30 september

although i meant to do it sooner
there were other orders competing
from the working from the teaching from the learning
and in the middle of it all
which is to say on the top of the pile
there is the living which
if you are asking for the real truth
i am looking into more and more

29 september

there are steps suggested in the handbook
and also I lost my handbook
if I ever had a handbook
though I would rather have a hand and book
or maybe I would rather have a handbook now I think
one line later and seconds full smarter
I could read ahead and get ahead and win
the title that the book must have
to land on the bestsellers list
and if I find there is no book
I could write it myself although
the need I had for searching
might slow up the writing down

28 september

with gentle arms deflated
which of course should be askew akimbo awry
but instead simply propped
the houseplant of uncertain shape
has been knocked from its geometry of oddity
down to the ground which is also the carpet
because sometimes the wind blows
and open windows happen
but all i can do now is apologize
picking limbs up in my arms
say something that will comfort us both
searching for the words in spilled dirt
too late to vacuum -- the neighbors --
and nowhere else to go but here
in the morning a clearer view
sun and hope and brighter day to grow --

27 september

quattrocento manifesto

and if i sleep in i will miss the
dreams that only show at day
all the newfangled symbolism
the honkytonk philosophy
raggedy and handpicked
fresh from the clouds
made for shade and lemonade
and this is how the angles dangle
dressed in leotards and happenstance
stretched to sideways limits
ready to set sail

26 september

and bending not to break we reach to build
no towers but bridges, no road but gone
the space we fill with wonder
echoes of another time will fade
there is no other way to see the scene
well set well met well deep enough to dive

25 september

as if it were possible to see any other way
the play between exes and ohs
chosen at arbitrary times and spaces
the chase is not always to the fastest
the last is the aim but the steady isn't slow

24 september

melting from never into now when the
pounding on thin ice breaks through and the
only thing to do is cool it down and
sound it off in a direction i'll ention
here as last as it's due but nobody cues and
the feeling that goes out to the one i adore
is more than i can bear so sharing is
the natural turn to take

23 september

words absurd and otherwise that slide between the lines of meaning seeming slippier than intended and bending unbroken with tokens of sense paid forward or passed on like a toll for whole chunks of thought crossing the gaps and collapsing the understanding by landing with one eye open and a hand on your heart -- part and parcel of the real estate we blame for the claims of limitation and the nation ununited that's slighted by each hesitation and variation on a theme of insecurity -- the cure for free and easy happiness adapting bliss to confusion and building illusions of connection even as the directions become simpler and smiles grow more dimpler while the sun keeps doing and the tea keeps brewing and everything does its own again again

22 september

the choice of calm and cool and rest and
taking a different step in another direction
to stir what is still and spill what is full
too much to ask in giving away
answer riddles as if a recipe for understanding
landing on pages and turning away
there is feeling and there is being notquite
and when the balance tips its hand to withdraw
the deposits in closets and deep within pockets
emptying and the wind blows cold
closing eyes instead for a better view
there is nothing broken but the light

21 september

and even though i knew i would later wonder why
as if every scene foreseen can be unseen
and say what you will about eyes but spy what you've got
lot and plenty steps to go
heavy load and story building
nothing that i might have said
to keep the corn from rising high

20 september

full on tired as if conspired with
tomorrow like the sorrow of movement
without value of progress could
depress the steps in the ground
that travel round the earth while
the worth of every balance is held
accountable to the treasury of
knowledge and the call fledgling out
the new words still unheard of but
the true love of tongue ticks taste from
the air at the curve of a word we let slip to pass on

19 september

and if you asked i would return the same
shame wrapped in excuses and unsure
babble of a thousand wonderwhys
no surprise but the certainty of insecurity
drop the top of the hats to bottom, bang down
faster than the pressure of blood unhosed
the cringe to catch the echo
let's go somewhere else isntead
pass without this exit
take a different turn or straight on through
there are no bags but they are heavy

18 september

worn out i am remade undone rezoned
the stitches strung together hung out wet
not a dry eye in the sky and the cows come home
counting chickens and begging questions
no sense of upside or wrong
the dawn is the night -- better not to be left
and the dish runs away on my arm

