CLIMATE BEETLES©

SEASONS

October Fest

leaves begin to line the streets

Halloween colors

weather lurching like a kite without a tail

perhaps unremarkable

without plans or armaments

ordinary people persist

shall we ignore dangerous people?

drone strikes, suicide bombers, insane leaders

the heater comes on

how many people have a heater that comes on?

“On the Radar” reports freezing conditions in the east

and the reporters trying to smile

Cutty Sark is good antifreeze

how many people can buy it?

kids dressed as ghouls, witches and bandits

will ring the door bell

SCULPTURES

eventually we come to the fringe

to relax at the Palo Alto City Dump

where treasures abound

giant bamboo, fence wood

some kind of vanity cabinet with old fashioned legs turned on a lathe

to become a lamp with Japanese paper lanterns

a tool box for the truck

a reclaimed table with burl wood facade

and other things only recognized by the stoned mind

sculptures in plain view

beyond the fringe

recalling wood paneled station wagons

disgraced by pigeons

a deck of Tarot cards flying uncontrollably from

the stage magician's hand

birds, cards, cars

a complete disaster

marmalade metaphorically speaking

a stage littered with confetti

how tempting to say graffiti

but why not?

as though it were somewhere else

please don't fiddle with the dials

in the summer

when rain doesn't fall

it is normal for ducks to come to the city park

calling cards falling

another sort of jam in the artificial lake

duck!

at that time of year, depending upon tax revenues

do not think of marmalade

a band will fill the park with festival tunes

booths with painters, sculptors, jewelers, political hopefuls

and dancers

but no fortune tellers

a roller coaster world

and the smoke of Teriyaki chicken

rising to a bald eyed sky

nonetheless

since the sky is dry

lightning

does not strike twice in the same place

it has been said

MANGLE

nothing happened today

weather – not a problem

we can handle a couple of days rain

it certainly shows

that rain canfall during a drought

here in Santa Clara – no tornadoes

the political climate is clouding up

out of control

anarchists are obsolete

superseded by software that doesn't work

everything is too complex

parties to the BART agreement presumed

that some underdrone had read it

and caught the glitches

it's not just about sharpening swords anymore

or harvesting wheat

no one can assure enough water for an exponential population

who can sequester radioactivity

volunteer for the City Planning Commission

record funnel clouds, report police brutality

information wants to be free

so long as it sells news and products

nothing is happening

DREAMT IT BACK THEN

the weakest station carries the most interesting stuff

with the least effective speakers

who need to be heard

anyhow

bees dying

cattle crushed for cat food

voices unheard

all the world is a stage

dung beetles, climate change

collapse of industrialism

today a cornucopia of fresh vegetables

tomorrow a hurricane

unheard voices haunt prison yards

the bull horn rages

reconditioned inmates are released for public insanity

overcrowding rearranged

Walden pond by a peaceful park

family photos with happy kids

hot dogs, mustard and beer

away from all the endless houses

cars that clot

as the BART strike commences

government shutdown tips the economy into foreclosure

fright for Halloween

all the pumpkins

and then the parks are closed

campers evicted from their land

sent to Colorado?

cleaning up after record floods

what dream are we discussing?

even scientists are waking up

Einstein's relativity

("God does not play dice")

collides head on with quantum physics

and even a beginning mathematics student confronts

the square root of negative one

("the imaginary")