Everything Is Empty

Fourth Jewel

2012-03-02T09:41:00.000-05:00

Between her legs
the Fourth
of Buddha's "Three Jewels"

Massage

2012-03-01T16:28:00.001-05:00

Massage parlor
finally my back pain lifts
in the waiting room

Barbecue

2012-03-01T15:46:00.002-05:00

Wafting
from the Big Dipper
my neighbor's barbecue

Bandit

2012-03-01T10:49:00.001-05:00

Bandana-shielded mouth
face smudged black with ash
the Bandit Moon

Old Wish

2012-02-29T09:41:00.002-05:00

Shooting star
the old wish
of a dead person

Shark

2012-02-28T09:18:00.002-05:00

Scattering stars
with an explosive break
Pool Shark Moon

Lag

2012-02-28T09:17:00.000-05:00

Billiard ball stars
the moon and I
lag for break

Beds

2012-02-28T09:16:00.000-05:00

Sharing beds
the flowers
and homeless

Shave

2012-02-27T21:02:00.000-05:00

The wind lays foam
on the neck of the sky,
a close, barber-knife shave

Barn

2012-02-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

The scent of horses,
burgundy paint peels
from the old barn

Coats

2012-02-27T20:18:00.002-05:00

This morning
an extra coat
of blue

Cardinal

2012-02-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

A drop of blood
from the sky
where the cardinal rests

Condensation

2012-02-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

Splayed in the gutter
before heaven's ascension
the rain cloud waits,
breath bated,
for one more beautiful fall

Ponderings

2012-02-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

Just before the rain
the cloud ponders
what could have been

Stroll

2012-02-25T20:13:00.001-05:00

The stroller glides past
the empty nests of Winter,
slowly, surely

Old Town

2012-02-25T20:08:00.001-05:00

Old Town, Virginia,
no one stops to talk
to Robert E. Lee

Upskirt

2012-02-25T20:06:00.002-05:00

A view so clear
I can see straight up
the Moon's dress

Butterfly

2012-02-25T20:04:00.002-05:00

The butterfly
needs no approval
from the cognoscenti,
or the caterpillar

Blink

2012-02-24T08:01:00.000-05:00

Not a single blink
when I spilled my secret
to the stars

Mountain

2012-02-23T11:14:00.003-05:00

Engulfed by fog, still
the mountain
remains a mountain

Writhe

2012-02-21T20:29:00.000-05:00

Between
shy and sly,
between
hips and lips --
the writhe

Scar

2012-02-21T20:25:00.001-05:00

In the night sky,
a scar
where my wish once shone

Flashlights

2012-02-20T14:21:00.003-05:00

Flashlights in the dark
the whole town searching for
the missing moon

Wishes

2012-02-20T14:20:00.000-05:00

From the sky
a million wishes fall on
tongues of those who hope

Beagles

2012-02-20T14:18:00.001-05:00

From the stoop
gazing at the young beagle --
old beagle

Light

2012-02-18T19:54:00.000-05:00

Beneath a halogen halo
a street corner poet
slings light

Hanging

2012-02-18T10:57:00.002-05:00

Blank pages of sky
spined by the faintest rainbow;
the way I am now

Huge

2012-02-16T20:37:00.000-05:00

Pupils
like bowling balls
spinning towards the head pin
black in lust, rim-filled with wonder
and me

Tie-dye

2012-02-15T11:00:00.000-05:00

A tie-dyed sky
bleeds red and blue rain
on a lonely sort of guy
who used to rock and roll
and now just dreams about
rainbows

Barefoot

2012-02-13T20:58:00.002-05:00

My barefoot heart,
broken bottles in the street,
where she walks

Still Pond

2012-02-12T18:13:00.001-05:00

Still pond reflection
the truth is in there
on there and out there

Honey

2012-02-12T18:11:00.002-05:00

Honey drop sunset
the taste of a
sweeter tomorrow

Meditation

2012-02-11T13:07:00.002-05:00

On the window
today's rain, yesterday's dust
meditating

Mirrors

2012-02-11T12:58:00.003-05:00

You
and the universe,
mirror images

Road

2012-02-10T19:14:00.000-05:00

In my palms,
the edge of the road
I braced for her

My Bird

2012-02-10T19:11:00.003-05:00

I'll be your branch
if you'll be my bird,
come as you like
go as you like,
I won't call
and I won't long,
I'll just be here
swaying,
in the breeze

Dandelions

2012-02-08T07:59:00.000-05:00

Even in winter
I celebrate her love with
blown dandelions

Starlight

2012-02-06T20:22:00.001-05:00

How old the starlight?
My future flickered out
a million years ago

Shine

2012-02-06T18:42:00.000-05:00

I was a dark rock
before your shine
made me the moon

White Mountain

2012-02-06T18:41:00.001-05:00

White mountain
you are much too high
to be called "depression"

