still(for Susan Bright

Barton Springs still needs defending-
from "development",deforesting,detritus
Trees in Austin still need advocates-
they are ageing like us  as our(hair) tree canopy shrinks
Neighborhoods still need community supporters
the essence of Austin is communication
and peace still needs to be waged publically
by Women in Black and Women in Pink
and every man,woman and child individually
So many causes call for your voices
still and always.One is not enough
Yet,when one starts to sing,and speak
one is reminded that other voices called for
Springs and forests,peace in community
She also published,performed -a one woman evolution
unfolding the blanket of our common future
that we might all live together-with trees,Springs,
poetry,music,activism,peace-remember these
whenever you dream of Susan Bright,poet,citizen

THE SENTIMENTALIST

Once hearts and flowers/now heart transplants
and wilted winter weeds.Once expanding frontiers
now closed systems.SECURITY .Controlled release
Once fairy tale childhoods.Now police ,crime,gangs,curfew.
Once shared visions projected Futurisms.Now limited expectations.
Comparative democracies.Media monopolies.Mock liberal press.
Right wing cartel fixated on their free speech.(Hate radio)
Nostalgia coats chocolate kisses .hugs and cuddles
Protection orders,cease and desist,rapists,stalkers.
Even schools have massacres.Prisons privitized for profit.
He still tried to find a bright side to downsizing and offshoring
Sacred lands-Gulf of Mexico,New Orleans?Legends say,pre-us
this earth was garden.Suborbital flights of fantasy for millionaires
Jail for the poor,foreclosed,dispossessed.He looked for rainbows-
they were oil spills.He wanted to believe.He was conned by Nigerians
in  a computer scheme..Now he paints rainbows in rehab.
Voltaire's eternal optimist,leaning in to 2011

learning from your good example

watch ants/determined/in lines
towards the sweetness they can sense
in colonies each ant is home
watch birds/nesting/resting/wings wide
they fly directions in/formation
tells them where to land and why
watch humans with their need for each
to supplement their loneliness/seek
out spaces as sanctuaries/so we
can assuage dull indivi/dualities
Now follow wisdom in your pigeon walk
bird coo talk,ant will -all these find homes in sky and earth
we are part of this from the moment of our birth
examples lead us oases deserts
elephants and birds intuit Tsunamis
if we lose the wild,will the mild sustain us?
outside all cages,there is talk of escape /artists
have scripts visual and verbal/all we look for
are living examples

snow coats all planes with white gravity.stop.
you are under mother nature control.stop.
forests are cleared for city smog.stop
if trees had power,it is our heads would lop.

RELEASE all time to change and dates
must range in numbers until we cease to repeat
what happened before will not happen again

OPEN the door to the new child of time
Grandfathered clauses fade /and rhyme
can only affirm what it contains
while chaos spins in sequential games

Visualize 2011 in the Lights you choose
Now is the time to step in to the New

too skin close/a breath away

expiration day for this year terminates/and she passes-
Susan Bright/fellow Gemini/poet/publisher
brave activist for Barton Springs and her Neighborhood
Trumpets shall ring her praises-her smile lingers
those blue eyes cheeky as raindrops in deserts
(she made a difference-publishing local and international poets
Launching their books@local venues
supporting poets and poetry while honoring her art as well
Her life will have many stories to share and to tell
All of this happened very fast/as this year crumbles to wedding cake dust
Births of new moments are waiting in the wings
to sing in the New-yet look for one moment
@Susan Bright-worthy word warrior gone from us
Remembering is an art form.To forget too high a cost.

REPUBLIC OF TEARDROPS

This is for loss-life,limb,love,laughter
that which will not see 2011,or make it through a TSA shakedown
(You cannot laugh in airports,but you can cry!)
Emotions have cycles too-larger and deeper than years
small as tears.When we are told to fear,i become afraid.
Absence of respect haunts every public private space.
You may choose to end your story-but do not take me with you
This boat passage may be steerage-but age brings gifts
We are here to learn.I earn e motion.In the Republic of Teardrops
i mourn the loss of life of innocents-civilians 90% of casualties in war.
Those whose passing was both unexpected and unwanted
Those who went for foolish and religious reasons
Those who left their flesh invaded by violence
Those diseased to fatality,fading from memory
Those who are here only partially-diminished capacities
Those who lack motion,or laughter,depressed ,repressed,suppressed
Those whose freedom is a cage.Those who have none
Those homeless souls who wander ,wanting
Those giving souls who have their gifting stolen
Every one without a name.All those who want one
And all the losses one cannot itemize-memory being little
life being large,enough to enter the room of a new year
welcoming the baby of the new,Janus of January,
all who have made it through/all who want to
Every beaming,brilliant,bright and shining reason to renew
Every singular unique part of every one of you!

the age of ageing
slower now,with more to reminesce
where once a visitor,now elder coffee breakfast discounts
teeth original,but (like memories)-some missing
when did those lines creep in?
when child at the knee of huge elders
noted their river gulch faces
now many i know (or knew-are shadows
i share their stories for they have gone
ahead of us,to see what happens
Sit in sunshine more,stealing time back
choose my company and when to dream back
long lines of faces known and un-
go and come,return and smile
(we are only here a little while)
so if in the passage of your time,we coincide
please know how much i enjoy the ride

Meta-poe/Techno-poe 2011

GOOGLE poetry
Search for"The Meaning Of Life"

BLOG poetry
random illuminations,domestically diaried
starting with a personal pronoun.."i

WEBSITE poetry
historic wrecks of poets
or contemporary damaged (cracked)glass verse

iphone [poetry
have you seen this link?
(sent from my iphone)

TEXT poetry
trd 2 gt 2 u but.
silence n speling..

FORMALIST poetry
Today a rhyming couplet
Tomorrow a sonnet

JAPANESE poetry
short in stature
sushi tray

CHINESE poetry
Uninvade Tibet
Respect indigenous diversities
Why war?

AUSTRALIAN poetry
Dollars rise as fast as gold is gone
Dig metals hole in songs-
"No worries-she'll be right,mate"

BORDER poetry
Decapitated mariachis
American weapons

inSECURITY verse
We treat everyone as a criminal
(unless politicians/pilots)

Nothing New about a New year
resolutions,affirmations,celebrations change
but we may not.

in 2010,slipping in to 2011

i take life unconditionally(as in a monastery
where every moment is initiation ,every event a learning experience
Leave my anger with those who need it most(to animate via fire for warmth
Move gently so as to leave no shadow
Link to common dreamers-sparrows,pigeons,seagulls(all generic
leaving individualization for those who can afford it
If i cannot change my nature,change my name
Share joy with those of empathy,so we can be good company
to be among those future seeds in present time
aligned with harmonies of heavens here and now
Not wait for death for Paradise is not a suicide bomber
it is those civilians s/he is killing for a cause
Withdraw from all foreign wars of occupation(especially emotional ones
so we can feel free enough to choose differently
legalizing emotions,marrying those we choose to be with at the time
with expressed and latent intent,avoiding disasters like speeding fines
and resting in the hollow point of this year,as we speed in to completion
Cycles may return,but they are large and elliptical as warfare
Emotional IEDs still haunt and taunt-if we are to break in to a New
it will have to be we who choose differently."We"instead of "I"
Co-operation over competition.Healing in harmonies and happiness
This is the moment to change.Or stay the same.Choose

COMPARING PARADISES

cannot eat yesterday's breakfast-sands in our glass
slip silicon chips in to a new ear-hear dreams auricles
curling trust in betterment(knowing continuance
trusting prosperity(knowing poverty/comparing Paradises
to see whose is bigger/better/braver/sweeter
like comparing ghost lovers or banquets devoured
this year whimpers to Janus door and dares look backwards
All that has happened before will not make more,nor better
We carry pains and pleasures across our excess baggage claims
seek to slip away from weights of past gravities
emerge as fresh as lack of memory can manage
wheel ourselves into a second hand year
creak December in to January's underwear
emerge neither wiser nor better-just here
and hearing,open and loving-to meet the new with as much Light
as we can love this present moment now

BUILDING A BETTER ARK(for Hakim Bey)

Once upon a time we thought
if we all lived together,peace would reign on earth
Garden of Eden(with knowledge)we expelled ourselves
naked and older,turned from space commune to rave culture
Temporary Autonomous Zones became provisional Paradises-
wherein and whereby we might be more than one
and still be one .Police raids,bad drugs
crime over culture.Our need to gather still real as family
Public this function like art of demonstration
Theater our lives,roleplay of consciousness
re-scripting possibilities so that we
might mean more than iphone ,ipad,ipod..
Independent coffee shops/poetry and music
improvise/collaborate/rescripting via example
All becomes possible with one of every creature
unique as stars shining with celestial Light
so each night becomes a uni-verse as di-verse as our separate selves
and as together as the least stable atomic human particle.
Tonight our Ark sails again-into the wind.It may be cold outside
we will warm ourselves with stories we compose
to keep both death and distance outside our doors
Bring the fires of your furnace art to share
Let us seek and find those celestial stairs..

there may be no SANITY CLAUSE but there is a Wikileaks

there may be jailing of innocents
but there is still AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
there may be killing of civilians
but there is still TRUTHOUT.ORG
there may be illegal and continuing wars
but there are conscientious objectors
(and UNDER THE HOOD Cafe to assist)
Tibet may be occupied illegally
yet the Dalai Lama beams peace to all
Most movies are calculated marketing of distractions
but Michael Moore makes movies too
and independent documentaries and journalists like John Pilger
Bookstores are closing-but MONKEY WRENCH,
BRAVE NEW BOOK and BOOK WOMAN survive
(and COLLECTED WORKS in Melbourne,too)
Climate change is real-but people are recycling
and they are changing too-so what are we to do?
Recite the horrors of the year flickering to conclusion
or collude with those evolving souls who choose
to support the good,peaceful,harmonic and true
I support and affirm and encourage you!
HAPPY NEW POETRY EAR! NEW POETRY TO YOU!

