said him to her

said him to her

i do not know
what i should
know

to satisfy
your every need

to be your clot
when you do bleed

said her to him

you'd better know
what you should
know

to contemplate
your evil deed

of negligence
by burly gents

said him to her

why should i be
the one that you
internally desire

when with my work
I'm destined to

be destitute
when I retire

said her to him

why should I be
the one that you
in secret so desire

when with my work
keeping your house

depressed and lonely
as your spouse

said him to her nothing more
she had the last word evermore.

tempered in imbalance

trust fund kids
are ruining my
class' curve

upsetting the balance
of class consciousness
in the department

surely i benefit
from past choices
but largely these were

my own sacrifices
my own toil
my own late-night oil

if only I didn't
have to be the baker
of my own bread

I wouldn't have
to be a faker instead
nor would I be rising

in the heat of sucess
at least one step
up from where I started.

I will not be / all by myself in the night

I will not be
implicated
in your psychosis

not be held to
blame for conditions
I didn't conjure

not be responsible
for lost or stolen
valuables --

so lock up your
open heart
which has baited me

these many years
and bailed on me
so many times

leaving me cold,
without a partner
or covers, shivering

all by myself in the night.

no one wants / a dissertation

no one wants to let someone down
(with oh so many obligations)
family tribe city n'town
we write our words with consternation

full-time and parts (both little and small)
making times for all the things
we have to do to do them all
knaves knights queens n'kings

in the noble court we are but guests
(with oh so many nominations)
adventure journey riddles n'quests
that rid us of denominations

when by now we ought to know
what's whispered in our weathered ears
that if to make fame's fortune grow
we cast aside the feathered fears

someone must let no one down
(cancelling all reservations)
smile wince furrow n'frown
then focus on a dissertation.

i stayed up / in my memory

i stayed up way too late once again
retiring to bed as the sun rises
the salmon swimming in the turquoise
of morning sun's golden embers.

keeping the schedule of an astonomer
the days tumble over like dominos
the nights fading into one
single apparition in my memory.

a gutterpunk from / down under

a gutterpunk from pedestrian Drag
smoking a cigarette, a large black piercing
deviating his septum, the nexus of his nose
from some suburban subdivision,
(his mama drives a lexus
while he lives his life a deviant)
a misguided miscreant
as I walked by asked me for change
I looked him straight in the eye,
said no, sorry.
He said sorry is a game.
I told him so is payday so get a job.
He sat on the sidewalk asunder
down out, down awning, and down under.

i was set / no point

I was set upon by a disenheartened
man who questioning my right
to coffee in peace ranted on

from a position of existential plight
his gnarled teeth stained from his words
or from smoking his youth away

male pattern baldness to a tee
for over an hour he spoke to me
providing little room edgewise

thinking his wisdom was so unique
the boutique of pretension
suspending his individualism

further widening his schism
with society the lack of variety
or nuance in his viewpoint

he rambled on and on with no point.

here is there / set adrift

here is there is an

everywhere an ocean
of solitude (we must learn

to swim before we speak
stroke after stroke in ancient
moats one step ahead of the boats

that float upon the rippled surface
paddling over darkened depths)
that runs on like sentences
over the horizon without parole

not a cloud in sight
in the sky in your eyes
the stroke promoting the hour

as days pass rifts dissolve
(into furlongs i can't fathom)

like a raft on the sea set adrift.

salerno, south of napoli

wedged on a ledge
the ancient lane overlooks
alleys steep with history

sorrento named for sirens,
minerva, the people embodied
in crafts and wisdom

a traditional italian dish
of mussels arranged on a plate
then off to the gelateria

the places named for biblical
as well as polytheistic
borrowings from greece

the commune of amalfi and towns
perched upon a precipice
as the windy way bends

around cantilevered architecture
the bridges and aquaducts
that engineered positano,

big buses packed with people
rooftop domes on patstel homes
cafes, galleries, boutiques

overlook a narrow mediterranean beach
where towers watched for saracen pirates
reminder of the maritime power

of renaissance italy,
the tiled maps on imported arts
from constantinople,

st. andrew martyred on an a-shaped cross,
a freak storm saved the town from pirates
but this is no haven from modern day tourists.