Kiss

2012-02-05T20:57:00.001-05:00

Lips of sunlight
kiss tiny rainbows
on the wet sidewalk

Vanilla

2012-02-04T21:50:00.002-05:00

Vanilla sky,
perfect in your own way
yet still they find fault

Evening

2012-02-04T21:44:00.001-05:00

In the evening
clouds of my morning poems
become rain

Mindfulness

2012-02-04T09:31:00.001-05:00

Sun reemerges,
these occasional moments
of mindfulness

Sirens

2012-02-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

Sirens pass me by,
I needed help
a long time ago

Empty Seats

2012-02-03T20:53:00.001-05:00

Next to me
an empty seat, next to it
an empty seat

Smoky

2012-02-03T08:51:00.002-05:00

Smoky daydream,
she finds the cracks
in all my walls

Hopscotch

2012-02-03T08:49:00.000-05:00

Abandoned hopscotch
the streetlamp and moon
short one rock

Eraser

2012-02-02T20:43:00.000-05:00

As if her hips
were a spiritual eraser,
obliterating all evidence
of his Buddha mind
with a back and forth motion

Feather

2012-02-02T20:34:00.003-05:00

Stay if you like
in my palm cupped for choice
little red feather

How I Roll

2012-02-02T20:32:00.001-05:00

My journal is the sky,
my ink the clouds,
my lamp the moon.

I write with fists, fingers or breath,
it all depends
on the piece
or the wind.

Last Shot

2012-01-29T12:15:00.000-05:00

When the street lamp blows,
and you're pounding on doors,
and you're down to your last
shot at salvation--
look for me.

Belted

2012-01-29T12:12:00.000-05:00

They all move
but Orion
stays,
a belted rebel
leaning on a cloud

Rose

2012-01-29T12:08:00.000-05:00

She went by Rose
but smelled of lilacs
and tasted like a hot summer night

Blue

2012-01-29T12:06:00.001-05:00

She has
the most honest eyes,
they never deny
that blue
is the best

Bust

2012-01-29T12:04:00.000-05:00

Another grey day and dollar,
I keep the sunlight in my pocket
in case I bust tomorrow

Dose

2012-01-28T09:56:00.000-05:00

He is her daily dose,
a black pill that
greys her bright blues
and slants them
to meet the brim
of his hat

Smile

2012-01-27T21:48:00.002-05:00

Like he knows something
I don't--
smiling moon

Secret

2012-01-27T21:47:00.000-05:00

I smile back
at crescent moon,
I know the secret

On The Road

2012-01-25T20:51:00.000-05:00

No laces to trip
I am barefoot, bloodied but
on the road;
Kerouac with a black jack --
this time,
one way or another,
I'll get my fix

Tears

2012-01-25T20:33:00.000-05:00

She cries
the bluest tears,
on grey days
I tell her
the truth

Suns

2012-01-25T20:31:00.005-05:00

Sunset,
sunrise,
the blink of
her eyes

Drops

2012-01-24T20:59:00.000-05:00

When she bleeds
I carry her outside
so I can see
all that I adore,
the tiny pink moons
in the drops

Hooker

2012-01-24T20:42:00.002-05:00

Her eyes
in love or sadness
like a John Lee Hooker riff
bleed blue

Choir

2012-01-24T20:41:00.001-05:00

Cloud-covered pews,
the sun preaches
to an empty choir

Teeth

2012-01-22T18:32:00.001-05:00

Winter smiles widely
I bat out her teeth
with a broom

New Moon

2012-01-22T18:27:00.002-05:00

New moon
the truth is out there
even to the blind

Hip

2012-01-18T20:43:00.002-05:00

She turns her head
to hide her smile
as if I could miss
that quivering hip

Eaves

2012-01-18T20:41:00.002-05:00

Across eaves of sky
I send secrets to you
on the backs of birds

Knives

2012-01-18T20:40:00.002-05:00

Jack knives
then wind and I
slice through the night

Prayers

2012-01-18T20:39:00.002-05:00

Every morning
they recite their prayers,
poets and their poems

Pearl

2012-01-17T20:43:00.001-05:00

One thing
about a pearl:
even at the bottom
wedged inside a crustacean's mouth
it glows

Sleeping Bags

2012-01-16T20:51:00.000-05:00

Lazy morning
newspapers in plastic bags
sleeping in

Rock

2012-01-16T20:38:00.001-05:00

Gold
just more rock
to dig through

Twitter Poets

2012-01-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

All the pretty poets
laid down their pretty pens,
and bathed in still waters
sharing the moon.
And there was peace.
And there was love.
And the lights dimmed over
their pretty Twitter City,
to be lit anew by sweet dreams.

