Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Our Country Tis of Thee

Cut taxes
Reign in spending
Loosen government control of businesses
Beef up the military
Stricter enforcement of immigration laws
Emphasis on family values
Small town values
Middle American values
Let the infrastructure crumble
Eliminate the social safety net
Give the rich and corporations all they want
All they need
And more
Cut public transportation
Cut education funding
Maintain discriminatory policies against gays
Screw civil liberties
Only businesses need freedom
Attack and plunder our perceived international enemies
Find a pretext
Drag America back to the 19th century
Let’s have a corporate oligarchy
Dumb down politics
Appeal to the lowest common denominator
Demonize all opponents
Demonize educational elites
Barbeques
Diet cokes
Twinkies
God bless America
The land of the fat

Monday, November 29, 2010

What Does Judi Dench Smell Like?

What does Judi Dench smell like
I don’t know and I don’t care
Where are the drivers taking us
Are we going here or staying there
Are the roads less traveled clean
Or do they have a certain tint about them
One that can’t be explained you know
By ordinary minds
Not that Clark Gable would care --
Name dropper --
If I were to interrupt a soliloquy to buy you a bottle of rum
Because there are always things best left unsaid
Like marriage proposals
Unless you’ve found
THE ONE
I saw a potato that looked like Jeanne Moreau
That, that was an interesting day
After all, there’s no accounting for wastes
Unless you’re tripping over the very adverbs you’ve
You’ve
Been warned about
Please let us congratulate those winning candidates
Wish them God’s speed
(He is quite fast, you know)
So I was saying to Gene Hackman
Over tea and crumpets
Delish!
But of course none of this is any more real
Than the question I started with
*Sniff sniff*

Friday, November 26, 2010

Possessing the Bone

Patterns of clarity with the shuffling minds
Acting surprised at ordinary finds
Copper skinned girls dancing alone
The righteous and mighty are possessing the bone
Are we God’s illusions on a star filled night
Or do we simply belong to the bright shining light
Should we be looking under stars or streams
Or is everything we need gamboling in dreams
We go on daily pushing bravely ahead
Is is because angels our cases have plead
To what do we owe the graces we receive
And whom do we blame for the times that we grieve
Need we ponder these mysteries ascertain he unknown
Or might we be better served just holding the bone
The obvious the clear and the oh so plain
Are the very things that might drive us insane
Hoping for visions answers and cures
Are just some of life’s temptations some of the lures
Copper skinned girls please let me dance too
Help lighten my cares it’s the least you can do
Afterwards maybe we’ll love and we’ll moan
The righteous and mighty are possessing the bone

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving

Thank you to my lovely wife
Because of you I have a wonderful life
Thank you to my late great dad
You’re the best father anyone ever had
Thank you to my daughters dear
I’m so lucky that you are here
Thank you to the Bears of Cal
Win or lose you’re a real pal
Thank you to the Giants of baseball
I’m still so happy that you won it all
Thank you to my brother and his clan
Of you all I’m a real fan
Thank you to friends here and there
Life without you I couldn’t bear
Thank you to the artists I adore
Your music, books and films I love to explore
Thank you world for my good health
It’s more important than financial wealth
Thank you readers of these humble lines
Thanks to you my heart  still shines
A Happy Thanksgiving to everyone
Here’s hoping for a day of food and fun

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Grace

Peculiar angles pointing towards souls
Insipid behavior betraying men’s goals
An angry reflection of lopsided pasts
Interrupted by the pious ending their fasts
I stole a moment from the lap of the Gods
Only to witness a thousand jihads
The lackluster speeches of the dead and the dying
Reveal life’s obsession with lovers who are crying
They leap and the jump and they fall and they tumble
But we reflect on eras and how soon they crumble
A light year of thinking of nothing but love
Equates to the rustling in the wings of the dove
All of this imagery is constant and needed
Whether or not its messages are heeded
Amnesty, love and a heart most gracious
Offsets the wailing of the cruel and outrageous
We have little chance for good in this muddled old world
As long as bellicose nations keep their flags unfurled
Persistence and grit are healthy and glowing
The words of the wise are also worth knowing
Rally the troops for causes of grace
And you’ll be valued among the human race 

