Lunatension
brave moon
that brightly scales the sky,
the blue mountain to the west,
coming out of the east,
it knows no way but up,
and knows no light but shine:
moonshine glowing
haloed orb
of grinning night
and laughing wind
and all we have
is time to spend
and broken promises to mend.
2009
Captain Teddy Bottle, Schlitz Texas Navy
Steering through a sea of foamy beverage
he must meet all challenges 1980
Bent
what thoughts of me have you
what walls do you stare through
what thirst you can not slake
what fears lurk in your wake
the last time and the next time
are all the thoughts i keep
the walls that part us constantly
invade my harried sleep
1973
Repose with moon
Under the slateblue moon 2009
The still of night . . . .
. . . just before
the glow of dawn,
when time stands still
and all is silent,
save those machines
that ply the nighttime dark,
there is a moment
of wonder,
when anything might occur,
a hollow feeling
of sudden death,
or a heavy blanket
of spiritual embrace. . . .
1991
Aboriginality
the slow unstopping jog,
of sweat and steady breath,
is how today i travel,
no thoughts
except for what i see around me,
the things that move,
attract my eyes,
for my assessment
to run to or run from,
the running and the running
of my genetic memory,
a million years of travel
on foot , toward or away from,
catch or be caught.
november 1990
thoughts while running long
for the Marathon
Huh? Night driving
somebody dumped a bucket of stars,
shining lights, the eyes of cars,
yesterday seems far away,
the awful truth in disarray
somebody stole the road, its gone,
but later on will come the dawn,
like a nightbird flying low,
leaving trouble far below,
somebody set the moon on the hood,
round and white, it seems so good,
colors flash, the sun comes on,
smeared with colors of Cezanne,
somebody flipped the black from the sky,
a fast goodbye, don't worry why.
1977
Remaining
a bar of sunlight,
brilliant tossed,
just so, upon my table laid,
gleaming through a shard of glass
i found on the beach,
green, as green as the irridescent
carapace of the summer beetle,
i stare, then wait,
to sink into that green and
then emerge as a beam of pure color
hurled in prismatic power
into the universe to travel forever.
2001
Odalisque 2009
en le coucher bordeaux 2009
bird of passage
wisemen, dummies, thieves and freaks,
the bird of passage never speaks,
the winner smiles, the loser cries,
the bird of passage always flies,
his talons gleam, his feathers glow,
he soars above the normal floe,
his eyes are bright, his beak is strong,
he glides above the human throng,
brothers, sisters, friends and foes,
the bird of passage always goes,
the winners takes, the loser hands,
the bird of passage never lands,
his wings are fire, his breast is flame,
he flies so high he has no name,
he rides the wind, he rides the air,
he looms above, but where, oh, where.
February 1978 On Immortal Time
Gotta take a number
there are thralls,
and in the craskah are worgs,
and whitherees be flange,
dunder,dunder, wrasked in greeb,
ever snarthed in righteous fleeb.
deep in slumber, sissa gumbah,
ryszinurlee, gitcha numbah,
catarasks and diddie dewies,
a creepon inna mong
diddle, diddle, biddle you,
dilbert getcha, whatchu do?
2008
