Handsome Duds
Welcome to 2018
Concentric Circles
One mouth circles ominously,
betraying a vast inhalation.
Neck muscles stretch,
making waves in the ears.
It catches on across the room,
an episodic explosion of tangible strength,
a rippling shrug and atmospheric squeeze
that squints the eyes and pops the seized instant
into a different time;
that bank of eternity contagious yawning opens.
Anthropomorphic Banality
Ah, the cat speaks in riddles,
egged on by the birds of summer.
He screams for food some fifteen times a day.
He counts the seven doors and sixteen windows,
licking and scratching his numbers on them all.
He suggests that this cage of a house should be
cleaned, expelling a hairball to make his point.
Suddenly he’ll spy a clean pant leg, and dash
his paintbrush body up against the cloth.
Then he’ll moan he’s tired, jump into the nearest
chair, and promptly fall asleep.
Ginseng Hysteria
The root of all egress,
a blessed cure for stress,
time-honored equalizer,
realized, baptized upsizer,
and upscale jones of choice,
I raise my ginseng voice!
A good name for a daughter,
and taken best with water,
my memory’s restored;
my stomach’s like a board.
I hoard it like a treasure.
It’s multiplied my leisure.
I’ve grown an extra wing.
I love you, dear ginseng.
I spread the word in classes.
I’ve given up eyeglasses.
I read it in I Ching:
become one with ginseng.
Relative Gloaming
Distance pointed.
On its head
it wore a mountain.
And its hair looked like clouds.
Distance beckoned.
I wanted to run right over
and hug it.
But the closer I got,
the more it pulled away.
Its hand, a large tree
waved goodbye.
Long distance relationships
require adjusted parameters.
That night I swore
I heard a star cry.