Tuesday, December 31, 2013

New Year's Lament

Shake me loose a tear or two
My days are too long and dull;
Seek me like I'm wise old fool
Though my advice and teeth full;

I've got no use for myself
Just sitting here on a shelf
Help me please bring on the bustle
I'm drunk, loose, and available.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Life with Robots

Robots deliver everything -- mail, packages, big equipment
Robots drive
Robots answer customer service emails
Robots answer phones
Robots tell you reminders and updates, real time, as you go around your day--like how to use a new gadget you see.
Robots fetch office supplies and drinks, etc.
Your boss is walking robot with your boss' face. He's working from remote, so the mobile robot's helping him run his company "in person."
Robots write programs, print up what you need.
Your natural, intuitive life is anticipated by robots around you. You walk in the kitchen first thing in the morning, robots make you coffee. That's what you like, first thing. Temperature of the house automatically go up a little, detecting your motion.
You walk in your shower--the water turns on, on its own.
When you're low on stuff, sensors talk to the suppliers and new stuff are delivered immediately via robot delivery machines. You "subscribe" to products that you use regularly.
Your fridge can sense when you're low on milk, low on eggs, etc. It consults and builds your grocery list, then robots deliver them for you. The grocery stores are there for browsing, but more experiential the better at stores now, since everything can be virtually ordered instead of bought in person... food samples are staples.
You clothes can get washed, dried in one machine and there's a folding and ironing machine for clothes.
Everything is different and easier, yet you still feel life's same, hard, and full of things to do...

Monday, December 23, 2013

Being Human

Maybe to aliens we look funny
Same, yet wearing different colors of skins
And gear
Maybe to angels we look fragile
Same, yet writhing with pains of all kinds
Then death
Maybe to children we look big
Same, towering, distracted with problems
And powerful
Maybe to future generations we look foolish
Greedy and concerned with only ourselves
Just human

Friday, December 20, 2013

Disappointment







Coming from a vacation, relaxed and chill,
To be fired
is

Almost funny.
The job's harshness and dullness
Are both so clear
After a time
Away from it all.

Only
That my absence made clear
My drudgery and reluctance
My passive wish 
came true
to quit at all

Relaxed and chill, lounging more,
The vacation with no vocation
is

Almost exhilarating.
The release and relief are both
So instructive
Time to grow and change
Maybe just doing the
Menial
is.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

New Today

If all the days were stretched to a journey
Even if it was spent so often
To and from the same rooms,
Long trodden kitchen,
Food and sleep...
If all the minutes were brand new
Discoveries on the floor, on walls, corridors,
Each day hardly a second
To any other day
That would be my son's new today.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Coffee

The thumping temptress
Smells like a chocolate dream
Then wrings me dry
Of sleep and apathy
It now murks under my skin
Pulsing dark and nervous
Like the tremors
Of drops quaking...
What feeling was I chasing?

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Stains

these damned stains appear
on my right shoulder--
sniffles and all,
on all of my clothes.
my son's wet cheeks,
smeared run of his nose,
the breakfast off of his chin
i wear at work
and to bed.
changing shirts and
aggrievances
we fight and make up
everyday
he's my evidence of life
itself, his stains
mark me deeper--
in all my disheveled looks
i've never been more...
distinguished.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Unfree Self

The illusion of options and self
Keep my invisible chains
Ever tighter around
My neck

By whose call and hand
I'm led my zig zag paths
I live and let live

Fate has no friends
Faith needs no bounds

Masterful grace of being unfree

Friday, October 4, 2013

Cold Old Winter

Harvest gold, shimmering leaves
Are stubbled over with gray.
Overnight a storm turned
The bosom and bounty of the hills
Into an old man's chin.
Soon the limbs on trees
Will turn brittle and arthritic
And all things flowing will cease.
Bitter wind will bring dry snow where
Only the childlike will play--
Laughing in the lap of cold, old winter.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Didn't Love Him

My rebound guy didn't believe
me when I didn't
love him.

I'd cleaned up nicely after a disaster
called - hit, and the rescue
team was made up of
invisible friends -
time, distance, and legal procedures.

With no mess in sight
My scoured insides shriveled
My life was on mute.

He did turn the volume back on
I got a taste of my feelings.
And tears started flowing.

Still didn't love him.
And our good-bye was healing.
Closure and freeing.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Sketch of This Morning

Silver frost clings to every blade
Then lifts to fog just above the fields
A hazy sun only lit red on hilltops--
With a hot breath, I wait for
A heaving, wheezing bus.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Wounded Eyes

In our many Picasso faces
Our disjointed eyes rove behind
Glasses from childhood
from war zones, windows
Crowded over by weathers of
experiences, blizzards
Shards falling into our flesh
We're all mortally wounded
from the minute we saw each other.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Black Water

Living means drinking
Beet red and black water
Beating over rocks
A dash of sparkle here
Fearing and gone
Within a thinking moment.