If they didn't have the guts

to grab what was right 

in front of them

like a man, he barked,

that was their fault.

He saw the fish,

cleaned them out

right down the gold

in their back teeth,

and made them 

thank him for it.

He vacuumed out the register

with a bent smile,

tore up his tab,

and spat in the face

of the one guy

who had stepped forward

with hesitant justice.

"Go ahead, loser,

take a swing at me",

he sneered,

"put it right here",

as he jabbed his middle

finger

to his chin.

He then put the swag

in a tablecloth,

and laughed as he

stripped them of the

last of their

expired-code

dignity.

It closes in on him

when the last life preserver

has floated away,

and the molecules dance

in his ears,

and distant, unearthly

rooster shrieks

sound their absurd

proclamations of

midnight harem ownership.

There will be no

Get Out Jail Free Card,

there will be no

overtime,

there will be no

recount, there will be no

favors for Old Times' Sake.

And if he has any items

to declare, 

he better get

off the Potassium-Argon clock,

because someday

he won't be around

for them to

not notice.

She was a real pyro,

I mean a rock-'em-and-sock-'em

give 'em both barrels

KAPOW of a woman, 

five feet five, spittin' out nails

like pumpkin seeds,

a goddam piss and vinegar 

QUEEN

ridin' a runaway freight train and

laughin' like a maniac.

She had a body like a knee 

to the groin,

eyes colder than rebar,

and a face that packed more punch

than a friggin' PROM night.

And when she kicked me

face first through the

bar room window,

I was thankin' my lucky stars

that she'd at least left me

one cigarette,

three dimes,

and her number

so we could crank it up

next time

I was in town.

They walk by me

suddenly,

as if they had appeared 

out of 

the miasma of an

all-obscuring fog,

their features only

sketchy in appearance

but filled with portents

and signs, 

sometimes heavy 

with meaning

and affect,

sometimes only

fleeting and hurrying

their way out my

bemused attention.

Some of them can still

make my heart race and my

lost fire flare up;

others are carrying

Rwanda machetes,

ready to make me howl

silently once again, and

still others are mere

elements of a crazy pastiche

composed of the detritus

of the mundane.

They are all suspects

in the Great Conspiracy,

and all of them

are to be mistrusted,

as I make room for new

walkers

ready to surprise me

on other rainy mornings.

No faded monster

from that time 

when our softly naked skin

was open to its

razor wire predations

can be allowed to win more

degraded triumphs

over us.

It cannot be allowed

to reprise its fetid act

again and again.

We must see its face,

and know that it

can no longer reach us

with its scabrous arms.

We have no time to let its

tired, ancient barbarism

drag us away from the

life we have built in defiance

of it, and from those who now

feed off of the love we have

paid such a dear price

to nurture and preserve.

We cannot let it drag us into its

indigo lair once again.

We are bigger than it is now,

and every day we live

in contempt of it,

laughing at it, 

despising its broken grip on us,

is a day when it can no longer

make us cry out

or freeze our legs in place.

We are needed elsewhere now;

we have no time to allow

that which no longer is

to keep us away

from that which can

still be.

A despised, hated empty suit,

grown weary with rapine 

and fog-clouded judgment;

unwanted, useless machines

sitting in joyless snow;

old titans crumbling under

the weight of brazen avarice;

masses living in fear of

being swept into canyons

whose floors cannot be seen;

grasping, clutching appetite,

its open maw obscene with

voraciousness;

warriors in distant horizons,

left to deal with slow motion

catastrophes;

blind "prophets" yammering

poison into frightened ears;

lives dragging on in routinized

mindlessness;

seething hatred straining the

leash of weakening restraint;

paper houses swept away

in torrents of foolish regret;

massive hopes placed on

slender shoulders.

It is the Child

of distant upheaval, having

erupted from Gaia's womb 

with insolent energy,

hot tempered and restless,

a brazen interloper 

in the community of land. 

Blasted into submission

by the implacable depths

and relentless skies,

ravished by raw life,

it was made yielding and pliable,

a malachite gemstone 

surrounded by the arms

of its adopted mother.

Come stand in its 

indulgent night

with me 

and feel the

strength

of its 

gentle infinity.

