“President of Virtues”. (a poem):

 

President of Virtues

Buddha/not Buddha,

 

I heard your talk at

the jamboree/ the center-ground

of being

 

Oh Buddha/not Buddha: in perfection/misdirection

 

Your straight-talking speech so thoughtless, profane

Leads one toward the active silence of contemplation

 

You advocate petty gratuitous violence;

This shows me the way toward compassion

 

Your worship of all that is gold-plated and numerical and small

directs me toward the ten thousand things and the non- separation of all things. Truly we walk on holy ground every day.

 

You champion winners,

and so lead us to remember the begging bowl and the value of service.

 

Incontinent and profligate, you awaken within a desire for pure heart

that I might breathe in and out mindfulness

 

Oh Buddha/not Buddha!

President of Virtues!

You are the town drunk pointing at the moon /we pull you drowning from the river you’re pissing in/ mocking/ you remind me that

The imperfect tree survives the ax

 

President of Virtues

Buddha/not Buddha

Your disciples are clowns

Directing us toward

Seriousness of purpose,

The narrow path/no path

The truth /no truth

Integrity as it is.

 

Old, old Buddha/ not Buddha,

Fat president of golf clubs

your vigorous tongue is wagging

to remind us of the ancient parchment

The fine calligraphy

Of Liberty:

 

The imperfect tree survives the ax.

 

7/28/17

***

-My Supreme Courtyard

 

The hummingbirds agreed to return to my porch and converse with the color red

 

the tomato plant at my fence

agreed to grow, promising to tomato

 

and the eucalyptus grove on the hill has by mutual consent agreed to perform the interpretive dance that brings the wind and the windblown seed drifting about

 

The ocean, always busy plunging, yet still stands in support of more cormorants who honor the ancient rocks

 

and the fleet of pelicans are in formation commanded by no one to fulfill a conning role with respect to nature, carrying intelligence to the remote districts

 

Clouds and blue sky cooperate in summer and moist foggy air agrees to reach across the aisle to shake hands with the inland heat

 

morning afternoon and night have agreed to allow each expression in turn

 

and the midnight bullfrogs agreed that while it is disruptive to croak in the still pond at night keeping everyone awake, nothing ought to be done, noting in all fairness the quiet in the day, and the nonstop chirping of the birds in the dancing trees.

 

(6/27/18)

 ***

 

-Note to self:

 

Looking for the poem you lost

The poem is inside you

 

A library is out there elsewhere somewhere

But the poem isn’t there. Where.

 

Looking for the country you misplaced

The country is inside you

 

The border isn’t out there

Nowhere anyhow anyway anywhere

Anywhere. No.

 

Looking for the government you remember

The liberty and justice-

It’s inside you

(Or it’s nowhere anywhere)

 

Looking for. Looking for. Looking for.

 

(7/17)

 ***

 

-remember the artists that live on air alone

 

the morning clouds are not describable

but I knew someone who knew someone who could dance those clouds

 

a ballerina on a bus and that bus was driven by john cage

 

she traveled a dusty road

 

my intermediary just bade me listen

be open

 

the sky this morning is too blue to say

but I knew someone who knew someone who could perform and direct that blue

 

premier ballerina of the imperial ballet

1917

 

she traveled an arduous journey

 

my intermediary just bade me listen

 

be open

 

you may know someone who knows someone

 

the artists who struggle for bread

like morning birds

 

the clouds the ballerinas who stretch their legs a little hungry

 

remember the artists that live on air alone

 

(7/20/18

***

Neanderthal grandfather

 

We’re related

in a decimal landscape

somewhere in Germany

 

We co-wrote a poem of formal sequences:

The serrate mountain, and the time before naps

The pier of broken stones

 

-You, a mosaic of buried stems

a beloved fractured reassembly

-me, with the nightlight, wireless

 

You are out there somewhere

 

In dreams’ stillness

bridge,savannah

cloud and twisted arch

 

I join you in your library

glossary of stone

or the unwritten code

 

under our ledge of time:

our dna

thinking

 

earth is starry with transmissions now

satellite maps your resting place

 

You who figured out the flowers

and fragments

the work of the world without words

 

Neanderthal grandfather you had your nightlight of stars

 

We are slowly leaving language behind

on our way to where you are

 

(8/8/18)

 ***

***

Interpretive Dance!

