Echo Beach

Dealing in the sub-rhyme
(Word is saving "The Poems"

i.e., the white noise of dueling tambourines
in the kelp grove)

around here this is considered a "lifestyle"

Now I am free to be driven to distraction
in a gleaming sky blue Cadillac El Dorado

Clouds sliding past ruin'd Ilion
somewhere in Baja California
around the corner from Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji

Dog Days (underlined in red) & it's not even June
banging around in the rearview mirror
w/a measly palm tree or two
& those subliminal green waves

endlessly rocking

Circling the Drain

One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three...

a timing device

(leading w/the middle finger)

The difference is different

trembling as it would be a certainty

Those colored squares & the woman that

holds them there

                                       in the mind

patterns built of patterns

The real biography could be found in the footnotes

"machetes on the mezzanine" comes to mind

pursuant to & not for nothing

exploring every vacant lot from Santa Cruz to Eleusis

I once had thought I'd live out my

final days in Big Sur or Bolinas

a one-room shack filled w/books, empty

picture frames & a wood stove

but my final days are now

& always have been

The Next to Last Tango

The first part opens w/a simple melodic phrase
establishing a theme elaborated upon in the second section
the third part is a duet for clarinet & fuel pump
while the fourth & final section 
takes us on a detour thru a wind tunnel
begging indulgence
                                        without vows or refuge

                    LOVE TRIUMPHANT

                    a roll of the dice

                           such as would secretly engender
                                     a tender sense of desperation

H e a r t  &  S o u l
A silver spoon (blue w/rust), dengue fever, & the legendary
paradox that left you untethered somewhere in the vicinity of the
lesser Antilles

          clouds rearranging themselves 
          in anticipation of the next million dollar idea
                    dimension evoking divinity in hindsight
                              heaven for those who watusi in their sleep

& even if my heart's a boomerang w/yr name on it
I'm pledging my time & fancy footwork

We Were There (Weren't We?)

The notion of knowing. Anything.
Non-negotiable. When the safest thing to do is hide.
Just in case separation was a cure.

I'm just saying.

          The clouds broke apart & the sunlight
                    tilted her halo at a rakish angle.
          She had taught the fish how to swim.
                    Grey whales & the odd crustacean in attendance.

I was probably riding in Bob Witte's Datsun at the time.
          A case of Pabst Blue Ribbon in the back seat.
                    A bag of Thai sticks in the front.

I kept my eyes behind dark glasses
in the vague hope that it would induce invisibility.

It seemed logical to assume
                                                      but logic often eluded me then
as it does now
                             which is how I got here.