Like a child caught stealing--

Like a child caught stealing
the cat sat in the Mother's arms
having been "within two seconds
of getting through a hole in the fence."

Admiring this move, I think:
the window had been open
just enough to duck out
and make a run for what

I'm not sure. I imagine
it was for the simple joy of it
being a rainy day full of sounds
and mud under wet grass.

For Lawrence Joseph

What thoughts I have for you today, Larry Joseph
Who would have thought that your August Abstract would remain so long and so thick
The haze always hanging from the trees (when there are trees)
And it seems as if you were right, sitting at Battery Park, noting in your notebook, thinking of the Unyielding Present
How you contextualize the pain of the fall afternoon
Larry Joseph, alone, ashen, and above all, sad
But, Larry, you must be more sad today
Today we have no monument to our fear
Instead, it is in Battery Park and the Upper West Side and in Midtown
And in the desert, the forest, and the sea
I can hear it as you read and your voice pauses
You have thoughts of anger and of concern
It shows in your body (you look nothing like your bookjacket photo)
You've aged, probably too quickly, and your wife worries
Are you sick? We're all sick today, Larry
But your words help because they have to
Why else commit such deep thought to paper if not to move body and soul
Larry, the horror will be surpassed in size and in scale
You know this, don't you? (you must, this is your job)
And then what shall we all do? I just don't think we can take it all again
Larry, would Tom Hanks make a good president
He would win, I think, but how would he handle nuclear war
(I suspect not very well)
Larry, the world is burning over a comic strip
But you already know this, it is why you are so sad

Fake red

fake red hair girl
in my math class
who i sit behind
doesn't know i'm there
staring at her worn chucks
wondering where
she walked in them
or what those drawings
on them mean
or that i know the hips bulging
over her jeans
probably embarass her
but not me and
she wears her nail polish for days
longer than she should
until only a blue
speck remains
i will buy you every bottle
of red dye that awful red
just so you don't change it
i don't even know
your name but
i know you like red

For A.C.

With no effort the human body floats.

Couple this with two arms,

Cutting through the water.

Albert is an excellent swimmer.

He has buoyancy,

His arms act like an engine

Shredding through the dark sea,

His legs as rudders.

Albert uses this

To his fullest advantage.

And he loves the sea,

And he knows he is an excellent swimmer,

And he believes he should swim.

With each stroke, he knows

His body can’t fail him.

That if he keeps swimming,

He can emerge victorious upon shore

Having braved what is often

A harsh current.

Short Meditation

The clean-ness
of a neat
pony-tail
tied with
black string.

The round-ness
of a bright
white pearl
poked through
your earlobe.

The Carpet Store

She was a carpet salesman and I rushed into her store. I was late but without knowing why I was late. I was late or I was rushing. I was rushing because I was late. There were lots of samples, square ones, all cut to the same size of about 18" x 18". All the samples hung onto moveable displays standing 8 or 9 feet tall and 3 or 4 feet wide, wider at its base where it stood atop black dolly wheels. Each brown display, covered in fake woodgrain which you could see peeled at the edges if you stood close enough and observed for longer than a few seconds also measured about a foot depth-wise, but this measurement really didn't matter as each large station was positioned near a wall with it being necessary, therefore, to only hang samples on one side. It would have been more efficient to use both sides so that the displays could be positioned all throughout the large showroom set off from the small adjacent frontroom with the small glass display below the beige cash register. With each set of samples hugging the wall, the space left in between was too great. The small, fuzzy samples were no match for the emptiness created over the expanse of the hard, brown floor. And in my rush I am pulled to a section which holds tan, orange, and brown carpeting. As I look again I notice I am with other shoppers and that all the samples are tan, orange, and brown. Indeed, the way the light curves through the windows and blends with the light inside, the size, shape, and color of the flooring, the displays, the samples, and the general mood I feel in this place, the general mood this place exudes... everything within the store, indeed, everything without it, is entirely tan, orange, and brown. I speak with a clerk, wanting to get my words out but the words never come. Then she is selling to me. She asks me what I want and when I want it. I am in a carpet store, her carpet store, but I have no words for her, no answers. I want to tell her that I feel nervous, that I am here but that I need to go. That if she understood, she would really just say it was okay to leave. No worries. But I make myself too anxious and it seems I know nothing of carpeting. I don't understand these samples. I don't understand how to shop or the reasons for shopping. I terribly want this to end when she asks again what it is I need and all I really am doing is deciding between tan, orange, and brown, thinking all along that I don't even need a carpet, that I haven't even a place for it.

For a friend

A new friend
on another side of town
opens up a new world—
roads to explore,
hills to crest,
signs to miss—
Ah! To be lost!—
I marvel as I drive,
knowing if it were not for you
I would hardly know
that this small stretch
of bumpy gravel,
worn from wear
(as we are each worn),
were here to trample—
Perhaps these roads
are to symbolize
our friendship
(old and new)—
Perhaps these friendly streets
have always been here
(just as you have, too).

i think horror--

i think horror
is describing
some thing so
some one else
can see clearly
as in another time
the same way
one could
see now
slanted and clear
like printed film