We Are Not Dead!

the Mayans
and their calendar
have some people
very disappointed

for now we
ARE NOT DEAD!

plans will have to
     be made
money will have to
     be saved
The years
     stretch out
     before us
     once again...

on the other hand,
If we had died,
The Major Questions
would be answered
by now

we would
know

who we are and
what we will be
where we came from
and who
God
is

we would be sitting
chillin'
with Angels
or
the Other...
     (roasting slowly)

this house is
-so damn cold-
in winter that...
-no-
I cannot say that-
for any reason
what-so-ever
I would want
to go there
but
I take heart
when I think
that if there is only
God
and he/she made all
that even in the depths of
hell
there will be some connection with
the beloved
the one

when the Mayans ripped the hearts
out of living sacrifices
or gave their children prematurely
to their Gods
-What were they thinking-?
and why
would we
for one moment
consider

listening
to
them?

our government seems
sometimes like
it's driving for some cliff
and can't get its act together
but
at least
the inflation and tax sacrifice
which they demand
     of their subjects
does not entail
the still beating heart
of the taxpayer

not yet
anyway



 

The Gods of Jokes and Games

It is over
     it is done
Christmas has
come
and gone
again

One of the few things
(besides life)
That if we just
     wait long enough

Will be over
 -will be done-

No more blasting
Christmas Carols
     until this time
          next year

but
the Gods of Jokes and Games
had me doing those same carols
at the-

"new-age church"...

hours and hours of
practice and chording
and downloading
and then
-of course-
it wasn't just right-
-She -
found a note wrong
a word wrong
-Something
She
didn't like!

and suddenly
-It Was All My Fault- !!
fa-la-la-la-la...la-la-la-la
God forbid
We should get
the wrong number
of La's in....

There's a lesson
     in here somewhere...
Not to take it all
     so seriously-
     Would be one-

To wonder
about teachers
and how they teach
and what they teach
and see
what is reflected
in their lives
might be another

It was fun
to go to the very
     back of the closet
and get the old guitar
out
and dust it off-
     change the strings
get the callouses up again

but then,
like the dog with its tail
or the box with its lid
comes
     the rest of it...

for now
I
am
"the musician"
-would be- musical director-
for our motley
     little group
and expected to perform
     for free
at the drop of
"someone else's hat"

I tell myself
..."This has got to be good karma,
right?"
But the Gods of Jokes and Games
Are not done
     with me

...Now She wants me
     to water the
     plants ...

What Would Lao Tzu Do ? #1

Waiting for
     inspiration...

Too much
     furniture
          in
               too small
                     a space

What would
     Lao Tzu do?

     We're waiting
          for the end
               of the world...

So Maybe, we won't
     have to worry
          about it
               anymore

I have a feeling
     the Gods are
          not done
               us..
      yet...

They
     have more
          tricks
               to play

The United States
     is not finished...
          yet

Becoming
     the Land of the
          Free
-The Home of the
     Deficit-

And all of us
     are duty bound
to do
     our best

Which is a handicap
     in a
          way...

I have
     Mother's love for
          furniture

But not
     Mother's
          "Spacious Home" or
              - husband -

I have the Christian
     guilt
piled on top
     of Buddhist
          Practice...

Lao Tzu
     was not raised
with a misinterpreted
     holy word

Was not
     Guilt Tripped
           into
           submission

His mission
     had to do with
     a Water Buffalo
     as transportation

Which never needed
     its oil changed
Nor licence
     and
Registration
        
    

what-so-ever -!-

Ok
     I give up...

Graduating
     Summa Cum Laude
          with a Master's Degree,
              (Decree)

Has nothing
     What-so-ever
          to do


               -with Plumbing-


I majored
     in one of those
          subjects
Which seems
     to have
          no application

What-So-ever

     to the Real
          World

But I'm learning...

    - a guy with a
     wrench
who won't
     rip you off-

is worth his weight
     in Gold

even at today's prices-

especially at today's prices-


These women
     with husbands
          who
               fix things


-Need to pause
     for a moment
          and reflect
               that-

even-though
     he can be a
          pain sometimes

They are not
     left alone
with a
     phone book
          and a growing puddle
               of water
                    under the kitchen sink!

And if they
     call guys
          to come-
There will be
     another guy there
          to talk
               to the guys...

So if your guy
     is at all
          nice

     or kind
          and ...
               can fix things...

Make sure
     he never
           learns to
               dance -!-


for then,
     my friend

he would be
     just too
          wonderful

for words-

     for any words,

          What-So-Ever!
    

an Evening to Remember

yes
it was an evening
to remember

I stumbled only
a few times
when dancing with
the "teacher"

When dancing with
my partner
we swung
around the floor

and I remembered
     why I do this...

the ankle gave
an awesome tweak
when first
     I stepped upon it

It held up after that
I vow
to be more careful
with it

I view that spot
in the yard
with suspicion now

I will get hand rails
for those steps

The minute I can
afford it

there are some things
worth
getting up
and getting dressed for

fox trot, swing, and waltzes
come to mind

live band-
slightly off key
     singer


difficult to find the place
amongst all those tall, trimmed hedges

dark and all, we parked up front
figuring the legitimate rich
had left by now

we the illegitimate
rabble had arrived
and like the look-ee-loos we are
---took cell phone pictures
of everything
and ourselves among them

texting pictures
to people
who probably
couldn't care less

we had peppermint ice cream
for desert
and when our neighbor
didn't eat his
we stole it

melty, stolen peppermint ice cream
tastes better
in between a mambo
and a jive

than almost
anything else
on earth

 

The Hundred Dollar Dance

The Hundred Dollar Dance
at the
Montecito Country Club...

and I fall down
like a sack of rocks
on my back walk
and the ankle gets twisted
and
will
all
my money
be wasted?

What will i wear?
Will I be able to dance?
"Mother" would be
     so proud...

We will get a glimpse
into how
the other half
lives...
(of course, "they"...
will probably not
be there)
We will only get to see
where they would be
on some day
when the place isn't
rented out
to the
wanna bees...

I will have
a glass of wine
(I'm planning)
and then
all will be fine

will my swollen ankle
fit into its shoe?

I have some nice
pearls
I bought when that store
-was going out of business
-in the depths of the
      Great Recession

I'll wear those
nobody will know
(they were 60% off)

It will be worth it
(I hope)
just for the chance
      to dance
it will be like
a vacation
from my hum-drum life
and from the housework
I haven't
been
doing

Waiting For the END OF THE WORLD!!!!!

Waiting for the end of the World
     while living in the motor home 

--the thing that bugs me
     is the whining...

no place
to take a shower
     can I use yours?

I worked all my life
for this shower
two jobs
sometimes three
-years of doing nothing
     but paying for
The American Dream

Was I wrong?
The tiles have fallen
     in that shower
One can see boards
     and lathe and plaster
That one
     is not supposed
     to see

One's Victorian ancestors
would be aghast...

One's X said "HE"
     would fix it
-and so many
      other things-


And what will you do
     if the world does not End
on dec. 21, 2012?

Less than a month
     to decide

My house will
     still be old
and so will I

Many of my friends
say
what a relief it will be-

nothing more to worry about
by 2013

Waiting for the End of the World
It never was ours
anyway

when one watches
"scientific"
things on TV
It can be seen
that the next meteor
or super volcano
or sun storm
will render all our
machinations mute

maybe the motor home
makes more sense
     after all
than
the
30 year
mortgage

while waiting
for the end of the world