human nature stands in the middle of the path

human nature stands in the middle of the path
blocking the way eating something messy
you're annoyed justifiably
you don't want what human nature is munching on
until you get closer and see it is ice cream


***

help me catch my mind it is trying to run away

help me catch my mind it is trying to run away
my mind saying it is not running away
ideas to fool me into being not vigilant
i am moving through a landscape that remembers nothing
nothing of me will be recalled when i am done with all opinions


__

Napa
Foster Road

unclasp your eyes from this writing / your beating heart is dreaming

unclasp your eyes from this writing
your beating heart is dreaming
the racing mind is free
a sky full of flowers bouquet
the trout in the stream sees
and fields upon fields are flowing
under a soft going breeze



#

sincerely please free me

what are you doing today / to block yourself from happiness?

i'm sorry this poem is not straight

the first thing to see \ is the moon

the first thing to see
is the moon
as obvious as you

then two stars
racing along side
fields of darkest blue

we look up
searching for clues
of what happens here

but we're from the sky
and we are from here too
all the same



^

the result of sleep \ is sometimes being tired

the result of sleep
is sometimes being tired
not knowing when i sleep

every insomniac dreams
when they are sure they are awake


&

i know less and less/ and the birds know all about air

i know less and less
the birds know all about air
so the birds never knew anything
they never thought they had to remember
anything


@

mr jump drives his car like a bird

mr jump drives his car like a bird
through the sky and to a branch to sway

eagles and sparrows sit in back
turning on heated seats as they listen to the radio

raw burgers and seeds for SNACKS

people passing by on the frozen lake
hear much twittering and chirping


***

Medicine Lake
2019

she's in the oven
like a pine cone
ready to explode




8

we do not start out in life to prove death
but in the end you will

so hold onto innocence
your delirious start

conserve the heart willing
to keep finding

view that sees treasure everywhere
wherever you look

bliss beyond all ends discovered
from this



888

can you imagine a world without certainty?

certainty can




***

It is earlier than I see,
My denied faith torments me:
Pens, papers, and even rent --
All the freedoms I've been sent.


@@

we are out there out of our minds

we are out there out of our minds
every far isolated place with no hope of rescue
a cunning hideout with no excuses



**

if you give me anything i will ruin it/ i cannot help myself

if you give me anything i will ruin it
i cannot help myself

even listening to music
i like to hear false notes

you are like this too
there are no lectures to be endured

everyone is creating disorder
it is called being alive

mishearing called
having opinions

*

i cannot have anything
nothing had me

when i see this i know
how beautiful everything is

my hands cannot be filled
nor anything stolen

we are passing along
like birds in an unending sky

any direction we flit
there is sky


***



for Jñana

a spoon and book/ book very old

a spoon and book
book very old
yellowed pages with dark ink
speckled with some foxing
a translation of the constitution of solon

winter day
steaming mug wafting
heat and moisture up up stirred
by a spoon and keeping the book
translation of solon in an impeccable state

irreplaceable this
spoon old book and bright day
increasing age over everything laid
but the essence just temporarily staid
translation demanded by the freedom sent


***

in dreams/ faces and wishes

in dreams
faces and wishes
washed reshod remade
reloaded for courage
for outrage or even bliss

so you may awaken
middle of the night
see yourself think
oh where and what is this
a person: me



---

1/3/19

with a mind given/ to infinite extremes

with a mind given
to infinite extremes
i realize thinking

let me see things
not as they are nor how
i wish them to be

***

Swede Lake
12/30/18

a whole field at night/ with a wood and a lake

a whole field at night
with a wood and a lake
and other fields
ringing with the silence
of a still night

then a falling snow
that starts without wind
so you can hold still
hear it landing everywhere

whispering on twigs
brushing on lake ice
murmur a song

the coldness
an old friend


-----

Hat Lake
December 26
2018

it is snowing today

what sleep
great long dreams

what mind

a waking life
saying it is supreme

it is snowing today



**

take guns away from boys/ and they want more guns

take guns away from boys
and they want more guns
because they are boys

boys love guns

you don't give them guns
they throw rocks and make
stick guns and swords

until they get interested in girls
so until they get there
have the boys play

and tell them to be careful
don't get shot by real guns
just play with fake ones

make sure

what a strange world we live in



*

things are needed / things abide

needed
things abide

even the stuff
you say is bad



*

there's a treehouse / with no shortage of excuses

there's a treehouse
with no shortage of excuses
but then it was needed
and you slept in it
as a teenager

