crocheted hippy hemp owl
embroidery and the Ma-san
     underground

men in crimson skirts,coke-snorting
coworkers and Achafalaya

alfalfa sprouts, berries and wild flower 
dressed soju tables 

lacquered pine, Zydeco levies 
     and Cuban dreams

Indian reservations, voodoo culture and French 
     Quarter remains

cypress, shaman's dance
      and shepherd's purse

Slave shacks 
      and Minguo restoration

dandelion salad, farmer's markets 
    and fern shoots

Margarite Duras and Evangeline

men and dogs
on sidewalks shit
freely dogs by day
gifts laid in wait
for man who
in darkness but to himself
leaves dawn's surprise

women play the tiles
beneath summer's green shade
baby, back to traffic
hiked up skirt
her own little pile begins

I am a 1975 Volkswagon Beetle
and she, a great prophetess!
a sayer of truths sky blue
--my shoes leaky on rainy mornings, socks damp all day
her floorboards sprayed 
a deluge from puddled pot holes and flooded streets 
--we are one in the same,
my future--to that I am blind
--to that I reach out
--to that I beg other faculties
as we did in '91 with burned out wipers plowing 
        down I-40 in a downpour
all we saw were bubbly tail lights
and even now I barrel forward with reckless equality
bargaining with a loose break cable and faulty wiring
you came into my life and I showed you my ways
I broke you like I break everything
and now there's no going back
driven without reverse for 6 months and this is how you
      repay
had I heeded your silvery predictions 
a blessing your curse would become 

As Klee's dots 
moseyed off                        
along a line 
on a leash
they 
go for a walk.
No need 
for idle chatter,
they walk
 a silent stroll.
 from their sockets, 
inert objects roll.
 Mesmerized,  
surprised 
by sudden sounds
 my loiterers 
stop and gawk.
Then again, 
they're off     
right then left.
Stealthy steps 
follow sexy scents.
As on cones and rods
they gently trod.
While my own
 tired dogs plod 
my eyes 
go for a walk.

Ominous, the dark tower
--a grand symbol of covetous power.
Dubious, a vacuum extracting,
a sacrificial alter, jacking
cognitive potential.

Gone, the Provider's existential harvest,
flowers, sensual, tiptoe,
       powder and perfume,
trick another shilling, then de-bloom.

Crushing with permanence,
the frail light,
the warm soul,
--a giant,
an emblem--
the smash of a hammer,
sparks, like men, scatter.

Waves blast
--frail nature trembles.
Mulching mongers of every profession
--weary travelers.
Heals on bars, elbows resting on chatter
find refuge in digression,
find relief in what doth not matter.

While others catch sight of the monster,
freeze in awe and wonder,
question the very air they breath!
and surrender to it all.

(dedicated to Bert Hall)

scrawny wire, elasticky pulled 
flung dough, quickly shaking


shrine smoking
--"a mi tou fo"
frail faith
--quietly jubilant 
reverent discourse, conversing


trance succumbing, 
magnetic rhythm

ambient murmur,
repetitive sadness

inaudible distraction,
faint chants

sermons and salvation


stroking his throat
with thumb and forefinger
neither tortoise nor turtle straining
extended forward
automated habit
in reverence, his routine

a white goat
standing on a hill
head darting
eyes blinking
jaws chewing
watching everything unfold
neither moved
nor moving