BY ACCIDENT

he grew
tired of being

everything. he wept
after reading criticism.

he was divided
alive between
the things he'd seen

and what
his heart heard,
all of which went
forth in verse only
by accident.


(photo swiped from here.)

IS AND YET

in the moments
you forget

yourself, id invisible
you dissolve, go

stealth, you almost feel
like someone else.

trouble comes when you want
something other than what

is; and yet
the stress

you wear like a weight vest
lets you know you

exist.

(image lifted from Flikr.)

MY MUSE

my muse she doesn't dress
too nice

she seldom gives me any
advice

and if I could I'd trade her for
an extrovert dressed like a whore.

RUBBLE (for Steven Bauer)

oh dear
sweet dis-
array, do not visit
this house today.


uninvited chaos
team, things here
are never
as they seem.

unintended
consequence, go
you back from
came you whence.

oh happenstance,
you two-
edged sword, must punish-
ment precede

reward?

POET SPOTLIGHT: KENNETH KOCH

To be rid of troubles
Of one person by turning into
Someone else, moving and jolting
As if nothing mattered but today
In fact nothing
But this precise moment...

- From "To Kidding Around"

A POST-IT ON THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH OF POETRY

what makes me feel
so horrible
is when i read your poetry

and i can't find the meaning
past the imagery.

call me simple-
minded but i have never met
a soybean that could sweat

or breathe
or a god-

damn piece of farm-
land that could hold
secrets in her soil

or leaves.

and another thing:
nobody uses the word
'tendrils'
anymore, not to mention Greek
myths or long-lined confessions
lacking calculation.

an admonition:

we are dying, pal,
and it has absolutely nothing
to do with anything

you're writing.

TUNDRA

she was sated
by promises and poems
written from a high-above,
in-between place --

may as well have been
outer space.

she was kept
even-keel by emails
brow-beaten
out of him. oh!

it's so
cold
down
below.
a white place

bereft of purity
where nobody

ever wants to
go.

WORKSHOP

write now.
oh right.

write how?
and for whom?

and by the way:
start soon.