17 september

keeping my head up i am lying down honestly

nothing but strangers here in this forest of chickens

lick the stamp before you send it out to happy endings

land the boat that floats ashore and anchor in the deep

weep no more but close the day and try again tomorrow

still tomatoes still the wind when suntime comes once more

16 september

up again the down and we will turn the rest away
chase memory up the stars its hat
the fields we farm and smiles we charm
live in the house yourself built
only the right numbered rooms -- no more
barely a ceiling but maybe a floor
foundation to grow from
sun to be shaded from
connecting the dots to adopt a new path
no laugh to track but relief to collapse
safe in the yes paired with please

15 september

and if it gets too close push back
flail arms wide to wail the water
legs spring hard from the wall
drown to swim to sink to fly
sky that falls and wet that blows
cannot hold too tight to space
cannot fill the space with weight
meant to do better some time instead
clear away apology and slate a cleaner bill
pay the same costs over still and again
chart the trend that meets the end
running toward away

14 september

filled the forms and chucked the norms
and now there's nothing left
a bank of blanks for giving thanks
the space we leave between
screening the options for mightbe adoption
the wonder of wonderwhy when
sifting through the vocabulary
find all the mightbe right words

13 september

and from the notice came a box
out of which grew a smell
fresher than cardboard or even styrofoam
not the biofriendly kind --
won't melt on your tongue
in case you thought to try --
an the air opened wider
split with evergreen taste
blue ceramic hypothetical foundation
color of a dream of crayon
sky melted to a pool to feed
and still we wait and listen
growing to know one another --

12 september

breathe better sleep sooner wake farther away
fresh is the air stirred backward
dark is the shadow spilled over
hung the sun out to dry and we melted
gathered the colors before they ran
corralling the reefs and and sweeping the plains
turn all the overwhelm under
take what you want from the plate

11 september

grateful i'd say but also reluctant
seems like not enough to do to deserve
feels like the slipping away s hazyclose
but push and it will be gone
cry out and it is broken
feel the idea of joy even if it is not full
waning and waxing like leftover crayons
tired of scribbling and ready for lines
connections from here straight to thereabouts

10 september

the feeling of stepping into of sinking of recognition
sticky tacky gooey ooze of inescape
a trap someone has set or a mirror
and no door no keyhole no unlock
no step out into light and fresh and free
on the diagram the logic is clear
the dance steps labeled one and two
but crazy waltz in uneven time plays on
skipping ahead of the beat without time

9 september

breathing in warm light to spin a ball
of golden yarn in my heart or as my
heart and spinning it burns and
warms -- lion breath and warm
glow life force energy -- pressed against
breastbone and anyway shining --
breathe in strength to flare the light
fantastic in classic sun imagery and
feeling which is the expansion of
the universe spun by breath in love

8 september

and in the other direction
nothing to do but close eyes
count the shingles on the roof of the sky
untangle the grass from itself
measure the sea in tablespoons
pour over the mountains until they flow, too
there are stars that wait their turn
there is no time for us to keep

7 september

whenever the weather opens we will be there
charting the stars and the angles unfolding
adding the degrees we see totality
the space that chases blank

6 september

ever after the craft remade itself
the look multiplied by angles into light
from then to whenever else to follow
from there to anywhere ahead
no borders limits complications
afloat above ahead beyond
running but no race
follow but no chase
rhyming rhythm and a pocket full of gold
hand holding step taking --
a brighter way to go --

5 september

sometimes as the moon opens stars fall out
overfull and underfed -- plenty to unwind
there are stories in the spaces between
facing and falling through sky into cloud
no race and no end and no start
lean into permission to fly
no lessons no fear and no fail
day slips through lids lingered low

4 september

to return to the downright and unlocked position

or left down if that's more right

but either way the opposite still

which is not in motion

in the literal sense

although the sensibility is heading skyward

uplifting and then drifting nicely

or gliding might be more clear

although sometimes there are clouds

allowed in these circles, of course

nobody needs a straight line drawn

to know where to go next

3 september

whenever the time comes the rhyme strums
the right words into tune with the slant
can't recant the sentiment and who can say
trays of offerings and rare cometogether
sweatered and warmed and calmwithoutstormed
a case full of irreplaceable
carry on as you go
know there is more still to come

1 september

a stop along the way but sway into focus
rope us into the moment and pull tight
delight overwhelm and no course charted
heart of the matter and state of the game
of the union, new mathematics
in the light, shapehift directions
i am heading you are heading
turn the corner both together