Thursday, May 19, 2011

Wooden


A man’s success is not his own
despite his gifted hands;
a soldier needs a captain who
needs those who he commands.

He no more is his finest hour
than is his darkest turn,
and neither one can profit him
save what by each he learns.

His life is not a sum of strokes
he’s made along the way,
but hallways full of canvasses
he’s painted every day.

A man’s success is not his own
despite the heights he reaches;
all his knowledge dies with him
apart from what he teaches.

He is not the friends he knows
but friend as he is known,
not the wealth he’s harvested
but seeds that he has sown.

It is not faith on which he holds,
but faith takes hold of him,
a purpose not in depth of roots
but fruit upon the limb.

A man’s success is not his own
despite how he’s enshrined;
the measure of his life is found
in those he leaves behind.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Runt


Robbie and Bobby and Buster and Glen
climbed in the car at a quarter to ten
hoping to find something better to do
than hold down the trailer with softcore and brew

Robbie was driving and Bobby felt great
blown as the speakers in that Z-28
Buster and Glen shared a bottle of Jack
they passed back and forth sitting crammed in the back

Their mom was a mess and they moved quite a bit
living on welfare and gravel and spit;
three different daddies between the four brothers
countin’ on nothing aside from each other

Robbie and Bobby and Buster and Glen
found a good party and piled on in;
Robbie and Bobby sat down by the bong
and Buster kept both of those kegs going strong

while Glen took a walk ‘round the block with a girl
smearin’ her lipstick and mussin’ her curls
who never did mention that she had a beau
not that it mattered, but how would he know

that fool and his friends would be waiting inside
with heads full of liquor and fistfuls of pride -
words were exchanged and then somebody swung
and the whole goddamn party went mad and unstrung

Robbie and Bobby and Buster and Glen
sent that fool through a plate window and then
Robbie and Bobby knocked two down the stairs
and Buster used someone to bust up a chair

while Glen went outside, took a look at the lawn
and knew it was time for the four to get gone;
the guy had a pretty good bleed from his neck,
the girl was sobbing, the house was a wreck

The cops finally showed but a little too late
to do more than look for a Z-28,
no one had names and no one really knew,
it happened so fast that they couldn’t say who

and Robbie and Bobby and Buster and Glen
packed up and took off and weren’t heard from again;
countin’ on nothing aside from each other,
and that’s why I grew up without my big brothers.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Morgan


Had a lucky silver dollar
stamped in eighteen eighty-four
kept it with me
in my wallet
maybe fifteen years or more

It was with me when I found out
they had kicked me out of school
and the day
that I got hustled
down in Austin, shootin’ pool

On the day that I got married
and the day that I came home
to a pretty note
she left me
and some other guy’s cologne

On the night that I got cold-cocked
For a stupid smart remark
and the time
I got arrested
just for pissin’ in the park

On the day I got evicted
and the day that I got canned
and the day
the IRS said
that I owed ‘em seven grand -

So I sold that silver dollar
for a fifth of sour mash
and a pack of
Hav-A-Tampas
and a couple bucks in cash -

By the bottom of the bottle
as I drank it in my truck
couldn’t stop myself
from smilin’ -
guess I’m finally
outta luck.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Egress Largesse


Tell me that you

bought a card
and I’ll pretend you sent it.

I’ll say it was eloquent
if you pretend
you meant it.

We can tell our friends
we’re friends
to ease their apprehension,

say we didn’t hit the roof,
that it was more
ascension.

Tell me that you
bought a card
and I’ll pretend it flatters.

I’ll say that I wish you well
if you pretend
it matters.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Crossrode


Spun out at the intersection
of Mistakes
and Misdirection

pealing tires pouring smoke
as the brakes
howl through the spokes

twisted mouth of the suspension
pulled apart by
torque and tension

it’s a cold and quiet night
not another soul in sight
just a silent swirl of dust
falling back to road and rust

Closed my eyes, held on and skated
through the cyclone
I created

wheel slipping through my fist
wrenching something
in my wrist

hoped and prayed and swore and guessed
‘til it shuddered
to a rest

it’s a cold and quiet night
not another soul in sight
signal flashing overhead
dim and doubtful pools of red

Didn’t think to try the engine
left the keys
in the ignition

just collected what I could
of my shredded wits
and stood

didn’t even shut the door
tried to stagger
to Before

it’s a cold and quiet night
not another soul in sight
trying to get where I can’t go
from someplace that I don’t know

Somewhere southeast of Disgrace
when a streetlamp
lit my face

on a corner, felt a breeze
read the signs and
hit my knees;

broke down at the intersection
of Renewal
and Redemption

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Corporate Compliance


Login,
click,
begin.

***

1. Code of Business Conduct:

Conduct all business
in code; a problem is
“an issue”.
To ignore an issue,
“table it” until it becomes
“an escalation.”

When your boss tells you
“let’s talk about that offline,”
stop talking.
When her boss tells her
“Let’s talk about that offline,”
start updating
your résumé.

2. Electronic Communication Awareness

Corporate email systems
are not to be used
for personal business.

There is no personal business here
because we impersonally
monitor
everything.

3. EEO and Harassment Policies

You do not have a race, color, or creed;
you are a number,
and you will be respected
as such.

Respect others
as such.

No means no
unless accompanied by a coy smile
in which case
it might also mean
“maybe, but not here”
(see also
Code of Business Conduct)

4. Ergonomics

It is not your imagination.

There is a multitude of ways
this innocuous little cube
can completely cripple you,
and if it does

it is entirely your fault.

***

Congratulations!
Please print for your records.
Expires in 12 months.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Fingerprince


Petal smooth and shifting you
reach your rolling neck
and roll your reaching arm,
a pure and perfect smile;

Your knees may scrape
your arms may bruise
someday you’ll love
something you lose
My whispers curl along
your small ear and fair-haired you
kick out and are still,
filling up canyons with
murmurs and gasps…
Your head may bump
your tummy hurt
someday two tears
will streak the dirt
Sleep with the peace of prayer,
wake with the awe of stars,
your fingers
fall open
like spring;

I never knew hope
I never knew fear
I never knew what
ferocity was
until

You will lose some
innocence
You will leave some
fingerprints

How can I say
you came from me
when you’re more than
I knew
could be?


[first posted on Flash Fiction a while back.]

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Optimissed


brew the coffee hoping
that today will be
the day -
wondering if the miracle
is on its
merry way.

stare out the kitchen window
as the night begins
to fall –
wondering if the miracle
is having hope
at all.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Repose


There’s a glint of sun that glows
on a patch of grass that grows
where the earth is damp and broken
where the slug and sowbug goes

As December crashed and froze
January thumbed her nose -
March slips rings upon my fingers
and ties bells onto my toes

Somewhere lily laughs with rose
sewing jewels on their clothes
turning green eyes towards the bluebells
coyly tying on their bows

Scenes repeated, I suppose,
in spectacular tableaus
all around a world yawning
buds and birds as bright hellos

February, in her throes
spat me out upon her floes –
March’s outstretched wing descended
just before the rats and crows

Someday I’ll get there to those
valleys, mountains and plateaus
where the arc of every petal
outshines all our poems and prose

but today, I’m glad to doze
in this patch of grass that grows
smelling sweet earth, damp and broken
where a glint of sunlight glows.