thick and the lean

the thick and the lean times
turn over like phases of the moon
riding sure and steady,
change be along soon,
go ahead look round,
stay at the ready
for the next roll of the lots
is coming down
be sure with the toll,
put coins in the slot,
cause you’re on a roll
pay up, pay out,
like it or not
it’s what you’ve got

do not open any attachments

when writing emails is launching
rockets to the wind onto far mountain
old pictures in a drawer, stacked in a file
someday to be sorted,

the unidentified guy in the photo, throw him away
looks like uncle whatshisname
clean it up, game starts in half an hour
a lot of billion people, some dressed in rags,
some searching for the next meal
and we shoot emails into the wind onto far mountain
wondering which sweater goes
best with the rest

of your costume, hit reply and pass it on, into the nether
suddenly she really needs that picture of Uncle Bart
i thought his name was Mark, I threw it away
squirrel looking with a mustache? right?
pack it up, stack ‘em up, start over

Information

i phone information to get information
lousy nondescript music crackles
then, without pause or warning
a rapid, highly distorted recorded voice
speaks quickly and ends with press one,
followed by another quick garbled sentence,
then press two, etc. three and four

I called again
the second time through I still understand nothing
but took a guess and pressed four
twice a live guy hangs up on me
the third time through a woman was helpful
see, it works, if you are willing
to struggle and persist

car

we bought a car
maybe blue, maybe green
we’re not sure,
in the photos it's shiny metallic
looks like new
it's nine years old

got title and insurance and then
on the second try, a parking permit
because the first time i went to get a parking
permit for my car i didn’t bring
a registered copy of my apartment contract
registration tax having been paid
how silly of me
or how silly of the bureaucrats of Italy
who have difficulty collecting tax,
but that's another poem

we’ll take possession today
drive it and get the feel
yes, bought it without driving it

see how it goes, learn new things
then park it on the street
until we figure something better

meanwhile, it will change our life
we’ll see what that means
we have no idea what that means

Obama

when our leader steps forward
all aboard will rise to his intelligence,
drawing us forward
in power to sweep the decks,
turn the ship around,
guide us right again

into the wind and against perils
to earn respect
find cause and direction,
renew belief in goodness,
and as it comes down from the top
so we will rise for the occasion

pause

I could use a pause
so this doesn’t become a diary
today I was going to say I forgot
the type of acid we use in engraving

then woke knowing it’s muratic acid
in either six to one
or twelve to one solutions diluted with water,
but didn’t know whythis could be poetry

unless it made me sad
and I cried about it
then would it be poetry? another thing,
does poetry end with question marks?

new word day

longren is out to be a word
i put it there, pushed it into the cold
or is it longeren, or longern?

here under a tree
with a dish for food
another with water

long low lengthy days of winter
when sun sleeps longern i do
i know it does

it happens in Roma

it happens in Roma, chance encounters with people we know
far from their usual place in the city
today it was our neighbor on his bicycle who stopped and chatted,
near the old book market by Piazza del Popolo

a few minutes before
we had taken the little electric bus to the Villa Borghese Park
so my lovely could do seven laps on the walking track
days before she was walking, looking at the
wild parrots in he tree when she fell,
folded up like a ham sandwich
and skidded in the gravel

today i lumbered one lap then stood
near the road noticing the older couple
slowly passing a few feet away, with unobtrusive security men,
one off on each side, two more farther behind,
it was Giorgio Napolitano the President of the Republic of Italy
of the few people in that part of the park
maybe half knew who he was
that’s how it goes in Roma
we use a little space and share it with others

our time

taking our time, soaking up what we have
see how it goes,
start something new
shake off the woes

don’t have to make plans
do the best we can, cause it keeps flying at you
all new and moving
can you feel it? hopping, spinning, grooving

while morning rain falls, or it’s cold and snowy where you are
winter here, summer there when you flip around the globe
riding the Internet, the information highway
getting bigger, exponentially

when i was a kid we never even dreamed it would be like this
and going faster wider, deeper, non-stop
makes my heart seem small to me
when I read a book I get off the roll for a while

then come back to get food and pay bills
keeping up day to day
a shower and clean clothes
more and the less, that’s how it goes

a note like this will tell you
that through it all I am still thinking of you
and hoping you keep doing your best
cause it’s changing and there are few choices

except to keep running like my wind up clocks that tick again
the same song, one note after another
tick, tick, tick, tick
crack out some sunshine and smile, keep loving

roma winter

bleak cold rainy days this winter
we have had our portion dished
lined back to back two months now
the river has flooded once already

slippery streets remain awash
umbrellas tattered from overuse
talk is quick to friends you meet
bring home pants cuffs soaked

poor time to ride a bicycle
more grey time spent lights on indoors,
looking out to watch clean drops splash
good period as flowers prepare for spring