Monday, November 22, 2010

My Weaponry

I’ve got Charles Dickens prose
As sweet as a rose
I’ve Neil Young songs
That cry out to right wrongs
I’ve got the films of John Ford
For if ever I’m bored
And I’ve got grayish green breakwater dreams of pure silk
That are soothing as mother's milk
Yes I have long flowing embers of life
That incinerate trouble and strife
Along with simmering salads in oyster shells of nudity
To slap across the face of all prudity
And with me are the tremulous barks
Of fir trees in heat
Helping turn the bitter sour
Into the delicious sweet
Among the soft barely lit pine saunas of lust
And still more ways to change the hate into dust
There’s all we need in all places at all times
What’s important is that it’s there not whether it rhymes
We need not live in despair or mope
There’s so much from which we create joy and hope
Look to others look to ourselves our minds
To free us from any sorrow that our heart binds
Hollah!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Eat the Rich

“This, again, was among the fictions of Coketown. Any capitalist there, who had made sixty thousand pounds out of sixpence, always professed to wonder why the sixty thousand nearest Hands didn’t each make sixty thousand pounds out of sixpence, and more or less reproached them every one for not accomplishing the little feat. What I did you can do. Why don’t you go and do it?” From Hard Times by Charles Dickens
The ripping yarns and the elusive charms
Of rich nouveau and old
They care a lot for what they’ve got
But not a bit for the hungry and cold
Their money they keep in pockets most deep
Scrimping and saving they often do tell
While disdaining each tax angrily they wax
About spending to help those unwell
Living off their greed shunning those in need
Their selfishness knows no bounds
We got rich its true and surely so can you
They pronounce while releasing the hounds
The hungry and poor want nothing more
Than a chance to live in grace
They only ask for what’s needed but their cries go unheeded
As cold reality they face
Life is a difficult chore for those who are poor
The wealthy don't understand
They gloat and they preen while making the scene 
Unwilling to lend a hand

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Foggy Night Passion

Rites of passage under cloud cover
When clocks chime and lovers purr
The tingling dancing of cute little feet
On nightstands of wooden security
Iambic pentameter is off for the singers
Of songs proclaiming affection’s desires
Kisses long and loud and deep
Ease the catastrophic fear of alone
Capering about nude and happy
Fighting of desperation’s chill
Creating heat
A measure of love so gracious
Cannot pass without giving luminescence
To the bravado of seduction
Long deep sleeps await
But first the comforting caress
Of two perhaps more bodies
Enraptured by the idea of physical bliss
And undoing of restraint precedes
The shiny happiness of passion
Beauty beauty beauty
Everywhere and in everything the beholder admires
Eyes ears lips tongues and especially the nether regions
Proclaim a triumph of the flesh
On this most foggy night
Of love’s desire
Hallelujah!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Pay Attention

Did you ever notice
The blueness of the sky after a rainy day
The lilting laugh of a small child
The fullness of a warm hug
(The warmth of a full hug)
The shininess of stones by a stream
The smell of fresh baked cookies
The wonderful sweaty exhaustion of vigorous exercise
Did you ever notice 
The beauty of the people you love
The pleasure of being sincerely thanked
The yumminess of a fresh apple
The brilliance of your best friends
The raw power of love
The thrill of travel
Notice, people, please stop and notice

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Learn to Wait

“I have a friend I’ve never seen, he hides his head inside a dream.” From “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” by Neil Young.
Can’t wait to start middle school
Can’t wait to start high school
Can’t wait to start college
Can’t wait to get a job
Can’t wait to get married
Can’t wait to buy a house
Can’t wait to have children
Can’t wait for the children to grow up
Can’t wait to retire
Can’t wait to die
Die?
Redolent of past deaths
Pick up your empty scabbard
Rattle it rattle it
Change your heart
Face the forces and grab at clouds
Defy the whispering winds that call you
Unto a new day be born
Reborn
As a being of depth and meaning
Rail at the wrongs and make them right
Hop to
You musn’t live by rote
Memorize your dreams 
Don’t rely on your blueprints 
Dwell on the everdayness of soaring
And light the candles of the great sweeping fullness of eternal smoky joy
You deserve the best
Only you need to know it
Call now while supplies last

Monday, November 15, 2010

The River of Your Dreams

On the river of your dreams
Floats the fragrant flowers
Of yesterday’s long lost loves
There under the willow sits the maiden
She who tempted you from her window
On snowy nights rich with loves promise
Flying overhead are robins of destiny
Foretelling voyages yet untaken
Full of starry nights in welcoming villages
Surrounding you are happy children
Dancing freely and singing joyously
As you offer a thousand smiles
To the wise bearded overseer of your fantasies
Calling you now in the rapturous voice
Are the soggy rabbits on sandbars of pure perfection
Their voices echo endlessly across the epic vistas
And you in your every sinew know that all good scenes are transparent
Through them you look deep
Deep into the heart of lustrous clouds
They fill the skies lending mysticism and wonder
Now every scene is pregnant with possibilities
Newness, possibility and beauty unexplored
The river of your dreams is endless
Requiring only your sleep
And your acceptance of the magic
That we all possess
In rich rich abundance

