The Dilbert Sniveley Monument in Hoglick, Arkansas

Dilbert Sniveley, a relatively obscure man
anywhere but Hoglick, Arkansas, is
considered to be the slowest thinker
in the state, his denseness is legendary
to the citizenry of Hoglick.

the wanting

i want to be your hero
i want to be your clown
i want to be the man
who takes you to the town

i want to be your lover
i want to be your fool
i want to be the breeze
that always makes you cool

i want to be your savior
i want to be your beast
i want to be beside you
and make our lives a feast

i want to be your beggar
i want to be your prince'
i want to be the man
who makes your life intense

1990

When Frappacites did walk the Earth . . . .

Their
footfalls
did
thunder
as
they
trod
across
the
verdant
stretch
of the
Kaiph.

1981



Marching to Euphorias Temple

side by side

our shadows fall
on one another
mellowing the light
so often harsh at noon,
yet this our time to run;
while others waste
this precious time
with weighty lunch
all rushed by work's demanding call,
we charge our batteries
in the ancient way
of distant ancestors,
we run and only think
or what we might eat
then return to work
replete within our souls.

1992

today's palette

treetops,
clumps of jumbled leaves
in all the tints
of green,
seem smeared
and tossed
upon the
black and brown
and purpled view
slung tight
against
the blue and cloudless
April afternoon

4.16.1985

Phyliss Phoreyes

Men
seldom
make
passes
at girls
who
wear
glasses
and
Phyliss
Phoreyes
was no
exception.

2007

Texas exodus

goodbye, sis, its come to this
i know i must leave Texas,
i drive a truck ,but i'm outta luck
'cause you'd rather have a Lexus

adios, Rose, the good Lord knows
i won't be here tomorrow
i tried my best, but failed the test
i just won't beg or borrow.

so long, Jo, I gotta go
this place has gotten smaller,
you and i no longer click,
my neck don't fit your collar.

adieu, Sue, now don't be blue,
our wild affair just ended,
you need a man who's got a plan,
who's highly recommended.

i'm gone,Dawn, you turned me on
then things got complicated,
i couldn't live the way we were
our style was over-rated.

song
2003

haik`us

pleasantly damp air
shrugged from tall mountain shoulders
cool upon my face
. . . . .

brave mountain river
chisel of unending time
great spirit sculptor

. . . . .

morning thunder rolls
and splits the day wide open
with lightning scissors

. . . . .

growing green leafed life
overwhelming solitude
live and grow in peace

. . . . .

gray clouds sail above
the eternal willow tree
that shades the egret

. . . . .

Washita Mountains
Arkansas
1986

groundhogger

groundhogger circa 1998

COGITO, ERGO SUM

of all the things i am
or ever want to be,
i know that time is the
very shortest thing,
and that experience . . . .
is the very greatest,

i exist,
therefore, i am. . . .

life is a series of ups and downs,
and i am a climber.

1972

now away all

slip back
the fall of night,
its heavy,
and is a damp
foreboding of all
those pressured shoves
of others,
both good and bad,
lightnings thundered grasp
has riddled clouds
until they have
no time or place,
and the spiritual powers
will somewhere somehow
slide into another
to take my place.

1984

U S SS Democritus Texas Class 325XE

it is a
flying cloud
of matter. . .

away and
into the
Sun. . .

to enter
into
and be
reborn . . .

then cast
away on
a force
too vast
to be
explained
or even
understood . . .

