TALKING TRASH
D PRESS ~ 1998 ~ SANTA ROSA
COVER ART BY GAELA MORRISON
FLATLINE
for Sito
it has a pulse
it has a smile
someday, we'll get down
to the core
it's a short distance
but a long way
MANEATER
hard to conceive
or praise
what could be
perfect content
hard to be
content
with form only
a sphere, a cube
or what is the Sphinx
target practice for his nib's troops
FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS
so wrong and so right
crude and too perfect
whatever
basically, what does
"whatever" mean, anyhow?
tap gently and keep moving
HEAVY ARTILLERY
I'll listen to your unhappiness
I'll even hand you a towel
but I'm not going to E.R.
because of a broken heart
I had a love like that
and one's enough
I would just as soon forget
the way she walked
ONCE I'M UP TO SPEED ON QUARK
for Sam
after the first 10 to the minus 43rd second
a new layout to the Universe
a bouncing bubble, a ball of strings
a hundred things to delight
fountains, flags
a butterfly of gas in flight
BACK TO THE REAL WORLD
the bills, the boss, the stress
walk the line
walk the dog, wash the car
push the cart, prune the bush
"hello, hello, something wrong?
something on my face?"
MORNING
what's before emptiness
nothing
I have words for
I pull back the curtain of the sky
and enter
the mirror that is
the World of Nun
chaotic and watery, without sun
pack your bags, Tinkerbell
NOON
long afternoon in my rose garden
long evening in the infinite shadows
long afternoons, longer evenings
I listen, I listen, I listen
long-stemmed beauty
we seem to get nowhere
AND NIGHT
a summer night
moonlight
we are in a very old garden
dreamkisses free and easy
I love you, but what to do
this is a dream where I awake
saying, "This is a dream"
DARK MATTER
we drift in infinite space
or no space
illusion of oneself in an obscure
place
a floating reflection
nothing holding us up
AND THE TREE OF LIFE ALSO
I go to the shore and sit
I become limpid blue sky
seaweed seaspray
seagulls and sand
dry wet high low
empty full fast slow
bored blissed
FIVE ABSTRACTS INSPIRED BY MARK ROTHKO
i
"O, God, let me out of this world; I can't live like this, hurting the one I love."
ii
yellow
>>>>>>red
>>>>>>>>>>>and red
a gesture of friendship
something
in lieu
of taking a trip
or going for a walk
with you
iii
two crash dummies
what>>>>>>>>we
feel>>>>>>>about
>>>>courage
>>>>dignity
>>>>>>>>>>and
>>>>>>>>>death
iv
a suit coat neatly hung on
a kitchen chair before
a black canvas against
a white wall (prepositional)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>exit stage right
something gone
and then its value
resonates
v
a wonderful moment
transported from doubt to joy
m>i>r>a>c>l>e>m>a>g>i>c
h>>>>>o>>>>>>P>>>>>e
e>>>c>>s>>>t>>a>>c>>>y
oblivion
caught off balance
>>>>>>>>>can you feel the
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>impact?
VACUMEGENESIS
out of nothing
comes a spark
energy mind
adam's apple
cheekbone and elbow
light just happens
a gunsel outdraws
his shadow
TELECOSMOS
the sunrise
beyond the actual sun
is a song you sang
along the San Juan
a canticle of water and air
a riff of iridescence
NUTCRACKER
for Lulu
everyone listen up
this is a beautiful woman
this is a beautiful woman
so I sing
there's something special
about her toes
and she knows
she has those toes
she points to a pair
of point shoes
and I catch a reflection
of her smile
and forget
what I've got going
CUTTING A SWATH
an old man pushes his wheelchair
and a clothes basket down the hall
he is slowly advancing to the laundry
with a plastic bag of soiled diapers
and with him the whole world comes
MORE LIGHT
my father gulps air
jaw slack, hands astray
in front of the TV
sound on full blast
he can't make out the words
but the music helps him sleep
it's Ida Lupino Month on TCM
May and December
his 75th Masonic Anniversary
at the Luther Burbank Lodge tonight
proud he can walk to the East
worried he won't remember the Word
how to tie his tie is a real mystery
his first car, a 1916 Buick
I drive into the fire
to help him
PICTURE FROM WILLIAMS
for Jane
she did a painting, which in
keeping with the spirit was to be
a red wheelbarrow
rain-drenched
with chickens
no fuss, straight up
finally, tore the sky
into four pieces, each
had a line of verse
and framed the botched wheelbarrow
and too bright interpretation of
chickens with sewn on feathers
by thumbtacking it to a stretcherbar
so much depends upon
that first cup of coffee