Gogyohka 10.6.09

I like the idea of writing anti-seasonal Gogyohka:

Out on the lake
what a sight!
Four gray swans
amid the mallards
sailing with the wind

Don't tell
the kite
it will soon
crash land
It's made to soar!

Gogyohka 10.05.09

Don't tell
the startling daylilies
it's October sun
they match
or kittens foraging around their blooms

The best argument
often consists
of distraction
storytelling's balm
grandpa's bouncing knee

Gogyohka 10.03.09

Divided so much into choices
"Are you A or B?"
How nice to have a swivel spot
neither this nor that
but the other thing

Gogyohka 10.02.09

You can kill
the wolf
but you can't kill
fear of the wolf
inside you

if you live
you're killing something
so if you kill the Earth
where do you live?
and how?

I just want
to avoid
becoming a caricature
of my parents
There are worse things, kid

sleepless sinuses
garden hoses
kinked up
shoved inside
faucet taut

The tide came
It came late
But it came
always does
Gangbuster storm rain

Wild Poem

I'm
alone
but
I'm not
lonely

Block out the sun
standing over a clover
if you want to feel complete
I'll take the redwood's shade
and unmade becoming

Gogyohka 10.01.09

Looking up
at the spray
of elm leaves--
They're floating yellow and green
on seafoam

On a crowded sidewalk
or taking a shower
and straddling
the narrow bathtub
I wish I was Japan-sized

Today
I release
the voltage
of a battery full-up charged
Bring it New York!

Let me be
your bonfire
or jumped-in leaf pile
or your jellyfish
floating transparent

All the Chinese women
on the D train
are wearing knit caps
Wrapped huddled
against the poles

Felt so good
I rode the bus
all the way home
Took forever
But got to see everybody

My jean jacket's
cracked and stiff
like it hung
from a hook
in a stable