5.30.2010

lazy sunday


walking down Forest Lane we
  pass rows of bicycles
  parked outside of a cafe

men and women
          and women and men sit
          and talk stride for stride
          and write and listen

the afternoon sun blasts
    heat waves down our necks
    and all I want is a sorbet

what's the difference between
  a sorbet and a sherbet
  I ask the ice cream
  parlor man - he has no
  clue.

            you run ahead
  to pet a puppy and
  drop your ice cream
  in the process

you look back at me
  with an embarrassing
  grin -
            all I can do
    is smile.

5.28.2010

audrey


red passionate eyes
  go check the mirror

doubled up in pleasure
  or pain - it's pleasure no doubt

pearly white teeth bared
  with a flashy grin

streaks of black in your
  platinum blonde hair

short stubby fingers -
  nails painted red

red against the pale complexion
  of your silky skin

somebody told me you're
  a natural brunette

and that your red eyes
  are actually hazel

so why do you go out of
  your way to change your image?

northridge public manors


this chair fills the empty room
            with noises of wood on wood

while you wait for summer to
            begin the room becomes brighter
            with each passing hour

it is now so bright that the chair
            seems to be missing

I yearn for the cool damp night
            breeze instead of this body
            piercing extreme heat that I
            am not yet accustomed to

the room dims and I can see
            the chair but you sit there
            peacefully ignoring me

I am the night
            you are the day

there is no way
            we will live in
            harmony together

5.27.2010

martyr


you hold the brick ready to fling it
  into the marching sea of blue
  and black

you feel nothing but bitter
  resentment at their smug
  looks and cold hard stares

packs of scarved men gather
  behind and ahead of us
  ready to engage the law

we touch the air in front
  of our bodies and create
  a cross

I pray to God and it's all
  up to Him now

. . .

your death was broadcast live
  throughout the world and
  the murdering men in blue
  are condemned by all nations
  for their immoral unforgiving
  actions against us and yet
  to me
  this is an empty victory

gentle fall from grace


Just like Bessie you
     try and sass me

Can't say it works on
     me darling

I've become immune to
     the banter you scream

Let's go back to when
     it was just sweet talk

None of this elegant elusive
     discourse about money

Or about how little time
     you have to yourself

Let's go -
     higher than the stars

and plummet back down
  and start again

5.24.2010

flint


I didn't know how
   profit prophets navigated
   through the discourse of
   talentless chumps of
   walled streets of sin

ONE thousand and seven hideous
   suns peeked around the
   corner and hid at
   the sight of us -
   the peasantry

MEGAphones and SPEAKERphones
   rally on the summit
   of mountains of invisible ash
   - spheres of thoughts
   float between demonstrators

ONE by ONE bubbles explode
   like cantankerous sores and
   men and women mobilize
   to end this fiery debacle
   of volcanic ash

It's pouring the rain from 
   above and beyond and our
   conversations end as empty
   promises are kept and
   white lies are told to
   protect me and you and
   you and you and you
   and you and you and
   you.

5.23.2010

social musk


the radio is on and you are
  lying in bed next to me
  the afternoon sun turns your
  eyes a bright emerald green
  and your lips glisten in the
  light...

I put my arms around you and
  you kiss my cheek and tell me
  how good I smell and how you
  love the way it makes you feel
  and you look at me and
  smile

the radio plays a song and you
  hold my hand and I squeeze
  it tight and kiss your
  forehead and I whisper
  to you how much you mean
  to me

I trace your ears with my
  fingers and you inhale my
  scent as you close your
  eyes and you tell me
  you've been sleeping around
  and begin to cry

I pull my arms away from
  you and put my hands
  behind my head and sigh -
  the radio is on and
  you are lying in bed next
  to me.

5.21.2010

trying


I realized that all lines
lead to one point and
all lanes cross each other
at one point in time but
sometimes you try to
force it to go somewhere
but it is inevitable that
it reroutes itself to the
end.

Don't think or dwell on
it too much, you know
better than that but
you really can't help it
regrets and paths that
you didn't take, I know.

No one can change the past
we all just have to live with it
and use it as a marker to try
to change the present. 

conductor


I've been wanting to go somewhere
  where apple trees bloom in winter
  and cattails grow unchecked

the sun beams down on
  this place as the wind
  tickles my cheeks

my white shoes and double-tail
  tuxedo remain spotless as I
  wade through the thistle

I can hear the crickets playing
  Beethoven's string quartet in B minor
  and it is beautiful

apple trees bloom in
  December and the color
  is red like Saint Nick's suit

and I love how the crickets perform
  as I eat apples
  and conduct my life.

sunday misadventure


WHAT a sight did I see!
            it was a bazaar!
let me tell you this -
            it was quite bizarre!

a man, a dove, a turtle, a trick
            a rope, a ladder, and an afro pick!

the turtle jumped - I swear to God
            the dove impaled it with a red hot rod!

the man, oh MAN, it was nuts
            shot the dove and ate the guts!

he propped the ladder on the stage
            and slapped himself in fits of rage!

he combed the audience for a suitable mate
            but he ended up with someone less than great!

the man grabbed the rope and tied the pick
            and the next part, oh DAMN, it made me sick!

the selected gal climbed the ladder
            and he hoisted her up higher and higher!

but the rope and the pick didn't agree
            so down she went like bags of potpourri!

he tried to catch her but he failed
            and everyone's face was white and pale!

she landed on him head first - feet last
            so we all fled the bazaar quick and fast!

so here I am telling you this story -
            avoid bazaars they're weird and gory!

