30 june

considering the space between rests
there could be plenty more notes
a quiet song unplayed unsung
hearing is knowing to reach for the metaphor, let it drop away
tuning the strings to brush aside mighthavebeen
listen more closely: hear what is real
layers of wonder and worry away: solace in solid
seeking nothing, finding hidden

too ugly these multimeanings
blockily carved from wandering thoughts
abstract unfurling obscures concrete paths

where there are flowers and cracks in the sidewalk: there will be right
page past the hovering heart: heave to the light

29 june

disconnect and redirect
the system has its patterns and the dogs all have their days
many ways to skin a banana but monkeys claim they're right
we tighten grips and loosen up with growing in our minds
the dirt outside can't bring up fruit when bugs cause leaves to drop
angles and calendars and alerts turned off
too much to attend to
no news, please, while i break
the sense and sensitivity i carry on my shoulders
to care too carefully much to pass through
a tunnel with only one light at the end
defending tangled truths
a plan unused to business
let me tell you all how it could be
even as the pages flip ahead
let me string the words into a sentence
one that's not too heavy to carry out

28 june

pressing forward roadfirst passing
rolleddown open means windbrushed hair
fingers stroking back what's left behind
tangled as the route unweaving
there is no map to follow
why roadside stands are fresh with now
unsteady destination and all hitchhikers fall back
(eyes caught elsewhere and dreams fade like channelchange)
drivethrough and dropoff
steady until fumes
refill with new colors / numbers / reasons
forward to roads paved with whynot and heat
melting into hazy hope
still there can be no stopping
cycle through the round and back
pressing forward roadfirst passing

27 june

even as the bell breaks the sound rings out
weathering the whether/not adoption of policies
despondency on one hand and coffee in the other
sunshine overflow on the open road
climbing back into space
a disconnecting trajectory
don't need/ know/ bother
styled after innocence and blissful unread pages
lowering costs and losses in an undervalued market
stitches beyond needles / floss unwinding
meant not to mind and so i don't
roping off the inbetween / velvet with kidgloves
should have said goodbye and meant it
let the bill stand underpaid

26 june

pages to turn and otherwise
let's have a go at it
repath
untrack
all that truck in the bag
dragging no heels and yielding only to opportunity
immune to indifference
the space we grow
the chase we don't follow
heart to sky

25 june

upstairs the mattress
down comes the rain
chinese for dinner and also a lamp
how did the dresser before
air-conditioned mockery
door slam accidents soon to remember
opening with lightning
curtains switched from blinds
thank you over stubborn
see you next tomorrow / sooner always late

24 june

plenty of corners and the parking is sufficient / not far to walk to
wait until the sun rises uphill and the sky clears of overdose
the most to remain the least to disdain
even as the rabbits run / the dazzle stuns the audience
we climb towers and then there are no clouds
signing up for okra
spokes of a wheel stealing thunder and giving up lightning
a load allowed / a road unplowed
alabaster recipes in finest bold relief
signs and sighs and cherry bombs overagonized with grief
speeches of a disconnected sort
a variety of condiments / loosely delivered compliments
ready for a close-up
walking away and toward
space to lean through
landing bellyup in supported fall
grassbottom twin feet matched in opposition
dancing past certainty / on into else

23 june

for the time that came before just now
much gratitude, many thanks
the scenes pre-set with rosyglow nostalgia
a look that meant more, the benefit of knowing less
breath held and wonder wandering

too soon to worry, worldweary and wild with hope
counting nothing, taking no notes
borrowed chances gathered in overfull buckets
days brimming with whatif and sunrise ahead

still and all i'd answer the same again

22 june

emptying out and opening up: so many pieces / times / angles
the way we looked / i cooked / the thank-yous
puzzles from a different box / stage / wonder
wild as the past unfolding / surprising / refreshing
never again and always

forward boxes still to come / fill / empty
pictures to fade as memory turns / darkens / switchmisses
mirror as the sun sets / rises / guesses

to let go and not to carry / to have but not to hold
leave the dust and catch the light / brush off and keep what shines

but rust and pages bleached with age tell stories to be mulled
the pictures of forgotten times and brushes stale of stroke
i cannot throw them all away / nor would i leave behind
the beads and glue and watercolors for building bright the next