@the changing of the seasons

@DOLLAR TREE,all Xmas glitter is marked down
New Year beads and wampum shine on shelves
so we might forget blood sacrifice,carved families
served under slaughtered trees with empty lights attached
Bacchus rolls out  with Dionysius-they want to party!
Horns will blare a noisy birth into a second hand year
Wars distance ,terror close,insecurity,everywhere a war zone
Shop quickly and avoid the rush!Pile drinks high to distract
For if we asked what really is so "new"about this year
the birthed child would abort in shock at clarity and focus
Crowds melt into individuals,noise abate,meditation replace blaring muzak
Are we not lucky to have cliches?To kiss strangers,lie resolutions
pretend all has changed when we cannot?
Midnight comes before high noon.Moon still watching.
What will be become in our New Year's skin
if not who we were to begin ?

editing on the fly

white frost windscreen explains air conditioning
wilted greens our winter garden
what is important lodged like seeds between the lines
i do not understand anything.between ears-mind
edits experience on the fly/selects dreams
presents pasts as futuring/bright blogs
always selective/seeking epiphanies over litanies of Job
Revelations unfolding like origami or Wikileaks
Today 's blank map focused upon teleology/Aristotle
claims we advance irresistibly towards perfection
Darwin suggests we evolve.Augustine complains of pains.
Crowded philosophers get off at the next stop.You are alone.
Connections extend to all consciousness where you are right now
You drink influences,assimilate island moments into bridges
between all of us-unspoken alliances.Your right to diverge
Many roads lead into this frosty day.I took all of them
"And that made all the difference"

LYING FALLOW(dark and cold)

THE SAVAGE DETECTIVES(Roberto Bolano)
Today i joined the visceral realists(who cares?
Tomorrow a soup of influences-South American/Mexican
Brimming with fervor of revolutionary scripting
Propaganda proselytizing passionately poignantly
where poetry is our lingua franca/all meaning distilled
via the archery of arrowed targets(St Sebastian)
all thirst and need and mess and young
enough to see change as a line (in a line
listening to Neruda/Villon/Jara/Garfias
supplying Che/Mao/Ho/Anonymous
with lipstick red Revolutions Liberation
applied to the South(Mexico City)
Here come the police and army/tool of silencing
All that changes are their victims..

THE FEAST OF LOVE(Charles Baxter)
Let every character share their individuality
to find imperfect love liaisons in a coffee shop
singularly attached in temporary time tunings
interrupted by breakups.breakdowns,divorce and death
Let art be another Baxter.A dog on flame
informing images of transience in silence on walls
a private vision to share when love declares amnesty
And we settle for what remains-art ,life,framed
Picture perfect pages flipped
Visions for photography.Still lives...

on a NIGHTNOTTOBEHOMELESS we gathered as poets

because the nativity is private /resurrection public
because the winter season is cool alone
because even our gardens were chattering new poems
because night dreams demand sharing
because we are human and cling to skin
because one is not enough
because the Spring Of Inspiration flows through all
because our ears demanded concentrated visions
because our tongues were flaming flags
because pages were burning to be unedited flames
because of temporary.and time.and knowledge
that the last dregs of this year needed articulation
so we cleared our pasts by sharing them
and stepped together into this brittle bridge
ice sculpture night,our opened mike
throats bird calling each to each
and found response as in a forest
each tree murmuring applause among the leaves
this human branch/these stretched tendril projections
out on a limb with fellow travelers
wanting safe passage to another dawning

it will escape across borders

from France 's ennui/existentially
seeking warmer waters where red wine kidneys
float freely ,loosed and unleashed in translations
from New York(alleged modernists)-so far front line
fame must be sliced like a piano wire kitten
from West Texas where dust is a cowboy with a male church
and a dispensation of tongues for every form of service
from Minnesota freeze,where distance is squeezed via blog
Internet brings trees shivering together
from Australia,where warmth and beaches summers ozone holed layers
myths clash over bones of indigenous others
from Kansas and Oklahoma,where flat lands and spaces
bring a shallow crop of silences/speech gold corn stalking
from England tight and small as a Bristol mouse
iced over and snow criticisms cutting crystalline
from Mexico-illegal as borders,bringing warm languages
different to progenitors and forefathers/gangs,drugs ,rape
left behind as they climb on a train of words meeting in circular tracks
where each is heard according to worth
open as the door that swings them there and back
to little Austin(every night an open mike
international as coffee,speaking english as tea
offering each a temporary seat in the Republic Of The Free.

wanting

magnets within-pulling between
rock solitude and river company
evening dream and morning activism
Glow of Light within -connecting
Like Los Angeles as seen at night by hillside
All forms as temporary as time/tuned /attuned
struck strings of musical word rhyme
No straight lines on a butterfly's short flip life
all hip and hop and flip and flop flower to flower
All your eyes saw -a mirror/in a tree
shining twinkling changes -water surfaces
in a sky that blinked sunlight.Waves of energies
Imitative art framing cloudtrees.Hills hugging castles.
Tunnels beneath us-leading to caves,to seas,waves splash
repeat as necessary in moon stringed tides.This is why
we sit by sea side-rocking with reassurances
that we were birthed in waters deep,retain bloodstream
circulate in air as if invisible cages could release us
Read /scry/seek auguries in ways of wind and sea
Emperors still thrash tides of disobedience
Mad Neros still fiddle while wars warm burn Palaces
Heat applied when cool distance fails to impress
Charmed lives entice celebrity sickness-adoration of veneer
when within and wanting ,wan and wallowing,wishing wisdom
water tears slip down pink cheeks.Always this difference-
between the dream and its fulfillment.Between the line
and its provisional end  ing
wanting

JOIN AUSTIN POETRY SOCIETY

Yule@the Vortex-poetry and Muse on stage opening
for the very best in Earth loving Yule artifacts
Then to Austin History Center for the gathering of scribes
united in a love of poesie-their annual Open Mike..
Normally,@New World Deli,Fourth Thursday is dedicated
to those whose desire to share their words
is equal to their energy in being there and doing so
This afternoon-a circle ,Candy from Nancy.Coffee from kitchen
Meeting starts with shared information -
the pleasure of poetry has many doors and windows
all as transparent as self-government
and each artist of the word as diverse as Darwin.
We listen to each other with a tangible respect
Business is kept to a minimum as creations are unveiled
and the full spectrum of brilliant accords with sunlight outside
Each starts to shine with smiling-deep pleasure in the sharing
Listening attuned,deep,deeper-a deepening strengthening resolve
that the weight of gold words compounds in the telling
Respect for each silver line,response for the golden
Smiles shared in moments stolen from prose
Clean the room,bless the chairs,then off to Katz's for another circle
Remind me to join the Austin Poetry Society again
Where the true artforms are poetry creation and active listening
O-and respect!

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
Secrets are best shared-just ask WIKILEAKS
So a sponsored circle finds a bigger table
and gets down to the serious sharing of edibles
(this IS the Season Of Eating-as are all!)
Yet soon the talk turns to movies-which ones best
Each opines differently-for different reasons
Some love musicals,others cartoons,some foreign choices-
what was important not so much the choice-
more the reasons for selection.Same with poetry-
petitioning poets to read the works of other poets
and one discovering a new addiction to sonnets 2010 style-
blank and mock -but still within mere 14 lines
We were a circle too-the table knew
as blintzes flamed welcome to
a poetry year soon new (and renewed)
by the kindness of listening
and the sharing of food.
JOIN AUSTIN POETRY SOCIETY 2011..

retro-perspectives

before this ear is squeezed dry
recite the horrors/then say"happy new..

new is not necessarily better-
Cassandra and Socrates

xmas for children
Bacchus for adults

TV replays/repays attention
only if you are forgetting

cool dream sleep warm
while TSA tasers on

two wars/a decade
i surrendered september 11

what do intelligence agencies do
apart from false flags/spy on WIKILEAKS?

arrested because she would not allow them
to touch her breasts at airport

billions on SECURITY
i have never felt more insecure

abolish TSA,CIA,NSA,FBI,FCC,Federal Reserve
Pay poets,artists,musicians,dancers,homeless....

hALF PAST ART

My Great American Novel-
This haiku
unfinished

Art is not changing
(it has already changed)
Catch up!

Do eye feel better
with you?

Our future already here
(check your past!)

not needing these words
they created new ones!

Gallery Morgues
Art well hung
Crucifixations.

Funding has become an art form
(filling in forms)

Corporate Sponsored Art
Chenobyl

Peace without the need
Hiroshima/Nagasaki

Art Cars.Art House.
Everything she touches!

Walls full of images
Price tags.

Crocheting during readings
'Then gifting via selection!

Gifting is an art form
as is packaging.

Art workers play
@consciousness

He projects light on naked bodies
Do they read the text?

Stars,beaming light-
Spy satellites?

Her stories ,sliced from life
Warm as fresh bread!