it cuts to the bone
i thought we were friends
until you were not
our high principles
no calls back

we shouldn't expect
much from this hard world
our friendship seemed
of those things
that wouldn't be false

the treehouse is gone
so is the house the rest all
mind thinking
curious forever on things
that needn't be solved

a friend is always missed
even a false one or
someone who couldn't

in every ending
a new friend can be found


***

Rupe Tarpea

it was the place where traitors were thrown to their death
the greatest disgrace for all to see in the forum

now an airy garden with a straight path where we play chess
and eat cheese from the piazza della consolazione

are you shocked with the idea of what became before
if so how could we enjoy any sunny day in this world of law


**

she's a roman cat/ fancily fastidious

she's a roman cat

fancily fastidious 

living in the eternal city

therefore divine

striped on her back

white underneath

sunny spot sleeper

mouse killer exceptional

generations of her

from caligula or claudius

everyone admiring her

tail whiskers and face

***

Poem no. 63457

the devil goes to church
more often than you

give what you can
gracious and humble

**

below this innumerable/ trees and fields full

we have nothing to offer
everything to lose

at least in our minds
this supposed poverty

above all this stars
a free wind and big world

below this innumerable
trees and fields full


------

see tomorrow

too much
enough
not enough
not a bean

avid reader
every hungry
satisfaction
often keen

but to own
or to borrow
who can say
see tomorrow


**

home home

home home
cant be home
without home in my heart
without a heart for home
without my heart home




***

anapaest, dactyl, spondee, trochee

anapaest, dactyl, spondee, trochee
some technique or mode
of word barbering
i rarely remember how i wish

thus i write these untrimmed poems
but those who know
more fashionable
literary cuts are fantastic


**

who would have a nice cup of tea

who would have a nice cup of tea
without a gun fewer and rarer everyday




**

in the garden of eden

every fountain or gem played music every bush had berries underneath without any skeletons in the garden of eden

god talked god walked and burnished every berry on every branch admiring all so and the dewdrops collected

soft death as unknown as any unhappy thought death never before never done never taken never chosen never got

over clean mud and clean filth was the greenest grass that reflected the perfect musical tones from all fountains and pearls

the tree in the middle the apple of the Almighty's eye the proud branches and the variable leaves that breathed and blew

we will not go back to the primeval revere the reverie the relation the reverberation the realization upon us forevermore

outwardly we go outwardly we seethe going going going upon blackness and void into seeming stars into seeming void

but there is a place in all of our hearts where fountains or gems sing music every bush with berries burnished a garden of eden


++

a better girl/ a better man

a better girl
a better man

made this time
out of code and metal

and in this
there lies the sin


***

silly to think / dogs don't dream

silly to think
dogs don't dream

they have the best
no fence leash bath

where the squirrel
is always caught

owners full of praise
petting giving snacks

days lazy nice
warm places to lay

nobody cursing
pulling on tail or ears

life of a puppy
never hurt or old


***

Trick

all the time in the world
yet no time for today

mind like a magic trick
here then gone

my son does a card trick
he learned on YouTube

the better he gets
so i'd like to be at my own life



***

any difficult thing

any difficult thing
is simple

just get out
of the way




**

Outside

Falling tiny flecks of snow
Over a field shorn of cornstalks
Stubble as far as the eye can see
Is this what you want to see?

