The Ant
Keep poetry simple, like
a single ant atop a blueberry,
catching the light without shining.
In Times Like These
In times like these
I clean the gutters monthly
and the lint trap every day;
buy a time-share in the
Ojai Public Library, invest my life
savings in the Ventura Arboretum;
Bravery
This is a time for bravery.
Not the human-cannonball kind.
Not the free-diver nor the free-soloist.
At the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater
At the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater the Milky Way is rewound,
fast-forwarded, collided with nearby galaxies, as though nearby made
any sense in this unreal landscape, both alien and, in moments of insight,
How to Write a Poem
Stare out a window, any window, until your eyeballs loosen
and you spoon them out of your skull like two warm eggs.
Be sure to keep at least one nerve and one blood vessel
attached to the bowl of pudding that rests on your spine.
The Tragedy of Poetry
That one could read a poet’s collected works
in a single sitting.
That barely a handful are worth reading again.
Pre-Flight Checklist
Keys, wallet, phone.
The Collected Works of Federico García Lorca.
Moleskin journal and ballpoint pen.
Mahogany chess board, Rubik’s Cub,…
October 1, 2025
I am awakened too early. I cannot be awake.
The growl of my neighbor’s leaf-blower is what prehistoric man,
cowering in his cave, cowered from.
How do you forgive your neighbor?
Nostalgia
Remember when bumper stickers read
Free Tibet or End Apartheid, and we agreed?
Remember when there was just one war on TV,
like a movie whose plot you knew by heart?