Besides Myself

I was so outside that everything I needed
contained within my universe extraordinary
galaxy where time didn't matter only intimate
loves habits familiar it became crowded I managed
despised the process results very effective getting
me out and about to my favorite places I could not blame
any one but used the fullest extent beyond imagination
Nobody else could quite imagine my need so great I didn't
concern myself canceling delight equal it was noisy
They would find out about this later on how cooly
my star as it blew up trailing pieces proving
I was never alone in fact I was too busy leaving
at my leisure you could say a very reliable way to go

Linger, Caramel

This time I noticed what was added last
walnuts how many she put in tiny brains
she thought it would make a good breakfast
package says German's sweet for baking
not regular eating even though they don't
eat this in Germany we make this here

Choose between sleep and moving awake
almost the same how the art was formed
from a dinosaur bone from Oregon jade
with a typewriter I wedged myself into
the picture into trees between dark spaces
toy deer fashioned from felt too many fawns
small signs of burnt wood for labeling the garden
dandy wind chimes heavy bleached flat bones
perfect landscapes framed waters strolling
uninvolved past your legs over your feet
the lawn very muddy thoughts very clear
wear it have it ask yourself if you want it

Outsider Art

Outsiders inside the art center
slip through popular bets
hand on the panic button
each hair in place so they say
farm magic surface seen
each step examined
numbers on the low side
green feeling on the high

Shrink To Fit World

With nothing left to lose
fight hell minutes hours
before time the game good
resources the all-around curve
extra mile sheer luck in fast
plays itself instead of
played lives pumped crumbling
stair steps known altitude which way
corners pockets of least resistance
which side such extreme condition

Sing

They sang about heavy boats so heavy
down into the sea imagine no religion
sweet chariots son on drums
breaking up beyond the rainy river
meadow larks warblers wash board
vagabond haunting whistle through
tracks disappearing effort downpour
beauty of that floating focus good for
the garden what got planted starting

It's June Talking

Go to the currants thirsty under their newspapers
read the Umpqua Shopper while picking pods
behind the birdhouse nothing stirs grasses wait
hair-pulling strawberries already getting into it
garlic pretends not to notice what the raspberries
are doing top leaves of esteem just ask
the chocolate mint in and out of the box
over by the German chamomile it is time
to pick lettuce trim back grape vine yoga
iris tongues their sharp crisp edges
June's cedars roses lilies lavender
pale globes of fruit hard and stuck
branches stems leaves eyelashes

Down On Their Luck

Naked except for feathers fur still

their hunger did not stop even when
over for the day there were feelings
despite drugs slim views of the others
sleep memories days furious surviving
their own magnificence not adapting to
animal body visitors glimpsing something
disturbed stumbling strolling heartbroken
A loss with no words for it the score looking even
settled although nobody thrilled about it happening
already escaping to the woods rivers jungle old trails
to ocean shore cave tree plain mountain following

Block

Shasta daisy glow long before log trucks speed empty
to higher elevation staging crew anxious
get the destination started over every
two minutes another rumbling super sonic
gear shifting down clocking fresh time
The river hiding the rest of night swallowing
last thoughts stones lit batteries blazing ideas
Have we come this far only to pull weeds
murder the entire forest nobody looking exactly
all the way inside where we live almost endure
desert close to the sky the other side

Drift

Why is it so difficult to look
follow watch at times
especially the shot easily in
my mind walks away on vacation
to focus on the second replay
angles so different from blurry

Each time I promise
be there where the action is
see exactly the point made the score
through to the net past the minder
obviously up on the board
an afterthought was it really
me in each position every play
keeping out what easily goes in

MIXED

D-Day! film at the IMAX that war
winners and losers all wars all losers time
soon or time later what mixed me up
about it not clear as the glass sculptures
quite nearby it became the focus
color light melted sand twisting
beautiful forever cautioning

Forget

Where to start how can that be
start as usual in the middle
this thought breaking cracking
in two wasn't it a moment ago
naked before fog birdbath still quiet
today frothy apricot
a strange mountain its own cloud
what drifted so easily into this
across the old trail its name
on everything imaginable
no me no you just plain us
no them no now just here
clearly undecorated

Playing With Vapors

Eyes
flowers
or
trees
blink waiting
we were on
the bus
passing groups
clumped houses
I pointed
no answer
why could this
be so mysterious
now just thought
the actor that
played you
passable
said so
that's when
it got weird
turned
strange

Know How

To love Eugene alleyways
what used to be vacant lots
Skinner's orchard basaltic Saturn
yellow roses named Helmut Schmidt
orange Champagne Cocktail red Liz Taylor
when did the Black Tartarian Cherry
start looking so spidery a secret egg
a golden apple how can I not know how
to love the sawdust river pretend no smell
saturated outside the WOW Hall hanging
when I thought everything else
would be missing too

How To Find Sutherlin

Somehow
go
past
the plastic bear
drive-thru cigarettes
Bi Mart
Goodwill
log truck convoy
tall thin loads

ghost camas fields

gigantic flag

Oregon Gifts
Payday Loans--
to where
it is

Catch And Release

Lush foothills old waters magic
berries their steudele from plant
to fruit to seed leaf-eyes closed
bright tang cannot be proven
my promise to pick then rinse
one day before the big rain
clouds full their drops individual
we choose Honey Locust
Tibetan Orange I hope they
don't hate it that their kitchen
now matches McDonald's or
a certain nation's flag
huge dream arc doubled

