Gogyohka 5/4-5/7/10

lilies of the valley
on the coffee table
mingle their shady perfume
with my sweaty feet
from gardening

too many screens
but eyes are, too
they're machines
we love robots
short circuit

haunted by failures
want to be
someone else
they have their own
we are not alone

feels like she's been gone
long enough
to be coming home
until I realize
I'm still picking up socks

Spring's smell
buzzes
from the bathroom
the sulfur
in my asparagus pee

Gogyohka 5/3/10

anger
rocks the boat
that makes the waves
that floods the beach
that drowns the child

the eagle on the pine branch
didn't even look at me
staring at the sunset
from the earliest dawn
in America

nostrils
full of socks
brain
choked
by a blanket

the beeping
morning alarms
telling everyone
on time
or late

the clock
goes around
and around
so why
is it still dusty?

Gogyohka from Cleveland (4/20-4/25)

Important documents
Black robes
Commandments
cannot justify me
like all this laughter


So many windows!
Heads at desks
pointing down
Light shining in
Shining out, too


each line
a corner in the room
taken away
until
I stop hiding


Her grandmother
Born in a tipi
One birth certificate
Lost in a fire
Nobody accepts copies


Spring’s song
Earthworms
pushing up
tulips
From wet dirt


A boy in the woods
turning over rocks
Walking down
rusty train tracks
until he got lost

shutting down
until
the only thing
anyone hears
is birds

When I woke up
Fast
Tossing and turning
I saw the dawn come blue
and breathed in lilacs


Today
I am an astronaut
without a suit
feeling a comet form
next to me



When I was 3
I always asked why?
Now I am over 30
And poke my nose out
to smell all things



cool breezes
in Cleveland
winter nights
in the desert
still fresh from the distance

one line kernel
two line kernel
three line kernel
four line kernel
pop!



She told me
“I will eat that
when you show me
the tender
on a chicken.”

My whole personality
can be found
in the nutmeg I grate
into squash ravioli
while sage sizzles in butter

So glad
English has many words
for laughter
Let’s make
all poems smile

Everyone writes
according
to their breath
She writes
in sighs

writing poems
in one hour periods
this time
I have no assignment
to turn in

all day long poetry!
endless new voices
heard and read
I am a pirate
stealing treasure

how far
is my reach
how deep
is my well
stretch

more poems
start
"I wonder"
than "I want"--
I hope so