Every thing(if you give attention
becomes some thing else

Metaphor extends us-
forms befriend us.

Your thought forms
project dreamclouds

Antiques are pensioners
who got lost ,and stopped

Mist?Fog?Tree?
which do you see?

early morning frog
avoiding Basho

Picasso signed my tshirt
Posthumously

Andy Warhol signed my tshirt
@Walmart

Salvador Dali signed my tshirt
(actually,his apprentices)

Magritte signed my tshirt-
apples.clouds.

Actually ,my tshirt is signed-
MADE IN CHINA

is art collective?
(even clouds gather)

December dregs/detritus days
Wrapped by Christo

All walls fall
unless muraled via Banksy

Keith Haring left us
dancing ,anonymous

Post Modernist
Postage Stamps

Life an artform
divided by days

Each night,you dream rainbows
each day,storms

This is the WAY OUT
(Exit Via Gift Shop!)

i am not the only one

footprints on the moon
someone loves you,too

my New Year's Revolution-
to give attention to this moment
i have just lost

she blogs,i log on
email and Facebook
we virtually miss

European snow
not so romantic-
blocked toilets!

by the side of my road-
garage sale leftovers
FREE! at last!

Austin allergies-
junipers were here before
we called them "cedar"

official flowers for ceremonies
personal gardens for friends

have to adjust my phone
no longer wristwatch

lateral thinking (mountain tops)
age slides time down sides

i check my newspaper
to see if it is still raining

tomatoes(like me
do not understand seasons

yellow bananas/green stems
neither ripe,nor ready

i want to watch the movie
of your life

lines of prison poems
escape over night's walls

anonymous was right
change identities nightly!

art outside frames-trees
outside my window

bright bird,breakfast hunting
does not know she is next

fresh baked bread  aromas
sell houses as much as lemons

a cloud changed shape
or was it earth
en passant?

one or two will see our view from space
the rest must dream imaginary orbits

she teaches tantra
by example

i am grateful for release
allows freedom to us both

ripple bell laughter
waves of you levitate us!

tea ritual ceremony less in the drinking
more in the non-thinking

my neighbor,arthritic
cleans karma for a living

light from your eyes
guides my night boats home

trees do not need Lights
we do.

Trail of Tears/still crying
with no reservations

Named cups/Estate Sales
Release everything!

As close as gossiping
Celebrity media Royalty

when my moon was full
i was drunk on reflections

water prays to sky
to be released

bones chatter beneath us
exchanging gossip

boats that leave harbors
become photographs and memories

GPS shares where you are
and where you want to be

leafblowers killing silence
he wears earphones to avoid himself

Sunday /lawnmowers are signaling-
"we have won!They are moving!"

Moving emotion/like houses
inhabiting new shells

She settles in /making Art
so she can live/ within

2011 dreams awaiting!

VILLAGE LIFE

Grew up under Catholic convent nuns
who taught Irish ways via eisteddfods
speech via rhetoric /declamation
poetry via memorization/recitation
These skills remain over a digital age
where GOOGLE replaces memorization
and elocution seems completely forgotten
I praise the discipline of harder times
when pain was shared to sharpen the learning
We only have what remains-poems and dreams
shared when young,last all our days
Even now,Sister Mary Anthony
demands Merchant of Venice from me
I am Shylock asking for my "pound of flesh"
like mortgage foreclosing rapaciousness
I have lost all skills of calligraphy
Copperplate means sculpture to me
yet were you to ask"where came ye by poetry?"
It was the Irish tongue that` beat it in to me
HAPPY NEW POETRY EAR TO ALL WHO CARE TO LISTEN!

HUNTER'S MOON

Every year,he hunts the deer
that becomes venison for our benison
I play pacifist vegetarian,admonishing ancient one
whose environmental damage is none
Hunter he,for company who come
to feast upon his success
If he arrived bare ,we would be bones here
A village of contention.He is aware
of wetlands preservation/pays hunting license
to preserve for future generations
and is willing to mount that 16 point deer head
upon the walls with all his previous victims.
We are made of meat.Hunting is ancient.
It still supplies a controlled outlet for anger
I know it seems unfair-spreading yellow corn out there
watching from a blind as deer feed within your range of fire
Yet deer have been displaced(we occupy their space)-
they breed like creatures in a cage.
Road kill-you will see  vultured bodies by highway side
Is it better then,for Zen-to make them into venison
and eat the problem in our seasonal sausage?
Or are we too far abattoired to see
that slaughterhouses become we-who do this to the deer
might do it to another human?
Just asking...

CONTRARIAN'S SEASON

It is not what you leave behind you-
Empires,property,ownership all temporary-
unless it is a key (like Pyramids or Stonehenge)-
that links us to a deeper truth/sustaining all who choose to listen
Everyone wears different price tags at different times-
value always determined by others.
Darkness valued via hunters/Light by those who seek-
and in between seasons,we are huddled in caves,awaiting release
Truth changes(like facts,like science)
Theories and hypotheses more helpful than beliefs
which ossify when they refuse to adapt to changed circumstances
We are all linked-even if we deny this
Your response to these lines is not my challenge
It is learning the new camouflage-
how to attune to a changed year/world/earth/spacetime continuum,
Your best dispensation is to refute these propositions
in a loving and harmonious manner preferably
otherwise i just might start to believe
in something other than..
LEAVING 2010/ENTERING 2011-
Thom 2012

"but the ball moves"

"Focus on the ball(be the ball!)"
Yet when i go to put my legs up on the ball-
the ball moves.AHA! What you are saying is-
learn from the true nature of things(to change
(he teaches Tai Chi and still learns-
he sings his poems/at Ruta Maya he listens
deeper than most/and comes to share his gratitude
I listen to him between poems
his eyes watch as he speaks/when we next meet
it will be as those who seek
harmonies within the true nature of things
He shares his life when he sings..

HER GIFT IS TO GIVE
so she shares her voice as a prayer
in a wilde world/challenging old paradigms
putting her truth on every line of every song she gives
her passionate protest in higher notes than most
worth more than paper currencies and gold
reaching past all old dull stories told
Bold and bright,she animates Tuesday night
among the open mike -a splash of passionate Light!

COFFEE SHOP CHILDREN
run wilde in the reading-they scream delight
at their parallel community of miniature people
They connect with joy and power-
racing across the concrete poem floor
among the poets and musicians gathered
to hear what lines they may.Children energize via play/they
weave among the tables and chairs/their (single)parents stare
at anyone who would limit their explorations.Fun is in the moving
whether it be via poem,song or dancing.This is an all ages reading
This is an all ages dreaming.

Moon A/gain!

After midnight to dawn is poet time
sending lines to drag white round fish into lake thought
reflecting on surfaces moon mirror
liquid as flow of chi ,ka, prana
swaddling cloth secrets unwrap for fool moon morning
Once,we met to reaffirm the voyage/next
we left and never came back to the same space
just as she does each cycle season
Memory is another moon.This one different
Whatever cage inadequate/she fluid /liquid light
sending dreams to poets entangled in her web
who seek to spill the lake in to liquid wordworlds
Now has gone-replaced the space for globe
with talk about an image photographed
Cafe Caffeine continues/as do poet parties
convening cats in packs and un-
until various vagrant paths converge
urging us under the influence to sing
this moon back in to our dreams
so we might fully be more than space and time and distance
shrinks when we look UP!-and see her cloud shrouded
above us always-moving as we must
though in our eyes are mites and motes
and centuries of moon dust...

SEASON FOR/GIVING

Borders(using coupons for Christmas gifting
They offer free packaging
The table staffed by two volunteers
They are here to assist animals needing rescue
They have wit ,goodwill and pleasant demeanours
We laugh and jibe and banter with them
until my beloved notices bracelets upon one arm
Admiring them,she is immediately offered one
(just like that Japanese custom -where what you admire is given-
She wears it puzzled and smiling,knowing
every person needs rescuing
as well as too many animals...

RE/TIRED
Driver points to our flat tire/we pump it up
but next morning it is flat again/i buy FIX A FLAT
drive it to TIRE MAN on Manchaca.They patch
charge $10 for cleaning the chemicals
and $10 for repairing the tire.Smiling,drive away
to find tire flat the every next day.Return after tow
to find the tire has been perished by chemicals,so
a new one is needed.They deduct the repair costs
We drive safely now,in the hands of goodwill
This is the season for kindness.


EXCHANGE OF ENERGIES
We make,create songs,goodwill,poems
to send out in this season/when cheer
peace,happiness and co-operation
define life outside gridlocked shopping Malls
Parties flare with all night sharings
Drink December till January begins ,and
we can (with human errors)always start again...

we can feel (but we cannot see

so we gather together(poetically
she offers shelter to see fool moon
even when eclipse is time behind clouds
we cling to fire and each other.Solstice
short of time,we listen faster,deeper-
public words we had shared
became private conversations where
each mythology evoked response
even when the morning threatened clarity
First we tried word games/until patience
wore off like firewood to ashes
Next we circled fire stories
made myth into personal sagas
Sang and chanted night into significance
As above,so we flowed-lines and songs and poems
shared ,daring planets to align as well as we did
We saw so little of the Heavens/we had to trust
that each of us was part of Uni-verse/and ritual
might expose us to wisdoms of night and stars
until we parted by firewood degrees,and morning bared
its clear and cogent amplitude of change
with gratitudes for a night shared
in the name of our only moon.


