The Old Man in a Chair

Houses on a cliffside above a line of traffic to a tunnel,
multi-lanes of cars, trucks, and buses going into the funnel,
everywhere, traffic moving under or traffic moving over,
going this way and that way and winding around a clover.

At the center of a circle within expanding concentric rings,
an old man ponders a millions people doing millions things.

Industrial buildings and rail tracks and girders of steel,
everywhere there is spinning and time turning like a wheel,
planes landing and taking off, and taxiing, waiting to fly.
containers and cranes and smokestacks billowing into the sky

At the center of a circle within expanding concentric rings,
an old man ponders a millions people doing millions things.

Past the warehouses and toll plazas where white clouds bluster,
sleek angles and spires of concrete and glass towers cluster.
I’m standing by my car, watching the meter as I pump my gas.
He sits in a chair, staring out, watching the afternoon pass.

At the center of a circle within expanding concentric rings,
an old man ponders a millions people doing millions things.

The Jesuses

Where a jesus walks, 
they don’t make a sound.
You’ll know they’ve been,
no prints on the ground.

When a Jesus talks,
you can’t hear them speak.
they shame the powerful,
and inspire the weak.

You’ll see a jesus,
like you’re looking blind.
You never see them but
they're present in your mind.

A Jesus comes and goes,
on a road  not there.
Still you’ll know the way,
because the way is clear.

The jesuses don't get awards.
They don't do TV shows,
They're all famous,
and everybody knows.

the jesuses  live in silence,
in darkness and in fear.
You think they're far away,
but they’re standing near.

The Color Blue

The color blue
It's the color of the 
sky and the sea.
It's the most 
omnipresent hue.
Like my love for you,
the world wouldn’t do 
without tthe color of blue.

The color red
It’s the…

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Shades of Humanity 

They hang people for speaking their mind.
The devil himself is afraid of this kind.
At the end of the spectrum is insanity.
I say it’s one of the shades of humanity.

Some people…

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Two Guys and a Girl

Short shorts and a Barbie cut,
her cleavage in full bloom.
She licks up the microphone, 
gets dancing up the room.

Two Guys and a Girl gave you
more than you should see.
Watch t…

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Qué lo qué?

What’s up, what do you say,
cómo estás, and qué lo qué?

I don’t come to watch the Mets.
I just scalp these cigarettes.
One dollar will buy you one,
Pull 200 when the day is done.

At lu…

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Junk Man

Picking through papers,
pulling on pipes,
rummaging acres,
garbage of all types.

The junk man packs it on
his rusty pickup truck.
It’s how he stays free.
It’s how he makes as buck.

His ga…

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All the Boys Love Alice

I want to be a preppy
at an Ivy League school
a jock man on campus
a rich dad’s jewel

An old money campus WASP
who was born into a palace.
All the girls love Ryan.
All the b…

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Kickin’ It Around

Well, you sure are pretty
like a dream lost and found.
A man sure gets silly
when he tries to get profound.
Sorry the rock hurt your leg
I was just kickin’ it around.

It’s the kin…

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The Rain

This sadness is the warm molasses
and the smells of a small bookstore.
His legs walk the alleys of the city;
his umbrella drums the noon pour.

His heart is the well of his senses.
The coff…

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The Steeple

There’s a mystery in the steeple
that looks down upon the town
it keeps watch on all the people
but it never makes a sound.

The eyes of my soul
seem to recognize its face
it seems to kn…

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The Laughing

Suddenly, he started laughing.
He wasn’t laughing because of a joke.
He wasn’t laughing because he was nervous.
He wasn’t laughing because he was broke.

He couldn’t stop his laughing,
…

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All Night Long 

What er up
What be sayin’
Down my luck
Where you stayin’  

Got me 
Realin’ in my head
Realin’ in my head
Tossin’ in my bed
Tossin’ in my bed  

All night long.  

Yo,flirt
Where you…

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A Song of Love to Someone I Don’t Know

I see you standing there fearlessly
like an actor accustomed to her stage
your story is being written ,
while never appearing on a page.

I want to be embraced…

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Waking Night

We barefooted the hot sand 
to the cool water by the bay.
We all had pink toenails then,
the sky was deeper blue, less gray.

Merging stories in finite spaces.
they come and go, some ne…

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The Smile

These short days prevail upon my soul, 
forcing me into dark corners of my being,
playing like an actor forced into a role
when I stumbled on this reward from seeing. 

It was like a flick…

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The Forest Spirit

It’s something I sensed
saught to understand
this morning felt different
like a mother’s hand

This silence heralded
winter’s spell broken.
Snows were abating.
The trees had awoken…

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Watching Charlie Parker on the TV

Maybe I’ll go down to the corner bar
and share a cold beer with a stranger.
I get the ones with the longest story
about how something was a life changer.

Sitting o…

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The Blue Garden

On the dark side of old,
a place young and new
Life is serene and lunar
in my garden of blue.

The morning sun trips
across the  glistening dew.
So my lachrymose mind 
in my garden o…

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Girl in the Caldwell Basement

I was turning twenty and had a job at the mall
that I took over the summer and kept through the fall.
I was taking college classes one day a week.
The wind turned cold,…

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