JANUARY'S REMINDER

If it's illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail
                                                Kurt Cobain 

Already 1/12th of this year gone:
a little more gray,
the shapes of this world
less appealing,
the breathing slightly slower,
yet still
the music 
finds each nerve in my soul
and just doesn't let go  
 

CANDID PHOTO

When memory's image fades,
the gentle reminder
of 
who made us whole

SO I WAS . . .

The more you know,
the less you understand
                  Tao te Ching

 So I was thinking
then
I 
stopped
 

CHILL

More of the deep chill:
memory
of summer
is
sharper

BITTER

bitter
early morning cold
even with layered clothing,
I
hug
myself

ONLY AN ANIMAL

My heart sinks in the river
                                           Li Po

I 'read' in his eyes
"It's only an animal"
and then remembering our tears
I think
So am I

OSCAR: In Memory

For Mary-Jane

Her loss
               (our loss)
with each tear
Her remembering
                (our remembering)
suspends nature's frail despair
reminds us--
that for everything that comes
is
a
gift   
  

WHAT WE DO TO OURSELVES

Trying to sleep:
 hearing the drunks             outside
getting
L  O U D E R

my
cursing
keeps me awake

IN THE SUN 
in the sun/the dark grown absent
                        From 'April Woods: Morning' by Wendell Berry

This sunday
the hard cold wind
and
the sun that dares
the dark
of
winter
    

RED

after having seen a red-haired man

red
man
face red
hair tint-red
jostled by the girl
he turns redder than his redness

DESPERATE MOVE

the deep cold
as the car heater gets hotter
i open the window a crack

FLAME

candle flame:
its flicker
disappears
into
the wax

ENVY

busy &
driving all day--
to envy
the boredom of a sleeping cat

WAITING

animal hospital:

the shriek
of barking
as we wait on news

of our               cat

AWARENESS

Upon hearing Alan Alda speaking of the total and unequivocal awareness of the actor on stage

In this silence:
the memory
of entering stage left, stage right
I have yet to exit . . .

BELIEF

He asks me
"What do you believe?"
I
stay
silent

RHYTHM

the silence
this morning;
the clamor of yesterday's
morning               r  u   s   h--
what rhythm
there is
in this life

PACE

the spark
from walking across the rug--
I walk
a slower pace

MEMORY

faint sparrow chorus
this
                  c  o  l  d
winter day--
missing
the loud morning clatter
through 
summer's open window

NEED

the kitten
scampers
away
until it hears the food dish rattle--

The things
that draw us
back

PLANT

my office plant
bending
toward the sunlight . . .
I sit
up
r
i
g
h
t

then find myself
bending
(just a little)

BALANCE

still
life:
city
the country
the fragrance of both
each a foul smell, each a perfume

NO WORDS

mind
still
       (alone)
from these lips
nothing revealed:
Knowing the splendor of no words

GRIEF

A student's grief:
how
unimportant
'important'
becomes

FOOTPRINTS

sunset confused in footprints of the rain
                                          Meng Hao-Jan

overcast
this New Year's day
hoping for deeper rain-soaked footprints
this
coming
year