Friday, November 12, 2010

Constructs

There’s no point returning to this dreary topic on this long Dickensian day the dark clouds portend more misery and so we look at lush carpets and wonder if tea will be served soon and if dusk will bring new sounds that resemble the peals of laughter so often coming from the playgrounds of hope or will despair return and claim us for the forces of melancholia despite our happy knit caps and the radiant desires that kiss us as we claim that better days will unfold do we know not of the destruction and absolution that causes souls to weep as stronger minds struggle with epic longings for curling up with loved ones who we choose in moments of madness when happiness seemed so ethereal and blessings flowered everywhere but here so perhaps talking is of no use and we must use our heart's desires to truly pursue the nexus at the end of the never world a place most amusing to all who dine there on sumptuous meals of creativity and oblique never ending calls of ecstasy during clandestine meetings and lost feelings for friends long past unless that gorgeous morning is reborn as the tumbling yelp of equity for all the creatures on the brighter side of life affirming meditative contemplations set securely in the wondrous impenetrable holiness redolent climbing and called forth under the rainy and everlasting pendulum you saw in your greatest happiest liturgy all praises to us everyone

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Yes!

No causes
No reasons
No pauses
No seasons
Everything just going on
Getting nothing going nowhere
Worst part is that I don’t care
No time
No place
No rhyme
No pace
Just looking forward to something new
Desperately looking for something to do
Sensing that times been wasted
Anything worthwhile has already been tasted
No friends
No kin
No ends
No sin
It all just goes and goes
Like an infant writing prose
So I happen to write this for you
Trusting you’ll know what to do
No
No 
No 
No

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Happy Dangers

The Happy Dangers that we choose to ignore
Are respectable proper and suggest beauty galore
The lifetime of rusty scenes of trains
We utter about in lonely sad refrains
Thus there’s much that most of us can ignite
If we chose the path of love not fright
Go you South, West, North or East
By your happy trampings you’ll tame the beast
Never doubt that goodness can shine like lust
If you purify, cleanse and wipe away the dust
Be glad for birds that swim and fish that fly
For a symphony is easy if dragons sigh
I know not what you dream
Perhaps of soup, candy or cream
Do your darndest every night and day
To scrutinize lovers for what they say
Play games laugh loudly and dance
Have a hopping good time at every chance
Just remember that joy is all around
If you don’t see it, keep looking, it’ll be found

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Who We Are

Who am I
Not always been sure
Am I who you see me as
Or you
Am I what I say
Or what I do
Am I what I’ve done
Or what I’m doing
Am I the only person I’ve ever been
Or is there more to the story
Am I my memories
And what if I’ve mis-remembered
If I can’t be sure who I am
How can I know another
How can I come to understand you
For who are you
Surely not how I see you
There’s so much more
So does it matter
How well do we need to know
One another
If we can’t be sure of ourselves
Motives must be considered too
Why do we need to know
Secrets are stored away so deep
We’ll never find them
Hints
Suggestions
Pictures out of focus
Sins of omission
We are reflections of all and everything
People and events and places and
Most of all
Thoughts
We are fascinating
Endlessly so

Monday, November 8, 2010

Let’s Get it On

I tear at the very fabric of society
With claws of steal
I pull asunder all that is deemed holy
I respect humanity
But not its false Gods
Not its false constructs
I rip apart the rules that constrict
I venerate what gives life and succor
I am the superman of unconventionality
I spit huge phlegm-filled wads directly in the eye
Of constricting, stifling, creativity-killing defenders of repression
I punch grab and kick
At all attempts to define morality
I call a fatwa on
All socially conservative puritanical defenders 
Of lust killing Old Testament-thumping
God-fearing prudes
I hail and cheer on
All harmless fun loving lovers of love and life
Entangling their bodies in pure unadulterated rapture
Knowing ecstasy
Let us shun the oppressors 
Ands their naked attempts to stop naked attempts
To explore physical love
We can do better people
Let’s
Let’s get it on!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

The Season of Reward

Cheering throngs on grandstands of ecstasy
The clamoring and crowing resounding forever
Strangers are now beloved companions
Joining in rapturous dances of glee
It started with...
The white ball soaring heavenward
Awestruck at capricious fortunes
Dripping sweat
Tension toying with every fiber
Relief at the end of the day
But another comes
And another
A parade of days
The bitter bile and the sweet honey alternate
As laughter mixes with tears
Dust flying swirling men twirling
Balls out of reach if only just
Arms like rocket boosters
Churning legs desperate to get to the next destination
Angry disputes with spittle flying 
Wizened whiskered men directing the young
Long thin lumber swung like a might wand
Trying to defy the whip like curving balls
All the action and tumult interrupted by periods of tedium
Victors and vanquished
Still it is the mighty cry that resonates
For sometimes final rewards are bestowed
The grandeur fully realized as one collection of players stands alone
Love for the team is unrequited no more
Bliss that extends to the end of our days
Seasons worth of disappointment forgotten
Rewarded at last
It happens
Cheering throngs celebrate
Our lads are Gods!

