clouds crept in as thun

der explo
ded soun
ded like a gun
(shot) my heart's still beatin
rain started pourin
dishwasher turnin
and turnin
uncertain
which was which Light's on
now and i'm readin
bout typical bullshit
what's worse be
cause
now
i
be
writ
in
it

i celebrated my birthday with a

stanley cup par
ade in
side of wrigley field the
pitchers mound
shook then
two almost no
hitters juan
pierre damn ex
cub damn ex
dolphin punc
tured lilly and we
still almost lost
due to balk me
diocrity but no
we slid by like
100 days of sh
it
ty
po
etry
and
now
i
can pause
like an
old
cassette
tape
player

welcome to another birth

day of mine i'm
sore from gar
dening three
days in a row the
compost has proven to
be a dis
aster due to pis
tachio shells
never again! the
sky is grey
er almost min
ute by min
ute prov
ing once a
gain that
weathermen are
horseshit
yet
we'll sit there
drenched with our
expensive cubs
tickets and
you'll be i
guess in the
atlantic o
cean and de
spite all these
humdrums these
bullshits these
whatevers this
morning i still said
modeh ani l'fa nechah and
you know i'm not kidding
rabbi knows i'm not kidding
papa knows i'm not kidding
lord knows i'm not kidding
i'll remember this tonight at
wrigley field

on a whim i bought three cubs

tickets online for
tomorrow night's crosstown
mediocrity classic and
chris will join me and
kevin will join me and
i'll betcha the stanley
cup will join me but
you
my world series
my newfoundland flower
will be heading toward some
candian french island
where you can't plug in anything
where they smoke wear berets and
couldn't give a damn about a
bezbol game but
live and breathe hockey like
i live and breathe
you
like
we live and breathe
love

when aj's voice cracked

reading la linea out loud the
girls all giggled but
he kept readin and
i wondered if he ever heard
peter brady singin
when it's time to change
you've got to rearrange
o janet!  o marcia!
will i ever forget ya?
i doubt it ex
plaining my shit
ty mem
mory

your lonely voice

over my cell phone
made me want to
reach you
more

even this new blackhawks fan is

caught up in this stan puck thing
game 6 they're playing right now in
philly see and
winning 3
to 2 third inning
so i must give up this
pussy
poetry
cubs who?

bosses dribble when workers

quibble and call
each other names
before a union e
lection proving a u
nion is just like an o
nion that can be pee
led and ea
ten only to be
come
shit

when he brought me out the meat that

i began to eat and
he knew i was a
vege
tari
an we
ll i chewed and
i wondered what it could
be when sudden
ly he
appro
ached and an
noun
ced i'm sorr
y but it's a mis
take he grab
bed the plate we
ll i wanted to grab
his balls and
serve him carn
iver
ous tes
ticu
lar bbq i
felt like
i was in chi
na not chi
cago i sip
ped some fan
cy ex
pensive teq
uila hoping the alco
hol the cacti pri
cks would bre
ak down whate
ver body par
ts i just
swallowed

i entered di's den won

drin if every
one'd be star
in i exi
ted a stum
blin with a
smile and new
friends

getting a letter from the

cancer center with
your name on it that
says your pmg is
stable with
no new enhancement is like
getting a report card with
straight ds: no
matter how smart u is
ein
stein u
bear
ly passed dees
clas
sis

karla sees a moose and a

black bear and a
caribou while
i give
multiple
guess tests to
teenagers: just a
nother fri
day in
21 c. north a
merica

i'm writing this in

a quiet house as
she flies over
halifax.  nova
scotia i think.  then
newfoundland. 'tis all
great white north to
me.  and
greater with she.
take off.

4 haikus for the 4 days i missed while in austin, tx (+ 1)

sat 5.29
more gutter balls than
strikes more splits than spares is bowl
ing life's metaphor


sun 5.30
scotch from the bottle
passed in a circle midnight
austin mitch forty


mon 5.31
uncoordinat
ed is my ass stuck
                                bum
                                        ping
down a water slide


tue 6.1
we woke packed flew blue
line bus washed clothes made dinner
tomorrow's joe fucked


wed 6.2
'tis teachers' fault some
sayeth mothers of their fail
ures our wh?e hold back