To commemorate the release of the declassified documents relating to the JFK assassination, the Magic Bullet Theater will reenact, through  interpretive dance, the day when Abraham, Martin, John, Robert, Malcom, and 58,000 American serviceman, were cut down by a lone nut with a ricochet rifle. Music by the Dictaphones on an endless loop. 

jk

But That’s Just Me, Poems

A Campfire Song for Nervous Americans

 

Are you sensing a lack of urgency?

“We’ll do something eventually.”

– President, USA

 

Our Titanic’s hit its berg!

Our Hindenburg’s struck a spark!

Antarctica’s breaking up!

Internet’s going dark!

Ocean floor is sinking!

Sea level’s on the rise!

Thank God the Republican Party is in control

I’m sure they’re going to call the roll-

What grand plan will it devise?…

 

… I’m only hearing crickets

Little crickets by the fireside

Just the wind through the trees

The lonesome lack of bees

In my garden.

 

Things are getting really scary

That thing with Russia’s getting hairy

Natl security’s up for grabs

The body politic’s on the slab-

With the fate of me and you,

What are Republicans going to do?

Let’s listen to what they say:

 

(Long pause)

 

But …we’re only hearing crickets

Little cricket by the fireside

Just the wind through the trees

The lonesome lack of bees in the garden.

 

The ICBMs are flying

These times men’s souls are tryin‘

Superbugs are pumping iron

Armageddon sounds its siren

What’s a good Republican government going to do?…

 

(Long pause.)

 

…We are only hearing crickets (chirp chirp chirp chirp)

Little cricket by the fireside

Just the lonesome summer breeze

And the lack of honeybees in the garden…

7/20/17

***

The Donald Trump Commemorative March and Two-step.” Or “Wishful Thinking”

I am the president

and this is what I say

American values have prevailed

I tell you this fine day

Though the pleasure been all mine

The trips to Paris was divine

The G20 summit on the Rhine…

 

I tweet my resignation- yes I tweet!

I tweet my resignation- yes my freedom is so sweet!

 

An ex-president I shall be

A must distinguished former employee

A celebrity

In your TV!

Clinton Bush and Bush and Carter and now me!

 

I tweet my resignation-yes I tweet!

I tweet my resignation:

I’m on the sunny side of the street!

 

My next reality show will be

another version of the me

that you always knew and loved

-the CEO with iron glove!

I gotta be the me I’m meant to be

a gold plated name that shines from sea to sea

I brand that you will recognize

A steak that you will tenderize

A daughter who sells lots of shoes

A son in law who’s paid his dues…

 

I tweet my resignation yes I tweet!

 

I’m not really that guy you hired

I’m not interested in being fired

I see the writing on the wall

I’ll be waiting for Fox News to call…

 

Yes 140 characters I will punch

And then to mar a Lago for some brunch

A round of golf on my own course

And then a nap with no remorse

then soon Melania and I shall fly

To Trump Tower in Dubai

We’ll bid the Fake Media fond farewell

Mr Pence can pardon those who fell…

Etc

7/16/17

***

Kellyanne’s glove, Inaugural

-Please wait  (A President visits the synagogue site of mass shooting.)

 

Don’t bring the Secret Service,

the NRA,

the black armored vehicles

the rooftop scopes

 

Please wait

Don’t bring the hate for the huddled masses’ yearning or the lies

Don’t bring your birth certificate or

the ghost of your fascist father

 

Please wait

Don’t bring your immigrant wife

don’t bring the daughter who turned her back

looking forward to skiing vacations,

the children abandoned in cages

forsaken

through your inhumanity

 

Please wait

Leave behind your princely son, who does the sword dance with our enemies

 

Please wait

Don’t mumble a prayer with a prompt from Siri

or Google the sacred tradition at the last minute or read from prepared remarks

 

Please wait

we don’t counterpunch at a funeral

or send the migrant ship back

or close our hearts at borders

 

Please wait to capitalize

to dominate a scene of loss

to dishonor the past

 

Please wait

 

10/30/18

 **

 

Poem:

Further Continuing Unfinished Greetings from the Capitols of Peace

 

Message 1:

My capitol and your capitol

Are the capitols of peace

We negotiated through breathing

What is tough is the heart beating

-When will you be returning to the Capitol of Peace?

