LI PO
he sat beneath the trees
talking to the leaves
wine flowed into miniature glasses
of silent sound
intoxicated on its flavor
he tasted it like a brewmaster
gazed at the sky
spoke a poets dialogue
to the passing clouds
the red wine flowing
through his veins
his poems floated
downstream
calm as the aftermath
of a storm
poems swirling
swimming inside him
like a dolphin rises
from the heart of the sea
EARLY BIRTHDAY POEM
sitting
here fifteen days
before my seventy-eighth birthday
I drink my morning coffee in solitude
before my seventy-eighth birthday
I drink my morning coffee in solitude
wear
the early chill of morning
like a quilt of stitched memories
my mind a nosy intruder
plots the course of my life
like a quilt of stitched memories
my mind a nosy intruder
plots the course of my life
the eye can't see
the naked universe
nor caress the fertile stars
the
moon a graveyard
shines its eyes down on me
shines its eyes down on me
surely
that is not me
I see in the mirror
I see in the mirror
the months the years
revolving doors
like
the trick mirrors
at the Funhouse
at Playland at the Beach
at the Funhouse
at Playland at the Beach
friends fewer in number
wait for me in my dreams
like
ducks in a blind
left
with a cup of morning coffee
a spoon that stirs memories
of young women
a spoon that stirs memories
of young women
the
pleasure of warm flesh
on fresh linen sheets
hot as an iron pressed
to a singed garment
turned to bones that rattle
in the graveyard of my dreams
on fresh linen sheets
hot as an iron pressed
to a singed garment
turned to bones that rattle
in the graveyard of my dreams
the
conversations that lasted
into the early morning hours
turned to idle chatter
with ghosts from the past
into the early morning hours
turned to idle chatter
with ghosts from the past
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GHOSTS
FROM THE PAST
I drove
the freeway to Tucson
1960's Hippie Era
1960's Hippie Era
pulled
over twice by the police
long hair and California license plates
got me two citation warnings
long hair and California license plates
got me two citation warnings
spent
three days with an ex-lover
who lived with a professor
who lived with a professor
who
taught a course in astrology
at the University of Arizona
at the University of Arizona
who the first day of my visit
felt the back of my head
and asked me if anyone
had ever told me
I had the same head shape
as
RFK
who
I later met
in
Washington, DC
two years before his murder
two years before his murder
three days in redneck country
was like a year
drinking at Western bars
with cowboys who eyed me
like I was an Indian
escaped from the reservation
was like a year
drinking at Western bars
with cowboys who eyed me
like I was an Indian
escaped from the reservation
unsure
why I had come here
nothing beautiful nothing natural
except for the stunning evening sunset
nothing beautiful nothing natural
except for the stunning evening sunset
back home my friends drunk
in bars on Grant Avenue
shooting pool at Gino and Carlo's Bar
eating grub at Sam Woo's where
the waiter Edsel Ford insulted
the customers as the dumb-waiter elevator
brings up food no other Chinese
restaurant can match
a
poet friend calls me
says Ginsberg has flown back
from India to become the resident
says Ginsberg has flown back
from India to become the resident
Guru
of the Haight Ashbury
while I rack up another warning ticket
while I rack up another warning ticket
cowboy
drunks give new definition
to
the word redneck
no room for compassion here
no room for poets
words like a campfire
with no match to light them
die in the desert heat
no room for compassion here
no room for poets
words like a campfire
with no match to light them
die in the desert heat
I
pull up roots drive north
the death mask sunset
rides a passing cloud
the death mask sunset
rides a passing cloud
I
stop in the desert
pop open a bottle of water
have a one way conversation
with a cactus plant
wonder what my shrink
would think
pop open a bottle of water
have a one way conversation
with a cactus plant
wonder what my shrink
would think
the
beauty of solitude
I could have
a million conversations
in a single morning dialogue
I could have
a million conversations
in a single morning dialogue
I
return home
keep
a notebook by my bed
write down my dreams
write down my dreams
but
when I wake in the morning
someone else's handwriting
is on the pages
someone else's handwriting
is on the pages
No
one will identify
the
blood between the lines
see the ghosts walk the halls
see the ghosts walk the halls
restless
souls from my past
like
a starving wolf
in the dead of winter
looking to fill his hunger
in the dead of winter
looking to fill his hunger
on
wild game
or
words that cling to flesh
like scraps of exotic food
like scraps of exotic food
 EARLY INSOMNIA POEM never land of insomnia a dark forest ravished by storms where dreams go to perish my mind hijacks my destiny speaks in tongue devours the silence walks hunchbacked like a gypsy tailor pushing a garment cart a sacrificial virgin burns in volcano ash a Tijuana Jesus nailed to a plastic cross winks at the twelve wise men making a return trip to the manger after a shopping spree at Wal-Mart’s a fortune teller trades in her crystal ball for a tarot card reading the lone survivor of a shipwreck floats aimlessly at sea my love returns from the Bermuda triangle in the disguise of a mermaid
the
Pope pleads for humility
God answers with lightning Jesus responds with thunder a bee colony drips honey between the legs of a dairy queen a haunted house coughs up an angry ghost drunk on death Dante gives up his seat in hell to Rosa Parks who recites the lord's prayer backwards to a honky sheriff in Selma, Alabama Saint Peter empties purgatory the FDA declares sleeping masks a fraud Van Gogh demands his ear back a new born baby is sacrificed at the Louver a French Mistress closes her legs in protest| the mirror mocks my image twenty-plus years of sleeplessness camp inside my skull hot as volcano ash Satan recruits me God makes no counter offer a whisper of sleep camps inside my eyeballs I surrender with a whimper drown in a series of Hail Mary's recited by sexy nuns in see-through attire |
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