bad to have headaches

on friday nights i need a
martini quite soon

more necessary
than tylenol be
for a headache see
is a martini

haiku
or quatrain
silly jew
or insane

shaken not
stirred
poetry
be
absurd

soon she bombay
soon me tanqueray
later we
lay

hearing teens punk

in this twentyfirst
centchry i
realize johnny's
really rotten

today i was a boy at a baby

shower filled with

women i work with in

cluding one previous en

gagement from a recent mil

lennium and glu

tenous goodies i couldn't

eat along with carniv

erous gush that i chose to

avoid due to veg

ie-ism what

ever i

listened to them ooh and

aaww over all of

these pink and

blue things continu

ing stereotypi

cality aaww nonethe

less i had fun as the

boy one of

three and we'll never have

one of those things

karla and me

his f became a d

via
school's slow au
to
gra
di
ng
sys
tem
then i saw his
smile beneath his
long black
hair and i heard him say
yeeeaaaah like zep
just stair
wayed on the
radio well i saw his
thumbs go up like
this was some amazing vic
t'ry so i felt like
mr. hand hanging
out with jeff spi
coli

rick rizzo rocks

as doth doug
as doth jan
et o dream day e
leventh
ye rocketh me sunday
eve a
lone at the
hideout off
elston where
train tracks doth
echo a
million dream
songs

weddings with a brain

tumor conqueror as a
bride and a
btc in the
crowd has
power has so much
magnetic imagery of
love in the
room that
everybody left glowing
this time it means ok everybody
left glittering
loving
loving
yet
stable

mary's getting married to

night and there'll be
tears and dances and
drinks and
dinners with
strangers and
probably hors d'
oeuvres so we'll
stand and when will we say
hello to someone we don't
know cuz we
won't know
anyone what
ever this wed
ding doth cel
ebrate
love and
life and
life and
love and
loveandlife and
what is more
better to
celebrate

a 90 minute nap on a

friday after
work after a
nother late week a
nother late week a
nother late week in
may it is
grey has a 90 per
cent chance to
put me in a
bad mood when i
wake up for
some bad reason i
feel beat in this
seat typing up
shit on this
macbook so
don't look don't
look see you
didn't that's
ok i wake up sip
by sip with gator
ade and word
by word with
shit

students can teach

teachers more than
teachers can teach
students
sometimes when they
listen when they
listen with some
time

two masala dosas and

papadam and
sweet lassi and
holding your hand on
devon smelling
hyderabad if
only all there weren't
plastic bags and
parking meters and
closed restaurants and
beggars smell these
precious fingers! but
that's what you get in
chicago

one ambulance app

proaches me from the
south i hear
her siren then
one ambulance ap
proaches me from the
west i hear
her siren then
one ambulance ap
proaches me from the
north i hear
her siren then
one helicopter ap
proaches me from a
bove i hear
his rotor blades these
noises all these
noises all these
noises heading
west on foster ave
nue one cop car sans a
siren ap
proaches me what o
what
am i
think
ing

some days

i feel

like a

failure

but i

don't have

time to

ask why

socializing on sunday is a

slithering waste for
it often requires a
shower and wa
king up ear
lier than i
wish and may
be ha
nging with hu
mans i'd rather not
hang with no so
cializing on sunday is diff
icult he said before he sipped
from his first
cup of coffee on
saturday

midmay in chicago

block after block
one family's junk is
another one's
find from the
dusty closets and
basements and
attics to garages on
streets and
alleys to
bags and cars and now
our
own

as i pulled up the dande

lions and killed a few more
ants and karla mowed the
lawn again and we
both blew our noses
as the clouds moved in and
the wind and
the wind and
tom skilling chased
storms and the stu
dents kept complaining
about how warm the room is
all i know here is
spring spring is
here here is
spring o cheers! tom
skilling ee cummings but
not ants

when too many stu

dents fail i ask me why you
such a bad a teacher?

no i.d. necessary at the

hospital hello eric she

says as i walk into the

mri room as i have every

3 months for

how many years and

may i do so until her retire

ment party and be

yond well she came back from

her break as i was

inside the tube with

ice cream for karla just

because just

because and my technician he

told me his 34 year

history from xray to

cat scan to

mri when it be

came when it be
came some

where in the mid-80s just in

time to save my

brain then the nurse took my

blood pressure i

admit i felt my

heartbeat thus ex

plaining that high

second number what

do you expect then

dr. p entered with her

thumbs up with her

thumbs up and i

gave her oliver

sacks musicophilia signed by

me signed by

me after

we discussed brain shape

shaping art brain shape
shaping art what's in the

sky now be

sides papa mama ettie mitch and

more

god

love

love

god

o

thank

you

monday's the rabbi

to heal to

heal and tue

sday's the doc to

heal bronch

itis to

morrow's mri will re

veal the heal

ed brain thanks to

all the above

love

love

and the

lord

our rabbi with his ipad

nigel tufnel with his
foam green fender
6 string bass don't
touch it!  he put it
away and then he
touched me as
we prayed my
mri's on
wednesday i saw my
papa praying with the
rabbi with the
rabbi my
papa praying with the
rabbi as the
marshalls went up to
11

