%
%
we have two heads
%
would love one less
%
though as to whose
%
we've yet to choose
%
%
     
~we’re swimming upstream again~
        
~directly against common sense~
          
~we’re following memory’s scent~
           
~way back since wayback when~
           
~go only where knowing is there~
          
~our struggle a comfort to bear~
        
~but something may be amiss~
  
~everything else ever since~
~in a fly-by life is missed~   
~a tail leading a head~    
      
~while swimming~      
         
   
~upstream~      
         
         
        
~again~      
         
         
         
          
brush-off   
  
shake-out
wipe-down  
spit-shine        
thumb-nail
   
tough-rub
          
patch-fill
air-dry  
  
tape-up
  
hot-glue    
      
dust-bust
scratch-hide
best-guess
nice-try
oh-well
it’s-fine
– —oh go on and open a poem— –
– —we scroll until nobody knows— –
– —place orders for feelings to go— –
– —while wondering why so so–so— –
– —a flute is cued tuned to a muse— –
– —unruly rhyme readied to loose— –
– —beyoutiful typos–type prose— –
– —so go on and open a poem— –
     YouByMe™
– ——————————— –
YouByMe™ so you too can be you 
You buy in to become a who’s who
You’ll be you once I’ve done a redo
You but like cool when I’m through
You’re only so-so let me have a go
Your face has to go because whoa
Your smile oh wow no please don’t
Your way is so great but you know
You will love my adjust head to toe
You’ll see being yourself is no joke
You’ll be one of a few not like most
Your new YouByMe™ will be so you
You’re in luck I may still have room
– ——————————— –
—I have um num
  
—a prob umn um
  
—lem I numn umn
 
—talk but umn um
 
—no one num umn
—com pre um num
—hends me umnun
—till I’m numn num
—all done umn um
 
—chewing.
    
    
    
looking past the looking glass
          
      
((((((((((((0))))))))))))
          
    
before behind inside
          
      
((((((((((((0))))))))))))
 
three tricky twins in triplicate
          
      
((((((((((((0))))))))))))
          
    
I am is me some guy
          
      
((((((((((((0))))))))))))
 
no wonder others wondering
 
          
      
((((((((((((0))))))))))))
          
   
your you it isn't even
          
      
((((((((((((0))))))))))))
to be oneself within this mess
          
      
((((((((((((0))))))))))))
          
   
of being seeing seen
lose shoes
bow down
new views
on ground
clued you
found out
who knew
____/   ——
——————
perspective
G. Actually
Y. Areyouso
Mr. Yeahbut
B. Alittleless
Capt. Iwould
Dr. Didntyou
Ms. Thepoint
& M. Finewhy
cannot come
to my party
go on...
       
       
       
       
    
let go...
       
       
       
       
    
free up...
       
       
       
       
  
yer soul...
       
       
       
       
 
dice rolls...
       
       
       
       
unknowns...
       
       
       
     
a tale untold...
       
       
       
 
your fate unfold...
       
       
    
slowpoke showboat...
       
       
round out make whole...
       
   
just jump find flow you own...
   
some pebble once said to Stone.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
we more or less get by
make do see through
less more more less
if any left we stretch
and enough is enough
when half empty is plenty
most everything is the best
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Oh you [No clue]
Okay [Won't say]
Maybe [Wait see]
Um sure [Unsure]
It works [Is worst]
I know [My show]
Or that [Your crap]
Sort of [Short some]
Fine go [Knife throw]
Right but [Mind shut]
Hope so [Don't know]
If you say so [Innuendo]
Congrats Grads Go Get Em!
 
—credit-loan-debt-yep-got.
What A Wide World Waiting!
 
—tangled-up-in-a-net-knot.
 
Choose A Career Or Calling!
 
—part-time-gig-whatev-job.
 
Future You Starts Tomorrow!
 