Friday, November 5, 2010

All is Possible

I saw a crimson trail of nothing
Peaking out of the deep blue sky
Significant of differences that are never felt
All those clouds of energy
Are waiting to burst
Raining down on us the gift of life
Be ready to receive and then to give
There is so much to be done
We cannot stop
No waiting
Progress, hope, wrapped together
Like the tail at the end of yesterday
Needing to be grabbed
Give
Dream always even if just for a moment
Entertain your fantasies before dealing with the realities
It can get mighty dark here 
Be the light
The bright shining truth obscuring the twisted messages
Be the change you wish to promote
You just need to look up and acknowledge the truth
That is wrapped within the stars and a shining moon
On a cold autumn night
In the deepest recesses of your quiet hungry mind
If you do that
You are with God

Thursday, November 4, 2010

The Best Advice

“He was beginning to feel that it was not truth that men live for -- the creative men -- but for falsehood. - from Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe.

Your imagination will never let you down
Give it room to breath
Let it play
It will be your guide to amazing people and places
The best times of your life
Don’t get bogged down in reality
Don’t get bogged down by your supposed sanity
You can fly
You can swim the oceans
You can explore the solar system
But you must remember the rules: there are no rules
No restrictions apply
No laws govern your actions
No precedents have been set
You are ungoverned by dictates or councils of elders
You are unencumbered
And nothing is numbered (unless you want it to be)
Have faith in yourself
Trust that part of your mind that is wild and free
Your feral self
Mentally you must:
Can can
Boogie
Watusi
Calypso
Twist
Lindy Hop
Samba
Flamenco
Rumba
Tango
Jitterbug
Merengue
Shimmy
Hell, you can even waltz if you want to
Just tell yourself what to do
And do it!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Truth About Facts

Hey you:
The precise cold hard facts
The minutia and details
The fine print
The irrefutable empirical evidence
The verified
The statistically proven
The well established
Widely known
Accepted
The inarguable
Tested shown over and over again to be the case
You, all of you
It is to you I speak
Your greatness crumbles, tumbles and comes to nothing
In the face of
A song
A poem
A novel
A dance
Yes, the merest couplets or littlest ditty
Or shortest short story
Have infinite power 
The wonderfully prosaically crush all opposition
Except, of course, for the kiss
And even the hug is mightier
The act of love superior
But the creative imagination
And tender affection
Reveal more about our lives
Than you can begin to fathom
They tell more about our world
Then you’ll ever know
Nice try facts, you have your place
Sometimes you can be added up to comprise truth
More often your uses are limited
It is art and love that reign supreme
In any heaven on this earth
I’m sure you understand

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Champions

My Giants
You beauties
Behold your black and orange splendor
You are a great love
Memories stretching back to childhood
Mays, McCovey, Marichal and my first favorite
Cap Peterson
Cap Peterson?
Windy, cold Candlestick Park a hellish landscape for baseball
But my heroes played there
I braved it all to root them on
A child, a teen, a young man
Middle aged, married
With children
On to a new ballpark
A baseball palace
Still more frustration but no loss of love for this team
Finally a special group
Pitching so bewitching
Hitting most timely
A crafty manager making all the right moves
No bluster
Just Buster
No pain
Matt Cain
And the boss
Cody Ross
Someone tough
Aubrey Huff
No cryin’
Thanks to Brian
And him, oh him
Mighty Tim
Champs at last
What a blast
Glory glory 
A great great story

Monday, November 1, 2010

He Yet Lives

He was a great frown of a man
Tired
Tall gaunt uninterested
Like a long ship becalmed
He drooped ceaselessly
Unaffected by love he would greet each day lazily
Melancholy
Swayed to an inner rhythm with no beat
Perturbed by silences
Except his own
Curling into seats listening without hearing
Critical of others cares
Possessive of his own
Selfish
Clinging always to habit
Eschewing innovation
He was a pillar of mediocrity
Solid citizen
Bill paying voting recycling taxpayer
Hated bothering about any
Drained of intellectual curiosity by public schools and TV
He was a towering inferno of vacuity
American