longer light

look about here
the longer hours of light
bring bounty
as toppled in plenty
the already green spring sprouts
flag farmed fields in rows
and wave where wind blown
fragrant scents of new flowers
dash with insects and birds
bolting over this earth proving ground,
all hearts wish good weather
for crops, for running children
and beckon impending summer
to slip in
quiet as the moon

Vegan

she’s a vegan
a vegetarian
i’m happy
she’s not saying
she's a person
from the
star Vega

movies for the mind

novels are movies for the mind, any time
will take you away in notion, emotion or adventure
mark the page when you set the book down
when you return lights go down
curtain goes up
and theater will begin anew
where you left it

i tested
When i left he was on his sorrel by the creek
at nearly sundown
they sky was azure blue
with no wind and nary a cloud

When i came back hours later
he was still atop his horse by the creek
at nearly sundown
the sky was azure blue
with no wind and nary a cloud

meshes

the white shirts
some with ties
and the sweats
some with hats backwards

clash to the eye
dash by on their way
without seeing
much of each other

pocket order

just when i've mastered
the perfect winter pocket order
keys zipped in the left front
phone zipped in the right front
identification zipped in the left inside upper
money right inside upper, zipped

all of a sudden, spring is here
my jacket stays at home
and i do too
cause there’s nowhere to put my stuff

curiosity

curiosity startled the cat
and made it look silly,
it didn’t really kill anything

i remember her tattoo

the sparkling young woman with
the Carl’s Jr. happy star tattoo on her ankle
i haven’t seen again
or if i have i didn’t know
because it’s still cool and most likely
she’s still wearing socks

zip zip

zip zip i was seven
zip zip i was twelve
zip zip i was twenty seven
zip zip i was sixty four
zip zip i was

dear Captain

dear Captain, take me along with you and Rafal,
let me board and sail on to foreign ports
let the compass spin as the great prop churns
mark it all on the cart as we make way

i’ll tow the line, skipper
eat well and hold tight on deck
sleep like a baby as the ship bounces around
though heavy storms will wind up, you won’t let us down

by whales, seagulls, and flying fish
until entry to the bay and the flat channel narrows
finally to port, at a long pier for tie up
there all will wave goodbye

rain in heaven

in heaven it will rain
from two until four
on alternate days
warm water only, and refreshing

you'll have an instant umbrella,
splatter won't matter
cause the socks you wear
will dry immediately

The New Week

It is the Twenty First Century and we need to make some positive changes. There haven’t been any since October 4, 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII made the following day October 15, 1582. Maybe his rent was due, or it was his wife’s birthday and he didn’t have a present or she wanted to skip another birthday anyway.

Regardless, an international consortium of specialists has devised the following submission to pick the world up off it’s butt and set it on it’s ear. Those aren’t the technical terms they used, but it was the best I could remember; anyway, you get the idea.

the new week

Monday is a bit jarring
to start the week
let’s begin with Wednesday
when we’re already up to speed
then bring on Friday,
a feel good day

Tuesday and Thursdays
we can jam one after the other
and coast over them
then let Monday come last
if we can’t do away with it altogether
and put in a free day

so let it be written, so let it be done

must be facing north

coffee at a table in the shade just steps off the tourists path
opposite the long tall blinding stone bone-sunny travertine
of the Cancelleria, with oh-hum traffic on the corner
i scratch out this crude note, having left
tender words of the novels home like lovers
tucked in together, sleeping on the shelf

i sip pondering my next goodbye to Rome
as already summer looms nigh,
with sycamore trees along the Tevere green full
the shadow over me shortens, afternoon sun moves west
this 25 April, Liberation Day, of little clamour
even thieves and beggars are on holiday

stirring my coffee i recall
time on the road with Italian actors
where at bars up and down all of Italy
most stirred their coffee for thirty seconds
so I learned to do as they
and now can smile remembering them