Gogyohka 11.30.09

If concrete giants
are skyscrapers
then is the sky
bleeding?
Needles inject clouds

A book improves
from staying open
for all to read
I look on the horizon
and see the titles of a thousand waiting hearts

The Mexicans just laughed
when he told them
he was American
"No, no, no--
We're Americans."

the future
never quite exists
there is only
what you're willing
to keep doing

The address
changes
but I am always
writing this letter
to you

seventeeen pigeons settle
on the gray roof
of a Gulf station
November blue background
barreling past on a bus on 95

In a Connecticut harbor
the boats
are pressure wrapped
in white reflective plastic
"Turkeys," says Olivia

To stop war
we'll need to sew
far fewer flags
and many more quilts
I don't know if we will

Gogyohka 11.24.09

A gaggle
of teenagers
tromping up Spring Street
"You drive a Prius
You're not Jesus Christ!"

My past hangs
a chandelier
above my head
Want to shake it
and watch the dust glitter

Wisdom of a Mad Old Man

Ambition
What of it?
Most just walk down the road
Ask for a glass of beer
We dare not say it

If you doubt your song
stand before the tree of birds
The silverstreak jay
catcalling the blues hum dove
The oboe duck

Gogyohka 11.22.09

Everyone
in my family
has bathrobes
Born into a country
of freezing mornings

My past--
a chandelier
above my head
I'm reaching to shake it
to watch the dust glitter

Laying spread on the pillow
he is a stuffed animal
Real hair doesn't come
in galaxy orange
I want to pet it back to life

---Don't know about "pet" as verb for lien 5. Originally it was "stroke," but that seemed too sexual.

Gogyohka 11.20.09

When giving a gift
I don't charge
but neither
do I ask
if you want it

We aren't caterpillars
we have many cocoons
not just mitzvahs, confirmation, quinceañeros
many passages to crawl out of
and emerge standing

no flower, me
the hypnotist orchid
or the nymph daisy
But a sucker bee falling in them
never dusting my legs

Gogyohka 11.18.09/11.19.09

we'll start with yesterday:

checked under the band-aid
after three days
finger gash already healed
Resolved never to fear
getting wounded in love

"White boy!"
"Hey, white boy!"
turning my head
"You look good today."
don't half believe it's me

Metro North Train going to Mahopac

Through the seats
a man recreases his Wall Street Journal
Raging red bullfrog flap
folding over the white collar
Another asleep in his glasses

Metro North Train coming back from Mahopac

head propped
against the window
under burning lights
Just me and some Mexicans
sneaking Coronas in the back


and now today:

there's a reason
they call them
a movement
gotta keep keep
keep on movin

it can be better
to be tired
less scared
just don't want
to be tired /of/

Gogyohka 11.17.09

Gogyohka
is
life's
pause
button

Today
the daffodils
feel
the furthest
they've ever been

After watching
Dancing with the Stars
I get ready for bed
rip off my shirt
like a Latin dancer

Reason gets up early
to wind its clock
while feeling
sleeps in
dreaming of dancing past the metronome

The generations of men
crowded into a room
elbow to elbow
not knowing
whether to talk or listen

Gogyohka 11.16.09

Bending my breath
to capture the street smells
nail polish, leather, perfume over sweat and smoke
Leave mine with the pavement
hoping to be remembered

We are the answers
Our fingertips
finding each other
Ask me anything
I'll answer with your song

There are diseases
and YouTube
and all that--yadda yadda
But what's most contagious
is fire

Gogyohka 11.15.09

Ok, so I lied: I'm going to keep posting /everything/ here. This'll be my little gogyohka repository. But I'll also pluck a few out to put on the Junction. Plus you can read poems by many others there, so I hope you all will feel welcome to check it out. Enjoy all things!

All these leaves
and people walking on them
driven to go up or down
frontward or backward
Mysterious--still motion

If I want
folks
to listen
I better learn
to whisper

chitter chatter
two middle aged lady butts in spandex
parked in front
so whizzing bikers go past me
and win my secret race

Fate's arms
can choke me
for all I care
Just don't let me die
in August

Today I'll wear
a lavender shirt
form fit to hug my handles
and face head on
all those who see me

We want
to solve
eternity
but no can tell me
where the birds went

tomorrow comes
different from today
but you can stare at the wall
all day
and not see a new picture

Gogyohka 11.14.09

When you set out
with sail raised high and proud
you pray the clinks
of metal against mast
are the whispers of wind

I hope everyone will visit and join Gogyohka Junction at www.gogyohka.ning.com (it takes two seconds). Many of my poems will begin only appearing there, in the Forum. Thank you for reading and enjoying.