The land rises slightly to a crest
A mile away to some kind of vastness
You can only guess then turn and look
At a tree somehow keeping its leaves

Against a white wall the cavernous
Barn where all kinds of creatures
Struggled struggle lived live and love
Now all quiet taking a nice rest

So what for you today? Will you
Restlessly walk fences over these
Unspoken inner reflections all
The opposite of helpful meditation

Falling tiny flecks of snow
Coming down harder can you decide
Let the sower's struggle be concluded
Feel the natural serenity that arises


**

a man finds his bath

uncertain at first
of a hint too refined
very hot as well but
willing to give it a go

finding it is a damn
nice thing more or less

sticking your feet out
on the lip on the edge
reading the sports page
& smoking a cigar

new thoughts what
a beautiful sky and

oh well the neighbor
can see me

*

a poem offers / safe passage through

a poem offers
safe passage through
hostile territory of contempt
the walls of will

offers a light
in the darkness
penetrating a shadow of self
which explains

once revealed
truth shows poems
can change everything
as they do


**

there is only peace

there is only peace

how you got your mind
to accept it

a long journey
or did you go for grace

there is only peace



**

blocks seem multiplied / through the night by trees

blocks seem multiplied
through the night trees
stripped of their leaves

every doorway lit one way
or another and the parks
ever darker under towers

a mysterious haze rises
diffusing a kind of shine

where thoughts are more real
than people silhouettes on the
ramshackle boulevard

church steeples
then everlasting snow

_____

down on nicollet ave
minneapolis

past isn't gone / it is being wrought

past isn't gone
it is being wrought
how i live this day

therefore what
is ever being written
by a daily hand


----

11.06.18

my past isn't gone/ it is being wrought by

my past isn't gone
it is being wrought by
how i live in this day

therefore what was
is ever being cast
from this choice

----

Winter 2018

easy lightly/ fine and delightful

easy lightly
fine and delightful
should be the sentiments
slightly sprightly

save the world
for heavy scored sharpness
overwrought curtness
rigorous fate




11.06

not a mis-step/ every important word

not a mis-step
every important word
intelligent and interlocked
springing to the mind speaks
whole worlds curtained now
thrust wide open

revealed
like a laugh of the one
who drowsy in confusion
thought the time would never pass
never pass and be set in dullness
but they awake


888

i admire/ the seamless poetry

i admire
the seamless poetry
furled down the page
as a river of wit
gentle with confidential
confidences and huge
intelligence each word
liked and well placed
mine more like
a shitshow or a picket
fence yawning and
many slats missing
you can easily
get through and i
want you to 

but why should i be
critical in any way
so against smooth
verse luxuriously
flowing like
hair from a tower
from the gorgeous
poet who can

in this ugly world


***

the peak's ice beckons/ inviting you to try for

the peak's ice beckons
inviting you to try for
the impossible places
the vertical palaces
your eye can see
that would confer
such a lonely splendor
if you were up there
as if immortal bathed
in endless light

a lonely feeling
comes and goes
in the mind
of the climber

then a kind
of exaltation

most unspoken
thus unsullied


***

the best moments/ i forgot myself

the best moments
i forgot myself
or how to be

instead i was steady
as light through
stained glass

or as playful
as the very
reflections



^^^

the trees all the same height/ palais-royal--

the trees all the same height

palais-royal

when snow

fell gently measuring these all all

while silence

was keenly felt

and forgotten umbrella

forgotten


***

the heavens were the highest/ here where i found them on earth

the heavens were the highest
here where i found them on earth
amid secondhand buildings and
with those who had no glamour

they taught me the hidden inexhaustible
mysterious purity of this mumbled
worrisome place an existence not to
be taken seriously but a little deliriously

what does that mean where is it at?
how can we find meaningful life
if we live heedlessly or give up on
the concrete lies we've all owned

birds and fields garages and lakes
roadways and paths weeds and bijous
sometimes gathering up other times
falling away with the zest of god


***

enough words/ live up to something/ like one day

enough words
live up to something
like one day

*

the day make it
bright
fine sailing

*

the day
have it be
applause

bells

notes

greetings

big hugs

day have
it be

new horizons

paper origami

gratitude

a smile

**

this is my soul/ i know it when i am sleeping

this is my soul
i know it when i am sleeping

in the mind of dream
all is clear and unfrozen

elated


time can run free
dead flowers blooming

at waking we are pinioned
by unwavering duty or form

old sensibilities
to their tasks

impressed by the stamp
of servant




**

a scattering of flakes/ over the house

a scattering of flakes
over the house
                     snow
that vanishes when
wind picks up
and dawn is here


