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


**