Activated       

bereft      

emotions             

 like spilled milk       

the immensity of small things   

like a broken guitar pick              

some think otherwise and will drive you to tears if not the actual dairy

but never mind them 

they'll always be there 

ready with a quip                   

coughing in your face 

  

it's free really 

                                    we don't need it any more 

  why? don't you get it

   

                                                the round worn circle on the back pocket of your jeans

      I'm studying to be a x-ray technician at night

                

                  

                             

                  

          

New York City 1983

post-stuyvesant
stacked and
 and
artificially
    aerated
the flowers of Spring
sealed in wax
       then encased in 3 foot thick clear poly-vinyl blocks
  used as target practice
  by the self defense squad of B'nai B'rith
      until the accident
now it's just egg creams, trips to the Cloisters,
and 3rd avenue three card monty

Surreal never
    is
 it's not umbrellas
     and sewing machines
   what is Surreal
who cares anyway
 fuck surreal
            hungry baby?
   is that surreal?
your mom is surreal
 this dirty blanket?
 that's actually not surreal
   that just needs to go in the wash
hmm

climactic 

intrusions 

forced extrusions 

  polluted 

and 

pillaged 

great wads of cash

spilling from your eyes 

 stupidly 

too many 

too too too many 

and yet more 

on their way 

 hello

how are you 

why am i reading this?

 you're not 

you're really not

seared
swank
and starred
barred 
   de-starred
pytolemy
 peruvians
bearing fruitless
   bounty
         sweet echelon
mercury in retrograde
     sweet Jupiter 
farming
for
skies
  and circles
     there's no truth
 the words
    you use
 we still see
   we still hurt
      there's a beautiful idea
       the song of the siren
                strapped
as you were
   to the light pole
              just a shadow
of your former self
         still walking
drinking
farting
 buying burritos
     shopping online
         those are nice sheets
     

Naomi Palladium on Arches Buff ©1992

Dawn w hat Palladium on Arches Buff ©1992

Jersey City ©2006

oh
     the
                    merry

 blickity

    black
  have

 you seen?


oh sweet sweet

MERCY
  the blickity
 the blickity
                              the ivoire
       dans le ivoire
       


              I have seen your face
        shadowed
 in the night
        were you hiding?


                                 my word
is


                                  the blickity
                                             black

  step up now
          raise your hand
                                          show the cards
                                                           
                                                                 dans le ivoire

you can't sing
              for me
                                                       
                                  your head knows no love
             
                   you are the enemy
of my soul
                   
        sweet black blickity
     stickity
                     strident
      tiered
        remote
                            go now

GO!
 

Barcelona, Spain ©2003

Armory Show,  New York ©2006

San Francisco ©2016

Lightning bug zapper
       queen Elisabeth
the portuguese rapper
             hey that rhymes
   so now i'm a poet
         spare me the sidewalk
    i can talk
     spleen machine you got
oh baby it's hot
     driveby machine
 did i say that
     don't be mean
         its a thing
                  spit and rinse
            you chintz
              the flapper
 in purple
           ain't no rhyme for mauve
or purple
  the perp will
   strive
      for flies
                 zip it
 mister split lip
   walk the walk
      cerebral balk
                         i'm making it up
    Geronimo's
        a fierce pup
   shtoop too low
         get some mo

Road Trip; Misti & Ebay ©2006 

 Interstate 80 near Laramie, WY ©2006

 Jerry's artwork  Teaneck, NJ ©2006

Frank O'Hara's Grave,  East Hampton, NY ©2006

 

blistering 

blimey cakes 

 wankers! 

    and toffers 

      fuck right off 

                        and get stuffed

oh dear 

 what side of the road am I on?

                  fuck that 

 we are all dying 

                            send a box of candy 

                  to yourself 

   and read a good novel 

     IB Singer

       or Calvino

                 Moravia

 or  

  wth? 

 my mind's gone blank

        Puig 

(pooch) 

    Still there's room for more cursing 

   I've had it!

you can take the whole lot of it

                                                 take it all and burn it out behind the bathroom

 some fuckwad will call the cops 

            and then we'll get 

shot dead in the street 

 like a dog 

   (dog would get treated better) 

 still just take it

please 

     it's cluttering up everything 

     that was once good 

 and pure

&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&




There is no memory
of the pure
   those are lies
             synaptic prozac
                   eat well
        drink
         sleep
         shoot baskets
 and
      run with the dogs
        lay down in the
             sideroom
and sleep
          wait for grandpa
                    he'll be home soon
                             the tv is on




%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%#%




I slept
 and I'll sleep
 some more
       It's dark now
                         and I can hear the rain
                      The light is on in the kitchen
  and it sounds like someone is cooking bacon
                                                                     smells like

                my face is hot
                I'm going outside to smoke?
              I'll stand in the doorway
                                                     and look in Mrs. Robinson's window



$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^$^^$^

FROM the Notebook- 

If I were 

alarmed by 

the morning dove

of Death

it would not be as 

I put the dogs 

water bowl down,

it would not be as I turned 

on the gas to heat 

the water in the kettle 

for my coffee.

If I were 

alarmed by the 

morning dove

of Death

it would be as I pulled 

on a black sock 

and wondered 

where my 

wallet was.

Icarus

I left my leg
on the precipice
crossed over to the
Land of Nod
down stairs,
stone, and wet,
hair dripping
windows without glass
smells of cabbage
cooking          
a baby screams
my feet are calloused
I break                    
and steady myself
I think I hear them
      no, just my imagination
I keep moving over
downward toward the
sun.                        

From the notebook-

mirrors
of emblematic
deceit-
held up
at gunpoint
or forced
from the road
to the side-
searched
handcuffed
+ left in
a ditch
yelling
come back here!
but no ,
it's more of
a political
thing

like when
you're standing
naked in front of
the newspaper and
it laughs at you
and addresses you
"hey dumb ass can you
believe this shit?! Are
you the only one paying
attention, nah, what
a joke. A fucking
joke. Hah-hah!"
and you feel there
is something dreadfully
wrong because no one
notices, they just order
their non-fat, non-dairy,
decaf latte and
make a call because
they have too many
minutes on their plan---

Paris ©2013

Brittany ©2013

There was no nothing
it was
   all
something
 he tried to
make something
 and it was
never nothing
    something
     was
 he thought
 something
   that would never be nothing;
the dark place was in his head
     it was something
         they prescribed something
and it seemed like nothing
  he could have laughed about it
     but he decided to get a beer
and forget about it
nothing/something

Paris ©2013

Down with the Mercury 

somethings afoot

speed with 

                       the quick and the dead

  unheralded

                 stowed

 and sartorial 

                     swift thoughts 

                      what's to be done

               painting in corners

                         rain rain and more rain

   this bed boat 

    is afloat 

                  steering the skies 

on dream waves

the

 cold air 

  is bracing 

                                            but the rain is getting in

 

Three 4-ups in San Francisco ©2016

stormy
steadfast
  steering
 the benign
        repast;
 cogito
      botswana
       are you with me?
unfortunately stomach hurts
      el nino was supposed to be here
    sad
 he may have been evicted
    lost san francisco
  fading away
      never to be seen again
      not even the fog remained
down to the uptown
  to play a game of pool
  or the five hundy
something has to give
 thank god for the drinkers
 

Billboard, San Francisco (for MB) ©2016

Kitchen Studio, San Francisco ©2016

Market St., San Francisco ©2016

Thesiger's Dream ©2016

Ocean Beach ©2016