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.