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


***