JOY RIDE

you must be crazy to think
you could spend all day alone
with wine and poetry.

and why not?
you've got
the driver, the gas, and the car.

the question is not
a matter of subject

or whether --
but rather:

where to
and how far?

CAUTIONARY

you wait
so long
as if

your life runs
on forever.

in time it grows
clear you are
over this or that
hill.

and maybe
the work becomes less

a stop-

gap to your future
and more
your final resting

place.

BY DESIGN

you think you can
transcend human

nature?
maybe

you have your words
mixed up.

human
nature

is
not

clever.

it's our dim machines
with god's
hands on
the levers.

transcend?
to what

end?

never.

I WONDER

do you drink only
on the weekends
when your body
is at loose ends
and your soul
no longer fits your head?

and do you dream
of flying clear
of your disease and all the people
who well-wish you without
anything true ever being said...?