Monday, August 31, 2015

Where is There?

Waiting. Simply 
Waiting 
Old. Old. Country music 
Playing -

Waiting 
To board the giant metal thing 
Which will hurl me 
Into the air 
Press me back into 
My seat 
And force a silent 
Prayer
From
     The best 
Of us. 

There are no atheists 
In foxholes
Or during 
Takeoff 
     I'll bet

If I don't die 
Of boredom first
 -Death by 
      Waiting -

They -
The engineers 
And ticket takers 
Say 
These things are 
Safe 
More so than 
The cars
And the trucks 
Driven by 
     the half-drunk 
          Rest of us!

Rushing here and 
THERE -

There we are -
-are we there yet ?

They say 
We are -
Or should be -
I feel vaguely guilty -
For never knowing 
What that was 
Or who they are 
Or 
Where is there? 

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Drama

Family gathering 
It's a good 
     Thing 
Repeat after me 
"It's a good thing" 

Thousands of dollars to 
     Get here 
To sit with people 
I don't know 
But 
They are good people. 
They will tell you so. 

How can I explain 
The fractured family 
And I -
Was on the other side 
Of the great 
Divide 

Left alone 
To survive 
As best one can 

There are so many stories 
I've never heard 
But that's ok 
I was busy -
Surviving 

Type A types 
Don't get it 
They can't let it 
Be -
What it is 

They must take life 
And wrestle it 
To the ground 
They have hearts 
      Which have 
Not been 
Broken 

Not stomped
And stood upon 
And laughed at 
And left 
And threatened
With 
Death 

Not to be too 
Overly dramatic but. -


Friday, August 28, 2015

Pretzels

I resolve 
From now on 

To get over myself 
     And -
Love everyone 
Whether
     They deserve it 
Or not ! 

I write this while suspended 
Unnaturally in 
     The ether . . .

I am on a plane ! 
Me !!

One who has the terror 
Of the air !! 
     Big time 
The glass of wine 
Helps 
     Somewhat 
As does 
The solitaire'
     On the phone 

I finally have an excuse 
To play as much as I want 

To keep me 
From contemplating 
The fall 
     From this height 

I remind myself 
     That air - 
Is an actual 
     "Thing" 
And that "wings"
     Are designed to know 
     All about this 

And there's this nice 
     Idaho couple beside me 
All potatoes and 
     And politeness 
Thank God !

And I just happened
To get a forward seat 
With a little more leg 
     Room 
( note to self, 
Ask for this - 
In future )
Speak about the 
Terrible disease . . .

Fear of flying !
     
The little towns 
So small below -
-As we are squeezed
      In here like 
Sardines 
      In a can 
There is no table - no 
Tray 
We balance our cups 
Politely -
Daintily eating some 
Small servings of 
Peanuts 
And 
Pretzels 

They give us these
     I am certain 
To kindly distract us 
     From thinking about 
     How far up in the air 
We are !

We can endure 
Much 
With 
Pretzels !!!



Saturday, August 15, 2015

LADIES !!!

My ,
How times have changed 
The wedding reception today 
Is for 
Two ladies 
Together 

What can I say? 
When I was raised 
One didn't even know 
What that was

I'm still 
Shocked 
But I can hide it 
Well 

It's ok now 
     They say -
Now 

I wish "they" would 
Make up their minds
And print a manual 
So we would know 
What's coming -
What to get prepared for 

How to buy a card 
For the happy couple 
-The wedding, in Central Park 
Complete with 
     Carriage ride !

Goodness gracious 
I question the entire 
Premise
Of marriage -
Always have 

Tried it for awhile 
Couldn't get the hang of 
Having someone underfoot 
- always -
And 
Living with 
A guy - !
Guys are weird,
Different -
Always have been
Always will be 
- watching sports -
- beating their hairy chests -
Love them 
Do 
But need some 
SPACE
some time to process
Some time to 
BE

Oh well 
I go along 
LIFE will never! 
Listen to me -
Be quiet, 
Be calm, 
Be filled with bliss - 
And get along
Do not ! 
Have natural disasters 
Or sadness, sickness of 
     Any kind -

LIFE 
Doesn't listen to 

me




Tuesday, August 4, 2015

WTF ?