been wearing what i wore

last night
all day
been wearing what i wore
all day
been too tired to get my old
ass off the couch save
to eat save
to shit save
to turn off the cubs game
been
wearing what i wore
last night
all day
been wearing what i wore
all day
my sweatpants a
t-shirt my
green rubber sandals
been
wearing what i wore
last night
all day

art op'nings are ex

hausting.  thus explains writing
this one quick haiku.

the trojan ultra thin

lubricated 12
count box got
stuck in the purchase con
veyor looks like
rubber belt is
this yours too?  she
asks us and with a
smile i say for
now i
took my credit card
out
pressed
her
button
purchase now
purchase now
we
drove
it
home

experimental sound studio unlocked

search for that and
see what you find
is it ess
is it my lover's blog
mykindoftownandaround
or yelp for
hipsters
or reader reader
or this thing
with its new name
cuz i'm sick of
its dumb old one
dumb old one and
here is its
new one:
are you ready?

welcome
to
chamber pot poetry

precertification is

insurance masturba

that's right to

keep the cancer patients up at

night but not their

dicks you see but

they're dicks the

ones who

make decisions 'bout

who may need fore

closure let's mix che

motherapy and e

conomy but is that the

way it's s'poseta

be it ain't social

ism says i says

me just get rid of the

bullshit that's unn

ecessary and let us try to be

saved and not

wait

i've no time fer a

rhyme worked 'til six
thirty the art room was
dirty and didn't get home 'til
seven no heaven seein'
bugs on the front porch
wanted to torch the damn
twits with wings call them
twings well let's
sing now cuz the working
day's over and de
spite the cubs' loss to the
pirates it's not on fire
it's the time for ya
hear me a cold one a
vic
t'ry

byo

orokrat

ik bul

lshi

t whet

ther guv

min

t or

hell

thk

air or

edju

ma

kay

shun or

wha
tevuh

doth giveth

me head

aykes dyeuh

reah y must it be

reah well what

evuh we will con

kuh all those

mudduz wit

reah

luv

bt survivors must have

brainwaveconnections and
those are de
ad
bra
in tu
mor cells see

cuz that's how
they all be

fuck 'em all says i
says she
fuck 'em all says he
says we and if we
don't fuck 'em all what the

hell would a b c be but

no time to talk about 

neg a tiv i ty be
cause

love i say
love i say

love con

quers
all

e

ven the

c

word

*inspired by mary and her email of today

section 512 row 3 wrig

ley field at noon on a

saturday in may with

bill who just called yes

terday eve with an extra ticket and

how could i say no i mean i

was still at work and a

bout to go to temple and 

hadn't had any dinner yet but

the thought of an old

style when it's 70 degrees and

you see lake michigan just past cen

ter field well

how could i say no well

how could i say no well

i didn't and i

didn't we shared our bag of pea

nuts with strangers to the left of us and

strangers to the right and the

cubs won in the bottom of the eighth and

the save came with bases loaded that he

loaded marmol loaded but hey they

won and they won and how could

i say no well yeah we

won

blessed be thee, o

glorious god for
giving me the
strength to drive to
drink to
stay out late on a
work night then
stop
for some drive thru
french fries with
enough grease to
soak though two
bags praise the
lord! blessed
be thee! yet
we still pray in he
brew in bed be
fore i rise and
touch my toes
take a shower
drink a cup
hit the traffic
do my bestest to
teach teach teach
so they too may
one day get a
job.   blessed be
thee!