 

Message 2:

We are just beings with a thought before sleeping

The path of believing

that took us so very far from our capitols of peace! Meet me at the crossing to the Capitol of Peace

 

Message 3:

Let’s go together to the Capitol of Peace!

(The age isn’t golden but it may be within- they say it

doesn’t matter what country you’re in!

We meet at the Capitol of Peace

 

Message 4:

We always live here

In spite of everything

that would tend to interfere

-what we most remember:

The willowpond in summer

Minnows weaving in the watercolorgreen

shimmering, reflecting the many quiet steps to the Capitol of Peace.

 

Remember that day on our way to the Capitol of Peace!

 

Message 5:

In the capitols, jazz in every window

Light flows outward in the course of peace,

Children hold your memories

prayer flags in the breeze

Before the Capitols of Peace.

 

Message 6…

 ***

(8/9/17)

 

Poem after Election:

 

A Conservative Prayer of Thanksgiving. The tune is traditional.

(“American Tune” as played by Paul Simon)

 

Rich Men Have Dominion

 

The Rich Man hath dominion

Hath faith to make it be

All genesis no exodus

From sea to shining sea!

 

Yes the president’s ascension

to the highest office in the land

Must be the will of one on high

For the wealthy raise His hand

 

(chorus):

 

So long, they’ve waited so long

They couldn’t catch a break

The wealthiest individual now

is granted

More than one man can make

More than one man can make

 

We’ll ban the liberal establishment

And all those popular nay-sayers

Conservatives, the Bible says,

Will answer all your prayers

 

For the Rich Men have dominion

The Bible tells us so

We’ll strive to make prosperity

For people we don’t know

 

There was no Great Depression

No Progressive Era’s divide

The wealthiest obsession

Doth finally provide!

 

So let’s do our jobs at WalMart

Lower jobs for lower pay

Low income night security

Give the President a chance they say.

 

Chorus:

So long they’ve waited so long

They couldn’t catch a break

The wealthiest individual now

is granted

More than one man can make

More than one man can make

 

Yes History’s running backwards

The story’s all been changed

The wealthy have the answer

Your future’s rearranged

 

So give Republicans a chance they say

And lend a rousing cheer

With penthouse views over land and sea

-can’t see history from here.

 

(11/16/2016)

 ***

 

 

 

 

Time Runs Backwards

 

 

Time is moving backwards

Don’t know who I am 

The Great Depression never happened

It was part of Nature’s Plan

 

Roosevelt hates the Working Man

The Right Wing was correct 

You’ve got to think of things anew

The history books reject

 

Turn up the News

Throw out the book

Re-educate yourselves, you know

The top One-Percent has got your back

Just like the Fox news shows!

 

There weren’t no Revolution 

The Civil War was just a spat 

The vet’rans died for something

That America has forgot

(Assassinated presidents- so sad but that was that)

 

We’ll ban the liberal establishment 

And all those sad nay-sayers

Conservatives, the Bible says, 

Will answer all your prayers

 

The White House will be a bed  of roses

Without those nasty thorns

It’s going to be a Palace of Gold

A gilt name- plait to adorn.

 

National parks be condo-ized

Our rivers run hot with energy 

We’ll frack the fricking landscape 

Just how God meant things to be.

 

The Rich Man have dominion 

Just let Trump make it be

All genesis no exodus 

From sea to shining sea.

 

Yes the Rich Folks have dominion 

The Bible tells us so

We’ll strive to make prosperity 

For people we don’t know 

 

So let’s do our jobs at WalMart

Lower jobs for lower pay 

Low income night security jobs

Give Trump a chance they say.

 

Yes History’s running backwards

The story’s all been changed

The rich folks have the answer 

Your future’s  rearranged

 

You won’t need no Social Security 

No EPA or green protection 

Your political correctness 

Can recycle the Big Rejection!

 

Now we’ve got an ivory tower

With Melania and Ivanka in it

O beautiful for spacious skies

Is how we’re going to spin it

 

So give Republicans a chance they say

And lend a rousing cheer 

With their penthouse views from  sea to sea 

You can’t see history from here!

 

jk

11/15/2016

 ***

Hey, it’s Sunday.

Here is a gospel number.

“The Red States Revelations”

(or The Book Of Larry)

some newly-translated windblown fragments.

Chapter 1:

And they said, Master, how can we feed the multitudes after your big tax cuts?