Gogyohka 11.13.09

when hurt
I look for Fault
hidden in the bushes of sadness
I just find her
making out with Blame

Money may not
be the root
of evil
but it's at the root
of many fears

ever wake up
and have
the day
already
passed?

The beauty of buddhism?
It'll change
Bad times won't last
Good times neither
Give up toys and boo-boos both

Gogyohka 11/12/09

Soldier's mom on camera
"How can they be safe?
They're at war--"
holds her eyes
"I can't do this..."

Gogyohka 10.10.09

Poem posts
from Japan
arrive on my screen
every morning
like a basket of dreams

Teenagers
call us out
when we're afraid
to be ourselves
and love us when brave

drum circle
next to
a school for the deaf
somehow
students are dancing

the leaf carpet
has turned
the squirrels
into crashing giants
with thorhammer tails

A woman alone
skates a wide march
under the trees
smiles at the racket
she's kicked up

walk, if you want,
on the paved path
the garden provides
I'll be next to you
in the bumpy grass

Trees have pulled back
the hems of their gowns
to reveal
a wide naked view
all the way to cars

Gogyohka 11.9.09

riding the bike
no beggars
maddened screams just a blur
even ambulances a minor danger
only connected to air

brown heat stabs my head
through the branches
around the trunk
comes the mascaraed eye
the pause of a woodpecker

Gogyohka 11.6.09

When my landlord's not looking
I snip a few sprigs
of rosemary and sage
from his meticulous garden
Nothing's free from him

these days
looking down
when I walk
but just to see the leaves
brown and piled

three nights of rain and gusts
will take
the sweep of autumn leaves
out of the trees
and into its hands

Others believe you
when you believe what you say
Just make sure
it's not
the only thing you believe

two square heads
in a candy apple Ford
huddled in the cab
in front of the heater vents
while the tailpipe smokes

Gogyohka 11.5.09

every seat
on the train
is filled
except the one
next to mine

to say someone
has strong opinions
is
to have one
yourself

Gogyohka 11.4.09

The flame attracts
not for the brightness
or its warmth
It reminds me
of my own

in the market's bustle
"Oh, look--
just look over here
Cameo apples."
"Making a cameo appearance..."

From the broadcast booth
comes Joe Buck--
"4-1 Yankees"
and Tim McCarver--
"4-1 Matsui"

Goyohka 11.3.09

If only my vision
wrinkled like my face
to see the way
I am seen
I look fresh and new

The gourds hang
from the upside down V's
of dead vine-braids
An old heifer
wrung bag-dry

gotta admit
the first poems
may have been best
worried about green shoots
with feet littered by leaves

The windburned sun
catches the red licorice leaves
of the Japanese maple
Baby monkey fingers
curling for food

When
Gogyohka
asks
How are you
it means it

Gogyohka 11.2.09

Scenes from the NYC Marathon (11.1), specifically in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn:

Two eyes, yes
Two ears, sure,
right on--but remember:
One heart pumping out
One

Gospel choir singing so hard
in front
of the Baptist Church
even white boys on the avenue
have to smile

marrow jiggling
off the concrete
only mile 9
a marathon runner knows
the privacy of achievement

the women tapping in heels
the man lost in his tambourine
and the rising tide
of "I'm so Grateful!"
almost made a Baptist outta me

the wrinkly bald man sweating
the toned young lady
Alex who must be supported by guides
all the same to her
"Looking Good!! Need some Gatorade?"

And then what I wrote today, 11.2:

anger tempts me
into a booming chasm
I stare out at everyone
"You think I won't?"
"You think I won't?"

at dawn
in time's foggy meadow
I pluck a turkey feather
notch it in an arrow
and kill a fox

Gogyohka--
the shadow cast
by the crest
of a wave
right before it breaks

the obvious sun comes on bright
it shines in your window
but remember the geyser
spitting its boiling sulfuric source
Splissssshhhhhh!

days pass
the beavers inside
build dams
but my river will flow
mighty I will flow into you

happiness
comes not
from good fortune
but the absence
of ill will