The New World We Created

Asked my father before he died

about the new world we created,

and he just said, "Pray.

First, pray for a breeze.

Then, pray for cloud cover."

I told him, "Our God's gone." 

He agreed. "Find new ones."

Food got unaffordable, and

power blackouts normal.

Finally, no air was possible.

But the drugs got cheaper,

and marched everywhere.

We're on our way to Mars,

the next bio phase after Hell.

7th Sun

What I wanted most,

a sad ending to it all,

in confirmation, old,

I went beyond.

Feels like it's coming on.

Neck twisted up.

Numb feet and hands.

No spit. Can't hear.

Money going fast.

After saying all I said,

the world...the world,

in murderous bounce,

and no goodbye,

no care to what I know.

Then, kill me hard. In proof.

Wrote it up. Called it out. Now,

wreck me like an ocean wave.

Agreed?

All framed up

by what happened

or what is.

Can't write a line

without sky, stars,

cheetahs, dandelions,

the First Communion party,

my friend's motorcycle crash,

or the clerk job at Safeway.

It's not a question

of what is there.

We lack language

for what never came before...
where we must go,
alive and altogether.

Merchant Magus

He got promoted and now he sees

the undersides of speeding trucks,

anger of the ocean as it flings

an empty message bottle wave to wave,

wind demanding a plastic bag jump and dance.

Nothing more than a middle manager,

but he thinks he'll move mountains

because he knows the mechanics,

the meetings schedule, the budget items

that will get hit the hardest despite best plans.

Avalanches to flat tires, forest fires to overtime,

all that might happen!

Still, a distance from the shaman's cave,

where he once slapped off the spider webs

from his head and shoulders, and now

eats them as he finds them in his garage,

alert to the change, where darkness

turned from nothing to everything.

The Only Thing We Talk About

How's the pitching this year?

The produce has gone downhilll.

Does this car come with a USB port?

Is your restaurant still open?

What is the nature of reality?

Are they still doing that?

Can't wait to see your pictures of Paris.
Is that guy still alive?

To Be Infinite

I wish I wasn't me, yes,

in blaspheme of to be !?

More here and there,

beyond address

and the prole life

of seating chart

name badge,

photo ID.

A fog atop two cities,

or a fragrance unseen,

its origin unclear,

the cherry orchard

hidden by brief hill.

Snowfall that runs

out of town as water.

An idea everyone has

at once, left unsaid,

not easily explained.

Static on each TV.

Why? Ha! Answers

are  a place of fraud.

while truth flies around

right now in mostly

unassembled swarm.

How you taste the ocean

salt walking on a pier.

Voices of a midway,

Anywhere, USA.

Earthbound Milky Way.
Clatter of light across
a bright summer sea.

Our Funny Multiverse

10 sad sad suns

lined up in punctuation marks,

dark over the littered ruin

of some dead millionaire's mansion,

where we sat and drank Napa wine,

making up our minds.

Dying stars inside and out,

the universe all jumbled up

in times of goodbye.

"Well...this, then, that...

remember? You were there, too!"

As the past hangs on your back

the way they taped "Kick me" signs

on the awkaward kids in junior high.

"Yes, but, but, but...maybe you're right."

It's me / It's her. A fight not worth winning.

We hug like empty suitcases,

as ghosts are heard weeping.

She leaves. The world

once again depopulates.

This place returns to rabbits,

who marvel anew

at beings of 38.5 trillion cells,

40 trillion bacteria,

who can't live alone, and

can't give themselves away.

One bunny, ears tall as antennas,

Jersey accent, smarts off,

"Complicated, ain't it!"