i watched the kids at the high school talent show

and i thought to myself sir

you'd better practice

she'd been waiting more than 31

days for the

choice amid 31

flavors of ice 

cream that today cost only

31 cents yes

31 cents in a

world where

joy is on sale and you

may discover this

sale via tweets she

eats her snicker and

oreo scoops as we

walk together and i

stare at her ultimate beau

tiful lips licking ba

skin o lucky ba

skin robbins ice

cream

may her

flavor

soon be

me

her doc says she has high

blood pressure you're a
time bomb her doc
shouts of beau
ty sings
i

a fat mom and a fat kid too

wide for my mirror my
rear view mirror
on my way home we
drive past mcd
onald's they're
chewing on some
thing or
drooling and they take a
right now they're
gone
later on ci
cero a boy wearing
glasses he
crosses the
street with his nose in a
book thick
er than chicago's
white pages--what is
he reading?  he's
smarter than me
see smarter than
me and may
be so is the
fat girl

hebrew in a temple to

deutsch beer in a bar to
arabic in a restaurant
espanol all around us

we speak english to each other
we speak love with each other
we feel love
love
love
not to mention the
cool rain
one

sunday
afternoon in
spring

chi
cago

i see life in

hell for the first time in
some time on a
saturday morning
drinking coffee in
silence
black coffee in
silence matt
groening says some
thing 'bout
sissyphus' myth a
big boulder
roll it down
push it up
roll down
push it up
and so on e
ternity and
just as i'm
ready to
shit
in silence
sat
urday
morning
si
lence a
car
honks out
side three times
honk honk
honk drives
by i
write this and
i guess i
i guess i
i guess i
a
gree

i tried to break

dance ant

onio tried to teach me

i almost broke my

hands my hips my ass my 

lungs were pumping i

was sweating it was

ridiculous as hell watch

ing this ancient man flop

ping on the floor like a

carp well here's the

moral of the story:

once upon a time antonio

failed my history

class he was younger the

class was early and

now he's teaching the

teacher with patience and

if he could grade me he'd

give me a d

we're all used car

salesmen even
teachers like
today at re
port card pick
up your son's
doing well but
but the but is be
neath our lips or
the noise of
the room where
we wonder how
not to sell but to
build better
cars

reinvested div

idends mut
ual funds junk
bonds hy
brid opp
enheimer short
term treas
ury all
ocation mat
urity port
folio fix
ed in
come per
share val
ue i
just spoke
with our
financial
advisor
after work
after teen noise
no orchestra
no free jazz
mod art
or is
just human to
human in
vestment

jimmy

page do you know who

he is? pedro

asked me why

yes he played with glenn

miller you little fool

i should’ve said but

no we spoke ‘bout

being a rocknroll star for

hours after school i

practice every day he

said i’m gonna be diff’rent he
said i'll play this six string in a different way he

said i’m gonna be i

saw i

saw i

know

so when
i got

home i

printed out two

copies of the

tabs for the

modes: i

onian dorian

phrygian lyd add

mixo aeo locrian and will

give one to pedro and

save one for me

me and my tele and

see what grows with

my fingers

my fingers

my fingers

it’s spring!

years ago a friend

of a friend she
told me about a
book with
meditations with
healing meditations with
hebrew healing meditations
written by a rabbi in a
temple in sko
kie i
needed some
thing i
tried it be
fore you
knew it i
lit the can
dles be
fore you
knew it i
met the
rabbi be
fore i
knew it he be
gan he
aling me be
fore i
knew it i be
came a jew
again be
fore i
knew it my papa's soul
returned
his soul
returned again
we said el na rifa na la together
my papa's soul danced with god
always he
knew this would happen
always my
papa the angel smiles
upon
my rabbi
karla
and me


*dedicated to rabbi douglas goldhamer for his almost 65th birthday

zoo rhinos stared at me

and saw nothing.
just another human.
like we all say
every day
without saying it.
without seeing it.
without feeling
             hearing
             smelling
             zoo
rhinos.

i met charles bernstein's

poems as i sat on the
toilet due to the book
review shit
ting i realized it's
all been done it's
all been done it's
all been done many
many many many
times before but
reviewer's words i
just flushed i
can't tell you or i'd
be one well
let's just say
i just wiped
stuff from my
tush charles
bernstein charles
bernstein i
look forward to
reading your book if i
get it from the li
br'y one day and
i'll drink to your poems and
i'll shit to your poems and
i'll repeat that we're just all the
same

one big onion cut

in half
tops sliced off too
all rest on one plate and
sit in our bedroom to take away that
paint smell that has been taking over
taking over taking
over our senses as of
late the window is o
pen now despite
cooler air due to
our prayers for our loverest room to be
clear now i just remember
in mexico onions cure
fevers cure fe
vers just place them in your
socks your
socks your
socks i
hope our bedroom is
sweating

