14 april

because there is a hole over there
and if you walk in that direction
you will most likely fall in
although i could not tell you the odds
and i know it's even money
you'll go there anyway
so play it out and see what score you end up with
and if you finish in the hole
i promise not to say i told you so
but i will encourage you
to write a vague poem about it
in the second person
and think about what you've done

13 april

something to consider
in this mystery
is how and why the victim
ended up stabbed with
three different knifes
and the relative likelihood
of every single character named
to be the most likely of suspects
because after all it's usually
someone you know even if
it happens to be more than one
because really people will just kill you
if you let them get to you
but how to avoid the scene
is a whole different mystery entirely
and honestly ever since i noticed
the victim is still breathing
despite the three fatal wounds
and pronunciation of death
i have been wondering
more and more
about a few scene changes

12 april

present perfect progressive continuous
on and on off the charts and out of the books
when you should ask yourself
WHEN IS THIS HAPPENING
and even realize that this PRESENT IMPERFECT
has got to end at some point
even if it's just to the FUTURE CONTINUOUS
which by then will be the PAST PROGRESSIVE
and it leaves us all wondering
where that happy ending is anyway
and why so much is TENSE

11 april

to have cake
and also to eat it
do you notice
anyone else?

the shelf is packed with alarm
there's no limit to race to

the chase is to
the smallest
the shoetallest
the youngest
or the hungest
and if those show
all together then

it's anyone's weather to vain
rain on the plain
obscenely seen by narrowed eyes
disguised with discontent
as if we've meant a great deal
to some other stage but now
caged in a smaller moat
while the gloating floats higher
than deserved to an underserved
population of thought

i'm caught in a scramble
afraid to break the eggs
while the juice pulps along
the wrong fiction
watered down and drifting out to sea

10 april

today we practiced at a model clinic
each patient had a card with symptoms
the receptionist and nurse and doctor all had name tags pinned on
that read receptionist and nurse and doctor
plus cue cards with key questions
and most of the patients were seen in an orderly fashion
with the receptionist making tiny little small talk
and occasionally requesting insurance cards
while letting slide the fact that some patients
signed in with their birthdates rather than today's
but never mind have a seat
the nurse weighed them with no scale
and waved a hand over the tops of their heads
announcing NICE
as if each had managed to reach their personal ideal height
anyway time to see the doctor
who seemed to be listening
and mostly prescribed rest and soft foods
occasional tablets for the most serious of cases
on and on until all the patients were cured
and took their turns pronouncing OCCUPATION and EMERGENCY CONTACT
making sure that everyone got everything they needed

9 april

thinking i know better is a sure way to butter the batter up to swing and to fry and to let fly mistakes that take cakes and pull up steaks to surf the turf to some other lumpy shore and no cure for the foolish but a brook full of babble and a hardscrabble wonder how the blunders still pile over accidental miles because i can't do up close and the moat's too small to stall out in but too wide to hide in and i swim underwise to surprise the attack that was meant as a greeting but still self-defeating enough that it's a tough channel to tune into and a hallway too long to stride out of like a glove that keeps getting stuck so no struckface challenges ensue and there's just one left here eating a shoe

8 april

running upstream dreams
themes in underline
borderline fantasy
can't see the trees without forests
can't swim the seasons with no calendar
strain the seeds and trim the weeds
that's someone else's garden growing
furrowed browsing and leftover quests
seek and hide the flag -- drag and drop to capture
if there was a road i'd climb it
if there was a mountain i'd fly
sky light too heavy to bear
noise washed away out of sight
focus and the sense adds up to feel