A for Blog

Someday the meaning
the punchline, the shape
and during the meanwhile
the anecdotes, the japes.

Wait for the golden mean.
Pending between whiles
the picaresque, the picturesque
the bitsy bits that make no sense.

Interim a metaphor
knowing more than you.
Interim the comical,
someday sight the true.

Mean time is time being
time meandering
tackling the particular
and tickling the toes as we do.

Talking to a grumpy hermit
is a training and a test.

They toggle their manners
off and on to probe your zest.

They have the right to be silent.
They have the right to reject.

Perhaps it is wrong to circulate.
Perhaps they know best.

Thank God for sparrows perching
on those coils of barbed wire.

Thank God for sparrows flying
through the opened cage door.

Thank God for sparrows feeding
the too many, too hungry, too poor.

(Tuol Sleng, former Khmer Rouge S-21 prison)

Fireworks soar like Superman.
The old rhododendron
dons her purple cloak.
November saves us again.

His life
is an antique vase.

Her life
is a mixed farm.

Does one need the other?
Does the other need one?

At parties
you are boring.
That is your disguise.

You will meet someone
gorgeous
in the mirror.

I dreamed I strolled
with Jakob Nielsen
through an orphanage
or conference hall.

He was broad and calm
and all were amazed
that he knew me
and wanted the bathroom.

I gave Jakob Nielsen
cheap soap
wrapped in purple cellophane
with a golden bow, no less.

How thoughtful.
How thoughtless.
Not only splash
but flash.