begin the day with an

ow! goddammit!
cuz i just spilled hot coffee
above my boxers
without a t-shirt
6:30am
and at least seven ounces
all over the counter
all over the floor
all over the t-shirt i held in my hand
and the top half of the boxers i wore
and thank god that those ounces
those seven hot ounces
those seven just brewed am i awake hot ounces
weren't over my dick in
juring my precious member
that i pray will be put to use to
night or to
morrow night with
dare i say it?
hot ounces
with
love

melinda baked me a gluten free brownie

a chocolate gluten free brownie
and i started eating it on the way home
west on foster avenue
a big truck pulled up
next to me
my windows were down
diesel and chocolate
diesel and chocolate
i ate it anyway
one half at a time
here's a rhyme:
in the first taste of heat
even pollution tastes sweet
diesel and chocolate
diesel and chocolate

orange sweatshirt hood down

blonde ponytail drops
she picks up garbage
cans in the alley
city of chicago
cloudy wednesday morning
just past 7am
i drive past her to work
city of chicago
cloudy wednesday morning
here comes the sun
in the city of
alleys
in the city of
alleys
in the city of
alleys

polish flags with black ribbons wave

in our polish neighborhood today
and on cars
symbolizing
yet another political
tragedy.

true tragedies go beyond
votes.

glittering prizes & endless com

promises shatter the ill
usion of in
tegrity saith not
peart not
me quoting
he but a re
publican tea
party candidate in ke
ntucky i
almost dripped my
sunday morning coffee
when i read this then
heard the upcoming cre
scendo won
dered if palin
is a rush fan too
realized once your
words are out they
don't belong
to you

mama ettie, you were

in my dreams last night
and i don't remember
what they were about.
i think we were at a
carnival, mama ettie,
at a carnival.
is life a carnival?
did we ever go to a carnival
together?
mama ettie, are we near
the anniversary of your death?
maybe according to the
hebrew calendar?
is time a carnival?
is death a carnival?
merry-go-rounds,
carousels,
ferris wheels,
do they stop?

3 words in white paint

on red painted wood

a man holds them
facing east
i drive west.

he stands by himself and
we all drive past
him.  the end

of a workweek.
some of us are hung
over.  we're driving
too fast to read.  i

catch these words, though:

                obama
            muslim
   
              terrorist.

words are posted
       like
         a
     cross.

this is not downtown.
this is not rush hour.
this is not election time.
he stands there alone.
we keep driving.

immigrants stand

on the corner
in the morning
fishing and hunting
reads the wood sign
above them on montrose.
monticello and
montrose.
eastern europeans
they smoke cigarettes at 7:30
a.m. and wait
to get picked up and paint
or nail wood
and tomorrow morning
they'll meet again
beneath the sign
beneath the sign
above them on montrose.
monticello and
montrose.

benjamin brought me his mothers' tamales again

(vegie)
a teacher friend
warned me
they might be poisoned
(o well)
but i just ate them
for  din-din
(with brown rice)
if it's a sin sin,
so be it,
my tongue bumps be dancin'
(and dancin')
to the rhythm of endorphins
to the remains
of black green peppers skin
(like dolphins)
to the seeds of black green peppers
o dolphins
i say gracias to benjamin's
mama again

is teachers sposedta be

edukrats o teknokrats?
burokrats o dis o dat?
and what the hell iz triganamatree?
to u n me?
howzabout apr on my credit card?
and late fees?
and this unemployment rate?
what did she say when she was teachin bout fate?
during baywulf?

in the spirit of jesus, rosa

cooks easter feasts for her children.
she cooks easter feasts for her grandchildren.
and drops off leftovers to next door neighbors.

we're one of them.
john, the retired truckdriver, is
the other.

today, she dropped off chicken and
arroz con gandules.
her red rice was decorated with flecks of pork.
she also brought potato salad with
fresh bacon bits on top.
she knows i'm a vegetarian.
she knew i was at work.
so she spoke with karla about family stuff.

one day i want to bring her and ramon
a tupperware bowl filled with my stir fry.
vegetarian.  tofu.  gluten free.

one day i want to watch a
cubs game with ramon.  and john.
john, ramon, and me.
80, 70, 40.
ish.
and invite chris, too.  next door.
30.
4 houses in a row.
pole, jew, puerto rican, i don't know.
chicago.

lake michigan and litter

on a near warm easter
where the sounds of the wind
meets the dogs in the water
and the sand in your eyes
meets muslim women faces
covered in cotton
brown hair/arms
covered in brown
legs/feet covered in cotton
is it cotton?