—please anthropocene stop.
do you like share— -   
really care— -               
about share— -            
good cause— -            
we do too— -                
we grip it— -                 
and rip it— -                  
and take our share— - 
we take any share— -  
from here to there— - 
join us— -           
      
   
take yours too— -        
get much more— -       
your fair share— -        
      yours and yours alone— -
 to have and to hold— -
  not a share to share— -
  this share is a share— -
to own— -            
        
- ——— :•: ——— -
a piece a patch a lot
a strip a scrap a plot
a landing pad a spot
a place for you to go
a corner of your own
a cozy comfort zone
a feel in being home
- ——— :•: ——— -
_____12th_____
Twelfth's worse.
The worst word.
Beats bludgeon.
Actually offs aft.
Moreover moist.
Totes nil oeuvre.
Twelfth is basis.
Hashtag champ.
Yea flays loathe.
As withal æther.
 Au revoir ordure.
Twelfth for sure.
———————
    Super hero.              Super villain.
    So amazing.             Really rotten.
   Quite terrific.            Simply awful.
    Nice enough.            Troublesome.
     Pretty good.              Not so bod.  
     Just fine.                     Alright.   
    OK.                            OK.  
We toss a rag         
We tuck a hanky           
We fold a towel_____,      
We hug our blanky           
We don a cape______   
We shakeout a rug  
   We drape a sheet
      We beat a drum
We set a sail 
We fly a flag     
We tie a scarf       
We wear a mask          
work-party no-show —buddy big no-no
next-time no-joke —you better go-go
funny how those now holding a post
do forget how a flogging can feel
a fairly simple thing to choose
when only one will will lose
no biggie the thing to do
so tiny just I own you
why not only go
a feeling so
below
no
— HERE LIES IRONY —
that act of laughing at
how everybody knows
it was supposed to go
like yeah right as if so
of course not in a joke
to laugh a hollow note
when irony was funny
talking talking                             
rounds about                             
 idea scrounge       get a hunch
what if far out                             
no go not now                             
a plan on how                             
to rid of doubt                             
 a full account       poke around
of set amount                             
new info ouch                              
issue is found                              
a why do now                              
  discuss aloud       ready fire aim
maybe sound                             
slowing down                              
pro cons bout                              
runs aground                              
         — S T O P  —       —  W O W  —       
)   (
        |   |   |
        )     (
        )    (
(  )(  )
     (   )(   )
      (   )(  .)
     (   )  )
Best thing about Birthdaysuitday is
Best thing about Birthdaysuitday is
Best thing about Birthdaysuitday is
Don't even need to be a birthday !!
my boss— an ass— YesAnd!
my pay— useless— YesAnd!
my milk— spilt on the floor
my life— a boring chore
my confidence shot
I am a sham
—YesAnd! —YesAnd! —YesAnd!
YesAnd! is the thing to forget a before
YesAnd! only adds by asking for more
not some attempt to subtract or erase
YesAnd! sees a bad hand and raises
YesAnd! simply asks a simple ask
to keep on track and keep on task
at your end and just can’t stand it
world’s all dark and sad and tragic
—YesAnd! —and you’ll get past it
How
That's how
To answer the why
We buy the things we buy
Whether found by stroll or scroll
We choose well before we may know
We might start with a search for whats
But whats never added all up to too much
We'll still need a why to turn whats into try
Whys get us closer to something like buy
But even believers do leave without how
How tells us when our finds are found
How it fits and it clicks and it seals
How it sits and glints and it feels
Go way long and all in on how
We might like some whats
We might try on a why
But to get us to buy
Only how is how
To get to wow
Awe some
In some
How
Which plastic to choose to be    ?
A styrene so pretty and clear     ?
A smooth butyl riding in gear     ?
Reliable ethylene’s memory       ?
Strong elastomer stretchery      ?
Or if you’re like me, it’s obviously 
Nylon— tough cheap and loved. 
|}  {|
who even looks at the floor anymore
grumbled floor to the ceiling once more
once more of course as you always say
I’m the one left dull and dusty all day
dusty is nothing you know I get mine
why not try a shoe in the eye on for size
a shoe I got hundreds all over my back
and never a tickle or wrestle or nap
one wished to be up
one wished to be down
a frown always facing a frown
but one day a boy decided to stop
seemingly sideways as usual but not
stopped for a while to look up and
smile up at the ceiling then down
at the floor and boy did that
up-down smile do more
way more than you’d guess
since smiles are contagious
especially for pairs of
plane facing faces
so floor cracked first
and ceiling soon after
a glint to a grin and a
smile turned to laughter
it bounced back and forth
echoed onto the walls the
windows and doors and
stairways and halls to
closets and cupboards
and cabinetry until floor
smiled up simply to say
I guess down is as
up as any
|}  {|
US STOMP US STOMP USMEAN
 
