WHEN CHAOS DIES©
PRESS ROOM DINNER
graffiti obscures the best laid plans of mice and mentors
a jungle of sudden jolts
it is a toothache
hoodlums have no taste
investors are running short of inventors
call in the District Attorney
prosecute someone
get shots of a baby carriage, blue bows, cute smiles
call for legislation
lazy lawyers ought to earn their bribes
it's all coming apart
an earthquake is predicted
so shut that guy up
it'll hurt car sales
in the forest redwoods are shedding rain
frogs sing
are there frogs in a redwood forest?
doesn't matter
they were on the Budweiser ad and no one complained
it sold beer
back to the laptops
legislators watching football
there are people in Redding who do not have an internet connection
they chop their own wood for cooking
get the flu shots out
economists have endorsed their efficacy
pandemics are expensive
and for the old folks at home
where ever that was
Medicare covers it
chopping is an art at the sushi bar
so now we're talking!
watch that flashing knife
Ninja warrior reborn
salmon offered for the sacrifice
diced onions
brief jets of steam
almost like Yosemite, Ahwhanee hotel
is that spelled right?
all you academics out there
bless your careful research
can you sneeze?
do you breathe the air around the ivy?
without air conditioning?
all politicians in your red white and blue beach houses
in limousines armored against terrorists
foreign or domestic
which you differentiate with carefully prepared news so that we
eating our frozen pizza repast
will not get spooked and quit buying
whatever your owners are selling this week
of course graffiti obscures freeway signs
everyone has someplace to go
we all pay for gas and we expect it to get us there
but where is that?
what we see on television?
do we drive limousines?
Air Force On is not expecting more than one
boots on the ground marching for hearts and minds
a certain rhythm calls attention to waving flags
bands play, but whose music?
all the middling comfy folk now look skyward
and find something quite unusual
it's gotten way beyond Alice in Wonderland
Chicken Little
Brier Rabbit is running scared
Tom Swift can't get enough patents
Back to the Future is now
hoodlums with no taste
SANITY
are normal and sane people not the same?
normal people know they are sane
sane people know they are not normal
the question is not rhetorical
most people would rather avoid this
except when the topic of insanity comes up
either in court, or in the news, or when talking about neighbors, relatives, or in fact most anybody who
if not normal
is probably crazy
OK then, on the weather channel last night
which normally reports inarguable observations
there was some arguable speculation about
The End
switch to a movie
maybe a Geico ad, or the Progressive lady, the Roundup Superman
but Pa Da!
a Rogue Planet!
evil outlaw lurking in outer space
hurtling undetected towards driveways, swimming pools
FEMA trembles, sort of
it might actually affect funding
but not really because, well, it's not normal
a planet nonetheless, though as yet off-satellite
and who can calculate the odds?
but smaller asteroids are on the radar
taken quite seriously
as Almost The End
we don' need no stinkin' Nostradamus
and in particular
no politically faked scientists
the Rogue Planet warps earth's orbit, changing seasons, warming oceans which then release centuries worth of frozen methane gas, which erupts out of oceans, displacing oxygen, and many people die and then, lightning storms ignite the gas, incinerating everything
earthquakes are more understandable
but sort of disturbing
though probably not right away
why dwell on this when there are bills to pay
and friends to impress
if you have enough money
oh the daises, moonlight steps ascending
to Bach, Christ, Buddha
maybe galaxies in their formation
physicists arguing whether it all began
with a Big Bang or will End
with a whimper
Yea verily!
I say
you who have watched the Cherry Orchard clawed
by giant Caterpillars and yawned
say three hail Wall Streets
cast your fate to market places
but hedge your bets
buy derivatives
THE CURE
tuberculosis used to be called consumption
tomorrow our bay area air will be unhealthy
mother nature's innate balance, like the scales of justice
requires a redistribution of weather
and it is an ill wind that blows no one good
which is perhaps the veneer of Paul Deanno's smile
sustaining the gospel, I dare say, of consumption
at Channel Five
if we can sustain our disbelief
in spite of all influences to the contrary
we will enjoy a Sunday BBQ as prelude
to fall weather in June
not to blink because
TV says it is so
even though Paul shows us videos
the entire east coast deluged in flooding rain
and his smile is on the wane
did you plant lettuce
and did it, like mine, bolt to seed?
do high winds threaten your tree?
hope you're not hypnotized
our planet has tuberculosis
and the antidote is known
as was said in days of yore
starve a fever
CONUNDRUM
in the midst of chaos snatching at twigs
an advertisement on the giant screen
shows hobbits running for cover
I pour a cup of tea
rimming an alluvial bank
the colony of forget-me-nots
so silent and blue
grows through spokes of a forgotten bicycle
sprocket red as the Grand Canyon
from blade to blade an endless lawn is screaming
emergencies and grand disasters all have their places
while waiting for the next elevator
my heartless screed a shimmering mirage
city dwellers push the button but do not step back
the elevator shaft echoes urban legends
it yawns into eternity
who will throw the first pitch?
GOODBYE AGAIN
past sunset
Wood Duck Court
and the street is grey
and equally grey
the sky
on a scale of one to four billion years
witness to extinctions
though it's not Oklahoma
people are living down by the creek
the evening news seems distant there
perhaps they glance back at high rise towers and imagine
people who are secure
no one is
city planners, investors, military strategists, lottery winners
meet on a level field
plain and smooth like Wood Duck
but not endless
this morning the compost bird returned
did his crazy looping dive
landed on the telephone line
then swooped down to the fence next to the compost
where last year we had conversations
and looked at me
briefly, without speaking
then flew back
into the cloudless blue
DIMENSIONS
a spray of crested waves
backlit froth
subtle breeze through a San Francisco cable car
morning news carefully folded
drifts by degrees
over fellow passengers in their empty baskets
filled with visions of French bread and soft butter
the tsunami just off shore
warns tree sitters, who are the first to know
that a butterfly with orange mandalas on passion flower wings
was a visitor from another world
not even as close as Columbia
and it would not stay away from organic fingers
just another vine
and how we played together
in that space without time
tree house sitters
the compost bird has returned after all
with a mate
the dyad chirps a duet
as Rosie watches and I watch Rosie and they stay just out of reach
within swooping distance of the compost
gauging my bowl
and all those blades of grass making a green swale
which I, wholesale politician, mow
yes, yes immense!
almost unlimited
the tsunami leaves my mind
I listen to squirrels
which bring offerings of half eaten apples
that I remove to the compost
settling secretly in the evening sun
silent shades of green suspended