2006

Wide load

nothing matters

nothing is eternal
everything will change
written by the hand of Time
the message seems so strange. . .

nothing really matters
it is the in between
the cup that is so empty
and the wine that flows unseen . . .

nothing is the instant
when empty starts to fill
nothing is the top
or the bottom of the hill . . .

nothing matters greatly
a full hand cannot hold
the new cup cannot be lifted
while your fingers grasp the old

1971

Fleeting time

into you
into me
time flies by
we wonder why
into this
into that
a measured beat
of time so sweet
into night
into day
love is free
for you and me
into now
into then
all will end
i wonder when

1981

The Return to Piletonia

Home sweet home, Piletonia 1980

The rush

. . . princely sums
nor untold heaps of wealth,
could ne'er remunerate
that rush
of mad delight
you give to me
beneath the shades of night . . .

found in a pile of drawings
date unknown

folded

folded,
warm in a dark place,
i roll and sink,
slowly to the bottom of my mind;
rid of my thoughts
like a silent clam,
a foetus,
in the shelter of the womb,
i feel the peace of darkness
in my solitary confines
upon the path untrodden

May 1974

Beach Condominiums of Gulf Shores Alabama

stand they now
in silence
stacked
as if on
one another,
all piled
so close
they must
reach
skyward
to find
air and
freedom.

2005

Pale guardian

the moon,
smiling fullfaced,
peers over the horizon,
the rim of the bowl
called the Earth,
and like a silent sentinel,
stands guard over his creatures ,
the things of the night
and lovers in the darkness.

1972

A tale of yesteryear

the moon is down
but flying blue
the air is cool
yet racing to be true . . .

the stars are out
but blur'ed to my eyes
the clouds obscure
their presence in the skies . . .

the rains are here
they chased away the sun
and loves no place,
from anywhere to run . . .

the dark of night
sends out to all
a warning to beware
that things are apt to fall . . .

it seems to me
we tried to dance
a pas de deux
a sweet romance . . .

the cold night air
is difficult to shun
and loves no place,
from anywhere to run . . .

how lost we now
this bygone tale
'twas just a thing
to love then fail . . .

the planet, Venus,
is on the rise
Aphrodite, why'd you leave
dressed in your disguise . . .

i know you're gone
our lives have spun
and loves no place,
from anywhere to run . . .

1975

The Fencer in Black and White

Trying to write like Bob Dylan

underneath the applecart
upset by foul mischance
sleeps the aging jester
too tired for his last dance

came the juggler strutting by
tossing seven balls
each one was another day
some big and some were small

the jester tripped upon a stone
and fell on bended knee
he cried aloud his hackneyed phrase
why me, o Lord, why me?

and then then the old boy struggled up
and slowly limped away
fearing that some nitwit
would complicate his day.

1970

The Wizards of the Blue

Riverrun in duet

Held in the grip
of a moonshot trance
while hammered ears
sang in the wind
propelled by a zoftic flow
a race across the cold green flat
surface of the water
quickened to the edge
by a piercing scream of air
the windblown voyagers
slid almost airborne
like a rocket snake
a spaced out odyssey
inside out
turned outside in.

1975

Electric night

. . .the storm has passed
it pulls itself northward
with blue-white tentacles
like an octopus reaching out
for a new abode
it is a juggernaut
of unfathomable force
unstopping
unthinking
but not undoing. . .

1975

The Dreams of the Illuminati

dream they on
yet knowest
not where
they proceed
whither left
or right
thither up
nor down
time
is their guide
in all
their wants
and needs.

1972

The Pursuit of Obligithera

The lost city of Snurrh circa 1980

The Quest

don't stop-
the drop-

don't fear-
its near-

don't grieve-
just leave-

won't cease-
find peace-

just fly-
y'know why-

2001

Magnetism

It
holds
the
Cosmos
all
together . . .

with
its
strange
compelling
tether . . .

the
moon
itself
or
just
a
feather . . .

1994

latenight beach

the moonless 'een
is a cold black sky
stars flung far
and out of sight,

floating clouds
obscure the stars
the wafting wind
propels the night,

11:00 P.M.
Sanders Beach
January 2006

Memory

Thoughts
of
you
so
often
swarm
my
mind . . . . .

2005

Lapislazuliptyeryx descending Izilithiumopolis

His erratic flight is in the murk of the mind

Transcendence

its the filght of the mind
from here to nowhere . . .
just a bit short
of oblivion . . .