I'm scared scarred and forever hurt
            so I'll make this statement quick and curt!

I drank a gallon of generic pesticide
            soon I'll have committed suicide!

nowhere


immobilized
            go on
                                                proceed

fly away
      away
      away
                        somewhere close
                        somewhere far

distance                                    proximity
and a moral grey area:             time

and I know I won't be all right

clamor clamor for encores
  but nothing will set it right -
                        - not even time -
                        - not even distance -
                        - not even proximity -
                        - maybe just
a final performance accompanied by
            silence and
            eventually





                                                                                    gratitude.

harvest


crippling crippling crippling
  steps to take you down
  down down to memory lane

spools of film and overplayed cassette
  tapes loiter in my closet
  for you to explicate

too many feelings too many
  feelings juxtaposition themselves
  with too many visuals

white noise crippling white noise
  full volume ready to
  blow you out

inside outside memories rush
  back and forth broken
  memories continuous memories

right now memories present
  memories is just a
  memory

plastic reels metal reels force
  you to remember
  crippling souvenirs

you sweat tears and you cry sweat
  too much is it
  too much is it

it's crippling it's too much
  then let's just
  fadeout to black

heartbreaker


I am running out of time
                        to tell you how much of a
                        fool I was to have let
                        you go from my life

I thought I was the strong one
                        but turns out I'm not
                        and now time is running
                        out for me to repent

Is it right for me to say I
                        was wrong

Is it wrong for me to want
                        you back

We met under the cloudy Italian night
                        in Palermo and you wore
                        a flowing black dress
                        and I can't forget the way
                        you looked at me

What happened from there
                        till now
                        where did our romance
                        go
                        why did I break
                        my heart

5.13.2010

somewhere over the rainbow


you can find me up on top of this brick building at 6am stretching rain or shine to start my life each day   you can find me in the cafe ordering coffee at 8am like I have been for the past twenty years   you can find me walking down 86th and park at 8:15am at a brisk pace to catch the 8:18 bus to columbus circle   you can find me taking the stairs to the 12th floor   you can find me checking my voicemail   you can find me working a 12 hour job until I collapse from exhaustion and have a brain aneurism and be placed in a grave in westchester and that's where I'll be.

souvenir


you can't do anything for me
okay            okay            okay
  and I hate it a lot

1974 came rolling by -
  were you there when Leeds
  United lost 3 in a row

nothing came together after
  you closed the door
  and you bludgeoned me

okay            okay            okay you broke
  me colored me bloody red
  and time ticked upwards

two months passed and the manager
  is sacked but with a
  hefty price

we walked hand in hand down
  Brighton but now you refuse
  to even recognize me

you bludgeoned me to the brink
  of extinction but I came
  crawling back -

- but not to you
  okay            okay            okay I woke up
  breathing finally breathing

the salty ocean air cleared
  my conscience and I forgave
  you at Brighton in 1976

but you don't know that
  we haven't talked since
  you closed the door

will you grovel in front of me
  will you apologize to me
okay            okay            okay

I forgive you and it's about
  time you knew - it's 1982
  and I hate it a lot

the only one


fortunes dispel forecasts of cloudless weather
as raindrops fall down on whitewashed minarets
constructed eons ago

the ancient maple tree sprouts its leaves as
it has done for the last two hundred years
while the skies turn grey for the first time today

the greenery is dimmed under the darkening
sky and the tree bows down under the
heavy pounding rain

children father under the tree to wait
for the rainbow and the gold at it's end
but their mothers yell at them to come inside

can you blame them and their desire to
take their brothers and sisters and mother
and father to a better place?

thunder rolls lazily across the sky and
shakes the maple tree with fright
creating a deluge shower for the lone figure below

the wind whips the leaves in anger and
the branches ride it out without a choice
and the lone figure sits rocking on her knees

she hopes to see the rainbow first
and reach the end first
so she can finally have a family

belief


here's to a life of greed
and the unheralded past
unceremonious laughter of the
deceased and the darkness
that surrounds us
past, present, future

here's to a life of hate and
careful calculated measures
of endearing love to enemies
so close that you can taste it

are you waiting for your time

can you believe in a life that
only takes and never gives back