Cases Turkey Cases Gold

Carcass windy
phone calls outside
orange mountain
cinder trail lined
river washed boulders
the burdens!
owls cactus The Milky Way
palms together
praying for me
for my secret spot
not so secret

Puna Midnight

What began ended up vegan
pumpkin where was the sugar
all in the whipping cream kindly
brought by Jasmine whipped up
on the spot healthy enough almost
Puna Midnight meaning nine o'clock

Just Like The Song

We went there and it was just like the song
about it but we didn't remember its title
no matter how many times we sang it
somewhere in the lyrics we would find
meaning maybe blessings all lucky fat
feelings supposedly found on the shore
just walking along the beach easy looking
heads down strolling along toes bumping

State of Belief

Without an anchor all
would it help fair

The bright lights of the city
supposed to be welcoming
instead shining on problems

too many to count basic
love outside the circle

find it in the empty store
all the windows shattered
desperate words scratching
out a place with nobody home

Thinking in the Middle

Night the blank delay
path made ancient
Glacial Lake Missoula
I'll never show this poem
to anyone.  I've written several times
about this event.  Thinking of the elderly
gentleman telling about it telling us
at Apple Tree, Washington.  Was this
the tree of all apple trees?  Will I ever
know?  Spending more time
studying the tree, weeping.

Rain

The tattoo on her arm was of a caribou
she put it there after the grueling teacher program
when questioned about it she said
she had grown up in Nome
(this was part of it
then it was funny (when her nephew
thought it was a chair
then some drunks said mosquito
what else but Douglas County
humor there (quite down to earth
all the big trees whispering

Savor

Olives in the fridge words as carcass
I'll never hear from main attraction
how the Bohemian said she liked
the wild although lower ranking
wood all around day running rid
best wolf for the job wasn't a wolf
at all could turn deadly dinner riskiest
rank share of the pack forced to defend
that idea of interacting closely extrapolating
too far beyond that particular situation
difficult to resolve best teacher natural social
environment which started earlier in life

Leherin Detektivin

All those years ago she said to get indoors
Ajax Mountain I thought this was kind
one of the five or six times she spoke directly
to me outside the sign draping the wreaths
K.T. younger years are younger dreams?  Are
older years older dreams or is it all dreaming
until the wake-up call inspiring exploration
lovely appearances becoming regime nightly
lonely arrogance repeating ignoring repeating
brash brightly elevated giant slalom afternoons

Heavy Hands Amok

Thick with flurry of documentation
called into office (secretly wondering
don't we all work for the State
employees of the people amok
squeezing massage beyond Swedish
making it all up for the big p
Power feel it five fingered heavy
little ideas off-track overturning barrels
barriers tossing words around
ropes bringing in the little calf
hot iron ready straight from the fire

Promise Me Protect

It would be some place with no name
I don't mean Nome but somewhere
by then it would be considered urban
not Geneva or Zurich or even Paris
I was thinking Fairbanks just for the sound
checking up on my upper arms are they attached

What I think and what is here never matches
that's how much of a journey it is when
searching the reaches all white and sandy
edges grinding on edges imperceptibly
they've graduated from saying mom
It's modern it's what they will say about me
wasn't that ever my focus--

That's when questions will be silent at last!
They'll say that person died while living
with heads still firmly attached turning this way
rolling that shirt collars comfortable clean
Branches leaves above rain dripping down
sun promising more than what is all around

Green With Black

Here lies Susan K.

there a day's work (young minds
ins and outs of English)
there the owing Bohemian
owning pieces of nothing

Dead one earthy melting autumn day
grey clouds forming a  pink row
their application rated improbable
synthesis only a hunch
spies becoming bored analyzing
this idea still a little out of place
outside the ordinary green with black

Her mundane appearance baffling
even to herself Susan K. is dead
nearly half of the time lava didn't
stop flowing crackling pooling
just eight miles from the stairs
the shanty across from starry surf
large seeds detailing the reaches

Less And Less

Thunder and lightning
hunched bunched flashes
rumblings night real rain
changed long ago nature
in my face glimpsing

Remnants Of

A sluggish river
legs tired climbing down
sweet waters Honeyman
Cleawox Lake warmest
dreams dripping left
tucked under daytime drip drop
flip flap nearly an island
behind clocks fish hide
beneath habits Gali Dali
really sir strong portrait

Danielson Blah Blah

She spoke but I thought of the lava
thick as a house now rolling
fiery black glacier ignoring asphalt
anything the landscape its outer space
quick to pool in places
phone still announcing
messages from the dark
Beach Road surf spray hanging
seven Cs crashing cashing in

Case of the Missing Velocity

Dot com pen and pencil
right now a cougar
dagger flyovers frequent
dying yesterday why

Just After Dawn

Five weeks passed
hoping for the best
Last rains cooking up
fantasies Italian food
biscuits gave him a ride
dysfunction central beats all
astir a red circle Family Fear
not enough talking fast
ate all the chocolate no ships
no planes nothing we knew
we'd rescued one extreme
passion shape repeating

Bowl of Cake Cup of Marigolds

This seamless mosaic world
The backbone of night makes right
Please take phone calls outside spiral
sweetheart Polaris Capella Beehive Cluster
Vega Deneb California Nebula
The suffused light of millions
thinks you so much

Spices

Can't use the cinnamon enough, fast enough.  No matter how I sprinkle and pour and dash and dump.  It's there at the same level.  I wish I had a better disguise but what could be more perfect than just what I am?  In the guise of a teacher--I've become that shamed bureaucrat, that homely list-maker of rules and policies, nodding.  I defy those things from my window in Paris, putting on a black or grey sweater and some flats to go down into the streets to get a latte; cigarettes beginning to smell good to me again, each color and shape I encounter--a whole novel.  I bit into culture's crusty bread as if for the first time.  As if for the last.  No mind that looking back I would be considered a comic book character, no mind that looking forward there's such a watery life ahead.

Team Building Activity

Even with this.  Hungary.  Aquifer.
Such is everything.  I wish he had heard
a secret spa water healing the seat of the soul
just the trend now or at least in the paper I read
late last night moon filtering the day too late years
but he appearing between electronic words
floating florescent air-conditioned panic

Deflation Interval

East Rift Zone
there's the rub
the release
calling nobody home
furniture elsewhere
lists agreeing to nothing

Earth's Crumbly Mask

My sister Sylvia Plath mask
the tide pool black green under
heavy grey moon sky with wind
picking up in places around the edges
we swam almost alone showers
surprisingly warm evening ending
just beginning thoughts tea