all your mental possessions

all your mental possessions
burned and at first you cried 

now as a gypsy free 

what did you ever need

----

is somewhere else anywhere

is somewhere else anywhere
hovering anagapesis

like a phantom plantation

wherein the master lives

shuffling through

different thoughts like 

beetles pinned on cards

held in a cabinet built by

anecdoche 

and knowing better

you may say that some acts

must be done with cruelty 

resurrection in one 

strongly felt dawn you arose to 

every decapitated thought

resprouted a garden more of delights

-------

half is here the other half/ is somewhere else

half is here the other half
is somewhere else

isn't that they way things go

though you always figured  

we'd be full 

but time cuts us in half

days cut more slices 

i tally the score

it halves the half

and sometimes more  

but on the other hand

my brain is full

stuffed through busting

at the seams 

i should let it

all hang out 

fill all my fictional halfs

and imagined strain

-----

the ocean is the color of green stone

the ocean is the color of green stone

with some birds crying as they fly

i watch deborah enter the water
duck under a series of waves 

she swims alongside vigorous 

bull kelp with strands 

bigger than your arm 

the bulbs of the kelp bob

so does she 

when she comes out

and is shaking the water

from her arms and legs 

a bystander says

"that was well timed!"

this beautifully deceptive day

 

currents give and take 

a water can drag you down 

my darling puts herself out there

every time she goes

------

Portuguese beach, Mendocino

the statue of buddha falls

statue of buddha falls

head breaks off 

rolls under the bed

what a beautiful day 

----

12.18.25

thursday before christmas

thursday before christmas
a murder of crows circle  

cawing loudly flying up 

flying down but not landing 

i watch them from

the kitchen window 

it reminds me of 

this plastic skull i have

almost life sized with 

lights inside it 

the skull is black and 

sinister 

the lights glow gently

change colors slowly 

deep blue purple orange

yellow blue green 

burning in the depths

i always wanted to show

this skull of mine to a

dear friend 

i think he would have

liked it 

he would have understood

i keep it on my desk

i think of my friend 

the crows have gone 

------

For Jack W

see yourself with a new car/ the beautiful suede of the seats

see yourself with a new car

the beautiful suede of the seats

see yourself as an emperor

about to be killed by the mob

see yourself as a farmer 

with hundreds of acres to mow

image the ocean's embrace

cold absolute and dark 

visualize a clear winters day 

sparkling bright and 20 below 

see into the edge of a volcano

churning lava steam swirling

abide between extremes 

like bubbles in the stream

not harmed by anything

flow quickly or slowly 

through the savage rapids

waterfalls off the highest cliffs

float 

become like water

go into the earth

turn into air 

become one with the sky

some dash up poems/ with frightening lucidity

some dash up poems
with frightening lucidity 

i hope to strike lines of

errors while i drub

we could sit under a decent moon

while they forge on to literary heaven

0

he said i wanted to go on the journey

he said 

i wanted to go on the journey
but the way got in the way

which isn't an excuse

the way turned out 

to be very big 

---

Poor Phil's

Oak Park IL

i wandered in thoughts and didn't realize it

i wandered in thoughts and didn't realize it
until years had past but catching myself

laughing about all the wasted potential 

what i really could have done when seeing

where i am now frankly amazed at the outcome

still like a tree or still like an owl i heard  

last night and all the angels that flew regularly

all over the earth helping you and me just

in the nick of time we all think but the angels

are professionals in hope diligence and faith 

let me lay out all my wares in your mind

they are baubles and trinkets do you like any 

here are three prefect nights and one stainless dawn

here are all the stars i ever saw and a few sweet lies

take them with both hands they are free

---

LB

10.19.25

it doesn't get any better than this

behold the joyful beach goers
hiding their smokes and their drinks 

nipping and sucking on them 

large colorful towels with music 

mirrored sunglasses of faces

bellies on the sand 

the whole universe takes on a 

a grand fuckin' unctuous tone 

it doesn't get any better than this

it doesn't get any better than this

my father/ my son

my father
my son

hurry hurry

i am going to you

or you are coming

to me 

.

.

.

there is 
no urgency

i have decided 

to hold out

timelessly 
with unending love

----

in the past

in the past 

way past i was able to see

things clearly with out a lot 

sentimentality so i thought

i was sorry if it hurt folks

this truth i could see but sometimes

they needed to know  

what i knew

now i realize

i am drowning in sentimentality

as i always have been 

and in denial of this 

my excuses of clear thinking

were flimsy delusions 

that have wavered all these years

like fields of grass

----

LB

i don't believe/ we go to any heaven

i don't believe

we go to any heaven 

because heaven

is now 

as for hell

god rehires us on

the spot if

we ask

---

Boot Lake 

monday morning at the beach high tide

i.

monday morning at the beach high tide 

but almost no surf

waves as high as my ankles

the sun rises higher

peeks into the cove

light spilling down into a pool of sea

a curl of rocks & swaying seagrass

creates a translucent dream in water

chased with bubbles and foam 

like a place i'd assume

a goddess or miss nyad would emerge

so chaste so shy delicately dripping 

ii.

an enclosed getaway seen from the sand

table for two at an open double window

i've never seen it occupied

the rendezvous faces the sea on a cliff

there's art in the walls and cunning signal flags

sometimes they leave an outside spotlight on

it's a sodium arc oldish yellow pointing down

into the void to a spot on the sand 

they might sip tea at dawn's first light

or late in the night eat rare steaks

otherwise it seems like holding space

holding space commanding a sweet view

holding emptiness and being far away 

i am that tragedy and so are you 

iii.

high tide receding with gentle waves

at the place where seaglass has been gently placed

he reeks of cigarettes and marijuana

i wonder if he can smell it

we all reek i assume mine is sweet

to some i surely offend

now that i think about this

all i can do is sense

he faces the sea he takes a selfie coughs

he reeks and the sea reeks

but the morning light is right

near him i find purple sea glass of the rarest kind

under where he stood i find a piece that looks like a crystal

and dogs run free the pristine beach is marked

but no matter while we are away it will redraw

our stink molding somewhere else

and more seaglass but i must go

we all must go