The interaction
of the
surface diversity
of human
behavior generates
violence &
& hatred,
but at
a deeper
level where
words fail
& truth
floats in
icy silence,
we’re all
the same.
The first
condition
is sensing
that we
grow old
& die.
The second
is when
it happens.
Thanks to Art Beck for the inspiration for this poem…
Filed under poems & short jabs
I quit
drinking
when I
was 46
boxed up
my books
put my
typewriter
on a
high shelf
for two
years &
gave all my
running trophies
& medals
to an
artist couple
who turned
them into
an outdoor
sculpture which
by spring
was reduced
by the
weather
to tattered
cloth chipped
glaze &
warped wood.
Filed under poems & short jabs
Sign up
for the
blood drive.
Sign off
on the
death warrant.
Sign for the
deaf & dumb
sign of
the times
the son
of God
skating on
thin ice.
Stop sign
warning sign
signatures &
forgeries,
deception’s
precise way of
doing things.
Flash cards &
Morse code,
antiquated connections.
All the
ducks
in a
row, &
then what?
The maid
rings the
dinner bell
& in
comes your
Uncle Charlie
in black face.
Filed under poems & short jabs
Wisdom erases
everything
you thought
you knew.
Filed under poems & short jabs
Scratched into a
Siberian gulag
wall by a
seditious Russian
poet before
being gunned
down while
trying to
escape into
the tundra:
I don’t
want your
recognition I
want to
destroy
your mind.
He never
would have
made it
into the
Iowa Creative
Writing Program.
Filed under poems & short jabs
I’m on a
different page
in a
different book.
Balanced on
my toes,
arms extended,
fingers fluttering.
Saying just
enough to
be taken
for part
of the
team.
Leaving bitter
traces of
myself.
Stripped clean.
Counting down.
Full of
dread I’ll
make a
last fatal
mistake.
Filed under poems & short jabs
