A run in the rain

wind and thunder
stormy chills

rumbling darkness
rainslick skin

passing coolness
breezeblown leaves

surging weather
Septembertime

melting skies
defeat of August

puddled streets
mirrors at my feet

end of Summer
all in a cloud

September 1987

One more last goodbye

even when the grayskies fall
or the sun might hide its face
i'll be there, a step behind
while you run the human race

rolling slow, the time is right
or else i'm in a mirror
don't get up, theres too much blue
and i'm thinking so much clearer

one more time could be just right
or could never be enough
you don't forget sad goodbyes
and living in the rough

one last kiss- then i'll go
or perhaps just leave your sight
i know you'll take that cowboy back
and think of me at night

1971

A man with balls

2006 Iwas inspired by a painting done by a friend in Texas when I did this drawing.

Things

i've seen gray days
i've seen dark moods
i've seen thing s
i could be spared. . .
i've heard hard facts
i've heard wild words
i've heard things
i have compared. . .
i've felt warm glows
i've felt cold threats
i've felt things
that we have shared . .
i've known ecstasy
i've known agony
i've known things
at which i stared. . .
i've done things right
i've done things wrong
i've done things
and then despaired. . .

1986

Tropical Hallucination

 

mighta, coulda, shoulda, woulda

mighta rode my anchor
or stayed a minute more,
coulda stayed upon the water
or headed for the shore,
shoulda tried a little harder
or see what happened next,
woulda done things different
but i was so perplexed.

mighta stayed unhappy
or lived with everything,
coulda hid inside my shadow
or lived a constant sting,
shoulda simply turned away
or tried to reconnect,
woulda been impossibe
and keep my self-respect.

Samurai Theater

 

Los Madrilenos en Mayo

Madrid,
Espana

1991

Goodbye song

its too damn late to say goodbye
what will i do without you
every rainbow seems to be
colored blue-on-blue

its too damn late to lose your light
everything is going bad
candles only burn away
burned out love is sad

its too damn late to say goodbye
you're at the end of my sight
even though it s prob'ly best
it really just ain't right

its too damn late to lose your love
i'll never love again
i just can't live without you
and suicides a sin

its too damn late to say goodbye
i've got so used to you
mornings, midnights, afternoons
always seem so blue-on-blue

1980

Redorangellowfellow

Leo is a yellow cat
his eyes are orange
and that is that
Leo has a
homeless heart
you cannot make
him stop or start
he has monsters
in his mind
they always follow
close behind

1977

The Law west of Louisiana

In the Texas
Book of Truth
You will find
These guys
In the
Unsung
Heros
Column



1999

 

Seawall

Giant stones
and sand,
this beach
i often
wander. . .


Odd debris
cast ashore,
strange bits
i often
ponder. . .

2006
 

Washington D.C. Metro

hanging onto
the
overhead
rail is like
sticking
your hand
into a bowlfull
of
bacteria. .. 

Naiad

you came into my life
like a beautiful vision
that i could touch. . .

we talked and laughed
loved and lived
like sudden dreamers. . .

you whirled and smiled away
dancing to your karma
transparent in your motion. . .

we slid apart like stars
flung to other galaxies
or just to other doorways. . .

you disappeared, a dream
i still remember
through these lines. . .

poems sparked from
sky-blue eyes
through my fingertips. . .

1987

Burning Candle

you might see her
sitting in a
crowded lively bar,
everyone's
pursueing her,
some might
go too far,
just remember,
all her life,
people lied
instead of loved,
everybody
hustled her and
she felt pushed
and she felt
shoved;
if you see her,
smile her way,
'cause she's always
sad and blue,
take the time
to say hello,
she might be
good for you,
don't forget to
hold her hand,
but never
touch her heart,
she's been hurt
too many times,
and she might
just fall apart.

1981

Three more nymphs

Pensacola
Beach
Surprise









Early April 2006

On reality

your reality is of yourself
and of no other. . .
ride it like a good horse
easy and in its own stride. . .
ride into the open spaces
of your mind
and then ease down into rest
while all else goes on. . .
you will not forfeit
or lose your sense of spirit
only the errors of the past
not gone
but set aside to ponder later. . .
so go now and lope into
the blue zephyrs of your dreams. . .