RETURNING TO LIFE
Car accident he-visualized throat cut /bloodied tshirt
SNAP !out of body-staring down from ceiling
at his own body still as life.Slow time this-winged
when he returned to life,all this became dream
which is why it is a story shared by morning fires
believed.

AND WE
an accidental gathering of cats/instant messaged
conversations shared in diamond light
now burn the wood of gardens for our only light
All stars and moon have gone to sleep
They dream of us as we sing.
FOR SOLSTICE AND A MISSING MORNING MOON....

SOLSTICE TO SUDAN

Darrel recited the litany of beneficience
towards those children starving for elements-
wells,and water,goats and tree seeds
ways to ensure survival of these most threatened species-
vulnerable and needing our attention to see
unless all live-what hope for we?

BALANCING THE BUDGETS
Away with those billion dollar boondoggle TSA  machines
which have not turned up one terrorist-we
who watch vigilantly -are better economically
Away with those blood and treasure sores
which are not wars -just killing of civilians
occupying lands that do not belong to us
imposing military "solutions"upon their oldest cultures
Away with CEO bonuses when deficit budgeting
does not make more jobs-just benefits everyone
adept at making money make money-rather than creating something
Bring in support for art,music,poetry again-
those basic cultural foundations based upon altruism
so creation might replace destruction and
we can balance our minds as well as budgets again.

WASSAIL!
Celebrating both darkness and light,with dancers,magicians
musicians,songs of seasonal delight
in a packed village hall in the art heart of Austin
a community of like minded individuals
whose talents as priceless as life itself
Every year a delicate balance-is this possible?
that we could celebrate in a season of wars?
that we can sing  and dance and smile?
again lessons learned in darkness and in light-
we are those seasons-we live both day and night!

TONIGHT
eclipse,solstice,fool moon at once
we to poetry will hideout
welcome in that which aligns us
with each other,all elements,the planets
remembering both Pluto-and Captain Beefheart!

JOIN AUSTIN POETRY SOCIETY

Yule@the Vortex-poetry and Muse on stage opening
for the very best in Earth loving Yule artifacts
Then to Austin History Center for the gathering of scribes
united in a love of poesie-their annual Open Mike..
Normally,@New World Deli,Fourth Thursday is dedicated
to those whose desire to share their words
is equal to their energy in being there and doing so
This afternoon-a circle ,Candy from Nancy.Coffee from kitchen
Meeting starts with shared information -
the pleasure of poetry has many doors and windows
all as transparent as self-government
and each artist of the word as diverse as Darwin.
We listen to each other with a tangible respect
Business is kept to a minimum as creations are unveiled
and the full spectrum of brilliant accords with sunlight outside
Each starts to shine with smiling-deep pleasure in the sharing
Listening attuned,deep,deeper-a deepening strengthening resolve
that the weight of gold words compounds in the telling
Respect for each silver line,response for the golden
Smiles shared in moments stolen from prose
Clean the room,bless the chairs,then off to Katz's for another circle
Remind me to join the Austin Poetry Society again
Where the true artforms are poetry creation and active listening
O-and respect!

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
Secrets are best shared-just ask WIKILEAKS
So a sponsored circle finds a bigger table
and gets down to the serious sharing of edibles
(this IS the Season Of Eating-as are all!)
Yet soon the talk turns to movies-which ones best
Each opines differently-for different reasons
Some love musicals,others cartoons,some foreign choices-
what was important not so much the choice-
more the reasons for selection.Same with poetry-
petitioning poets to read the works of other poets
and one discovering a new addiction to sonnets 2010 style-
blank and mock -but still within mere 14 lines
We were a circle too-the table knew
as blintzes flamed welcome to
a poetry year soon new (and renewed)
by the kindness of listening
and the sharing of food.

RAGA FOR CAPTAIN BEEFHEART

"been running all day to find a CLEAR SPOT!"..
when boy,your beats drew me to move
in ways art could not touch.Trout Mask Replica.Zappa.
Clear Spot.played over and over like Astral Weeks.
it was the heat of your intensities warmed most-
radio rarely played you were a secret for the weird
Artist always-you turned to abstract expressionism when
80s music turned disco/retro(you were always ahead of the pack-
steaming rock rotten beats swamp deep and raw wound words poetry
drew me out like a snake bite.Bandaged my world-to know
others pulsed serpentine among reptilians.It took years
for you to age-your music stayed fresh meat for new young wolves to prey upon
Now visually you have high price tags-back Zen you saved our lives
by Tom Waits for no man intensities/Wolf Man Jack growling
Kerouac poetry and adrenaline passion.Replay they will-
your glory days are ever and on.We miss you -only have your art /songs..
"The stars are matter.We are matter.But it doesn't matter"(Captain Beefheart)

POWERS GREATER THAN ..

i watch optimists waiting for public transport
in a boondoggle cutback of essential services
weekends and public holidays.Let those who work in public service
use only those services.Then they would work!
Meanwhile,gridlock.China.Imports.Stagflation.Weimer Republic#2
without the surrealism/opera/brave art activisms.
Retro becomes historic-reviewing this year's horror stories
Forgetting we are scriptoria-responsible for
the casting of politics and the throwing of stone crits.
Our tiny lights ,our massive darknesses.Crowds shop
because freedom costs.Buy objects when what we want
is each other.Tell me-are there powers stronger ?
Can we cast and recast runes to fit the tunes of our tin times?
Chime seasonal sweetnesses?Ring Yule and Solstices,Full Moons
to resonate attunements with powers greater than us?
or are we mere witnesses of wonders older than time
who flash Heavens of harmonies/sing stars in dark night
so we might be reassured/"peace in our time"?

ACTING OUT/ACTING UP/AMALGAM OF ELEMENTS

Inventory of acting (self-)governments-
Natalie Portman"s BLACK SWAN
Christian Bale's THE FIGHTER
James Franco's 127 HOURS
creating visual vocabularies more fragile than democracy
beyond entertainment-into a buffet of images
resonating in memories beyond seasonal distractions
Here in these dark days we sit in silence/reverence
for projected Light upon a whitened widescreen
to live and relive stories true and fantasies weaved
into an evolving artform.We do not need 3D(we ARE 4D!)
Gimmicks fail to convince-cartoon fantasies of/by/for children
while we watch adult stories mirroring darkened weavings
to see our tiny tragedies become something more than ourselves
Art extends us.Acting pretends we are mythic.Heroes mimesis.
This is why we dedicate time to concentrated images
Let others be PIRATED by UNSTOPPABLE sops-
we want more.Plot,character,script,photography-
jigsaw pieces of reality making mythos.Watch again-
this bears repeated chorus.Greek or merely tragic-
we echo what is into a what-might-be.Watch ourselves
change his/story...

when it comes to sex

two women,both condoms break-
WIKILEAKS spills all!

Stuxnet-a new war
more than those remote drones
internal schisms

Pakistan front lines=
Taliban sanctuaries
Paid by our taxes

Russian corruption-
Putin privitises all
"on Blueberry Hill"

North Korea starves
Military government
Killing civilians

Palestine exists!
Borders agreed upon
Unilaterally

Bethlehem Christmas
If Jesus in Palestine
(would be arrested)

Chinese Dragons-
Tibet,Taiwan,Tienamen-
Nobel Peace Prize?

Snow Christmas England
Fires burning on their streets
Students politics!

Sarah Palin speaks-
Bush 2 resurrects faux paux
blunt Decision Points

Obama Tax Cuts
Same as those Bush tax cuts (large)
Larger for the rich

Obama Foreign Wars
Same as those Bush Foreign wars
Surge as we exit

TSA patdowns
exclude politicians,pilots
only assault us

Cowboy politics-
Torture / assassination-
Guantanamo still open

Government terror-
Ruby Ridge,Waco,airports
Fear of flying hands

STATESMAN newspaper-
no poetry,no exposures
just advertising

CHRONICLE weekly
all community listings
All Austin centric

Music Festivals
Give us back our public parks
For our public use!

We are the people
What else will you call us now?
When will you listen?

IN PRAISE OF GOSSIP

it is a shorthand for village empathy-
that folk care enough(displaced on to celebrities like Britney
whom we do not know nor care for
and laugh when they break the law
yet they are bound by more
restrictions than they would care for-
to be known is to be commented upon-
subtitled(entitled)common conversation
we talk about the OTHER one-
in the other room,or in a ward,or in a bed with someone other than
the one they make two with/headlines scream ADULTERY!
yet most marriages are recycling
skeletons swing in every closet/and when you come out
it is only the convention makes it special
Ritual habitual as glossy magazines
Fashion demands opinions/contrary to yours
gossip obeys strict laws-it is personal and yet public
intimate and yet not,common and yet specific
in fact it embodies every contradiction
fit for writers as a source of friction
between imaginary characters (based on real ones)
From Marcel Proust to Henry James to Charles Dickens
James Joyce to Samuel Johnson-gossip is vernacular tradition
and you should hear the one they are saying about YOU right now
beats wikileaks and wikipedia -anyhow,as i was saying
"she used to be SUCH a GOOD girl..until all that GOSSIP...

