggeration feeds destructive emotion —
Interdependence deconstructs destruction.

Make effort with vision
       and realism
       to realize

       Peaceful   Happy    Century.

Duarte Statue Flatland

Here is where rattlesnakes
             were over paved
                      pools of prosperity
                      bathe bears bearing heat.
Duarte's ranch: now burbed
                      sighing street
                      plaza crissed in red brick spokes
                      no body gathered in this
                      gathering place

Man's nose burnt red, sores and sot eyes
                      pushed past a stray shopping
                      cart.

Land crushed. People scattered.
But autos keep constant course
                       slip beyond Duarte's ceaseless fountain
                       prowl the many million mile
                                 tar and tread
                                 hard pan viaduct
                                 atop sullen yellow soil
                       orange orchard relegated
                       to two grated squares on
                       perimeter,
                       laden of green orbs.

In His Presence

Puffed ragged lids rim my eyes
yellow horned lamas incant
squirm of children thrush with white scarf
            saxophone accompany
            silk and brocade
            eyelash and a bow
            prostrate half
            press palms     — pause —

His Holiness speaks to us
            Glass rims glinting
            Deep rich reverberations
                             Above red EXIT

Why. How. That silent spinning wool of
            fading consciousness
            insinuates like cicadas
                                    charms my eyes slip shut.

Eye Dry

Eye brights flash
Brownian light threads
Tiny worms suspend
                    across     sky mind
                                   fog carpet.

Don't look for them
look into vacant white
                    then out they crawl
        motes – fur shadow dots – splay
        tracking south below focus
                    of my drifting opters.
        ghosts of filaments
        tiny dust threads
                    drift within eye sphere sno-globes.

Polarized stripes: magenta-ish / young-yellow-green
        undulate haze forest
        beyond quavering wing probes.

Not seeing dust quilt:
It's a mind quilt sewn in streets of yellow
        earth
thirsting for canals of tears
olive acres cast boxed sights
        toward a parched heaven.

deer

"Oh dear,
 a deer without an ear!"

 and an antler missing.

Squamish General Store

Operatic baritone
               waft upon moon shadow.

Red letter general store
                illuminated fan flashing.

Dark Harley rider
                staples string of explosion
                upon long lean avenue.

slobbernap

Paper run thin.
Day run down.
Brain run dull.
Life run dry.

Swirls and esophageal unrest
                  flutter jitter
                  yawn a sign
                  the cardiac stutter.

{And again again again again}
{     whoa clank piano chord  }
{     stringy groaning bass.     }
                                                 

This grey an oil blotched parking lot
        empty but striped, listing off
        to leftright comego highway,

All of it catching up,
              whelming me over.

Unsettled settler: I've no place
                            I've lost.

Save On Tim's

Chaw some slathered bagel
at Save-on Tim's
where waft bundles,
cinnamon and chartreuse
meambling atop festive tendrils
aloft Savings Talk about Sale:
                      Always lowest guaranteed

My draught of milk steep
slurp warm, by foil fire
while warble words of wanting.

                      discarded salad clamshell
                      beneath crumb strewn brownwood.
                      straw wrap shreds
                      smarties box yellow blue pink

Heinz and Fiji thatch and grill set
and summer fun toys and Miracle Whip.
Senior lady - turquoise sweats
and white bike helmet.
                      "Please place the item
                       the bagging area."

Always free with your
More Rewards.

June Amber

Dem wurdz Dem wurdz
Lettering on soft wing
Burd wurdz
Buzzed oft
Now potatochipping
like June's dessicated arbutus leaves
Piling husks
upon amber darts
Spent arcs of
June grass.

Well and Truly Try

Zero zero linger longer - present
we democrafy, one three nine
   
                         some foot tap
                         some waddle

                                   raft of doze wools my eyes
                         7 zero six
                                   this dull mind now slide down
                                   numerals melt
                                   so help you God,
                                   what is your summons number?
                         digits fragment, plunk, descending octaves
                                   ladder of metal-wrapt strings
                                   vibrating.

"Challenge, my Lord."
Crown discontent.