lake michigan and plastic
bags flying near
faces flying better
than girls' kites
with their fathers
near montrose beach
on top of that hill
just south of that
skateboarders' pit where the
boys learn to fly
with their wheels
without helmets
with no fear to d i

e.     lake michigan and skateboards
where we parked
is now cold
is now cold grey and raining
and the winds are still blowing
rain in our eyes
easter chicago
twenty
ten.

once upon a time

my guitar playin was good.
now i doesn't sound
like it think i should.
old strings?
no sing.
dead rust?
red dust.
the look
the sound
all around around
is dead.
in my head.
in my head head.
and my fingers
they ain't no more singers
like they could be.
or they was.
was was.
but they keep tryin.
some
     times.
frustratedly ever
after.

five catholic girls

wearing the same grey t-shirts
walked up our front porch
on today, good friday,
as this good jew sipped coffee.
are you catholic?
one asked me.
no, i smiled.
is there something we can pray for you on sunday?
i thought about it. 
would my rabbi kill me?
what about god?
i didn't want to hurt the girls' feelings.
how about my good health? i said.
they smiled.  what's your name?
i told them then they walked next door.

maybe i'll pray for them, too.
tonight.  in hebrew. 

72 hours of phoenix

brought us
mom and dad
lots of food
a cubs game
gluten free pizza
cacti cacti
hiking near rattlers
mlb cable
precious dvd
kasha on passover but
not a seder
lots of food
gluten free beer
i'm having one now back home in chicago
mom and dad who are happy as hell
and let's hope we have a house and money and lots of
friends and things to do in
our seventh
decade like
they do
lots of walking
and it's almost midnight now
so i'm
done.

rattlers on the lost dogwash trail in

spring.  the new government
healthcare plan.  the new government
student loan plan.  the chances to
get hit by a foul ball when
sitting in the 3rd row on the
1st base line.  surviving  a
brain tumor.  be
coming an actuary and
digging it.  be
coming an actuary and
figuring out all those numbers above.

rattlers on the lost dogwash on trail in
spring.

cubs game in spring training

sitting in the third row
first base line
six days before opening day
reminds me of obama's favorite word
reminds me of obama's latest accomplishment
but do politicians accomplish anything?
mlb cable predicts 2nd or 3rd for the cubs this year
well, i tell you my dear,
baseball players and
politicians
have one thing in common:
victory,
defeat,
and that thing that
george washington's face is on.

go cubs, go; it's
been a unicentennial plus.

visiting the folks in phoenix

over spring break
reminds me
to be grateful
for ma and pa

the Idea Man

comes up with Ideas every day.
sometimes he writes them down.  and
sometimes he doesn't.  sometimes he tells
people.  most of the time, he keeps them
to himself.  he forgets a lot of them.
most of them.  sometimes he throws away those pieces
of paper.    the next one will be better, see.
so nothing gets done.

wait.

the Idea Man
comes up with Ideas every day.
sometimes he writes them down.  and
sometimes he doesn't.  sometimes he tells
people.  most of the time, he keeps them
to himself.  he forgets a lot of them.
most of them.  sometimes he throws away those pieces
of paper.    the next one will be better, see.
the Idea Man
comes up with Ideas.

have you ever stood up

to watch your shit go down
all that black & brown
sometimes white surround
ed by water & paper
and, i hope, your
relief, hear
the flush--o that sound!--
wash your hands, now, wash
your hands, now,
toilet symphony in your ears, now,
pollock shitphony in your eyes, now,
disappears now
disappears now
reappears some
time, you
pray.

march madness entices

even this basketball hating
jew.  i just saw tennessee beat ohio state
u. back and forth, see, back
and forth; forth and back; forth and
back.  what did the volunteers have tonight
that the buckeyes lacked?  kar
la graduated in columbus, as did her bro,
her dad, my sis.  tonight they were a
miss.  the last few minutes.  po
columbusians, po po fans, i ask you
this:  what's better, a buckeye dead near
the finish line or a blue de
mon never to feel Death's kiss?

one 5th decade white boy jew

in the high school hallway saw two
latino girls thin as fingernails
figting against lockers
while the crowd grew around them--
free show, see,
everybody's got cable, right?
but this was live--
i tried to separate the chicas
glued as uno,
and with the help of the football coach
(without whom i'd be gone-o)
they were dos again,
taken
downstairs to
the cops
but who knows what who'll see
tomorrow?

