i feel like you

i feel like you
that doesn't mean that i feel as if i like you
it means i feel about as you feel
but not completely
i don't wake up groping for the keys to your car
in my pocket or anything
i don't feel like that
now i'm not sure what i mean
or how i feel about it
so forget it
how do you feel about that?

listen, some of the stuff i write is crap
i know that, that's what writers are good at
the point is
it's not like i'm hiding it
i put it out with a purpose
two more, juliano. yeah, the red.

like you, i can recognize a good poem
and wonder how many did emily dickenson or robert frost leave buried in a drawer
sarah teasdale, i like her work also
geeze, i mention a couple of poets and feel like i've got to keep naming them

what i want to say is that
everyone has a different voice
every poet makes that choice
and when words work hot it's a kind of magic
when not - more like deforestation - nearly tragic

we'd learn if we could read
the partial poems the poets put aside
examine what was rejected
those things the great ones let slide
most often go undetected

so now this one is lying there like road kill
so enjoy it like sneaking through someone's refrigerator

ok start here

meditation is a discipline
who needs all this laughter
and funny stuff
just give me some boredom
and a book to read

i am old cause i don't get fashion,
style, mode, loud music
mr. humblegger, your table is ready
who cares

lincoln speak

i had a friend, jordan, whose grandfather was a slave
he told me that when his grandfather was a boy
in the south people gathered on a hill somewhere
to hear abraham lincoln speak
the grandfather was blind since birth, and an old man
when he told jordan
how he heard lincoln's sharp voice, high-pitched, clear like a trumpet over the crowd
i can let those words set
and ring in your head
like lincoln's must have done
to that boy who knew he was hearing the president

poetini

sure i keep it short
you have a life, right?
it's nice you take a look
but i'm not going to keep you

there - a couple of lines
you read it
fine, like that, okay, forget it
and we're both out'a here

birthday

"eeeeeeeyeow" screached a low swooping gull
over trajan's market by the forum
crowds were downtown last night
roma is celebrating birthday number 2761
how about that? two thousand seven hundred sixty-one

an old cat was walking around the ruins looking harmless
but the seagull thought otherwise and kept squawking
the feline eventually got the hint and departed
we were street level above the ruins, looking down on them

the official roma birthday day day is 21 april
nothing happened then, it was just selected as the day
meanwhile festivities will go on until 9 may

that's like roma, no quick birthday
people are out there now, concerts are going on
and that tells you a lot about how this city operates

in brief, like everything,
they make it up for the occasion
and do whatever they want

volume

the settings in roma
for speakers in airports
in buses, in buildings, outside
anywhere announcements are made
are: "on" or "off"

"on" means blasting to the fullest extent possible
nearly improbable
unbelievable, absurd
distortion is a synonym

"off" means broken
or someone forgot to turn it on

the pyramids

who built the pyramids
back then

do you think we could
do it again?

a non-fiction guy thing

it's true
could happen to you
i put mayonnaise in my suitcase
the next day she found it in my shoe

I admit i didn't check the lid
that's the worst i did
so what can a fellow do?
if not me, then who?

but nothing gooey came out
that's how the story ends
with promises to do better
we're still friends

(i think she's watchin' me)

taste

in the vatican museum i noticed the floor
and thought when target and others makes new tiles
why not do decent copies of beautiful tiles from history?

why produce new inferior designs?
sure, new sells, but you can sell anything

some old stuff is incredible
don't buy into fashion when it is base
why not remake old cars, old clothes
old everything that was beautiful and loved
using modern materials

let's cut the trash and clean the globe
with a bit of taste

a second good idea

how about that smart car
and now that's done
let's move ahead far
bring on the stupid one

extra wide, extra long, gas guzzler
one tiny window, under-inflated tires
no mirrors, sluggish manual steering, no muffler
also runs on coal fires

music to my knees

it nearly brings me to my knees
would you play it as gently
again, if you please

you know, somehow
and this i don't mean lightly
that melody touches me

extemporaneously?
how did that come about?
it was not planned, merely stumbled upon?

what i hear in that
takes me up somehow
turns me 'round

i want it with me
to carry away, to take home
bring out when i'm alone

i need to listen again
to learn what it is saying to me
so i can respond properly

i want to respond
i know i can
it is talking to me