**

paper bees make/ honey the color of highlighters

paper bees make
honey the color of highlighters
in pencil combs

beekeeping
on a pad of paper
comfort of imagination

flowers everywhere
here in the room
of furniture fields and trees


***

it needs some work the house/ wants some tender loving care

it needs some work the house
wants some tender loving care
not complaining but the mute
walls have taken some strain
witnessed stalemates that were
not foreordained but determined
tantrums or just silences

with painting and patching
straightening refinishing
it could have new laughter
gazes presents gatherings
music dancing conversations
that go all night long while
gardens sleep and ideas grow

then the snow will fall happy
and the yard will embrace it
the roof will be like wings
every window merry
trees over threshold golden
all the rooms blessed


#

in the land of altered bodies/ i have green beans for legs

in the land of altered bodies
i have green beans for legs
arms of cinnamon sticks

royal jelly torso
mashed potato gravy hair
nuts for fingers & candy eyes

while i sonorously speak
you may admire my
fondant clothes

we'll wander along
under the asparagus trees
or on spun sugar shore

the lemon drop sun
shines above in peppermint
and blueberry skies

have you been to
cookie dough heights
or to the bottom
of an orange jelly sea?

at 3 o'clock
the ginger rooster crows
and we'll have our sumptuous tea



*

may there be a citadel / bright on top of a hill

may there be a citadel
bright on top of a hill
with a light at night
not lost in the dark


*

i want weeds / in the manicured lawn of my mind

i want weeds
in the manicured lawn of my mind
but i would not to suffer from any blemish

proving the idle
think they could have some flaws
to spice things up



**

Le Corbusier

the memorial of his grave
is a moment in you

sensing a wide and open horizon
usually vast as it is blue


***

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret

***

9.22.18

in this disturbed bliss
all blessings are possible

*

everything you thought
was crooked stolen lost or wrong

simply moody till
you rested in the kind of sight

that only brings comfort
and delight

*

now retread your path
see everything new




**

northern hemisphere / autumn equinox

northern hemisphere
autumn equinox
day and night
of equal length

the light paler
but the trees are
full of green leaves
some turning hint
yellow or red

the oaks stalwart
weeping willows
swaying over
pond that sheltered
faun and duckling

you might wonder
where they have gone
if you will see them
one last time tonight

peeping through
grasses and cattail
that are thinning


**

9/22/18
Heart Lake
MN

If your conduct follows the view ... Khenpo Tsewang Rinpoche

"If your conduct follows the view, you will end up a complete nihilist . . . If your view follows your conduct, your will never get out of duality. Therefore, view should be brave. Conduct should be timid."

-- Khenpo Tsewang Rinpoche

i am like a noun/ a quail's song

i am like a noun
a quail's song
the still
morning
with just we two
adjectives
young and keen
waiting for day's
warmth to gather
baskets
of verbs



*

away from home

i tried not being lost
but every place i stared at seemed untrue

the math was wrong
talking silly and songs were out of tune

what we really want
down to our core is a place called home

when you've gone
out of home's door and home's sight

every moment is a journey
full of trials and tribulations til you get back

some of us are fated
to wander and never return

others of us choose



***

for my father

mr sugary writes poetry/ of the sweetest kind

mr sugary writes poetry
of the sweetest kind
candied words like
caramel apples and
whole lines as if
marzipan or strudel

if only i could
craft a single slab
of peanut brittle



88

he dabbles in lies

he dabbles in lies
as if it were art

but the truth
is far beyond

his wasted
talents



**

9.11.18

9.11.18


so it has been 17 years
and i still can't think clearly
about what happened that day
some memories hang there
staccato moments
vibrantly in a jumble

the cabinet i was building
fell apart two heavy mirrored
rectangular doors falling
hurting me

then i heard that the
world trade center had been hit
by one plane on accident
or on purpose who
knew then

when most of were watching
the second tower was hit
by a second jetliner
it flew right into the skin
of the sky scraper
leaving a plane
silhouette

then an explosion
silent on live TV
you were shaking inside
as debris and burning
jet fuel fell earthwards

all flights in the nation
being grounded and a feeling
of anger sadness and horror
a feeling of helplessness
and betrayal

buying a flag
listening to radio stations
commemorating the dead
by playing the national anthem

being afraid ever since
saying at times i am not afraid
that terrorists will never win
raising kids and taking jobs
and being afraid ever since

that fear getting less and less
all the wars we fought
since then

knowing white tombstones
green lawns and endless
blue skies

feeling the world getting smaller
strangers being stranger
no jet is innocent

above all endless blue skies
all who believe in
all who love



***

this milkweed mind/ trifles yet always striving

this milkweed mind
trifles are always striving
i'd realize more but such is pride

asclepias asclepiadoideae
dogbane family apocynaceae
lowly yet the home of glorious butterflies

may i move slow
or not at all just trembling slightly
at recognition of grace winged befalling


