THE DEMOGRAPHIC TRANCE©

LATE SUMMER ADIEU

as the egg spins

whirl derbies! vanquish meadows!

show evolution!

diaphanous moment

poppies and frogs and Senators and gems

make a telegraphic pause

curlicues of traditional applause

forget-me-nots in blue eyes blinking

emerald butterflies

none can voice the demographic trance

of sky hawk wings

trailing cirrus twinges

lines at the DMV for testing vision

city workers clearing storm drains

apprentice computers clotting cottage cheese

fortified with vitamin D

squamous abnormalities

squashed dictators

medical marijuana scattered over dysfunctional BART escalators

attendants arguing safety versus

salted peanuts

who gets stoned behind closed doors

at strike negotiations

have we forgotten concerts in the park

the Japanese tea house

or do we believe arboretum giant ferns

the Grateful Dead

Brubeck, Bach and Company

Dynamite Society

Zen Centers everywhere

everything is the center of

the new bay bridge

the bay window closes

fading junipers bow to lilacs

to Venice with singing oarsmen

Stradivarius skies

Monet's redoubt

a houseboat with yellow flags

shimmering ripples

Mississippi gamblers in a barber shop quartet

crack that buggy whip!

load that barge

oil's a comin'!

green felt flags and scarabs

metallic

shimmering crocodiles

FLICKERS

I am a gnarly root

a galaxy

or flatulence or a fuchsia

clouds pass over my grave

green monkeys howling

and the rusting ruins of a city

Mayan temples hidden there

are receiving signals from Cassini

for a blood sacrifice

clouds passing calmly

silent, whispering

birds

insects

libraries in rubble

the wind

I am wind

MAGIC TIME

while claiming a heritage

these fingers

find their reach within this mind

where there is a time for them to release their grip

none of this is a possession

waves crash upon a jagged shore

clam shells hold fast shut until their opening

dawn dawns

cats yawn

crows flap in great abundance

and a small white moth flittering

radio telescopes are primitive

time is an illusion

a holiday with processions

and greeting cards are sent

to cement them

this is safely ignored nonsense

though plainly spoken

on a plain that rambles

visualize a red wheel barrow on pristine snow:

how would it be sitting there

unburied?

here in the bay area

once the greatest estuary in the world

why have politicians on skate boards landed in landfills

to be buried in earthquakes

death is magic

our gold rush had not much to do with cocaine

until it flooded Stanford

and spawned Professorville

Stanford Shopping Center

lectures on Zen Buddhism

stately processions with tassels and robes

people trying to think like kings and queens

in droves at West Gate Mall

tarantulas in their droves from the east foothills

squashed on asphalt roads

birds are smarter than humans

migrating ahead of climate change

wild pigs forage down into suburbia

bees are diseased

but this isn't really happening

is it?

a snap of the fingers will make it go away

won't it?

KUKU

parking lot

car starts up

vroom!