GOLD(SUNSHINE)EXCHANGE(ENERGIES)!

she is ART/creates her seashell home
eggshell coracle pinks in gold gardens

she is MUSIC/dervish whirlwind violin
with Thomas Hardy dance passionate

she is COMPASSION/affirms all young
so they can heal from broken egg homes

she chants/ululates/Mothers Of The Disappeared
clanging pots and pans in political streets

WOMEN IN PINK-to remind us peace
is a gift of continuing consciousness

MICRO-LOANS to friends,housing poet homeless
so each might bridge to brighter presents

REIKI and BLOGS to share bright energies
(we are more than islands/peninsulates)

PROTECTOR OF CATS (all rescued animals-
spayed,neutered,fed,housed,loved

OPENING MIKES like opening mouths and minds
to fill the future with bright mind food

ENCHANTED FOREST/ART OUTSIDE-celebrating seasons
Yule,Solstice-with gatherings of likehearted kin

ACTIVIST stirred by compassion/active when
the sleeping sickness of consumerism cries emptiness

AWARE organic gardens green presents
Solar powered smiles and wind wave renewables

MIRROR SUNLIGHT-to catch and release the golden
to shine and share with brilliant smiling!

DANCE,Brazilian Singing Bowls-SING!

WARMTH IN A COOL SEASON

shopping for happiness
returns after Xmas

half newspaper advertising
touting emptiness

chill wind outside
Utilitarians inside

think of these string words
as footprints in snow

world asleep,dreaming
(taxi to the Underworld)

black and white movies
restore apatheid

Empty Chair Syndrome
(every Emperor naked)

Wikileaks now plural
floodtide of information uprising

cracking the Great Firewall of China-
hackers,slackers,midnight Anonymous trackers

stoning the men of Iran-
an avalanche of women

Canadian wind crosses borders-
no visa,no passports

divide in two groups-
those who would hunt and kill your deer
and those who feed your future

autopsy showed the sausage
hid alien life forms

gridlock traffic
kissing bum
per to bumper

forgiveness ongoing-
cleaning the world as you glow

splitting hairs or atoms?
try solar,tidal,ever-renewable

lights reveal us/rescue us
from interior darknesses

more movies made now
than can be screened in your lifetime

settling down?or settling in?
i am Voipstunt,you Skype

reports of ice small
when compared with Titanic

solar powered diary days
moon dreaming dairy nights

to get to where you are
i had to leave here

moon left-sky,night,clouds
every body lost a lover

interior winter
coolness between us

i left my face in your mirror
so you might see me upon awakening

the only day that matters is this one
(until the next)

your face turned Picasso
when i mentioned Monet

the movies they are projecting
less than the script of our lives

still,your voice,a flight path
guiding the young planes home

rice in the bird feeder
winter wingless homelessness

even rivers change direction
over time

tonight,the frost
terrorist threatens tomatoes

green may be temporary
but so is permanence

teaching me to fall-
these temporary flowers

patience of a hunter
and her prey

smells of breakfast mornings
sizzling frypan life

false flag bananas-
yellow ripe,with green stems

drunken bees mistake my shirt for flowers
i mistake virtual for reality

one lost wasp seeking nest
promises not to sting!

stars still there/even when hidden'
just like emotions

in my back pocket
my miniature histories

all your musical instruments
dream instant orchestras

traffic?or birdsong?
freedom?or gridlock?

quickly!today in a hostile takeover
of your darkest night

SEASONAL GIFTS

another calendar day
advancing eternities

this work is joy
paid in continuance

the gift of your presence
makes gold look cheap

grew up with slow tea
now black as coffee

these stars guided ships
long before they fell

extending life
via living fully

skeleton umbrella
windtorn  ,restless

i was thinking of you
(rather,feeling...

furniture has auras
and ghosts

drinking memories
thirsty for more

even the thought of water
makes crops rise

trees before-afterward-
ghost trees

your listening ear
hears between lines

i am not waiting for...
this is enough.

bus full of strangers
this earth

my cat strays
not far from her food bowl

used to work ships
both of us landlocked

why do we pose for cameras?
they do not care.

this wind will take some spirits away
bringing new ones in today

Christmas shopping-
Malled by bright lights

she cannot chew meat
(my godmothers false teeth)

massaging knots of fear
into harmonies of healing

strangers in a coffee shop
loving remote laptops

cigarette smokers-pariahs
of New Puritanism

censoring our past
limits our futures

humming democratic tunes
forgotten the words?

ant lines towards sweetness
micro-us

something moves us/despite us
and is thereby moved again

Fall in to Winter
can we change seasons?

by shadows ,we know
the flickering of futures

photography does not capture-
it releases!

in the naming of worlds and planets
we forget our selves

comparing what happened before
with what will not happen next

library to GOOGLE
who Illuminates these Manuscripts?

my cat  rubs up against my leg
to reassure both of us

tea leaf fortune
displaced by tea bags

orange as a traffic cone
standing to attention

barnacled boats cling to beaches
in memories of tides

antique shop price tags
no longer historic

coins in your pocket
ask for more change

in the second hand book-
inscriptions to unknown lovers

now the day /mails away
more goodwill stacked in lines

ends are beginnings
of gifts at your eyes door

arts of remembering

grand fathered time
ticks,tolls

bird seeking breakfast
becomes one

age changes options
each day a notch

flash of a cardinal
redeems laundry day

sleeping flowers
stand up when sun enters

bird happiness-
once we had wings!

fat paperback
spineless reader

kindle enthusiasm
for reading real books

this door left open
to let memories out

i look at the oil painting-
outside,original oil refineries

partitioning appointments
by apportioning time

OPPORTUNITY SHOP!
(watch.wait.witness)

aromas of bakery-
smells of cheese shop

cows do not eat
dairy products

kangaroos are vegetarians
eaten by tourists

the promise of silence
in your eyes

the way you giggle
changes earthquakes

making a garden
means less than being one

even sleeping
needs degrees

Titanic had a list
now look at it!

blaze of city lights
boasting consumption

small is not only beautiful-
it is who we are

entering country time-
slow.slower.slow .down

curtains for the blaze of light
and for the sleep of dreams

lawnmowers ,leafblowers
protesting silences

give me time
enough to remember more

EARLY MORNING HAPPINESS!

Caught a moon in my poem!
(catch and release)

Darkness shows (christmas)lights
so much brighter!

Solstice cave of days
short as man

Worshiping Light-
Lucifer means "light"

what we left is gone-
separated like "u"and "i"

now i dream childhoods
once i dreaded

mornings egg does not crack
nor break

your silence and consent
allows this

lost between worlds
(reading cover to cover)

forgetfulness
allows me to repeat

she asks me-
"what is this poetic form?"
i reply-"i do not yet know"

speak of cities
dreaming forests/rivers

cold alarms me
snap fresh mornings!

soon,lights of cars
now,one headlight moon

even silent movies
had live soundtracks

cars parked
do not snore

in my old nest job-
new young birds

allergic to change
unless it is loose and silver

price of gold UP
as job market DOWN

protestors burn fires
to celebrate politics

if time has a limit
it is this island moment

if time is money
can i get a refund?

selling timeshares
in my life

renting minutes
by the hour

sleeping through this
waking up on the next line

i am sure of
uncertainty.

before noise-
archaeological silences

Pyramids as Ponzi schemes
only for Pharaohs

meditating upon morning
like rainforests/now they are gone

my boss is Life/Death
i get to choose

i left in a spelling mistake
to check spelcheck

universal surveillance?
for politicians and security agencies

you are so blessed!
(not to have to believe)

all these movies!
my life projects better

behind walls-
early morning snores!
(another poetry reading?

Re: On the selective use of technologies

To Randy Lusk

WHY THE PAST IS GONE
copper tanks are not energy efficient for washing clothes
vegetable gardens sometimes get destroyed by natural pests
eight track cartridges were notorious for breaking tapes
horses have not enough horsepower for modern roads and loads
abaci are slow when compared with computers
few can afford hand made leather (or other)goods

WHY THE PRESENT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
solar energy stores only 20% of collected energy
wind towers kill birds and need huge transmission cables
cell phones do cause some brain damage on max usage
wars on ideas like poverty and terror cannot ever end
the poor will always be with us

WHY THE FUTURE CANNOT WORK
UTOPIAS have always failed
projection is for movies-mass distraction
2012 is just another year
Calendars are like tunings-different for cultures
Diversity can result in discord
All prophecies have so far been proven(wrong)

Adventures in Paradise

Denial Of Service-
Capitol Metro Sundays/public holidays

John Lennon/Julian Assange
Imagine there's no heaven..

Confucius Peace Prize=
The Art Of War

Obama flip-flops
Republican hardline

TSA* patdowns BAYWATCH star
&Indian Ambassador!

Bags go missing-
but they can find your junk!