Nico in the Piazza

throwing crumbled bits of bread into a
cloud of pigeons that form from nowhere
seemingly magically on the cobblestones at his feet
here in the piazza where the action of others
swirls around us

to whom i am a large blurriness
Nico, stands erect on his five foot two frame,
scant inches from my face he speaks
bouncing a bit, ready to burst with energy
his longish wiry white beard jiggles

i notice the bulging layers of sweaters,
his dark ancient sporty coat,
while topping his head is a
wintery wool sea farer’s cap

at a point i interrupt his dissertation on nature
to ask what he is doing in these days with his time,
his life work, he reiterates, had been varied
acrobat, artist, dancer, always within the arts

now he is thinking about the mysteries on the globe
that's how he put it, forming one with his hands as he spoke
with a smile on his face he says nature,
he thinks about nature and the mysteries,
using nods of his head to show how much he means exactly that

last year i wrote about Nico
click here to read that piece

609

609 and I always think of the current one
the one I’m looking at
like it’s the only one,
no time to think about it,
yet every number flashes, 611, 614,
so many mornings I have seen those numbers

oh, they’re there, all right,
whether I see them or not,
wake up times
get ready for work,
going to catch a plane time

not only another morning,
my morning yesterday,
last week
a series of mornings
every morning
that led last week to last month,
back to last year, five years,
ten,
to my youth, then my father’s youth and his father’s,
his father’s father’s, and beyond,

instead of seeing a new one each time
it’s the same one over
609, look, there it is again,
the same repeating
on this long line I’m on,
we’re on,
with grandpa there, and his grandpa,
me on the other, not the end,
somewhere in the middle,
cause it’s a very long line,
out on the line
that goes back and back ,
all the way back to dinosaurs and the first sun of dawn
609

think it

if we think it,
it can be so
there’s much to do though,
a long way to go

when you have the idea,
with merely that nugget
you begin putting it together
float that dream until it’s light as a feather

let it soar, twist then meld
into a solid, cooled and jelled,
roll on away, butter babies,
roll on away home, roll all the way home

up and down

got up at four
as i’ve done before
had to squeeze myself twice
to believe it

raring to go
but wouldn’t you know
ran out of gas
no fire below

back in bed at five
felt barely alive
fell fast asleep
to relieve it

in a pile
ants look the same,
soulless are they?
tell me about it

cause they don’t bow their heads to pray?
until you study them under a church pew
with a microscope
you don’t know for sure what they do

well, I suppose some enterprising lad or lass
would have squealed the news by now
so we can probably bet on the fact
that ants apparently don’t appear to pray

plans

we make our plans
and choose our actions
sometimes based on reality
often times on dreams

the attractions to our suit
can be distractions to the root
not tailored to patterns
that follow the seams

a portion of careless thought
plus a dash of hurry
often results in more
than a full day's worth of worry

Salute to Diddley

want to try me shopping?
I’ll keep you hopping
come along, tap into my head
easily said,
I’m looking now
while I push the cart
with all my heart
cause my wife says
when I walk along
what I see is Diddley
it must be a natural ability

she’s sure of it
no messing around
her reasoning’s right
her judgment sound
so quietly now
I am seeking bound
did you like that, seeking bound?
wait a minute, I have to finish,

cheese? of course I can find some
and pick one out? are you ready for that?
did Yeats really start this way?
run forward, troops, with the big guns and
fire when you are ready, Gridley
have no doubt, I’ll point it out,
for i see Diddley

reflection

I glanced into the mirror
as I turned out the light
to quite a surprise before my eyes
the face that I saw was my father
why I saw you was a mystery
how’d you come back out of history
where other generations never known
and hardly shown, are hidden in reflection

you’re looking good as you should
and younger than I recall
here’s looking at you old man
thanks to you i do what I can
and remembering, Father, how long you worked for us all
we didn’t vacation and I never knew the difference
you had work to do and I grew up just the same
and maybe better for it

well, good to see you again
to be reminded of your existence
and how it was, when it was
under your persistence
and occasional insistence
here’s to you again, old man, my dad
and I’ll keep my chin up

dream rider mine

how can you be so near,
yet so far away from me,
my petition to the heavens
calls for the full measure of you
to pass by slowly in my dreams
where clouds lift as it seems
pleasure lives anew
within sight of you

the sound of your voice
the light in your eyes awakening
to your smile,
makes all time worth while

how very sweet you are
my shining star
a gleaming heavenly light,
calming attraction for my heart,
my only treasure
would be the pleasure
of your smile
when your eyes meet mine