Poems

Review


Everything we need
And everything we want,
A dwelling with a deed
That mother used to haunt -


Four delicious cats -
One as soft as sin -
Contented without rats
And always sleeping in -


Lying in repose,
Dreaming of their last
Interrupted doze
Just an hour past -


Little clutter here -
Lady Ga Ga there -
Unless another ear
Prefers another air -


9-29-13

The Magazines


When I was a medic (the glory it brings!)
On a short walk through the hospital wings,
I saw an old lady who quietly said
There wasn't a magazine she hadn't read.
Quickly I hurried and went to a store
And bought her some magazines, three, maybe four.
Then back at the ward with the zines in my mitt,
A colonel or major or some stupid shit
Stopped me abruptly and said to get out.
My intentions enraged her.  Like more of a rout,
I turned and I left with my gift in my hand.
Little of this can compassion withstand.
“Care about people!” psychologists say.
Care about people.  Stay out of their way.
Care about people?  Yes, really I do.
Five maybe.  Four maybe.  Three.  Maybe two.


9-29-13

Two Quatrains


With you and the government eager to feed
The tattooed and indigent lousy with need,
Little hands open, freely they ride,
Nothing gives nothing, and goes with the tide.


Some people are sick and unable to work,
And shrinks are unable to knit up the quirk.
Take a position.  Where do you stand?
With Jesus, Republicans, Roark or Rand?


9-29-13
Together


Tiny Tina and
Little Rebecca -
Salt and pepper at
Denny's at 6 -


To see them together
Starts the morning -
My encomium -
Nothing prolix -


9-29-1


Some Loves


Is selfishness sincere?
A pocket full of cigarettes,
A belly full of beer.


The people I have loved
Almost make me weep -
Brutal to their children -
Angels when asleep.


Some gentlemen will screw -
A tussle and a shove -
Seven times a week
And never mention love.


I was relegated
To oblique obscurity,
And listened to encomiums
To his maturity.


In my youth I was
An underfunded whore,
So probably I could
Remember several more.


9-29-13



“Iraqi Freedom”


In Denny's sat a kid
Who wore a baseball cap on backwards.
Across the brim was stitched -
“Iraqi Freedom”.


Was this a jeer of mockery
At Yank duplicity,
Or another willing instance
Of a sly redefinition
Of a bloody situation?


Everything has reasons,
But not everything makes sense.


9-29-13