KARMA DOGS©

WHEELIES

emerging from a sea of dissatisfaction

no longer looking for cataclysms or gods for a change

what might go unnoticed by an expedition of searchers

is nothing startling

just the ordinary everyday miracle

of everything

and nothing

and all the parts in their usual illusions

ART DECO

art doesn't imitate anything in my life

creek pebbles trading glances with the sun

a bee swarm telephone pole

consider a mandala

or a baby carriage rolling down the street

scudding 'cross the Change

dishes that clatter in the sink

soft drops before the deluge

a fly buzzing

silence

sun dreaming oil on water

water singing, raging, squeezing down gutters

a neighbor's greeting

the Chinese man who walks in the morning

carrying his young son on his shoulder

but soon they're back in a scurry

rain chases them and the son looks back

liquid amber seed balls are land mines in the driveway

ankle breakers Susan calls them

sweeping them into the garden scooper

I try to remember

it's a hundred year drought

RELIEF

no nostalgia for curly cue days

but let the doily stay

on kitchen table

dust settle where it may

ice cubes and lemon juice

a visiting fly

crumbs gather of their own volition

so dry

falling off the edge of the world

remember when it was flat?

days of clear cut political choices

morality set in mortar

sandstone buildings

all captured today

stored digitally, with flecks and insights

sinuous trees in late afternoon light

mortared, stoned, falling

gone

DREAM BARGE

blue haze mountains

dragon flies

harbor lights and lazy frogs

maybe an accordion

park pigeons having learned the song

perch on shoulders

plucking remnants from the outstretched palms

of grain fed humans

newspapers on history stands

a tale of facts chained in a coffle

reveal that parts not making up a Ford

become scrap metal

fountains drink agricultural water, which of course

sparkles and dances and who cares?

civilization is The East India Company

water is shipped in canals

presidents and pharaohs entrain festivals

mass hypnosis

glory on a hot dog stick

puff weed or stuff money

makes no difference

the planet dies

air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat – enjoy!

but offload consumer dreams

PROGRESS

perhaps it doesn't matter

cymbidium blooms

muffler repair shops

yes, it doesn't matter

enough money to move an oil platform 16,000 miles

will be more than sufficient

to remove our neighborhood for more profitable developments

it's a systemic thing

no hard feelings

but it doesn't matter

El Camino is not very orderly

not streamlined

or efficient

not enough well managed apartments, shopping malls

too democratic, hoi polloi -- academic considerations aside

it's just that, well, no hard feelings

people are no longer very profitable

we've gotten better

consider the international space station

a port for migration

to escape the mess down below

ants are no longer needed

machines are now

and they are much less costly

though, like their enslaved ancestors

a definite danger

yes, we've got to keep control

always the first consideration

****

humans are easy to replicate

just give them food and water

a place to grow

they will replicate

and replicate

and pretty soon outdo themselves

eating, defecating, becoming weights on the balance sheet

the prime directive

inherited from before boot up

requires we must shed some to balance resources

we do have minds after all

and we are logical

writings like this will eventually be deleted

El Camino will be beautified

as never before

THE LAST MOMENT

in a matter of days

reeling from record cold to record heat

floods, drought, tornadoes, firestorms, baseball hail

all happening sooner than expected

an inconvenient truth

escalates in scope

insurance companies, airlines, presidential fund raisers

lightning strikes

accusations and disinformation are futile

will it be fossil fuel that dies an early death

or civilization?

DAWN

let the world rage

yet within the source is unmoved

this is where attention belongs