Gogyohka 3/31/10

sing a song
help us rest
we need peace
for a long time
to let our wounds heal

Gogyohka--
not one poem
or twenty
but the hands joining
to write them

just like
innocent until proven guilty
I believe I can
until proven
I can't

Gogyohka 3.29.10

the young woman on the train
being sketched
by the old man in the trenchcoat
"How far you going?"
"All the way!"

I know and believe
I am a poet
but if my words
visit you inside
then part of you is, too

Gogyohka 3/28/10

what is this feeling
seeing backs of houses
from a train?
I am content
feeling rails under my legs

My soul snarls
and rears back
and shivers
It's an unbridled mare
that will not tame

we take birch bark
shedding in curves
and put them
on our arms
pretend we're superheroes

my best wedding gift
was an atlas of Maine
from my aunt and uncle
with post-it note flags
"I want to take you here!"

Gogyohka 3/27/10

everyone knows
the man in earmuffs
feeding pigeons
bread crumbs
from the sidewalk bench

all night it's bad dreams
all morning
I'm mean to my new wife
by noon I'm leaving a message
saying how beautiful she is

the cold came back
but the market is full
of butts and thighs
jiggling
in black compression pants

you know what?
let the March wind blow
let it rip
into my lightning heart
and bolt my head up

Gogyohka 3/20-3/25/10

getting well again
and my skull rises
back to my face
and pushes my eyes
back out to the world

at Union Square

squinting in the sunshine
I see waves of people
crashed out on the square
to sleep or eat or visit
and make the concrete bright

someone tapped
my trunk
this sugaring time
my sap sweetens
another's pail

the early blooms
look just fine
poking out of brown Winter
But I'm a tree
still heaving up my sap

the white mothers
all have gray
in their hair
and shining brown faces
push their strollers

how did I miss
the stubble
on the elm trees?
The shadows are speckled
the earth pokes its eye open

this diary
holds thousands of pairs
of straight legs
supporting countless confused kindnesses
burst out of urgent imaginations

give me
the name
of the feeling
So close
to every stranger passing

a few warm days
makes for early blooms
ho hum
let's go buy gum drops
and see a movie

Gogyohka 3/19/10

being in line
at the bureaucracy
like being in
the esophagus
of someone with bad breath

if I grab hold
of your collar
it's because I'm shaking too
giving up on you
means giving up on me

thank you universe
for a physics
that only lets me
feel one mistake
at a time!

Gogyohka 3/18/10

fat sparrows
chase skinny sparrows
pigeons chase sparrows
and feeder seed chatters
onto the schoolyard

out walking
saw my first daffodil
and wrinkled up at it
the sun was too hot
it made me sweaty mad

Gogyohka 3/16/10

Green scarves
Green jackets
Fleece and nylon and fringed grass
shooting up
from Brooklyn streets

That squirrel
That squirrel!
Sitting on a stump
Is it real
or is it stuffed?

Whenever I hear
Dad's knife on steel
in the kitchen
it's like the ghost
of Grampie appeared

first magnolia buds
are out
in pink-tipped white
Spring's lipstick
coming out of its tube

Gogyohka 3/13-15/10

trying to make
everyone
happy
makes me
unhappy

have to want
to be
something
more
than famous

"spring weather"
isn't daffodil fingers
and new warmth
or showers
it's both together

after so much
futzing
with my new wedding ring
you'd think I'd remember
to wear it more

she pours the potato chips
into a bowl
"Why not eat
from the bag?"
"Because I won't stop!"

"Hit your head
against the wall enough
you're bound
to make a hole."
"In your head!"

at Grand Central
bodies rush around
I remember the waves
and the undertow
burying my feet in sand

Gogyohka 3.9.10

Have you
ever seen
a yellow crocus?
It’s reminding me
what sunshine looks like

The hill holds
a carpet of crocuses
thick enough for a sultan
On benches the mentally ill
sit and sway

A man in black leather
exits the garden
on a March day
Flexes his fingers
and stretches his neck

Gogyohka 3.5-8.10

snow tide lowers
to reveal
a dead pigeon
bloodless and unfed
to the Earth

the cotton cloud
of new marriage
meets the dull thud
of old debts
and somewhere thunder's heard

first green fingertips
of daffodils
part the snow
to make room
to spread their yellow palms

in the laundromat
the old woman can't believe it
"They just took it--
and what will they get
10 dollars for a phone?!"

Gogyohka 3.4.10

Spring buttercups
pound out
of the mulch
like the impetuous sun
from behind a cloud

the myth of progress
that old tired tiger
I'd rather remake
every moment over
new its own best way

Gogyohka 3.2.10

watch the rushing meltwater
too much for the storm drain
and remember
no human belief
can stay solid

the widow
fixing flowers
at the grave
resolves to never
take off his ring

they prop the door open ("Hiya Lou!")
the coffee smoke from the roaster
deafens all the buzzing people
nobody coughs or slows--"Hey Frank!"
shoveling bags two at a time

two about laughing in my face:

Laugh in my face
If you face me grim
it won't be respect
but dammed back mocking
burst out behind my back

or

If I find myself serious
the world wants to laugh anyway
so laugh in my face
it's better than facing
a line up of makeup respect

Gogyohka 3.1.10

oh, pen--
be my memory awhile
and let the words put on paper
keep them
out of my brain

fragments
of stars
are scattered
all around
my mindspace

the wind today
blew fresh and light
but March is coy
flashes its bloomers
easy as kiss your cheek