21 june

i.
the kind of hope you let dry up and turn away from
toofresh tears would burn tired eyes and salt the cracks
wait until the otherwise matters more and time sleeps feelings downstream
ii.
a kind of hope you plant on a patio closer to the sun
watching as the runners stretch toward to gather extra ground
holding breath as opportunity meets the wall before the earth
iii.
hope of the sort that blooms at a smile
exploding possibility at every shared inspiration
dreams deep and rising higher

20 june

we are the masters of our own shows / the rows filling up and the columns shooting higher / the roof the only divider before the sky / the cable guy and the remote controller rolling over the credits / bet it's hard to be the audience only / stony faces and glaring screen meaning well / fell swoops and anxious loops of littledog runaround unfounded in the parking lot / got to get an owner on that / got to bat more than a thousand / the crowd and the open windows waiting for the quietdown / easy towns and cities to pass / grass as a goal / whole and unrefined grains / mainly the situation with reservations off the table / baby steps and easygo left / right away and elsewhere to stay / yelps that help the listeners wonder / blunderstill on the sidewalk / cannot think or hardly talk / alone as the natural state / waiting for the set

19 june

let me say
i'm honored to be asked
i couldn't ask to be honored
anyhow
the way i see it
if you'd like to see it my way
i have the means to make things happen
as it happens
just so
though the things that take place
placing meaning before method
have stood in the forefront of qualification rundowns
underground thinking and deepwater wells notwithstanding
who can stand them
i've landed here before you
below and beside and other prepositions
to listen while speaking
to learn while teaching
to practice without preaching
we are leaning while lifting each other up
a lift-off that drifts off track at times
the lines are not for waiting in
the mines and yours that sink not swim are doing no one favors
i savor the opportunity
i ask for the taller climbing tree
many thanks and most sincerely me

18 june

flare-ups a care stuck between whybother and worstcase
an easy chase down the runway but too heavy for takeoff
a late cough and an early rise: recipe for break
take the path and climb aboard, restoring verses and chorus lines
wise as a sinister chicken and open as a molotov ape
these are the characters, this is the plot
veering of course as i cannot be original
a prodigal reminder cycling back to attack the central nervous
chords restored and the vocal hopes aplenty
rising as horizontal empathy works double to lift toward set
catch and release
again
catch and release
deceit in fulfillment and rain underground
as the animals have their day and break the chain
remaining pyramids prefer breads and tread toward pasta
lots of philanthropy sent off-course
pennies and dimes and alligator rhymes with tears to match
the fears that hatch in brokentooth dreams
seeming success and a reach for the next
all across the tabletop
jealousy and jam and cannonball soup
a menu we can do without though the script is quite nice
the waiter knocks twice and we're ready for scenes

17 june

all the pages the stage is set and turning open
over and under the odds even up the score as the band calls out for audience
participation rating the state of any nation and saving the rations for later
we are sleeping through the credits and adding answer options
adopting further control is the sole reason we season our ribs with experience
toss ballads of the salad days to radio stations bygone and forgotten
the lot in the back is parked full of static
trunks as the elephants pack for tomorrow

16 june

clear as a misdirected reflection
looking at a picture of the sky
broken down like a well and kitesplitting tired air

weary words recycle anxious pieces
thoughts unstrung to trip our blinded feet
here again i cannot turn unstuck

let me outside into the wide
drawing color through open sense
out the stale and fearful worrywonders

15 june

waiting but always space to lean into or swallow or fall back on
ease in eyes and steps in hands -- motion in emotion / stillness in the bones
press sky to earth and count the change
rearranging stopgap dance steps steady as the flow
freefall curtain calls and no more stage unfurled
whirling back to wrinkle down -- irons in the fire
catch blank lines in borrowed time but turn toward other windows
carry out wide fantasies in sleepbynumber states
far away and moving still
nothing there to catch
know the space between and take cool comfort in the draft
apologies up borrowed sleeves -- no coat for travel in
return the ticket, punch the card -- awake in distant mind
unbuttoning three wheels and tenting some new city
the station stops and whistle blows as the menu's yet to right

let me tell the story once it's ready to be given
wait the cards and slice the sky -- a galloping uneven