***

movies make the unknowable / awkward and even frightening genius

movies make the formidable
awkward and even frightening genius
into delightful dreamers
wistful souls driven by elation

but some brilliant artists
were angry impossible magnificence
cannot be pasteurized
to sell cars wallpaper or tea




***

For Vincent van Gogh

poems as rejoinders / to the opinionated

poems as rejoinders
to the opinionated
tombstones that have
offended this live man

lazy ego

a stab of the fear of death
like a stroke of light
on
polished stone

goes
straight
into the eye


___

Colma CA

and this cannot / be my soul for

and this cannot
be my soul for
i seem to know it
when i am sleeping


**

at hat lake we have / our druthers

at hat lake we have
our druthers

some say these are
insulting

but if you listen
quietly

they turn out to be
crickets



***

Hat Lake
MN

nothing unexpected / every tree and branch and leaf in place

nothing unexpected
every tree and branch and leaf in place

all you can see
is not your own it never was just like blue sky

like saying
i own the blue sky or i am the blue sky

but it is true
you are everything you see and you are the blue sky




88

as we build a boat / named 'pussycat' to sail / to the moon

it is raining blue baby owls
they are hopping ones too
landing on the spoons in the yard
they eat the fresh day ice cream
that collects in the cusps
satisfied some even play
songs on the piano
light and catchy tunes
as we build a boat
named 'pussycat' to sail
to the moon



***

Hat Lake
MN

if i decide to have/ a positive attitude

if i decide to have
a positive attitude
without demanding anything
from you or the world
i have given myself
power of positive mind

and how often have i been
mistaken to think
such and such or so

when there really
was nothing wrong

ever



---

9.05.18

poet play my soul

poet play my soul

i am a rude fiddle

that would sing

like a stradivarius




6

No. 2 Poem 'waking up during'

waking up during
these negotiations
and i say to god

roll the closing costs
of my whole life
into the end

and i'll pay them
by making something
of myself you'll see

then waking up more
because life is funny
and makes no sense

all we have is happy
being happy
choosing happy


&&

waking up during / these negotiations

waking up during
these negotiations
with god i say

roll the closing costs
of my whole life
into the end

and i'll pay them
by making something
of myself you'll see

then waking up more
because life is funny
perfect sense

all we have is happy
choosing happy
this now


88

everything i discovered / i found

everything i discovered
i found

it was inside me
all

i had overlooked
it

so it was so keen
to know



---

2346 1/2 Red Street

do you miss me
i'm not dead

detected life
merely like

a camera shutter
open then closed

or a melody
you stopped singing

if you stop
inciting limitation

you'll see me
i see you



**

he waited and lied his whole life
until the waiting and lies caught up to him
like a slow moving train
who knows how long

smell that cosmic dinner is ready

i would say i know true happiness
the way out of every damned place
the path to where we have always been
because if it is true and real then
all that bad news and stale air you breath
just was part of a pause like the whole universe
and a whole constructed life of conscious thoughts
was just a drape you were studying
stirring crisply and rearranging hues
smell that cosmic dinner is ready


----

10:24 AM - 29 Aug 2018

Think beautiful thoughts. Thought attracts like-minded people. :-)

