The Crazy Man In Denny's

The Bach Books

These are the best

And worst of my poems.

It simply can't be so.

Every book since 84

Was dipped from the same well.

The poems in these books of Bach

Are ugly/pretty, and they leave

A residue, a memory,

A trace the others don't.

Broken minds and wretched parents,

Quickly rhymed on sudden beats,

Too personal, not universal,

Are in my head an effigy

That from a gibbet sways.

2-24-14

 

The Boyfriend

Your boyfriend said he'd be right back.

It's been two thousand years.

He hasn't shown. I don't believe

I'd trust him anymore.

And in another thousand years,

That faith should atrophy.

Can this be why the world is ending?

Simple disappointment?

2-22-14

 

The Crazy Man In Denny's

If he stepped out of his madness

And saw the world he's in

And his status in it,

He'd go insane again.

2-24-14

 

The Knowers

To know but not be understanding -

There's the difference.

He thinks he knows what governs you,

But does not touch with care.

As though your heart were made of glass,

Or he saw through your head,

Such esoteric insight makes his

Soul superior.

Charlie Raub and Robert Buck!

The first in San Francisco

In 1967 was

Ophelia of the streets.

Robert some years after that

Knew the human race

Sufficient that his selfishness

Compelled you to obey.

2-24-13

 

The Lake

The still water's moving slightly

And the sun has planned a path

From its shiny center to my feet.

And I could step upon it

And walk out to the middle

And sink beneath the surface

The cold appealing surface

To the warm enclosing bottom

Of oblivion.

1966