Mama

Mine
I go
Look what I do
I want that
I like it
Can I have more
You promised
(mad at you)
I know, I know
Hey, let go of that
Here, you can have some
(aren't I good)
Do you want to walk with me
(I like you)
Why do I have to?
(you're unfair)
Christmas is my favorite time
(I get presents)
Did you get all the problems done
(I can't do this myself)
Yeah, she thinks she's so special
(wish she liked me)
Should I go out for football
(then people will like me)
If you loved me you would
(I want you and you should help me with that)
Sure, I'll do it for you
(you owe me)
Well, Mom and Dad, I know you two
haven't been happy
(how can you do this to me)
(good, I'm sick of you two fighting anyway)
(you son of a bitch Dad)
(screw both of you)
(I'll never cry in front of you)
I got in!
(I'm on my way)
This homework sucks
(I'm in over my head)
Yeah, I'll go to the party with you guys
(Maybe I'll get laid)
(if not I'll just get really wasted)
I can't right now, I'm really
into Karamazov.
(I've finally found something worth reading)

(I can't believe all the bullshit I've wasted

my time on)

He's the best professor I've ever had

(he knows more than I ever will)

(he makes me forget all this other crap)

That was fantastic

(I hoped you liked it too)

(But I got off anyway, so...)

So tell me all about your day

(I don't care really)

(But I like you, and you care)

(So I'll listen and pretend to be interested)

It will be you and me forever

(Love is great)

(I can't believe you really love me back)

(It's too good to be true)

Yeah, work was good today

(it was a complete pain in the ass)

Sure, Bill, we'll do it your way

(idiot)

That's the most beautiful baby ever

(and she is)

(and she's ours)

(and I'm scared as hell when I hold her)

(how could I love anyone this much)

OK, we'll move to a bigger house

(hey, whatever you want, babe)

Tell me about your day

(just as long as I don't have to tell you

about mine)

So how long was dad alive after the heart attack

(oh my God)

(Daddy)

(why have you left)

(I should have returned your calls)

(thank God that's over)

I'll do my best, sir

(it's about time)

(finally some decent money)

(now what)

I know I should listen more

(whatever you say)

Hey, we both decide on the kids' schooling

(they're just as much mine as yours)

(another power struggle)

(I know what's best)

We'll get through this

(God, please just make everything

come out all right)

The doctor said it's benign, dear

(thank you God, I'll be better now)

(darling, I don't know what I'd do without you)

(she really is everything to me)

Well, now you know what a hangover is

(stupid kid)

(serves you right)

(I should smack you)

(please don't hurt me like that again)

I've never been so proud of you

(you're the best daughter in the world)

(my baby girl)

(how did I get this old)

The woman you're marrying is terrific

(she's just like your Mom)

(I hope you know what you're doing)

(now maybe you'll stick to a real job)

We don't seem to make love as much any more

(am I losing it)

(it's not like it used to be)

(I guess you're bored too)

(I get so tired now)

You don't have to call me sir or Boss

(but don't forget that I am)

Movin' a little slow this morning

(I didn't do anything and I still hurt)

So I guess that makes you Grandma

(my God is he gorgeous)

(it's better this time around)

(another part of my youth dies)

I want to thank everyone who's helped me

out over the years

(I never want to see half of you again)

Sure, retirement is great

(what the hell do I do now)

(I guess my contribution is finished)

(if it went by that fast then how much time...)

Yeah, my kids are the best

(but they didn't always listen)

(couldn't they have done better)

(hey, their problems are theirs, not mine)

You and me to the end

(who else would have put up with me)

(there's parts of you I'll never know)

(I miss the fire)

(I miss how many times we could do it

when we were new)

(you've always been there for me, and I don't know why

but I'll take it)

(I'll forgive you if you forgive me)

(You will always be the definition of love)

(I'm so sorry for the times I let you down)

(I hope I've been good to you)

Six months, is it?

(Please God, not yet)

(I'm not done yet)

(Just let me see her wedding)

(I'll beat this)

Oh, that's better

(it's really, really good to not hurt)

I love you

(I don't know what it all was)

(I don't know what's ahead)

(thank you for loving me back)

(you're more than I deserved)

Darling

(the light is so beautiful)

He had helped turn Edo's books

into luxurious white ash that night,

and the heat they generated

as they gave up the ghost

had buffeted his B-san as if the air itself

had grabbed them by the lapels.

His nostrils had never recovered

from the scent of over-done bacon,

and he asked why he had been assigned

the role 

of angry Yahweh.

"It's a mystery

known only to Him", came

the sage response,

and he was at rest,

knowing that the crab boil

in the canal

was not his fault.

His body swayed unconsciously

as the fiery righteousness

engulfed the tremulous morning,

lifting him to lofty plains of

sunlit imaginings.

He closed his eyes as the

Spirit whooshed and bounced

all over the room,

now caressing him,

now slaying him,

now tearing laughter out of him,

now crushing him,

now putting him in the Upper Room

where he spoke in words

unheard in millennia.

Transported back to terra firma,

he saw the sanctuary

in surprising, gentle clarity,

and headed out into

the irrelevant Ordinary.