Paradox of Money

I remember exactly where I was 

when I realized the paradox of money

I was giving all my power away

I lived in a house

I remember where I was walking

I lived in a dream

I remember what I was thinking

I lived in the sea

I remember where I was swimming

I lived in the sand

I remember where I was walking

the footprints

of Benjamin Franklin

all around me.

[Based on listening to a lecture by Bree Noble]

Distance

I guess I can be glad that I'm not him

but I guess I am too old to swoon

but there was magic in the air

I was there clad in black pants and black boots

the bartender was perfect

the curves on the ceiling

the lighting the magical night

walking under the stars across the miles

the distance I went

to get to 

the Green Mill. 

CAD Heart

The error of my ways are calculations

factual traction on the slippery slope of the xy curve

The perspective shift as the ball rotates in space

CAD Design, architecture of the heart

I built a railway station in my mind

every attitude leaning on the other

until I was caught blind

the pizza sauce of someone's ear

talking on the phone endlessly

while they shook me down

for money.

Drawing the line!

Melodic Attraction Between Notes

Sound is a wave and a particle--

all at once, one circle drives to be

connected to the next

orbits of sound

reverberations of mood

calling to my heart

in the middle of your canyon.

Can you bring me into the fire and the flame?

The campsite underneath the stars,

where we bled for our brothers

to mark the day,

put dark soot on our faces

and prepared for War.

Foreground and Background

The paint swirls in blue and red

the face I made is upside my own head

the black lines of the charcoal flesh

become the hair

become the mess

my neck doesn't look like his

my mind doesn't float

Stop the Genocide

There is another Vietnam going on right now and few people are noticing.

I saw a girl's burned face.

The U.S. is no different than its barbaric enemies, 

fully capable of poison and destruction,

disgusting

and insulting to 

free peaceful people.

There is no claim to anything:

people must stand up. 

This Could Have Happened

The big screen door slapped in the summer wind, and a storm was coming over the Midwest. I went out on the back steps and talked to the cats, we had about 17 of them, and then went inside. I was totally alone and there was no sound, just the tall panes of glass in the old windows of this house which was from roughly 1904. 

God on a Rug

Those bastards, she cried, as she held her side.

She couldn't believe that she was just shot on set.

Tie me down she thought to herself, as she turned cold.

Days later, when she awoke from the coma

she informed everyone that she had visited God

and he had enough carpet tacks there for everyone

and there would be no more television shows

with guns, ever.

The Green

I will write a letter with black ink

and let it run down the page.

I will stop at a traffic light,

and wait patiently for the green.

I am Heading to the Tropics

I'm going to Costa Rica

I'm standing in the rain

I am going to see my daughter

I have three suitcases of pain

I'm going to ride a horse

I'm going to pet the mare

I'm going to look death in the eye

and not be scared.

I will find the Voodoo Priestess

and drink water from her well.

I will know the stance of mercy,

I know her very well.

I will hold the baby in my arms

and feel my heart skip a beat;

long and languid tropics

my cold and aching feet.

Did I hear the parrot

in the jungle,

his cry echoing far and wide?

It sounded like this:

--------------  ----------- --------- --- - -- -    -     -            -

I moved back a giant leaf,

and there he is:

Beckoning me with his big beak

to take another look inside

this forgotten cave,

where the waterfall runs

deep within.

Man and Son

The man from Japan stared at the moon for a moment, before turning his head and looking at the water to find a reflection of himself and the moon on the same plane. 

His child threw a pebble                                                                                     the picture.

           into the water, 

                        not realizing that the ripple 

                                                            would interrupt (go up)

The Neon Sign Softly Glares

I crashed into the mind of a sign

made of neon glowing and

softly glaring

if there's such a thing

as to softly glare.

A Stove with the Eyeliner Blues

Sometimes I am concerned.

I am concerned that the coffee grinder,

which I use to make my coffee,

is too loud.

It's on the counter, right next to the wall.

The same wall 

which is shared with my neighbor's apartment. 

I sometimes wonder

when I am whirring beans at 7:16 A.M.

if it's not right next to his head

in the bedroom.

His pillow could be up against that very wall.

His sleeping skull could be a mere foot

from the crazy loud machine.

I think this as I whir the beans.

Then, I continue making coffee on the stove.

The stove I am not so fond of.

I had a wonderful, crummy old stove

perfect for making sweet potatoes

and then the landlord's goons

came with a brand new stove 

and insisted on changing it out.

I protested, but lightly.

But now, the stove just doesn't feel me.

It's white like a spaceship,

with bubbly black metal 

and it just seems like a giant

marshmallow

with a bad case

of eyeliner blues.