1986

Romance

romance is like
our days and nights
awake sometimes
or maybe fast asleep

sometimes its afire
burning in our hearts
or maybe just a light
at the end of the tunnel

it could be just the smoke
of yesterdays blaze
or the warm rain today
bringing a sensual flood

1992

The bent Schaeffer Beer can

The bent Schaeffer Beer can 1989

haik`us

the long horizon
blue and mauve into a blur
now infinity

. . . . .

blue skies bring summer
the snow leopard has gone north
again we are safe

. . . . .

time is a shadow
that we all step straight into
and may never leave

. . . . .

1989

"Coomunication gap"

i'm losing track
of my own vibrations
because i'm trying
too hard
to understand yours,
which are coming
in from left field
at cosmic speeds
and in totally cryptic
configueations.

1987

Time for bed. . . .

Time for bed . . . . Year 2000

"BASILISK"

dragon, dragon,
flying higher,
breathing smoke,
breathing fire,
people fear you,
curse your name,
others laugh,
and have no shame.

dragon, dragon,
in your cloud,
far above,
that nameless crowd,
what a monster,
what a beast,
your table's set,
and war's your feast.

2007

The Basilisk of Bush

WAR IS HELL, WAR IS MONEY, WAR IS BUSINESS

Spinnaker

Windward passage

thejimandsandralament

sadder than anyone knows
a splitting of love
a splitting of lives
two lost friends
a pity, a shame
chopped up a name
a momentary gladness
a cold and sudden sadness
a slamming of a door
with a key and a lock
a wiping of a tear
the ticking of the clock
a child in the wilderness
you'll miss all the silliness
sun in the morning
same every day
an empty cup of need
a hunger love can't feed

1978

Pretention

bird of the shadows
bird of the night
very close among us
but always out of sight

bird on the rainbow
bird on the wing
seeking many colors
you take but never bring

queen of the tunnel
queen of the masque
got a bunch of faces
i always gotta ask

queen of the island
queen of the sky
you really got my number
and i know you don't know why

3-31-1978

Troy

Ere dawn had ris'n fair Troy in shambles lay. . .
2oo7

Finality

when you stopped loving me,
you looked my way
but did not see. . . .

your hand would touch
but would not feel,
a time had come
that was unreal. . . .

when you stopped loving me,
you talked of things
that should not be. . . .

you said i was remote
and lost in thought
that i seemed troubled
and distraught. . . .

when you stopped loving me,
something broke
within my heart. . . .

the days and nights
became a blur
lost pavilions
ne'er to stir. . . .

1990

The child evolves

. . .to know
others
is intelligence

to know
ones self
is wisdom . . .

1992

Thoughts

when the sun comes
the night goes

yesterday leaves from this moment
as today arrives

birth comes
at the same moment that death leaves

the sky and the earth
are in everlasting embrace

the intangible thread between it all
is the Tao. . .

1993

Something in Green

Going to Green 2007

Los tres braceros

step by step they follow
treading in a line
slim and dark, eyes ahead
faces brown, hair ashine
moving steady, in a row
bags in hand, they walk
mexicanos on their way
they do not smile or talk
mile on mile they plod along
to the work they need
single file, in a trance
northward, they proceed
indians in cowboy hats
unseemly looking sight
walking to the white mans work
to labor till the night
pobres siempres
estan hombres tristeros
no puedan tiempo por lagrimas
entonces todos perspireros

1996

untold fascination

mountain of love
tunnel of emptiness
wealth of the universe
peace of the dark
standoff to heaven
anything goes
fascination of nothing
sometimes it shows
late in the running
i'm so blown away
talking in riddles
making my way

1992

Modigliani

Hi, I'm Ted,
are you one
of the Modigliani
ladies? Could we
get acquainted?
I realize you
live in a museum,
but do you
ever get out?
I love your hair.
Its sorta like
Rod Stewart.

2007