10:24 AM - 29 Aug 2018

we are going forward / we have nothing in the end

we are going forward
we have nothing in the end

especially when
full of treasure & crowned by laurels

everything stashed
or cleverly concealed blown sky high

into the air into the sky
into light into dark

then any small kindnesses
or accidental graces become so high

conversion is here
every drab old thought and feeling gone

we are going forward
we have nothing in the end


**

formality and repression / anger with all the comfort of home

formality and repression
anger with all the comfort of home
at times joviality
sounding so strange to the children
delighting in visitors
weary of the routine and the hearth
occasionally bearing gifts
more often punctually coming and going
buried thoughts on display
pantomime the unconscious personality
when over a sigh like a wave
thank god it is done

but as you were stranded
others have sailed on


____

and there is quietness / and there are viewers from unknown regions

and there is quietness
and there are viewers from unknown regions

o great depths of greatness
we are all fixtures like wind-vanes

sailing in place
moving in space impossible to know

born in everything
never being separated from all


**

840

excuse me
i'm dead and so are you

did you ever feel
like you'd live forever

we all go through
that phase like a speeding car

that has no road
and no brakes

excuse me
i'm alive and so are you

i have found my life

zest and endless horizon

by ceasing to omit or compare

a barking dog / against a white wall

a barking dog
against a white wall

all i see

but i can tell
the dog is laughing

by barking

he won't bite me
though he poses to

life is like that


**

11 and Vine

awaking suddenly
we are all strange at night
even in our own room
here is my hand
it is warm making up
for the stark silhouette
and these eyes


__

he could write in such a way

he could write such a way
about boats bread or a street
in a certain flair

you would adore the writing
and hate the poet



#

reversal of roles

my dad died
i'm looking at all these shots of him
pictures of the family and friends
neighbors backyards

photos seen all my life
but now i can't remember everything
there's an emptiness

before i'd have
10 or 100 or 1000 incidental recollections
seeing the picture now like
a scene acted out by people i know

plus irony?
my dad gone
reversal of roles
my dad is young and i am old

and where did it all go
moon is the same sun is the same
stars too but not all of us

even age out of order
every immovable
down here moved


**

12th Ave N & 3rd St N

scooping water by hand
praying by hand
writing poetry by hand
all laborious constantly
gathering up and dropping
getting down to fingers
plucking at ukulele strings
ukulele ukulele jumping fleas
getting down to nails
beds of them the crescents of them
down to the tree i have
on the side of my hand
the tree with four nail moons
below it

i want to be writing and making sense
but not meaning anything

being free

then because of this
we may arrive at the truth we arrive at

look at this

like a stick dipping into the surface
of our minds

ripples are words


**

Fountain Ave

several times yes
i do not know:

every tree we see becomes a mansion
that the planets and stars sashay in
appealing to the backdrop of mind

**


несколько раз да
я не знаю:


каждое дерево, которое мы видим, становится домом
что планеты и звезды танцуют в
обращаясь к фону ума

**

for ee cummings

i can give you nothing but this face
fixed in white plaster

a funeral mask

in it i hope you will see i know nothing

i am beyond all hope

and fear

if you give a few lines how i could be

careful and even

kind to love

i will be grateful wherever i've gone

you will not know where

but joy i'll be

---

for ee cummings

Post Street

stay with me down the lane
where fame never comes
but the moon sends us letters
sun cleverly rises like a cat

where angels drop by in jeans
above and below mingle for pantomimes
death demures to win at cards

beautiful odes going in and out
of the windows like carrier pigeons
the afternoon tea full of stories
and clocks stuffed with honey

stay with me down the lane
where pillows are plumped
and the bed is covered in gold ingots

civilizations astounded by
red beans and rice
doilies and pumps
crow rickshaws wiser

**

WB

he sang this
o beauty

every place he lived in or loved
was knocked down

his gravesite was neglected
lost then found

angels he heard sing true
never stopped

crowded in the trees above
new white stone

can you hear the songs
can you see

he sang thus
o beauty

___

8.13.18

he said a sense of longing starts a poem

he said a sense of longing starts a poem
keen homesickness loss or grief
and if the poet knows the reader knows
hope rescue and belief

life moved mysterious deep and sweet
of journeys and in verse
harbor is never far away and often
we are safe before we see



**

for gurr
8.10.18

and

Robert Frost

Sedgwick Street and 21st Lane SW

i am free
to think a hell or a heaven
see the end or the beginning
say we are separate or united
feel we are far away or close
with such freedom

o my what a big sky

**

to gurr
8.9.18

Boston Avenue South

we have nothing we can give to anyone
but also everything to give

supposedly each of us on an island or in a castle
untouchable and separate

or we are all one and there is no division
you are tending to my heaven and i yours


**

to gurr
8.9.18