As accused stands red, haggard, ragged
      in the box
      grey hair strands droop
      chin reticulated
      eyes swimming
      gut hulking
   

Did he kill her?

olding

Drabbed, drug long way
   crabby eyelids
   crook back
   bagged and slumpered
   bendy and flatt.

The thin haggard dry wrinkle
    down frowning   pulled into heavy.

Many while scramble clutter
    fatigue of years of days of
                     languished fritters,
                     wasting so
                     much.

This pile, scrap heaped, lizard scaled, tenter hooked
    sheding jaundiced dandruff
                      as May cotton,
                      fleeced the gutter.
                      Turkey drooper, ever longer
                                                         dangling.

Thin-skin claws, now revealing
     tendons, blue vessels, yellow knuckle.

- Wait -

Interred lude:
              an air-conditioned wait chamber
Magazine page flip thumb shuffle.
              no time here
              just a linger.

              paused.


*               *               *

Anon - throng
              notebook toters
              decision herding
                             while unwinders waste towel reams

Ladies and Gentlemen:
              Here comes Wu Tang!

His Honour, whose black eyes so sharp
              they ping pong
              then lock, penetrating
              measuring.

And the green tabs,
              Dogwood ear leaves
              relentless biting
              no-see-ums.

Court Hall

Clop cloppers meambulating, flop flipping
jangle parade
           as applause erupts from toilet
           and woof double doors
                           glide atop golden butterfly
                           jitter fly.

"Doing 30-day intermittent
 The guy is going to walk."

Beyond wireglass
young woman trembles, tugs a sob
            leaking anguish
            spills language in long threads.
Clerk spools
His Honour, down-tufted,
            bends ear
            ruby breasted
            bleached tassels.


vacuous pause


No slide click flop
            round grey corner
            fade creaking
                            door.  shut.

Words

Speaking the words,
Some heard, many split
vanished
              banished by eye blinks
                             by doze of day after
                             pre-occupation
                             strangled mind
                             by puberty's aroma.
               That clattering
               is the undestructed mug
                              brimming myopic
                              check parcel, burning
                              barked hook of stumbling of tomorrow.

Go back, again speak:
word the ears, tug them.
Re-pave the streets of futility.
Re-cane the every-bearing berries.
Re-vine the trellis of tomorrow.
unfetter the irrepressible dint.

Coral Amulet

Glowing as cherry petals,
polished stone carves arc
               like half atoll
                                     or Molokini.

Pressed beneath:
dessicated silver wings
               of flying fish
               , now loosened in breeze,
               flutter, casting refractions.

Silverwings could be sewn, woven
               into shimmering suit.

I seek to toss the bright stone
               down from orbit
               threading atmosphere
               alighting upon a crest of ice,
                                       jeweled plain
                                      suffusing midnight sun.

If, from space, you toss a stone
               to Antarctica,
it will remain
               to the end of time.

Tim's on Millstream

It's a chewy little 'burb
         trammeled in patient lanes
         burbans in their gumboots
                                   black and pink

Me slurp cinnamon nutmeg grey draught
Me swipe aside crumbs,
       spare sesame seed
                 kiltering to tile.

Scant time to tarry.

Jubilee Courtyard

Splash ever sheet cascade
                hastening.

Twin sparrows investigate
                jet beyond catkins.
Cherry dollops poise
lillies congregate
arcs of ripple knit shimmer
                on skeeterless pond.
                The green the moist
                The pink reposed
                The grey air meandering
                past hospital wings.
                Cavern calling
                HVAC hum.

Bath Time

By dint of fulsome bother
      swapping de 3s and 7s
                      for 2s and 6s
                      in the offing,
                      still, a way's away.

Linger this lude.
Tarry in the time tank,
                      like olden.

      Soaking nostrils
      dipping ass crust in soft bath
      chewing sunshine that drips chin
      many molecules pound perifery.
      Pores loosed, leak miasma
      fluid fingers drum walled
                      pipe tube.

Why for?

      To dulge, flow, ponder,
                               wander, lapse,
                               meander,
      Another lost day.

Days of Rumpus

Fur tweezers
waxed mentum barreling to board.