New to Austin?Sleeping under bridges?
Beware the APD!**

fingerprints on flesh
forgotten like childhood

leaving small spaces
for human era

Orchestra of the World-UNITE!
(Just agree on the scale and tuning)

Babies can see angels
because they are

Our kitten's reflexes-
older than Pyramids..

the sound of water
fills your emptied glass

wearing blue gloves
to give illusion protection

quiet as a Library
until the first cell phone

stop .for butterflies must.
their time is tiny wings.

my fence.one morning dove
sculptures skylines.

arguments of birds-
flightpaths and meals

timezones between us-
childhood.adolescence.senescence.

your eyes flowers-
daisy bright!

curtains.partly drawn
letting outlaw light alight

outside the frame
he left /empty

fog mist rain
Agatha Christie plays

Museum walls count titles
Banksy adds extra!

home grown gardens
taste of homes.

your thighs/hips
now let me look at your lips..

waiting for tomatoes to ripen
i turned green

classical as music-
her smiling sonatas

dolphin and wave
you in eye

weight of night's rain
relieved via morning sunlight

husband asleep.wife watching
child knows but cannot speak

my grand mother glows golden
even when she is only child's visions

chocolate love /only one purpose-
to be eaten/whole

rock dropped into silence
Splash!

raining world
sweeps the wind outdoors

only at the summit-
meeting of elements!

waves/no name nor number
just insistence/to be let in

the person in that photograph
is not the person watching

bucket full of tiny fish
becomes story bait

slippery slope time
runs out,alarmed

for the rest of your life
you will wonder-how long?

my mother lives!
stronger than cigarettes
fire,not smoke

children ,squeaking like toys
animate the carpets

mostly i do not ask
mostly you do not tell

adjusting clocks for seasons
of love's return

wind lifts lake like leaves of water

rocks break waves like convicts

wind and wave eloped.

mountaintops point to silences

afternoon.sit in sunshine.like bent leaves.

grand father.not wise with age.just scarred.

meteor showers from time 's distant planets

scavenger birds cross examine all surfaces.

the apple i eat becomes my skin.

raking leaves,meditating on mulch age

gathering autumn emotions.

even flowers shed their skin petals  in seasonal suicides

i want to remember you alive.even when you die.

river we both loved now single.

this photo distracts me from that sunrise.

my name changes-new ways of seeing

snow gathers in solidarity.

young know who is for them.(hugs/cuddles/smiles)

going to war(young soldier-bristle brisk)

my library complains .They claim favorites!

skeleton wrecked home.why did he leave?

wind chill factor/guilt,regrets

when darkness threatens,i close my eyes.

moon bound,moon driven,moon guided=home!

tree i climbed gone like childhood's bark

tear drops.grief.loss.holes in auras.

sands have a union.solidarity.seashores!

knife wind slices skin into particle pointed pains

wings on my shoulder.return like night dreams of flying.

mural on wall brighter than the painters.

Paradise awaits you are hear and know.


*Transport Security Administration 
** Austin Police Department

Words a Cell Can't Hold

EXILE
get used to it ,poet-
rulers read your works
and know they are naked,so
they make you equally

Pablo Neruda's Nobel Prize
did not change his exile
Catullus ,Ovid, Cicero
these you know
Tell me ,then,can prisons hold wings?
Remember Siberia,Akhmatova?
Every poet dissident rounded up
before Wikileaks and the Internet

Even now,Official Secrets are an Act
GOOGLE is still censored
Transparency dull fish dishwater prose
Nobody believes in a Great Leap Forward
Silence is compulsory

Yet you sing poet!
Your voice aware and wary of death
silence and exile will not kill you (yet
Death is only when they kill all free expression
Shoot a dove,you kill the hawk by accident...
Socrates,refuse the hemlock!

ars brevis(for john lennon

you who left
gave me stories
you would deny

you are photographs
once a moving picture
you had a soundtrack
smells,taste,aromas-
conjuring you now
a photocopy
even if i tried
you would elude
i will do the same for you.

tracking in mud
for the  cleaners to smile

man raking leaves
every Autumn-superannuation!

by the time you read this
we will have both moved on

transience is permanent.

after my death,another death
this is how we live !

new years eve
how many more?

skyscrapers ,anonymous
reflecting each others emptiness

in the rich hotel
PRICELINE poets

how long before i notice?

i want to walk and not repeat myself
Perambulation is possible

you are here/looking at this
hope you like mirrors.

Grandfather gone.Father gone
Do we fall off or into this world?

my dial up friends are all wired
i blame coffee.

flashes and sparks

on my fence(red cardinal)
today is a bird!

why is it
cats curl
dogs straight?

my chalk love
washed away

in shopping Malls
i feel stresspasser

empty moon
drunk on a blue sky

white bud earphones
so she cannot hear me

underneath emotion cool
more iced moods

emoti/cons me
what you feel/i c

HOW TO EMPTY A ROOM
read this aloud.slowly.

white plastic shopping bag
eternal poetry

naked tree
clothes the grass

expiration date
on every dream

Al Zeimer visits
when we forget

December daze
shopping for time

my childhood swing-
old and bent as me

pain reminds me-
this body!

i am no mirror cloud sky
nor portents presage

at her wedding
eating to forget

rain drums
fill

we sliced ourselves like pizza
a piece for you

gray world
green dreams

Buddha reminds me
homeless

just one Fall
Eden

old driver
limits speed limits

wake up !
shivering from a warm dream

returning to childhood
a matter of time

Paris a gift of time
even Paris dreams

love volunteers
like earth.Dig?

do houses wait
to become homes?

winter breath
solid air

exhausts follow cars
like gray dogs

without birds
will sky fall?

without sky
where will birds fall?

my ghost friends
they laugh at this last line!

my briefs

sun sleeping
catches colds
morning newspaper
PLOPS!
sound wakes up
shivers
first walker
creaks
roar of engine
dinosaurs burning!
black pin prick stars
one balloon moon
blue  to light
pre-dawn silences
alarm clock
chainsaws dreams
drink night in
coffee steam
break  fast
slowly
reverence
for what is lost.

AFTER GOLD NOON
suns volume golden
solar energy exchanges
warmed this memory
bronzed .leaves.decays.

WATER YOU
so still
i did not see you move
tear dropped
sweat gland
pool.

AIR  PORTS
what once was has departed
now fear cage stop take off
shoes belt coat laptop
be treated like a criminal
for wanting to fly

watching
this world like a movie-
so many stars.no intermission.

we hug in silence
cuddle under covers
old lovers.

clothes on our floor
discarded faster
than our need to wear
each other

less the taste of mangoes-
more memories of past kisses

moths now wear the suit i was given
All Holey Religion!

occasionally,one flea reminds me-
Great Plagues.Tell me
do they compare lovers?

Mother now-her body
serves different lovers

the spark of argument
fires words into silences.

every street smells different
when remembering

my cat content to chase
and never catch.like her owner.

my dream pillows fluff cloud nights
into sharpened pin prick stars.

to water/feeling she will understand
she has moved me before.still again.

hold you in my eyes and ears
lose you to others attentions

varieties of tomato democracy-
heirloom and factory.

FLASH FRICTIONS

Worlds First Twitter Novel-
128 characters .Celebrities
Tweeting on party lines.

WORLDS FIRST FACEBOOK NOVEL
500 million plot lines.LIKE!
Friend!You will never meet in meatspace.

WORLDS FIRST GOOGLE NOVEL
Censored in China.Do not mention Tibet/Falun Gong/Taiwan
Even Communist Party officials read about themselves

World's first website novel(with pix)
www.worldpoetry.org
floating in historic hyperspace

WORLD'S FIRST BLOG NOVEL
Today i decided to write a novel-
with me as the only character
I wonder-will i start with a personal pronoun?

WORLD 'S FIRST DIARY NOVEL
Dear Diary,this world is so unfair
i have decided to talk only to you...

WORLD'S SHORTEST UNFINISHED NOVEL

Call me..

These are the ..

I have seen...

on the abolition of telegrams

stop.

WORLD'S FIRST TEXTING NOVEL

! da bit dat u sd ws 2 shrt?

wl i xpanded it!

WORLDS FIRST HAIKU NOVEL

i was born to die

autumn my turning pattern

call me "leaves of grass"

WORLD'S FIRST TANKA NOVEL

she said she loved me

that night when we were on fire

pictures in water

even the leaves are crying

as our tears evaporate

WORLD'S FIRST RHYMING COUPLET NOVEL

Wild West was won like this-

Watch Dallas Cowboys kill these Indians

WORLD'S LAST TEXAS NOVEL

Oil dry.Guns banned.High Noon repeats.Over land

Toll roads gridlock ozone highrise

Haircut Governor Mansion coughs,then dies.

IN PRAISE OF

UT WRITERS CENTER
where 9000 students each year are immersed
in literacy dialogues with grad students,tutors and writing staff
Primacy of skills transfer person to person,unmoderated and non-directional
add to the frisson of evolving consciousness,applied to living texts
otherwise known as conscious and conscientious learners-
writers of the future,in the hear and know

HEB
where poets stack shelves after midnight
where prices are low enough for every empty pocket
where every tuesday,seniors are honored
where food banks are supported
where our friend was once undercover
and confronted an armed robber
and was discouraged from chasing him
as theft is never worth a life

OPEN MIKES
where the unexpected becomes anticipated
where collaboration and improvisation speak and listen
where play of consciousness conjures new thoughtforms
where u becomes every letter of the alpha beta

ACCENT MOTORS
once slackers,outlaws,rebels and thieves
now achieving professionalism via treating people
with respect/and cars with consonant skills
where the new premises await occupancy permits
and an opening ceremony can again conjure up
poetry and music in a Lebanese South Austin family business

NEW RENAISSANCE / OUTSIDE EVERYTHING IS BURNING

NEW RENAISSANCE Version 2010

if ever there was a transformation via culture
we ask where and when and why
cannot this be replicated in our brief warring lifetime?
Patronage meant churches then-they are parasites upon our taxes still
Art means stained glass or occasional musicians and choirs
sometimes a sculpture of some suffering saint
or a jesus torn by thorns and whipped by haters
Corporations our churches now-they pay for office decoration
anonymous as facades,they pay for grays and muted tones
to hide the CEO bonuses while starving artists on commission
make anonymous art for anonymous boredrooms
Renaissance on the walls outside-Banksy in Bristol
self-subsidizing visual vocabularies powered by contemporary truth
Christo-packaging as a theme paid for by sponsors
Dancing man Keith Haring on any vacant space giving motion to meaning
every graffitti artist-even wanker taggers-filling vacuums with scrawls upon walls
same as Sumerians/wise as Solomons/outside the Galleries of Price Tags
where Names meet Prices over cocktails-the evolution continues
Renaissance upon every space available-analogue to digital
You will know them by the trail of lights that animate and illuminate
every Holy New Vision-when it is shared in Common(Copyright Freely Given)
FOR JULIAN ENOCH BRUNO(co-host of CAFE CAFFEINE WEDNESDAYS)