14 june

each booth a different channel
dangling in toes to expose flavors ripples dipped in particular shades
sharing out loud to crowds and singleangle viewers
truth in interpretation
perception without correction
taste and know
sun and shadow drag buildings across skyhigh faces
no waste for the rest for the weary
we are asking all the questions
in between the answers slipslide toward ears
hear the news and fade the sense
up and toward tomorrow
calendar pagealong stringing all the stitches
there should be a book about
even as the roads are closed and the tickets run out
carousels and candy trays
spinning through the cellophane

splitwonder when the winter comes
forget the then and swallow now

13 june

closing my eyes before i started the words came out more straggly at first with the technical slowdown catching me up and the sounds more real than the smells

well into a thirtieth paragraph i checked back for the cover and pulled it up high and tight to brighten my mood and heat through my toes rosy and riveted

big enough to catch a sailboat by the breeze there are trees so fine they have houses so you never have to leave the leaves

indeed and allwellgood if the room review includes you as highly rated as the silverware (compare the forks you foisted on that box with the trotting-out spoons and it's easy to see the change)

rearranging and open we are the setfree truths

12 june

hesitation
is another chapter
we've paged through the aisles and this
shelf book line
promising
hidden behind tables of contents
and also discontent
recipes without formulas
glasses without lips or rims
focus without hocus pocus bedknobs broomsticks
or halfremembered childhood movies
using guideposts as lamps
maps as desktops
background is for others
forward we earn sun
brighter with steps
having leapt there is no floor no ceiling
reeling back from gravity
challenge a sideways story from some other school
lessening the impact
tracks no more
a path that scores constellations forefathers and unlimits
let us also know ourselves
toast the healths of redeemers and responders
the other halves of our holes

11 june

i spit it out
but doubt overwhelms and the helm's pointed toward another storm
swallow up full and grab your pail!
hail the sky and praise the rain
chainlink melodies freeze in midair cracks
jagged as light unhinged
freedom in a cloudy afternoon
broken down to pieces through the fall

call me when you're ready
the steadybright gaze of sun trends disinterested
passing time through a toosmall strainer
stretching too slowly for calendar expectations
weigh at the stations cross as a compass

wait until the morning and dark will linger on
now the only question is to jump

10 june

deep breaths go in and out and the sailboat row their hoes ashore mixmatching tools and useful rules into amalgamated rating scales flailing about in pouches looking for hidden answers hopping away down underground around the earth and differently accented the bended knees and sideways trees climbing upward in furred air heavy with humidity and rhyming without evergreens to shake their heavy branches with chances to escape running away out the door and underthrough bridges a wedge is not a step but a shoe can carry truth and also socks the locks on the pattycake bakery cart making for the hills with spillover plumbing hooked in and bubbling with city water and sidewalk daughters sons parents adherents of interest and spinning twists that curtsey at the end my friend my opportunity the chances that we see in space and time with colored blinds to pull down on frowns and other regrettable visions the easy divisions of self and other too blurry for numbers to color by to match patterned skies with napkins and tragedies the why we see before the whynot and all we've taught our minds to think teetering on the brink of discovery hovering as we are on the precipice can't miss the next step

9 june

temporary grounding, i'd call it
had been flying for days and ways without means
seemingly clear
forecast unwatched
botched like a french fry unswallowed to a broken stomach
could have been delicious
holding breath that has to go
tell me less about the fish the specials the fish
cannot think of other than dropdown
tumbleapart in unexpected puzzle pieces
built to last on no foundation
a consideration of hope as the gates fly open