June 2006

Neanderthal syndrome

some women want a wildman
to treat 'em sorta tough
they run to him and love him
and like it when he's rough

some women want a wildman
like the leader of the pack
they want to be beside him
and watch who's at his back

some women want a wildman
with eyes like solid ice
they always try to melt them
but they gotta pay a price

some women want a wildman
its a challenge every day
they know he doesn't want them
they must make him look their way

some women want a wildman
who laughs at their desire
they live for magic moments
when they light his mortal fire

1981

Hombres Tejanos

 

Serpentine

 

Hypnotic delving

i sink slowly
like the setting sun,
imperceptably
into the warm horizon
of my self. . .
where nothing
is the number
and everything
is the answer. . .
and when the sun is down
the evening star
finally arises as a
bright blue spot of light,
filled with promise. . .
it is the light
of my unconscious,
i am so empty
yet so very filled.. .
i am me
and also all else. . .

September 1987

The way in. . . . .

proven passage
to that place
where warm sun
calms winter's breath,
and gives respite
to the
numbing pain
of keeping up,



2005
 

Zizrozah

The African Zizrozah was
rapidlly approaching
extinction due to
predation. Therefore,
alarmed conservationists
began a program of mounting
wheels with precision
bearings on their hooves.
Now they are too numerous
to count and the only thing
faster on the veldt is the
four-wheel drive
Japanese Beastero.




2006

The wide side

arm in arm we wander
among the thronging mass
to them we seem invisible
they are a different class

we touch but do not feel them
they are some other breed
who speak another language
a tongue we do not need

we wonder where they come from
perhaps some other sphere
fat and noisy animals
who sometimes interfere

and so we take the wide side
where we can go astray
together in our closeness
with no one in our way

1992

Starship Royal Dilbert 1960 class

Earth to Dilbert
Lost contact
Have message
From ComPac
Re; Zybrugian
Fleet
Do not engage
They are armed
W/Stratocasters
18 stringXR2Z
AMPS-Unkn
Frm Fleet Capt
Snively ZigZag


Nov 23-2006
GHM endtrans.

En vita

i have stood
i have sat
i have swallowed
i have spat
i have considered
the place i am at. . .

i have stopped
i have started
i have stayed
i have parted
i have steeered a course
of life never charted. . .

i have been
i have done
i have had much
i have had none
i have decided that you
are the prize to be won. . .

1992

Tige washing her toes

1999

Brewery tour

rattle, roar, hiss, and squeak,
the cans like bullets fly,
wheezing, humming, through the week,
through the shift we do or die. . .

shouts and whistles,eardrums ring,
the brewery runs and snorts,
foaming fillers pour the beer
in cans, and kegs, and quarts. . .

clanging, banging, breaking glass,
the heady scent of brew,
honking horns, forklifts rush,
our peaceful days are few. . .

fussing, griping, sometimes laughing,
we try to keep it clean,
we hate it, we love it, 'cause its
the damndest thing we've ever seen. . .

1991

In the Valley of the Shadow. . . .

I AM
HERE
AND
IT IS
NOW. .. 

Theory of Zen

nothing
matters

nothing
is possible

nothing
is perfect

only the cup
that holds
nothing
can be filled.

Tigger sleeping

Tigger,
long-haired
cat
of
the
cold
country.





1989 

Shorebird

old
and
wise
she
slowly
works
the
water
where
the
small
frog
lurks.

Lake of the Pines 1980

The dawning of Pythagoras

2006

Loyal Hood McDermand

A pencil drawing
of my father
from a
1896 photograph












1976 

Wonderland

traipsing in a wonderland,
mine eyes have seen a glory,
so real and it was you. . .
the sun, and stars and moon,
only cast light to make your shadow,
loving you is everything
else life has no kind of meaning,
except the waiting for you to awaken
to greet me with your giggling hello,
and the sleepy mornings
when coffee and you smell so divine;
i smile and shake my head and laugh
in confusion and splendid contemplation
of what will occur next
between you and i . . .

1990

The birth of Methuselah

 

The ghost of Robert Burns

Unope the windows,
Freezing rain is shattering down,
Onto me striving brow.

Clae quick the shutters,
The wind is all ahowl,
Me hair is on the blow.

Slam now the door,
Or chill will be acreep,
Acrost the floor is how.

Roll in the drapes,
Tae keep the warmness in,
And stay the hand of winterscold.

Bring ye the bottle,
And gie it tae me,
Twill warmup our blood.

1969

" An apple a day. . ."

 

Like and Unlike

Like and Unlike
Black into White
Pisces in tandem
Day into Night

2004

Endorphiaville

i jog the streets
sometimes
to shove away
unpleasant thoughts
that sometimes
seem entrenched. . .
its true, you know,
those endorphins
mixed with
the sweat of a run
become a balm
for the mind
as well as the body. . .

Pink and blue

pink and blue,
the colors
of the sky. . .

pink and blue,
so where
went
you and i?

1976