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 !!!

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

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.

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

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. 

Bazaar!

Where are all the 

Hoards of People ?

We've worked so hard -

Cleaning out our cupboards 

And deciding what to 

Sell 

This belonged to my Aunt 

She had a long and interesting 

Life 

But in the end 

Things didn't go 

So well -

How can I sell 

Her treasures 

At the sale? 

But how long should they 

Sit in their box 

In the garage ?

What if 

I ever wanted to get 

A car in there 

Again? 

Life is not about 

Stuff -

But -

This is AMERICA 

And so

It sort of 

Is

And there's a band 

God save us - !

Singing loud 

And 

Out of tune 

Back from their break 

They bravely carry 

On

I put the only two dollars 

I made 

Into the tip basket -

I lied 

And at church no less 

The church 

Bizarre -

Bazaar !

We had great hopes 

     Coming here -

Lots of money 

And lots more room 

In our various garages 

And closets 

Almost like adding on 

     Another room 

Like people with money do -

Space -

Like they have 

In those magazines 

(Note to self) 

Stop! 

Looking at those 

Magazines - 

You know the ones -

Where everything looks chic

Even the junk

Junque! 

And is somehow color

"Colour" coordinated 

As the band sings 

An off key rendition 

Of my favorite song 

I remind myself 

Life 

     Was never meant to be 

     Any better than it is 

     

Or it would be. 

Nomenclature

It's so late 

I can't escape 

I've done it again 

Even though I swear 

     And swear again

I won't do this 

     Ever

Again 

The battery is running 

     Out 

The phone has had enough 

Of my poking 

     And prodding 

Of my curiosity

     And philosophying

Tomorrow will punish me 

Undoubtedly

And I will have 

No excuse 

No justification 

I will be angry with myself 

And it won't be funny -

When I struggle

To exist 

To listen 

To have patience 

The excuse of 

Living in the moment 

And 

Enjoying the expression of

Personality 

And 

Writing poetry

Will pale before

The effort of 

Holding it all 

Together 

-Among people 

(Which I'm not so good at 

Anyway)

What to say 

And 

How to say it 

When to laugh 

     Appropriately 

Maybe a little cleverness 

Thrown in 

(Don't push it - 

Just get by) 

Why I 

Do this to myself 

I still wonder 

It is my little 

Rebellion 

I suppose 

My small attempt at 

The artistic life 

I laugh 

At myself 

For such 

Nomenclature