Big Bunches

Ideas growing in clumps
under the eaves
The war was long over I smoked
like a soldier by the lake
birds knew me then did not
know me the hay was picked up
almost too late but the farmer knows
better  the law of gravity of motion
Structures so round the town not
at all hope moves in the yard very full
a trick that last year up ahead
falling into place wasting no time

Were Before

The knot loosened a little the grip relaxed
the past didn't have as tight a hold as it did
in broad daylight the trees enormous it was
the best thing about the town except for
music river rose cedar smell that swept
away dreaming of shadows standing
where they were before so hidden and cool

The Past

The past continued as it had people
very upset by much of it pieced together
only part way geniuses highlighted
in such a way that everyone missed them terribly
wished they were still alive solving many problems
what you now know is what they were up against
nearly impossible to translate except repainted
with familiar symbols and faces and cutlery

Domestic Rustical

They went home they were at home there
where everything looked suddenly strange
a tree was not just a four letter word for example
rocks peered up like babies and the asphalt
a tongue on which to form abstract thoughts
while driving always driving relatives appearing
out of the woodwork friends dropping by he told
of when he was little brushing the grass with a hairbrush
she spoke of eating it down on all fours then getting sick
just like a real animal one that is half domesticated
They were watched by a god thankfully absent
because then there would be no traces of foul play
the landscape a resentful second fiddle a passenger
riding shotgun responsible for unlocking and locking
opening and shutting the gate as was the way out here
before it was solo going as it is now if you want it

Complex Consort

Born in the sign of leg licking ankle biting
trees with no upside maps of death
right side up down to the real world
hidden cats behind masks jesters inching their way
past candy striped party machines
producing fantastic stories if you make it out alive
forget your snake death remember your jaguar
claws feathers tail through the ceiling
rattling toothy what is to come grasping

Center

Passion rose
chrysanthemum center
what is real divides dreams
botanically round and square
a border you could cross even this
happens later then unannounced 
looks regular a rash of hopefuls
gathering round to cheer you're
elected president even when
you weren't exactly running

Acorn

Shorter and shorter instead of longer and longer

what could be happening in the town what could

how does this figure in the magazine it took

quite some time speaking to hear myself think

reality contained within something so small 

a map of branches leaves pathways beyond

memory chanted whispering sung on air

Leanings

They were curious companions to the end
would be in the future without the other close
On the phone I heard my grandmother's voice
someone else spoke to me so directly the mystery
put up with all the jazz and card game evenings doing
nothing special up early the next morning that's all

Me (My Mandala) And I

There was something to speak about
how to approach its mute swooping
perching at dusk at the bird feeder
finally quiet a staccato commercial
one of the doctor shows sunk into soft couches
The shape of a sunflower if you stare five minutes
into its center 3D climbing falling still green
stairs and slides back round up layered triangles
dinosaur crests tongues against sharp tongues down
round and round the flat ones and the many few

Seventy Years Ago

The war made her soft the war
hardened her to the point of stupidity
melted anything that came near
nothing left fragments dominated yet
things got planted magenta pale pinks
she took care of her feet those dogs
they were puppies pointing to church
the big things were ignored the small
extra important one crisis per minute
each part of her body her friend her
confidant saying please don't leave

Disappearing Island

Clean up clean sweep starve into empty space
mulch it takeover down into compact ingredients
worms pill bugs sludge on the bottom of container
for grassy raspberries when they were finally found
slipping around in the grit beneath dew I found your
brow I wish I could go soothe with poetry how futile
all else above all else my mind clearing seconds ago
paradox cottonwoods flipping their flat twisting leaves

Now That It's Mentioned

Wherewithal extravagance sheer
willpower to get through days then
milkweed pods broken open cloudy
tangled desire it showed happening
on their faces constant hunger near
their eyes believing always in some
where else entirely picking over it
scraps in the middens looking out

Was this like her yes and no with
limits always limits as endless talk
swept away lost in telling strange
did not recognize gentle kindness
right away in all that grace adding
amounts especially getting going
how on earth to continue so tough

Small trees half trees standing just
for a minute a short life of meditation
alongside the huge river its sun shore

June

Yellow full green fog high up
with birds apple leaves the berries
baths are quick a breeze slightly
along side the house everything
sinking Shasta daisy clump deep
what passes for daylight still
deciding another bursting still
ahead and what is moving slowly
through the tall field shiny midnight
fully absorbed in what is on the ground

At Apple Tree

Lake Missoula had been through
low sleek canoes haunting
north shore could see across
to the archive of water
ways and interests traveling
this across direction above all else
their baskets with triangles useful
red cedar thimble berry camas
now a place of new buildings
lots of art thrown in for effect
rumblings every so often shrieks
across the open sky remembering

Theory

Smaller is older mystery collapsing
into murder unmentioned later in a
question bubble anything goes narrow
following the evidence what am I
writing about now I am supposed to
tell you this but keep you guessing
close behind my words are doubtful
qualities one step removed from
the moments of quick confidence
recipe a little too perfectly explained

Basic Interpretation

Bare facts all alone with nobody else
bear fat or Bear Fat that character
who appeared quite frequently
back then when Dad was super
Dad and Mom basically herself
not much more to his antics
haunting each story before sleep
before waking any meaning
punch line happy ending up
in his basic dream where his
is the main role and others fall
away just like real life just when
things get serious people wash
their hands focus forward
everyone rushing around then not
small signs disappearing symbols

Large

In dreams my bones dance
just so just so they danced
in refinement in tandem
to another strange quarter
me but not me the man took
all the credit it was a laugh
his after all and what could
I say my role as bird or runner
caught between flights lucky