And the Master handed him a fish and saith, Have faith. I have a lunch date with my biggest contributors. I’m sure you can work something out.

Chapter 2:

On the way they saw a woman who had no job, and another who was not paid the same as a man doing the same job. Master, they called out, I have no job, and I who am working am not paid the same amount as the man doing the same job.

And the Master saith, See this child over there that can do the same job for a penny. See the one across the sea that will do that of which you complain for the same penny but for ten hours a day: Go, and do likewise.

Chapter 3:

And they went on from that place and found a couple older in age than the others. One of the followers asked in what manner they might live as they await the blessed life to come. And the Master saith: I suggest any of several tax deferred savings accounts. These will be a blessing unto them for the kingdom is like unto a Roth IRA or a personal savings account that belongeth only to you. It doth have your name on it. But lo, Master, some of these elderly have nothing. And the Master saith: Verily to that which have, more will be given, and vice versa. At this they wondered at its wisdom.

From town to town they went wondering, listening and studying the fine print of all that he saith.

Chapter 4: The Book of Larry

And the servant sayeth, Yea, and verily, would I understand this ownership society. And should I not have the tools by which I worketh, and own them, and have access to the company expense account for all my travels far and wide, and should I not share in the ownership of the plant and equipment by which I earn my daily bread, and claim ownership of the many stock options now reserved for those who deprive me even of a roof over my head?

But the Master picked up his scourge, and smiteth him a mighty smite, and drive him from the temple being careful not to disturb any of the money changers who were shaking down the widow for her mite, and curseth him even unto the end of his days.

And then they went out of town and saw a gathering place of veterans and the Master rose up saying saying Verily the benefits for all these shall be cut in the coming fiscal year, to which prophesy the multitude marvelled.

The ones afflicted with demons rose up saying Thou represseth the poor and those in need, dishonor such as these, casting them out? Even unto the daughters and sisters to oppress by new fangled laws? And the Master replied Lo, I think I seeth my house from here!

And the followers laughed at this and went from that place. And the Master saith, the Kingdom is like a gated community…

Chapter 6

And so it came to pass at nightfall the Master yawneth and saith to his followers Excuseth me for I am bushed right now, and he fluffeth his pillow before his followers and saith the Song of the CEO:

O Administration thou art by my side

Though I walk through the shadow of free enterprise thou art with me;

Thou reviseth the tax code

To make it simple

And raiseth the taxes on sales and amenities of mine enemies;

Yea the multitude deserveth nothing

Thou turnest the tables belatedly;

Thou enacteth much needed tort reform

And protecteth me from frivolous lawsuits

Though they be but 1% of 1% of my losses thou restoreth them unto me

Thou smitest the trial lawyers amassed against me

Thou cappest my damages

And freeth me from regulation

When I faileth decisively thou subsidizeth me

Thou grantest me billions to support my cause

Thou endest competition

And grantest me untrammeled advantage over mine enemies

Thou doest the R&D and chargest me nothing!

Thou grantest me dominion

And privatize my soul

Yea though I walk through the shadow of free enterprise

Thou fixeth it for me

My offshore accounts endureth

tax free forever.

And the Master slept

Chapter 7:

And awakening the Master looketh out, and seeing birds in the trees, and squirrels and other wild creatures, he saith: The environment causeth a great racket disturbing my slumbers. Have one of these my people raketh the leaves. And he gave a leaf a smite with his toe.

And they went from there and saw a wedding. These two have much in common, sayeth one. They are like unto the ancient Greeks at the Olympics, of like gender. And the Master saith Verily these faileth the test. To marry one with the other wouldst be like unto turning water into wine. It is like unto a trend in music which disturbeth the neighbors and driveth them crazy, like unto Elvis, afflicting all.

And then the Master saith

Offendeth me not, the poor that lifteth thineself up by thine bootstraps;

Offendeth me not, those following the rule book to the letter;

Offendeth me not, the heavy- laden that doest all the work for me.

Consider the birds in the trees, how humble they are, they stayest out of my way; they provide food for my table, as the earth provideth oil for the recreational vehicles of all

…And so end the precious fragments found in a jar in a wind blown desert long ago, and yet still inspiring Americans today! It is an awakening to which the Blue States watch with wonder.

jk

(11/07/04, – but still the same) from the notebook where all drafts are rough drafts.