30 september

even though there could be more time
we imagine
there isn't ever enough
for what we don't make time to do
how come
how go
greedy minutes of sleep close shutters
on the questioning
use what you are given
take and make what matters

29 september

bluegrass choruses and petrified forests - scared of losing our porches and finding our pores - once more into the reach category - how could we ever glory in inconsequential pie? the roughhousing douses lights and flashes brights warning of suburban worry creeping down the froyo sidewalks - silencing the blinds

28 september

other than principles there are feet we tand on
while owls go vinyl and llamas act suave
smooth as an sandwich and hopeful as a rutabaga
these words are the way we make we take we be
let us hang out our tongues and whippersnap them
ginger as a lingering regret
why i ever let myself believe
why fear laces laces too tight
before it's time for bed there's a crocodile waiting
one eye winking and the other readygowake

27 september

because happiness comes in different flavors
because i don't measure the same way you do
because i sleep alone
because chocolate milk in a glass bottle
because i don't have a plan
because roadtrips
because there is more than one right answer
because you think you know
because i don't need
because i need
because french fries and also kale
because so many turning no returning points already
because i want to believe

26 september

before the show is over we have time for a few commercials - the breaks in between the stakes going lean to crunch like numbers too odd in an even world that places store in storage and clambers through clutter to cling to wrap like so many sticky noes tangling us off track - we are the readers, the heeders of signs - we are the reasons not to draw between lines - rainbows in the office blinds and dinner plans unhinged -

25 september

the real challenge was finding the adventure in the first place, of course, but fitting it on to everyone's calendar and packing the right socks, as well, proved to be additionally bothersome. it was clear to all involved that if someone didn't have to have quite so much luggage along then the situation with regard to seating would be vastly improved. furthermore, all the sandwiches still had their crusts firmly attached. frankly, the whole situation was crumbling rapidly and would soon be grossly untenable.

24 september

different colors of dark
asleep and afraidalone
there is elsewhere together breathing
here only the kitchen sounds

23 september

let's each but then only i did

once was a even-money don't-go-over balancing act
a big day in a big way or even many ways
when i handed off and didn't receive
i toppled
ever so slightly
and teetered from then on, really
but if i'm to be honest
and i am
there was plenty of instability
before that point
balance beam teeter totter teetotaler
please, you're welcome
more than thank you

another was funnier
but then not really a laugh
let's get each other fruit bowls
ha and also ha
seeming to plot thickening
and yet
here you go
all thought out
and here i am standing
anyway
blank-handed

it's not that receiving
is really that great
but the imbalance
is harder
than
giving

22 september

but the rewind prompts a bekind sort of attitude the grooves already spinning, the points already winning as the lines are delivered - the arrows are quivered in gentle response, the haunts of way more rounds before scoring points in anointing with repetition the sweet condition of nostalgia for nearly the present - a hesitant glance in the mirror as clearer fade-ins invading the light crowd into dark while parking recognition for the human-type condition and the patterns that we set up, the stepaway we let up on and usher in the next - feeding into pocket a crumpled-up text to see if this time will go right

21 september

how's the weather underwater and how does the garden show wear and tear and underbellies subtle as a slug - shiny trace and darkened path with unknown trails ahead, the mysteries of wandering and thoughts all left unsaid

human voices peoples' words and promises to keep - Frost's horse in miles and forests cold, the dark before the sleep

why any of us take such risks and lean toward each other - a tragedy, a miracle, a comedy for lovers

no metaphor is needed here, no tale to chase, unwind: the mysteries of human touch, proud challenge of our kind

20 september

a shot in the night and the crickets don't mind - too small too far too part of the scene to be subtracted distracted or worried - the hurry to move on with long lengths of strength of purpose: we deserve the time for ourselves, our healths and our well-beings, being well and all - stillness is not stalling, calling is not an answer - stand and count to higher