WHEN YOUS SEES US USMEAN
 
TREE HIDES BEHINDS USMEAN
 
US FINDS US FIGHTS USMEAN
 
SUM FURIOUS FURY USMEAN
 
YOU MAKE US TAKE USMEAN
 
ALL HATERS HATES USMEAN
 
NOT EVER FRIENDS USMEAN
  
NO MORE USMEAN JUST ME
   
ME NOT MEANT BE SO MEAN
     
baby you— got all a da powa
       
baby you— plug me in da charga
 
baby you— a mean coupon shopa
baby you— checks in on my mama
      
        
     
when I messed up again
        
          
left you down an upset
 
baby you— nope not gonna holla
  
baby you— always gaze upon ya
  
baby you— and dos chimichangas
 
baby you— got our soap on reorda
         
         
when I step out all wet
         
       
like a fool prep forget
baby you— ready got my toalla
     
baby you— laugh is eva louda
       
baby you— lettin me be a lona
      
baby you— nobody close gonna
   
      
        
   
when I feel like I'm less
        
        
       
a soft kiss melts all else
    
baby you— and me are for foreva
 
Try this one, eyes closed, let’s conjure a clock.
A tall one, wooden and worn. Now up, you float,
why not, you can, lift off, with no need to stand.
Go on to the clock, go floating on over, and even
try flying inside. Check out the gears, the
coils and oils, the metals and smells, and
movements and noise, all turning aligned in time.
Try adding some more, more bells and more whistles,
more brass and more spires and chimes. No clock was
so grand, no one would believe, except for inside
of your mind. Complex inner scenes, so quickly
conceived, on a whispering hint of a whim. While
before us, outside in perpetual mist, a world only
guessed at and glimpsed. Processed, projected,
invented, pretended. Imagined so well that we
simply forget it. This beautiful vision we always will see,
and never will share, and never will leave,
is a world we believe into being. A world
only seen on a mini mind screen, by a
muddling, meddling, mammal. Green leaves
found the sun long before there were eyes.
Before all direction, just spinning in time.
No up and no down, all being or not, an ocean
of elements churning. Colliding, collecting,
combining, becoming, they went from a sum to
a some. All floating on by, until pulled down inside,
we capture and call it a smell. We
grope and we grip and we poke and we pull
and we move and we mate and we swell. Our
time becomes space, and our movement a memory.
A map is a mind, and a mind is a place.
A squint and a sliver of spectrum is glimpsed,
and the pieces are patched and colored and
stitched. It fills up a view, reconstructed
in kind, that completes what we think is the
world of outside. And the palace completed is
now freely filled, with things never seen or
detected. The collisions combined, and now we
do find, a mind has its own pair of eyes. And
we sit at a scale that’s exactly midway,
between smallest of smalls and the biggest
of bigs. So it seems only right, only fittingly
fitting, to imagine ourselves as a king in a
kingdom. Alone on a throne in a play on a stage,
in a concocted castle of infinite range. I
glance at my glass, it sits well beyond, the
spherical sketch of mind’s eye. It twinkles and sweats,
and beckons and yet is a mere molecular set.
A hand moves out blindly, through darkness until,
by math and by magic connects, as a will. To grasp
and to pull and to sip and to taste. A delight,
back inside, of a self, what a place. A scene of
lush palms and waters and breeze. And voices, and
movements, and echoes, and me.
A poet then.
Ha. Poor choice— I hear.
Might even be putting it mildly my dear.
-     -     –     —     —     ———————————     —     —     –     -     -
A triffle. A loss. A shoe on a string.
A trip. A trap. A dead-end-scheme.
A lark. A laugh. Worth less than a song.
Not to poke holes but a poet— come on.
-     -     –     —     —     ———————————     —     —     –     -     -
All downside— no up. Horizontal.
A literal lateral hazard— and how.
Just uncomplicate it and quit right now.
No structure. No use. No profit no thing.
No story. No action. No song to sing.
A poem is nothing— or less. A jest.
A lie. A— Wait. But this my thing.
-     -     –     —     —     ———————————     —     —     –     -     -
My life and my time— to give it a go.
To pry and to poke— to try and to know.
And to show ‘em—   ! a poem ! a poem !
In our vertical world— horizons abound.
All standing in line— all standing around.
A poet just might— be just a right-thing.
A thing no one is— a not-a-thing thing.
I might just might— be onto something.
S O L D
P O E M
© 2 0 2 0
—sold poem home—