OUTSIDE EVERYTHING IS BURNING

outside,everything is burning
inside you are writing Marcus Aurelius meditations
reading the sacred texts of desert
listening to the earth through a long hollow tube
Violence erupts around us
(we seem to live in free willed chaos)
yet your stillness is a deer,alive,alert,watching,vigilant
when so many have only hunters' eyes
you sip by the water of ideas,and have emotions
Only one butterfly wing makes it into cage page poems
Why do they put a pin through the heart of such beauty?-
is it to show how colors fade when stacked away?
or is the art of collection more than the miracle of flight?
You are familiar with loss-and offer
your presence as bandage for the world's wounds
You know the vocabulary of birdsong,and listen at the gates of dawn
When babies coo and giggle,it is because they know you are present
You have a calming presence.All sense this
When can you be kind enough to allow yourself to cry
and laugh /simultaneous?
FOR PATRICK BOSWELL(co-host of CAFE CAFFEINE WEDNESDAYS)

the why of art

wherever you are,you add to vision  and sound
we listen as you hear the sounds of Texas ranches
city sounds-poetry in Galleries and coffee shops/music everywhere
daubing of art upon your very walls/transporting all
who visit your green planted Paradise
and see why Eden was not enough for Eve
it is neither Buenos Aires nor Austin
you are more than these contexts-art
is life in harmony with higher purpose-you
embody family values with love and dedication
All the books you write,poems strung,art hung
are only pointers to perfection-between human dreamings
the reason we create is to"only connect"
You have made links between different dreams-
all sustain those who read CORN WOMAN,FEATHERS
RANCH ON THE PECOS and your new bilingual haiku
Did they know you were an artist,too?
Art is life is you.

how to know(for joe conklin

when the bird alights upon your branch arms
trusts in the safety of your tree root smile
is at ease with your windswept insecurities
cohabits in a nest of grace and beauty
when each day is not a question/marked
more an exclamation(O! OH!  Ah! Aaah!! Ho!
and your breath comes easy like a cat returning
not by command more by the gentle way of things
that affirms we are all in connection/butterfly wings
dictate Amazons/even skyscrapers must bend
Trees know-they flow like rivers in the sky of air
We could sit and watch them like one channel television sets
and they would dance like scarves in the wind of air
bend like Salome  or Isadora Duncan
or Josephine Baker in banana movements of the free at heart
For art must wait for love to animate
you will know when it arrives.It is when you choose to love.

POETIC PILGRIMS PATH

you are reliant at all times upon the "kindness of strangers"
you arrive at a venue in trust they will know you
you must connect with each audience as they want you to
you are always in the hands of sweet Fate(and she is blind to you
you fly by Southwest ,use PRICELINE for hotels
you will have shows canceled,and must constantly adapt
sometimes the unexpected will save you-but mostly not
you are at all times only as good as what you can offer
all the product in this world depends upon your performance
nothing can be taken for granted at any moment
weather could change like emotional barometers
you need to read people even more than your texts
you will learn more just by watching and listening
always each night is a surprise and each day also
your journey is connection,temporary as the kiss of time
you arrive in a strange town,and must leave before dawn
word love and dream love sustain you through travels
whether to from away or towards,you are learning
that the earning of a living on the word is dependent upon
those who treasure the good energies they come from
when they do-everywhere is home.
For TAALAM ACEY who shared @THE HIDEOUT Dec 6,2010

religion of the Muse

Ars poetica demands obedience to Muse
she spilleth ideas ink pages
She leadeth insomnia midnights to dawns
She leadeth me to unsettled pastures
You share her(she shares (copyright) freely
Some do not respect her beliefs
They place fatwa upon prophets
They jail poets(some on death row
Siberia not so cruel as callous critics
who rule by bullet over ballot
and who persecute poetic wikileaks
Let her be(Neda)-she is innocent civilian
Do not touch her breasts @airports
Do not touch his junk INsecurity demands
we be vulnerable to creation at all times
not radiated like dead meat or vegetables
Frankenstein food for thought! MacDonalds of your mind!
Pray by light of computer screen
that our wildest dreams come true-
that free speech and freedom of assembly returns
In the words of Canadian Cohen-"Democracy is coming-
to America!"

STAY
some are leaving/have left
it is hard for them here on this planet
they huddle under bridges/sleep in their cars
work when they can/not just when they must
they have only bare bones with thin skin
i petition them-stay! These dark days will get darker
Wisdom of all people required-to care for another
is to love the Other in oneself.Dark mirror-
streets jail innocents,while criminals rule .
Stay,gentle doves-these hawks harry and thrust
but without your presence,all beauty is lost

apportioning disasters

one has her house burn down
with all her puppets inside
another has cancer and becomes increasingly tired
a third lives with a mother demanding as time
more are jobless,homeless,seeking meat in a bare bones town
Season is chill December-remember the Light
when under bridges and in bushes ,someone dies each night
Every portrait painted in some boiling oil
Sing for the warmth of sun when all need some
when some have none of sight or wealth
bright beaming of who we are heals best
2
FAJITA PARTY
and the talk turns to hunting
even the dogs are stoned
as rolled up deer and pig and javelina
minced into anonymity,squeezed into rolled corn leaves
become a steaming pyramid of photographic pleasure
Tales told of deer kills from the age of tiny years
I listen deeply/hear my fajita trembling in fear
3
WORDJAZZ RESURRECTS
for Valerie Bridgeman Davis
whose diamond role with jazz and verse in Austin
brings our Zell and DaShade and Enrique to honor her
even when her birthday is January/she shares a Victory
Grill December Sunday with fresh words and a blessing
of presence that affirms every living poem in the room
One bright voice winning smiles over gloom!
4
FESTIVE SEASONS! Wassail! Solstice! Expressions-
somehow Anyah brings piano back into speech
Chris coaxes flute into talking tongues
Patrick brings out his huge didge
our world is song for one bright night
All darkness giving way to Light!

WORD WORLD WARMING

a word to the wise-stay by the fires!
whether the weather is cool chill or ice frost
stay close to your art!What you make
in these frozen daze is a bridge to happier ways
when sun and sand and waves welcome you back
Keep track of seasons as they spin/some are made
for staying within/sing Spring back after solstice
so you might see the green in other dreams
and leave the ice white snow and broken traffic scenes
Bring warmth back!BEAM!Bright white light emanates
from hearts as well as sparks of art-your circle scene
empowers and extends the best of you/
you have seasons within you,too
and they respond to all the warmth within you!
let winter reign and snow and ice and frost and chill
Spring will melt them into green!

bump

so i hit a pot hole
and nearly died on IH35
broken axle/power steering shot
my car is broke but i am not
so i petitioned as if to stop
it was not the poetry that nearly killed
au contraire,it was my mode of getting there
(you cannot live without a car here)
clear as mud,i struggle on-to create poem in to song
(you do not have to read along-
you have your own life as creation
so if this weakened fire flickers out
you know what i am speaking about
none of us can avoid the bumps
economy is in the slumps
times demand we adjust
to create in this next moment
with friends as solid as axles-
oops!another bump!

when you start to listen(things change

before speaking of endless tax cuts
which end up in service cuts and job cuts
ask where is the act of Congress authorizing tax collection?
why is there a FOR-PROFIT "Federal Reserve"
which prints your money and sells it to your government
at a profit,even when the value has declined ?
(All the videos show Building 7 was a controlled demolition)
What happened to the wreckage of the aircraft
that flew into the Pentagon?Where are the remains of survivors?
Who killed Kennedy?-i mean HOW MANY ?
Why was the posse comitatus act violated @Waco?
How many bullets entered our President,and from what sources?
can someone ask these questions
and receive  sane,rational  and authentic replies?
or must we re-verse time,and ask
KENNEDY! DO NOT GO TO DALLAS!
MLK! Avoid motels!

we will

fill space.we will not release
jail the sun for illegal beaming
moon for silence.stars arrested
when they break bail or cameras.
no exceptions-every painting full to frame
every day job overload.This world explodes
people spontaneously combust.Suicide bombers
exit to Paradise in a flash mob.We fill our progeny
with rules in schools,then wonder why they cry.
Time for emptiness.Empty nests.Release.
Let virgin rainforests breathe,free of us
Let indigenous roam,sans fences.Relax.They ennoble us

after us,cockroaches
practicing perfection.In a rat way
they survive with and without us.Carrion scavengers
may die of toxicities(birds,beasts,cats,dogs,horses)
Ant determination will nest in ruins
It takes no Revelation for Armageddon is cumulative
not an Ezechiel flaming chariot,nor bolt of lightning
more an accretion of deaths due to diluted qualities
That water you issue(yellow,gray)becomes black
Closed system means scarcity economics
Prices go up when quality comes down
Elevator lifestyles Stop.Ground Floor.Get off.