19 september

having staked a claim there's no name to hang up just an empty cup and a pocket full of rye - when we die where do we go? into minds and matters and dresses and photos - the zoo and thanksgiving and the days in between with pancakes and wallpaper with geese on it - the music of an organ through inexperienced fingers, the backyard search for easter eggs and pipesmoke packages from the florida room - in the blueprints of genealogy in careful perfect hand and the tiny ceramic menagerie poured into the potted plants from tea to empty tea box - from special sewing scissors and the measuringtaped smiles - in the front yard always in the willow tree lovely and loving and lifting us all up

18 september

unable to do anything but sleep through the space between instances - the attributes unhinging - impinging upon the fringes and tiptoeing toward the center - i wonder and wander and other mini-recital selections with corrections and suggestions in gentle pencil - nothing to do but cough, nothing to turn but off the track often imagined on and on like parables and striped tigers and songs we wish we knew

17 september

now i buy what nobody asked for and keep the change, rearranging hurricanes in my pocket

16 september

with no wallet on the way home i could not stop to buy milk / true i could have stopped but i could not have bought / you're right, i know / in the toolate dark at each stoplight and in between i groped through my bag / across the floor / in between seats / i retraced my purchases, carry-ons: on sunday i bought gas in tysons / now on tuesday late i'm blank / with thoughts of home and resolution: the black bag in the bedroom / but empty blank / the dream fades in: tomorrow under desk / fade out: dreams up, pause for darkness / buying anyway with nothing left to sell

15 september

if i had nothing to say i would stay out of bounds and catch reflections from unheard mirrors - the clearer the goals, the wider the holes and the trees will barely have trunks - amongst the recipes the freezers have their way and the easygo chowdown is raised up - stuffed like an alabaster shirtwaist with chaste congratulations and accidental themes, we dream of conversation without consternation - a dedication to wider realms of helpfulness and support where such is needed - having heeded calls to stall the horses ad hold them, too, we brew our own misgivings into no one else's cup - rough and tumble as the die cast cast die - curtains on the roll

14 september

thick bacon cuts across
the fallcoming air
wide wet grease wafts rich

congealing in cold parkinglot morning
casting about for a plate, a place, a day
nourishing, wrong and right

13 september

holding breath is a test of forward thinking
drinking in potential and inhaling neverfail availability
present in the present
waiting for nothing there is only this
imagining the sun will come up does not make it happen
we are the believers and the doers
truth until action is just a theory
breathe into motion

12 september

When my nails get too long I’m strung along by flashing fingers in unnecessary flourish – nourish the opportunity to undervalue immunity we tune our strings to lingering to half-formed thoughts and maps unfolded – we’re old enough to tell our secrets to – I’m used to pushing harder than the space inside allow – now we lay our cards out and now we hit the deck pasting what’s next into anotherday scrapbooks while oatmeal boils over and nobody answers the phone

11 september

turning the page over a new leaf

we eat grief for breakfast

hope for a dessert that’s just

but not only or barely or not

all of the forecasts are downtracked and upsold

we’re rolling over the truths

exploring easy use and smell of sense

taste and see what’s ahead

let with my eyes in those days

in some ways there’s no change

rearranging syntax to counteract the ache

a heart that departs to wander

wondering after loneliness

missing all the light points

to stars to constellations

the sense of expectation at such heights

brightening context and

sleeping at the wheel

pen in hand

here highly resolved to solve the dilemma

can ya and would ya and why

how far is it to when

how soon is it to never

10 september

Quiet as the night might be with eyes closed / unexposed to complications / nations in gradations of neverfail grayscale fading into else – what’s left on the shelf and what we’d rather buy – try as we might indulge fudgsicles and full-on haberdashery – everyone’s go their style – his-style her-style bicycle – merry-go-round – we drown in holiness – the light we feed ourselves with two hands open – hope for a sidedish while only main is served – we reserve our orders for menus of our own – a grown-up misbehavior and naptime collapsing finds and treasures as we measure out our strengths – hoping that the lengths we go to will leave something left – the best so yet to come numbing the present in hesitant stops while the past drafts its own revisions – hinging on the covers and the closeandopen pages – the stages we’ve reached – twice more into the breach – more to come the strungalong view suggests though the bests are vaguely plenty