The Breakdancers' Club noise just

outside my room door
keeps repeating re
peating, via mp3
repeating e
ven ghostbusters dammit,
as they spin on the hallway,
the damn dirty hallway
where junkfood (w)rappers
stumble and old teachers
grumble to turn that shit down
as they twist on the ground
but they keep on spinnin'
and kickin' the sky on
hands and knees and backs
wearin' ski caps inside
with nothin' to hide
sayin' who ya gonna call?
hip hop cultcha.

mp3s

these days
make me realize
my fingers
are beginning
to suck
like fish
not play
like i usedta
and my songs
o those songs
even shorties
seem long
even longer
than those one sided yes songs
in 3/4 then 5/4 then 17/8
o my fingers
po po fingers
even tho
students say
let me hear you play
i say no cuz this old man
needs to start practicin'
his dorian scales
gray.

i smell the already

sliced onions here in the front room
the sliced onions in the kitchen
waiting next to a sharp knife
on a wood cutting board
near a cast iron pan
on a gas stove we bought last year on sale at sears
o sliced onions!
sliced onions!
soon you will spice tofu, zucchini and mush
rooms two
rooms to
my left
the holy kitchen
where sliced onions
will sizzle
in a song that sings:
add everything now!
then they will all dance in the pan
and
then

we

will
eat
them.

some days viki's vegetarian puerto rican jibaritos

set my white jewish tongue
all aflame,
sometimes not
well today, it was hot--
she was busy
and forgot
that the flat fried plantains
surrounding green pepper slices,
tomatos,
cheese,
onions,
mayo,
and spices, spices,
spices were going
my pale way
so as i write this i sip
vanilla and plain kefir
like i drink vanilla lassi
while eating
dosas
o those dosas!
on devon.

in Just-

vernal equinox,
when our day is 12/12,
and yesterday was 68
degrees, i drove win-
dows down,
warm in one jacket,
toward the sun,
hours pre-e
quinox,
the last day of winter was
warmer than the first
day of spring but
one thing,
not to worry, i
still see be
neath the flurries the
be
ginnings of those tu
lips still con
tinuing to
grow. 

the class played this family feud-like vocabulary

game, two teams
35 words,
instead of an announced quiz,

and the score was close
between the two teams,
words like functional and engaged
procrastination and inquisitive
regretful and alien,
words like inconspicuous and rage,
until this sound, it erupted,
student t's fist through the back of the tv,
did i hear that? yes i heard that;
the crimson blood on his finger's thin black skin
was hard to see.
we were both calm.

the back of the tv had a hole in it.
he apologized.
the class just kept doing their thing.


t and i talked later.  he says it's cuz there ain't no black kids in our class.
but he likes me.
he said.
he said he likes the old white teacher jew.
we shook hands.
then he walked to his next class
down the hallway

alone.
like the one boat down the river
toward the sun,
the crimson blood.

i tried to redecorate the table

but the goddess
the goddess made of wood
that we bought once in senegal
the goddess with dark breasts
and beaded earrings
and a big face
and one shell hanging from each hand
and two lines on each cheek
yes that goddess with small dark breasts
she hit the ground
my heart jumped
i had just moved one plant, see,
she was silent
i heard her say:
put it back like it was
where it was
where i was
and the moral of this story?
there is truth in
her breasts.

i stared at the computer

late at work to satisfy bureaucracy
that bureaucratic crabs created with
tax dollars clipped from my very own
paycheck.

and now i attempt to create
creative poetry 'bout those senseless senses
as i see senseless words,

invisible lights
colorless colors
in a soundless room?

i am hungry.  it is late.
and i need to cook something for dinner.
something quickly.  something healthy.
something with senseful whiskey.

we sat in silence to listen to the news

thatweknewwascomingsoon
andsoonthenews
thenewswaswe:
we'recuttingthis
we'recuttingthat
andit'scuzthegooseisfat
it'scuzthereain'tnowaytopay
everythingthat'shappeningeveryday
nosirnohownom'amnoway
we sat in silence

we'recuttingthis
we'recuttingthat
andyesit'strue
we'relettinggo
somekindofnumber
whichone?wedon'tknow
justsleeprealsoundly
we'llgetbacktoya

we sat in silence
weheardthenews
notonthenews
butinreallifeviews
andwerealized
maybe
thatthegovernmentwasnotlying:
theirlieswereinfactthetruth.

some peoples' voices and

stories
on
the
phone
m
a
k
e
i
t
s
e
e
m
l
i
k
e
y
o
u
'
v
e
b
e
e
n
c
o
n
n
e
c
t
e
d
f
o
r
e
v
e
r

her black radio fell

and there was no longer
sound.  the radio was no
longer a
radio.

