hater love

the peaceful people love a lot
including of course themselves
plus trees n nature n animals
other folks n everything else

the haters don't seem to love a lot
by definition this would be true
but maybe they love the way they feel
when passing judgment on you

fodder

notes and quotes and sentiments
stacked in files high
I won't know what you meant
till you put it in a pie

hollers through the canyonland
horses drawn up tight
they can't tell how i can't stand
giving up the fight

right

the songs I thought I wrote for you
turned out to be so true
how else could I have ever said
all that stuff to you

the words i thought you heard me say
passed by you like the wind
I had to ask you time again
just to be a friend

the things I thought I felt for you
still haunt me in the night
I don't care, it was there
despite the wrong or right

Folks on a Boat

Jimmy crack corn, I don't care
I'd kick that kid anywhere
Ask him to fight
Every night
Do anything I dare

Laura Ann Sue knew what to do
to get that old prankster in line
She kissed his forehead
And took him to bed
Told him everything will be fine

The two agreed not hesitantly
that they would stick together
They left us behind
Made their own world divine
Two folks on a boat unfettered

food nerd

If you want to know all about
the things I like to eat
You could ask real easily
what I think of as a treat

Some macaroons, or little spoons
of almond peanut butter
A couple of cherry jellybeans
yes please I'll have another

A huge delicious hamburger
with a side serving of ale
Crispy bacon french fries
next to a Ceasar salad pale

Jamoca almond ice cream
with a chocolatey fudge swirl
that's the jam that takes the hand
of this consumalicious girl

Maybe you want to feed me
something like truffled goose
with a rare and agéd camembert
from the deck of a caboose

Or pick the peaches off the vine
then slice and serve to me
pistachios, figs, and avacados
olives right off the tree

Mix it up in a great big bowl
with a huge dollop of mustard
smear the rest with spiced hummus
and call me a big food nerd!

laundry

early morning laundry
add the extra bleach

make the stubborn spots come out
before applying heat

take the streets up in your hands
lay them out elsewhere

just a different filter
in a wholly different air

all along

along the way I promise you
I will not leave your side

all the things they said to you
mostly they were lies

you couldn't tell from where you stood
but I knew all along

so now it's out and you can shout
maybe put it in a song

west coast daylight

the sun will find me, I am certain

around the bend, behind a curtain

laughing and looking up at the sky

I made this for just you and I

the pinks and purples coming up

the lazy blues for better luck

pastel hues so fair in morning

yellows to orange, colorpools swarming

a gift of some freckles and caramel crisp

no sky shines any better than this

escape

we'll make our escape then, you and I
beyond the trees and past the sky

around the lakes and banyan trees
somewhere just for you and me

we'll walk for days through thicket wet
and speak of hopes, but some regret

will find its way onto our path
(despite our almost perfect math)

perhaps we trip or lose our way
maybe you forget my name

never matter I will say to you
I can tell your heart is true

I'll negotiate a way back home
and never leave you alone

Al Backwards

"LA is Al backwards," he said with a smile.
(Well trimmed and cunning, he was known to beguile.)

"Al is a nickname, named after the poet.
Though to look at me now, no one would know it.

My mother read Tennyson like it was her air.
She inhaled all his words as deep as she dared,

So of course the biggest one would end up on me!
(Including my brothers of course we make three.)

They are not poets with names borne of prose,
wordsmithing their way to rhymes we all know.

The youngest is Roy and the other one Ray
their lives have gone a somewhat different way:

Tiny confusions seem to eat them alive,
the same old fuel smells in the brush fire.

Hours in courtrooms in hateful dispute,
losing or winning in spite of refute.

It's hazy and glassy to be full of fame
But no one ever forgets my name.

options

"I'm drowning in options!"
the pretty girl said.
"I'd really like the white one,
But I also want the red."

"Fiiiiine, just fine!
I'll wrap them right up.
You can take them home
in your pink pickup truck."

"Wade's got the truck today,"
she said sweetly as she smiled.
"That was the fare he gave to me,
I'd rather just walk a while."

sweetness works

laugh a lot
throw the dice
look for it
don't think twice

put the words
into the air
sweetness works
everywhere

trash

if i fail to complete it
i really dont care
it was here for a while
then flew out with the air

where of course it went nowhere
but i was already on
to the next big great thing
to put my thoughts upon

this leaves a lot of incomplete
once the big fun part is through
ninety percent completed
but then what should I do

perhaps i am too afraid
of the solicitation part
i cannot comprehend
the selling of the art

i dont do it for you but its totally true
you could defs make some mad cash
if you went through the drawers and collected the hordes
of papers i thought of as trash

Chickens

count your chickens
let em hatch

slam the door
by the latch

watch it fall
to history

place your bets
but not on me

mistakes are now
like second nature

we don't belong
anywhere near here

Fine

This is the awful choice I chose
When I saw few options left

It shows how much we all know
And now we won't forget

All the knots and points and ties
Placed in clever time

Pretty sure I took the wrongest one
Don't worry, it'll be fine

the Wire

Sometimes it's really so wrong from the start,
You just cannot make it fit.
Still you go on thinking you're strong
Til you get sick of it.

At which point, it's all up to you
Where to go on from here.
Or whether to pedal on back to it all
In light of a future unclear.

You may stand and steadfastly proclaim
"I sure know what's good for me!"
I've fought all the fights and stayed through the night
Even in uncertainty.

It's all the same from different sight.
They cannot contain the fire.
Feet locked down, don't leave town,
Just be careful on the wire.

Start Here

I'm a fool, I know,
You said so long ago.

It'll hurt for a day,
Then it goes away.

I can't see from here,
You said it would be clear.

.   .   .   .

A way to retaliate backwards?
I'll keep it in my heart.

How are you mad at my ending
When I didn't even start?