The figures and the anguish
The scheming and the fervent
The stutter and the project
The dither and the bother
The whole kaboodle a-kilter,
                                     faltering, floundering
                                     impending arc of
                                     upturned catapault,
                                     lounging for gravity
                                     betwixt oops and
                                     shattered ceramic:

                 We go again.


                 Rounding ring,
                 groaning coils
                 trampoline spring
                 thrummed abandon,
                 tracing flounce —
                 gravity interrupt.


                 flip sky morrow.
                


                

After Week Words

Chewed, gulping, closed-eyed meat cavity
                                                  gobbling.
                    We world swallowers
                    teeth thrust forward
                                 bite soft thorns
                                 soaked in grey wet
                                 drained poodle
                                             tugging tail of drowned worm.

Oh February — sodden season
                    host of hunger ache
                                 hollow fog
                                 fallow moat
                                 brown down cat tails
                    traversed by eaters:
                                 beak mawed
                                 tooth jawed
                                 lip biters
                                 cud molars.

                    And all their shit
                    washed thin beige
                    by shower slurry.

Committee of the Whole

Vivv, vervy Wunderbar Willcommen!
Bubhub, chutter, murrerfolk
de bubbling - oh - de chairs all butted
                                             no empties.

Tortelling frabulation
Confabutraction
de people representing:

     Charm the sky!
     Cherish the quaff!
     Un harrow the soil!


public that wish to speak:
          [the heritage return to state]
          [branch of attractive firebrick]

Bring that problem to its knees
Such as sure lenses, best unanimous
Actions tell us do tall up to it.
              Walk our talk.
              Look long back ways go overnight.
              Issue crawl past bedtime.

A tiny blue dot suspended in sun beam.
One only home granted for Rupert.

Detour

So wavery:   the home the job the logisitics
                     trading fine for a fantasy
                     then road shlepping for 12 years
                     fleeing paranoia, shoes of evasion,
                     cloak of stupidity
                     elbow skin and jowl tugged
                                          by strands of goo.


If we asked the wise man, he would perplex:
                   "All one taste
                     un so constrained
                     none to mortgage
                     no whence from flight
                     and
                     no time for haste."


We have chained our cuffs
to bent offramp fender
suburban spiral leads to
4-way stop.

Broad way of awakening
buzzing in vagrant half-noted

distance.

O Koronado

O Koronado
                    your gold is nigh
                    pull the threads from floss
                            of mares of harvest
                    gliding 35 seconds.
                                        Silver schooner
                                        rattan teeth
                                                           clenching wind.


On the rail, getta soul
                    charred sage
                    milk weed weep
                                        grade the stone
                                                            freight ton.


Ears, tampering years
                    conflating
                    banjo rhumba
                    fire skin
                    shards of wine
                                        gathering beneath feet.

Fin of Hiatus

Head of groan -- oats mushed
              and wheezle drum ear flowers
              tin tin ing with flaxen needles
              pop snappling on a lurching jaw cross.
The furry pillars on my brow
              all antennae extended
              by thumb brush.
Squeakerlings yodel and commote
              they cling a thin whine
              screwing up spasm of discomfit.

The drab and the heavy.
The long leagues of looming lumber.
The eyes rolled up scratching lids.
The drear awaits poised upon waning wings.

Azure seas now minished
Syrup sand ungotten
Creamy papaya flesh melting into tomorrow's excrement.
Maui untook, parted, bandoned.


Morrow hurtles hither.

Black Sand Beach

Black orbs clicking -- thousands.
White foam frothing, flopping, popping, melting clear
                    tumble carpet
Surge lifts, spreads smooth basalt frosting,
                    fragmenting sky.

Dig fingers in sliding slurry
Grab fist full, but fist is empty.
Clench stones, but stones don't longer.
Immerse foam, but vanished.

Pebbles, grains, liquid light, heaving crest:

vanish upon touch.

Palm's Persistence

Words of palm
spoken in leaves
by insistant wind.

Sliced breath
scampering cords
clatter.

Ancient stories of storm rip
ribs torn open
chimes along a supple spine.

Each frond's needles
must knit to core
another year's tough new topping.

Persist by bending
from firm root.