I make the mistake of
Reading about catastrophe!
     And how all the world is
     Mad
At all the rest of the world
     And how
All of that will lead to
World War Three!

I make the mistake of watching
     U tube
(No longer can afford T V)
And watching all the people talking about
     Catastrophe!
And how the economic system
     Is not happy
And will shortly
     Cease to be!

Dear me
It is not like they
     Said it would be
In school -
We were given the idea
That the world was a benevolent,
     Ordered thing
Something that philosophers
Could
Philosophize
About

Plato could sit and contemplate
Aristotle could argue
And Socrates had it all
     Figured out

I studied this -
I had to memorize
     And take tests
And write papers !
And now you're telling me
That it was all for naught

This - "education" -
Was not cheap
It was supposed to prepare me
For living here -
On This Earth !

I don't want to say it didn't
Work
But WTF.




Saturday, July 25, 2015

Where?

Where ?
Where can I go 
To get 
A little peace -
A little space -
Even in the book store 
here 
The children fuss and wiggle 
The music reminds me 
Only 
Of what a bad mood I've been in 
Lately 
And then this unmentionable 
Bibliophile guy 
Has to snap his fingers  
Too -
To some nonexistent beat 
     in bad canned Music 

Please  -  please 
Give me some space 
Some space and time 
Before I die 
But 
I realize it's space 
Inside we really 
Need 

And that doesn't take going anywhere 
It only means 
- Sit  down 
sit still 
- Be 
Alone 
With me 

Why is that so 
Difficult 
So hard 
To do 
When it is so simple 
Too 

It's crowded in here 
Inside my head 
I was never taught to -
Never told to -
Be content 
With what 
Exists 
With what we have -
Where would go 
The economy? 
If we all became content 
The vast market crash 
Would do us 
Good 
We could stop and look around 
And say hi 
How're you ?
In every country on every
Continent 
Just 
How are you doing 
Today ?

I say 
Let us continue 
To talk to each other 
Over internet and things -
Let the common person 
Continue to post 
About -
How was their day ? 
In every country 
Every way -
And then we will know 
That we're not all so very 
Different 
After all 

And when they come and offer us 
A gun 
To go and do some 
"Agenda"
Then we will know 
That there is no enemy -
Everyone 
All the "common" people want 
Is just to 
" get along"

Others have an idea 
About 
Ruling the world 
But I know 
- listen to Lao tsu -

The World is 
Sacred 
Don't touch it !

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Saturday

This ground squirrel
Wants my sandwich
     Very bad -
I've got my chair 
     And fresh air 
A view of ocean waves and 
     Surfers too 

Rain !
Is that a drop of 
Rain 
In the midst of the drought -

THEY 
Want to build more 
Houses here
THEY are from 
LA !
How will more building
Help
With the drought? 
THEY are not being 
Helpful 
As usual . . .

So now we have some remnants
Of a hurricane from "south"
I see lightening strike 
Out 
Over the ocean
It comes straight down
In a jagged way
Wouldn't want to be 
Out on a boat 
With a metal mast 
Today 

I hear thunder as 
I get home 
The Gods are playing 
Nine pins 
     They say 
The neighbors and their 
Partying don't seem to be 
     Dampened
But all their motorcycles 
Parked in the street 
Will be wet -
Some small compensation 
For the noise 
Which will probably
Continue into 
The night 
Tonight

I'm sure the 
Ground squirrel
Is safe 
Underground 
Around the boulders hauled 
From somewhere 
To hold back 
The sea 
And to provide 
A cozy place 
For my chair 
     And me.