3 butternut squashes
sat for seasons on our
counter; we didn't
plant them yet they
grew in our garden.  we didn't
eat them and they knew they
were no longer edible
fruit.

so i banged the
silent radio upon
one tumorlike squash
and i began to hear static

and then beats:

the dead squash was not
wasted.

i threw them away today.  we
see the

space.  she

hears the
radio.

in honor of health

i ate my cornflakes with
kefir--thick yogurt-
like, pro-
biotic, vanilla and
plain, un-
sweetened
milk.
so thick.
so thick it rested
in my goatee.
so thick.
she saw it.
i asked her to
lick
it.
she licked it.

she

licked

it.

so
thick.

target (tar-ZHAY) on a friday

evening, i say,
say i see
easter candy
different flavors of cadbury
and they're all wrapped in springpastelfoil
aisle after aisle
i see smiles
in kids' stomachs,
karla's stomach,
karla's tongue;
karla's tongue will taste
bombay sapphire soon,
i'll taste tanq
tanqueray,
but in target we smell starbucks
crumplechinos, 3.79,
in mart-k
it's a packed parking lot!
in mart-k
of today.

seeing musicians i

saw decades ago,
half a life,
dare i say,
in a near empty bar,
as i sipped makers mark
on the rocks
on a wednesday
made my fingers tap,
my lips curl
(in a smile, see)
and say
let this be once again
in two more
decades.

chicago broke 60 degrees today

for the first time this year
and i felt the warm air in my lungs
as soon as
i left my school's heated building.

i drove home.
with my window open.
i heard the warm air.

home, i changed clothes,
then we went for that walk,
that first walk of the year,
where we saw the warm air
littered
with paper,
newspapers,
parking tickets,
plastic bottles,
and junk mail catalogs filled with merchandise
too expensive
for unemployed
chicagoans
to afford.

but they can taste
free
stale
gasoline
flavored
warm
air.

i heard my health & benefits

member services coordinator
reading words like
based on blahblahblah then
clearly stated then
closer review would have alleviated then
their difference between irs definition and ours blahblahblah
and in the end the response was
we've taken your 500 dollars, sir,
shoved them up your ass, sir,
then turned them into our
somekindof feast
that tasted incredible, sir,
incredible, sir,
so thank you, sir, or
was there even no
thank you?

my lunchbag was full

when i left home this morning,
when i got home this evening:
i was too busy at work to eat.
so when i unzipped that magic treasure
and saw one plastic box filled with chips,
potato chips,
salt salt salt,
and one plastic box filled with a soft green medal,
a sliced avocado,
a green and black zebra like sliced avocado,
i dipped the greasy yellow
into the soft forest,
the firmmulticoloredsweettart avocado,
and let the tastes dance on my tongue
before i had the time to sit my pleased ass down
after a busy day at work:

one busy moment chewing potato chips and avocado.

in just meteorological spring-

it's just past march 1,
and our backyard's snowluscious;
it's sunday, i get to sleep in but
i don't.  i wake to

piss.  and when i do, i hear birds
singing

for the first time since last
decade, so i smile as
nature's water hits
nature's water in
manmade's bowl

and i don't waste time
flushing, i
just go back to bed
and place my balloonMan against
her skin; when she wakes
i'm sure she'll feel him
far
and
wee

solo le pido a dios

last night i heard a song while making 2 martinis.
i always hear songs while making martinis.
but this one shook my shaker.  this one shook my ice.  my olives.
i stopped shaking and listened.
and i wrote down the title.  and her name:

mercedes sosa.

today i found the song and downloaded it.
here's just one version.

oh yeah, my martini tasted better like it, too, was toasting
her words, her voice, her eternal spirit.

seeing the two bottles

inside the white envelope:
shaking them, hearing the pills--
anti-seizure maracas--
feeling the bitterness toward the unknown:
is it caremark?
bluecrossblueshield?
orthomcneiljanssen?
why the cost has risen hundreds of dollars
(or the congressmen)
hundreds of dollars in 6 months, i say,

let's shake the epilepsy,
i see the fuckers all dancing.

i felt the white pimple

aliens in the corner of my left nostril all day at work.  after, i saw them in the mirror.  two little plops, hidden in the shadow of my nose.

so i popped 'em.

the white became red and the bumps became flat.  let's see what i see in the mirror tomorrow morning.

my fingers

are on the keyboard,
my MacBook's keyboard,
and they feel the letters
as i begin a silly blog
(all blog's are silly)
related to senses:

i have 5 senses.