Blowhards

2012-01-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

Blowhard clouds,
it's a cold day for
family reunions

Horror

2012-01-15T11:42:00.001-05:00

Not ghosts, exactly,
but something lingers
in spaces between black and night --
layered howls,
echoed screams,
curdling across time,
ever on (true horror does not dissipate)
silent only to the uninitiated or willfully oblivious.

There are more than three dimensions, as you know.

Love Without Attachment

2012-01-14T20:45:00.000-05:00

Zen love
stays non-attached;
as with the elements,
fire and wind, its power is
blowback

Fuse

2012-01-13T10:24:00.001-05:00

His gait a fuse
sparked by sidewalk-crack flinted memories,
every step sizzling,
every hound howling,
as a time bomb walks the night

Branches

2012-01-10T11:30:00.003-05:00

Kissed branches,
the myriad romances
of spaced-out dreamers

Constellations

2012-01-10T11:25:00.002-05:00

Light years apart
all they could do was
gaze at the same stars,
animate the same constellations,
and watch them fuck, beautifully

Sea Glass

2012-01-10T11:19:00.003-05:00

She writes in sea glass
captured light, edged smooth,
resting gently,
poet and poems,
in the palm of my hand

Skipping Stone

2012-01-08T12:28:00.016-05:00

I am the flattest rock,
the ideal skipping stone,
born for throws cheered by solos and throngs maddening
slowly and imperceptibly (to them) with
every skip a step on a path
illuminating greatness and bestowing, godlike,
borrowed perfection.

After each side-slung hurl I sink to the bottom
(where I spend most of my time)
until low tide when they find me, irresistible,
but too hard to hold, too stark a contrast to
imperfection and weakness, to humanity,
tossing me anew and always
certain to ensure that I know (as though reminder were necessary)
that while beautiful,
I am just a rock.

A nothing.

Oblique

2012-01-05T21:37:00.002-05:00

Look closely.

They are everywhere.

In the upturn of sandy footprints, in the sneakered hooks, in clumsy dad-shoed lines marking space, in the flourished, sandaled ovals of a real lady.

In the bare blue patches between clouds, extending out -- bubble letters.

Under the rocks, where the action is, anyway.

In leaves the rakes forgot, set aflame on a boring Fall day.

They are there. Trust me, they are:

All her oblique "I Love You's."

I know that they are there.

Laugh

2012-01-05T21:12:00.002-05:00

Show me all your scars,
we'll give them funny names
and laugh at perfect people

Orion

2012-01-04T15:44:00.002-05:00

Worshiped by women
yet never adds buckle notch
Orion

Wind

2012-01-04T15:42:00.001-05:00

He'll slice out your soul
but his knife folds to wool
winter wind

Guru

2012-01-04T15:35:00.001-05:00

Too harsh to dwell
on any moment but the present,
I give thanks and bow
to the guru wind

Things Blow Apart

2012-01-01T20:45:00.001-05:00

From the ashes, fireworks
From the fireworks, ashes
Things fall apart--
they blow apart,
then come together, again.

Anyway

2012-01-01T20:42:00.003-05:00

I am the busted riff
the blown line
the torn-away page
that kept on, anyway

One/Many

2011-12-30T09:06:00.002-05:00

One moon, many ponds
one poem, many hearts;
the moon does not care,
just so, the poet

Leaf

2011-12-30T09:04:00.004-05:00

I turn a new leaf
then again, to find the first
changed, gone

D.C.

2011-12-29T10:15:00.005-05:00

A maraschino moon
sits atop
Chocolate City

Charlatan

2011-12-28T13:18:00.006-05:00

Fools us to believe
she conjures the sun from whim
charlatan sky

Signals

2011-12-28T12:49:00.001-05:00

As much as I wish
I was Native American
I don't speak in smoke signals.

Still, if the words are for you,
you'll know.

You'll feel the fire.

Amish

2011-12-27T10:15:00.000-05:00

Crescent white beard
without a 'stache
Amish Moon

Unfiltered

2011-12-26T18:03:00.001-05:00

To roll and smoke you,
to meet my soul,
unfiltered

Moth

2011-12-26T17:57:00.002-05:00

A moth
who came out wrong
he's drawn to the darkness
then surprised by the pleasures of
the light

Unfold

2011-12-26T17:55:00.000-05:00

Unfold
the blade of you
peel back the black to find
space between the skin and the night,
and breathe

Solstice

2011-12-25T17:09:00.002-05:00

Robs Peter
pays Paul
Solstice