we/divided/rivers

forced them to stand vertical in classrooms
we haircut forests/clearfelled them
chainsawed literary critiques
until not worth the paper dollars
banned hemp and jailed the air
for civil disobedience in airports
made ONE LAW (subject to exemptions
for the rich,the powerful,for whom mountains quake
and rivers dam straight as Marines on parade.

planets speak in motion-curl silence like a joint
words are smoke weed to them-clouds surround us
when the sun comes to burn with and for us
we arrest it /impound the tour bus of the uni-verse
and resume drinking ourselves to oblivion

next to the new ruta maya
was wild weeds and a block of trees/these
were rolled over and became
clapboard thin wall cages for people
who complain about the noise.

wood and brass and silver fillings
gold stares and shopping movie Malls steal time
steal it back!step outside,please!

for earth

i admit we came from water
and this planet looks blue from space
yet all wars are fought for you
we stand on you,get buried in you
as ashes or bones
we plant in you
seeds for future harvests
Everything depends upon you-
your seasons of fallow and rich
your rocks (some of which we value
We are afraid when you split(in earthquakes
Flags fly on you(but they change
You are the only place we can live
You give us life ,so in gratitude
we chop your trees and cut your bush
and make you squared and rectangulared
From those trees,we make paper titles
to claim you over time -lease,own,buy
it will all change.We have only four score years and ten
You were here before us
and you remain


EARTH,TOO
if there were another earth
a shadow earth(some Doppleganger
on which we could rely when this one peters out
when all the land is used,and we have poisoned crops
Moon too far-too old,cold,bone,crone
Same with Mars,and Jupiter.No matter how far
our cameras explore,we find no more earth than this
Unique.Precious.Honored,revered by those who work in soil
and whose very lives are linked to land.
When it floods,they drown
When drought,they dry up.
We are as this land is-attuned to seasons
The myth of green becomes crack bone deserts
Love has gone.We are alone here.Earth never needed us
as much as we need earth-to eat with,live on,die within
as ashes or as bones,our only home is here.


FOR BOB MUD
my friend works with mud-water and earth
primal paints are made this way (sans chemicals
from Yang-Tse to Barton Springs,he sings art
daubed arms,murals,circles on stone and wood
old as earth itself,open to all ages,he learns more
by listening than speaking,adds to wisdom
by building instant creations.Temporary as time.
Floods may come and wash all else away
Mud remains.Bob Mud stays

if truth be told

i have not bought a new record for a decade
nor have i ever downloaded any music
i do not own an ipod
nor do i understand MP3 (nor MP4!
Autotunes find me tone deaf
i stopped at Madonna(pre Britney,Lady Ga-Ga
Beatles reissues remind me of elevators
Rolling Stones tours ghosts and ghouls
I am glad that Neil young and Bob Dylan still tour
and have been tempted to see
remnants of THE WHO/LED ZEPPELIN
but it evokes too many bright memories
of missing members(Brian Jones/Keith Moon)
those cheeky youthful luminaries
who left the stage before Fat Elvis Syndrome
Fine by me if John Lydon moves on past Johnny Rotten
and better that Bob Dylan has that satellite radio show
It is this  modern world we live in-survivors of the 60s sing
in retro musicals based upon their childhoods
Hair is no longer the musical issue-age is
and who dare sing the truth to failing eyes and tinnitus?

solstice 2010

it is cold and dark and deep of winter
world is a village divided by distance
snow falls in some spaces,chilled reminder
we are always in hands of elements

lights rare  lead us to each other
sit round fire,talk about weathers
we are at ease with each ,all,every
seasons define us,now  and forever

time will stop for sacred moments
stillness return in deeper silence
all goes true to root and dream
we are approaching solstice again

meet each night as measured starlight
day's apportioned ration sunlight
honey in the mead of air
licorice in the dark of night

we are seasons (always have been)
solstice returns us to our deepest dreams

sarah palin,verbal terrorist

in the old days(Vietnam,Granada,Beirut)
when you invaded a country
you could withdraw unilaterally
now you spend one billion dollars on an embassy
and extend tours of duty indefinitely
Once wars ended.Via armistice,treaty or surrender
We somehow seem to be involved in a worldwide war
on an idea.It is like warring on a weed-or cancer.
No body can win against an idea whose time has come
here is one.Sarah Palin is a verbal terrorist.
She falsely accuses Wikileaks(a website)
causing a witch hunt against freedom of speech .
Remember the Reichstag burning?False fronts?
Accusations of "Communist"in McCarthy 50s
and that false report claiming Vietnamese gunships
attacked American ships in the South China Seas?
Like those mythical "weapons of mass destruction"that caused a war
and were never found after blood and billions were and are wasted?
Yet when the IDF kills 9 civilians on a Turkish aid ship to Gaza
and this in International waters,and the autopsies/medical reports
reveal murders of unarmed civilians,no action is taken.
Truth is at risk.Reality gives way to propaganda
Karzai is right!Civilian deaths via drones and troops are real.
This has become a war upon civilians.Hence TSA terrorism
with intimate,irrational and intrusive body scans.
If any of this is true,and you think deep and hard
what is to be done?When sarah palin is considered as presidential?
Rip up the Constitution.The pogroms have begun!

forgetful heart

grew up with the songs of bob dylan/LP by LP
turned acoustic folk to rock and role play
to the soundtrack of robert zinneman
(all the poems in our world
may not save one sparrow/yet we listen
on and off,as he oscillated between Judaism/Christianity
wife beating and child rearing/hiding
behind Gemini masks of creativity
(yes -he is artist/poet/photographer
as well as original singer-songwriter/performer
It is the first day of December 2010
Tom Palaimo re-opens our ears  again
to the sounds of "harmonica bob"
after first playing the original tunes
he allows us to hear why Homer is a good comparison
Achilles on harmonica/Odyssey of America
singing slave songs in a blues mood
Room full to capacity-listening on deep
for which we thank both UT,HRC and we
who all grew deeper hearing harmonica bob
as if for the very first time...

the limitations of analogy

this Depression is not "like" The Great Depression
these are not "as" The Last Days
(analogies fail)
Metaphors are stronger-
TSA Nazis,CIA assassinators
straight to the core of rotten apples
Hyperbole is dangerous-
Dollars of the Weimar Republic
Black American young men jailed
Journalism assists(even blogs!)-
APD murders,Drug Gang Border Wars
Yet consider your audience-
peers with no power,who also write exposes
whose terse epic verse fills websites anonymous
whose Cassandra warnings are studiously ignored
when Global Warming drowns polar bears
heats our only planet to extinction
Oops! Hyperbole again!
Perhaps poetic apps might limit via censorship
any discussion of real issues
so we can settle for sweet Chinese classical verse-
about Falun Gong,Tibet,Tiennamen Square,Taiwan-
oops!slipping into journalism mode
Perhaps Sarah Palin can have her wish
jail wikileaks as terrorists
After all,there is no truth content
in poetry or politics
(only a metaphor)

something else

it no longer matters
if you write the greatest novel
(what matters is the marketing)
even with a black Democrat President
two wars with no end
(Republican agenda)
even if you are not a terrorist
you will be treated like one
(prison -led recovery)
and all these poem petitions?
(destined for deletion)
it does seem to matter if you are a rich rapper
if you sing for the bling ,with a photogenic girlfriend
yet even the rich in Russia get jail terms
when criminals are in power/they hate opposition!
Corruption matters-police,armies,monies-
drug wars are like wars on poverty and cancer
(every body loses).What people want is
something else.

(i have a bird outside my window-
it is a red cardinal
s/he visits intermittently by mornings
sometimes s/he sings
but that's something else entirely...

today 's chill morning blue sky
still sees walkers striding by
no matter what we do or try
there will always be
something else..

DIGITAL DIVIDE

Tiny birds tweet
young birds text
retired journalists and artists blog
every body has a website
only musicians Myspace
FACEBOOK  has 500 million
Over 50? you grew when phones had cords and dials
analogue ,you played the Beatles on vinyl
You knew cassette tapes and maybe 8 track
BETAMAX and videos defined your MTV
now you are slow as paper filing
do not trust online transactions
probably will have your identity stolen
have one password for all your accounts
and that can be so easily hacked
You still use checks .You dress unconsciously retro
(you do not know that you do not know)
Young people speak a different language
They carry laptops,ipods,ipads-they have moved from email
when you are just learning how to.Web#2 starts for them
They have their data in the Cloud.Know about offshore accounts
They are preparing for retirement before they begin their careers
They will know a different world to you.We are divided by data.

FIVE MOONS!

Last Tuesday of each month
Lili and Walter have a residency@the Carousel Lounge
so i leave Ruta Maya with its blessed poets
proceed to the cool strip Mall North
listen to the songs of Dana McBride
armed only with a friendly guitar slinger
by name Gordon The White Rapper
Now he has invited many to this show
but the only friends he knows
are his boss and landlord Chris
and Chris's consort Shelley
They love his BLACK CADILLAC classic riffs
and his weird channeling ululations
so we begin,him strumming,me improvising
with the theme of CIRCUS as exemplified
upon the very walls of this Classic Carousel Lounge
Soon we are moons cruising waves of sound silence
Soon five moons spin with their arms waving in circles
Soon orbits of smiles follow the sound surfing
All woman,all crone,all bone moon blessing
The roof rises from this Carousel Lounge
We are among stars,galaxies,constellations
Our Universe Saved by the Spinning Of
Five Sacred Moon Dancers (Smiling Love!