8 june

wait until the dawn breaks / the trees ache to lean in through windows for comfort / there's some srt of madness in fresh air / where the wild things come clean / true green and else / wise as rocks and heavy as earth / let me breathe the sky the lake the light / cool and calm my wonderworries open to the sky / ragged and unkempt / silence when no need for words / rolling over instead of through / let me breathe free clearing heavyhearted angles from my open chest / unwire and retire the firing neurons responding to the stimuli that break my highspirit calm and crash me to the stream bed / overbled and dry / stumblefall down hill low into the water / darking oversoon / wendell knows well the hope of seekfind peace light as birdsong morning in the distant green of time

7 june

even as the doors close the odds roll up like awnings shaking out the day and drawing up the night the candlesticks fireflies surprised by constellations uniting the nations and all of their parts constituent arts and cultures like vultures too late to a sky full of bread fed by air and rite of summer is heavier than spring's the things we tell ourselves in the dark embarking on unexpected words having heard revelations we cannot unlisten with unwritten rules spooling out tickertape a great escape too late to find a slow rewind on borrowed ears with fears all-calling falling down to drown the sense of reason why can't help but try to paddle in this still unseemly stream meaning something other than words feeling drawn out a rabbit from the hat and willing it back with both stick and carrot can't help but compare it to such another station of the crosshairs the aim and fire conspiring against the careful dance of sunlit yes with unpassed tests still flapping in the breeze as trees set loose from the forest too tentative to relent to have spent more than one enchanted evening grieving for the mighthavebeen - we sink or swim in our own pools but sometimes we see the ocean and the reasons seem twice as small - i'm calling out for better questions in a bid to know whatwhy as the clouds turn tail and dive into reflections of the sky pealing ripples to dramatic effect and senseless design

6 june

easier to find what you're looking for when you only look where you like the view true enough but bluffing like a craggy peak broken off and scoffed at the laugh of taffy in a sticky situation the concentration it takes to build a new perspective directives from the top raised from the sun we're faded and undone in those clearer mirrors of reflection our collections and our consternations piling up even in the sunshine it'll be fine and the corners will get turned earning otherside walks and talks without prejudice without inaccurate bliss or nonsilence the passing through kind we're blinded to impossibility and the thrills we seek are forward i'm forearmed and unwarned two hands waving hello goodbye and worth a try so onward upword the birds high on it so let's fly and catch the winding road beyond

5 june

space is for brakers the rainy waves that crash anyway despite the wideopen everything

3 june

tug doesn't mean war
or boat, i suppose, for all that matters
it's a slippery slope to mix metaphors, so
an ounce of salt and a bunch of prevention along with that
which is to say
rebalancing
there's no winning line, not a knot to pass backforth over
success doesn't mean medals or a stand
falling over and rolling downhill
sorry for the way i think i'm glad i meant to say and did
questions i can't answer mean guessing/stressing
headlines: disparity in clarity
you know i know you know so we so there
fair enough to bluff others but not this
laughing dark into the parking lot
summore porch  to rise

2 june

stuck in my head again the same song shakes through my everything and lets me go againagain

sitting at this table sketching out next steps and evergreen views
truths all told with angles to the side
from this perspective only a few directives so clear

and yet

chords crashing down drown atmosphere
eyelid curtains droop and light neither in or out
doubt is the crushing insecurity jealousy fear more
a cool draft from unknown that chills even blueprints

and but

what is the alternative
giving space and chasing tail ends of unwritten stories
glorious obscurity to wonder why

leave set free if need be
worry much too heavy
tomorrow much too blank

1 june

gardenbox
out of the window and into the sky
myriad titles of varying quality
a movie unwatched
too close to unwashed
masses yearning to breathe religiously
we are the see and sky
repetitious babbles
we are scrabbling to grow faster
too early for a peak
slower and higher to climb
rhythm in a cup
shuffledown shakeup
scrum without ice
tricycle brigade and other indie madeups
turn away the bill
veggies in a bag
unfarmed market
we are trying in a circle
first we then we first we
eggs and baskets and chickens
bridge comes first
swiss army leatherman
toolbox avalanche
albums with their pockets empty
we are scattering brains
strawman
whistle while we sing
aboveground pools
simplified sugars
tumbledown weeds
passing fair
applestance
saucemellow
too far gone / drawing bored