Whole Buncha Pomes

070618

SALINE SOLUTION

When something sour
or bitter appears,
When some new challenge
triggers old fears,
When some dire question
or tragedy nears,
Here’s my sum answer:
dissolving in tears.


070617

BEING A DAD

How does a person
who has never been a mother
understand a father?
She can’t.

How does a daughter
who has never been a father
understand her own?
She can’t.

She can only try--
she can recall, muse,
wonder, and appreciate.

Thanks, Dad,
for spending your life on mine.
Thanks for valuing, safeguarding,
and nurturing your family.

Thanks, Dad—for being a dad.


070616

RAZOR WIT

“Houston Special—
that’s your favorite breakfast.
So why the grimace?”

With a forefinger,
he touches the corner of his mouth
gingerly.

“Ingrown hair, I’m thinking.
May have to quit shaving.”

My face registers disapproval,
judging by his own.

“Just here,” he defends himself,
touching the spot again.
“Nowhere else.
Not my bikini line.”


070615

TAKEN IN

i never thought
i was meant to write
i often thought
i was not to

either my angel
or demon muse
goes ha ha ha
i’ve got you


070614

APPETIZER

Mexican eggroll
with pineapple salsa;
nothing rhymes
with that but balsa.


070613

SYSYPHIST

My dream
ran out of steam—
not for its first time.

But then
it rose again—
not for its last climb.


070612

BEFRIENDED

A friend will lend a shoulder,
if you should need to cry.
A friend will lend a hankie
to dry your cheek or eye.

A friend will lend an ear, dear,
if you should weep or sigh.
A friend will end a poem,
if that’s what makes you cry.


070611

[under development]


070610

LAUNDRY PRE-SORT

When did I start
to not like my life?
What does it mean
to be someone’s wife?
When did I start
to feel less than nice?

I thought I could do this.
I thought I could twice.


070609

ROYAL DELIGHT

Emma is a cat
on which to dote.

She’s light and fluffy,
yet doesn’t float.
She’s quick and nimble,
yet not a goat.

Emma is a cat
on which I dote.

Run her for princess—
with her fur coat
and eyes of topaz,
she’d get my vote.


070608

DEARLY BOUGHT

I didn’t do the shopping.
I didn’t write the check.
The gift itself is heaven,
but I will pay like heck.


070607

BURNING THE
MIDNIGHT INK

I need some sleep!
I need some snooze!
But, what-the-bleep,
I’ll take some booze—
words that rhyme, and ink.

Poetry’s my drink.


070606

RELATIVE VALUE

none of these words,
as you know, are “mine,”
unless, perhaps, aloristically,
emphoniously, or zhedat,
and then only briefly,
nor are you “my” reader,
although, somehow,
I get to charge anyway…
oh,
what, by the way,
are you paying
for all these commas?


070605

HORSE-GIFT

Sporty, red, a horse well bred,
I call my Mustang “BAM Babe.”
A hot machine from my marine:
“Grateful’s what I am, Babe!”


070604

[under development]


070603

ANSWER WITH CARE

What can I do to please you,
your friend asks.

What he really wants to know is,
What can I do to please myself
that would please you also?
It’s a very good question.
Do you have a very good answer?


070602

MASK ARRAYED

My behavior defies
my desire to be wise.

Do I have a face,
any face,
that is not a disguise?


070601

PENCILLED IN

The purpose of all this writing,
the purpose of all this thinking,
the purpose of all this—
I’m beginning to expect—
is to be done with writing
and thinking and expectation.

The tighter I hold my pencil,
the tighter it holds me.


070531

INTRUDER I.D.

The other cats
think it’s a cat.

One hides.
One growls.
One is oblivious.
One rubs noses.

Soon it will
master the pet door.
It will come inside,
the little weasel.


070530

QUIERO QUEZO

Beans and rice
would suffice—
but twice
as nice as these
(my own pet vice)
is beans and rice
with sliced, diced,
melted cheese.


070529

AMSTERDAMOISELLE

I’m silently hearing
something appearing—
a swirl or a whirl nearing.

I’m busy Vermeering;
reading and cheering
a girl with a pearl earring.


070529

BEYOND MEASURE

A day I may forget;
a day I may not treasure.
A day without regret;
a day I read for pleasure.


070528

MY DEATH SONG

Beauty. Beauty. Beauty.
From beauty I go.
To beauty I go.
From life, to life.
From love, to love.

Beauty. Beauty. Beauty.
All is well.


070527

FOUNDLINGS

Mama! Kittens came today.
One is orange. One is one gray
All day long they jump and play.
Mama, may the kittens stay?


070526

JUST A SOFTIE

Possum Bill T.
is so suave;
a model of civility.

His pointed snout
and pointy teeth
he uses with agility—
but uses just for
self-defense;
never for hostility.


070526

HONOREE

Men are judged,
and rightly so,
by the company
they keep.

Stand-off cat
claimed Ethan’s lap,
relaxed there,
went to sleep.


070525

NIGHT AT HOME

Open windows,
whippoorwills,
wispy clouds,
and moonglows.

Reading late,
talking long,
familiar sheets
and pillows.


070525

SALVAGE VALUE

Hot red Mustang! What’s it worth?

Price, as wrecked, five hundred dollars;
fix-up cost, a few thousand more;
sales tax, a couple hundred;
property taxes, undetermined.

“Just vehicles? No house or land?”

That’s what the property tax lady
wanted to know when we assessed.
Searching diligently, she discovered
recordkeeping anomalies.

Due to no fault of our own, we owed
delinquent taxes: a dollar seventy-five.
Our entire homestead might soon
have been sold for that amount.

Hot red Mustang! What’s it worth?
Considerably more than blue book.


070524

SALLY INTO SILLY

Buddy, I’m not writing to you.
Nor do I use that book of rules
you drew up after seeing too many words
used too many times and boring yourself
silly. I’m not writing to an audience
either. Readers don’t deserve to be bored,
silly or otherwise, and this would surely
do it, or would set them on edge.
I’m just writing to myself,
because tonight, with the power outage,
and my computer screen the only light
in the house, I find it somehow
narcissistically enchanting to be
silly.


070523

TO SANDRA’S BROTHER
from Jo

Your sister, Sandra, ’s mild and meek;
not the type to curse or shriek.
But when McD’s sold out of Shrek,
she very nearly said, oh heck!


070522

IT’S TOO MUCH

Help! Help! I have too much!

I have too much to do;
much too much, and here is why:
I have too much, don’t you?


070521

BY ME!

Up. Work.
Down again.
Up, work, down.
All again.
Autopilot.

Lately,
I’ve noticed,
I don’t notice
a thing.


070520

DO THE THING

It’s totally optional,
even frivolous.
It will rip me apart.

But I know
I’m going to do it.


070519

BY WACO BRIDGE

Little fuzzy-headed geese,
little gosling babies;
nothing cuter, river-wide—
no ifs, ands, buts, or maybes.


070518

HOME TO HOME

Friday night.
Home from work.
Home to you and babies.

Friday night.
Hold me tight.
Home to you and babies.


070517

WAKE UP CULL

Zap! It hits you, or your friends.

Life as known abruptly ends.
Loss of money; name; health; way;
cache of goods or good cachet:
something (through these very griefs),
winnows excess, scours beliefs.

That same something makes amends;
better life, better friends
(better loved, in any case):
grace transforms us through disgrace.


070516

OFF TRACK

How to publish, where to publish,
when—

no, still whether to publish.

Too busy thinking
about what’s already been written
to actually write—
except. of course, about writing.


070515

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Finally! Alone time.
Drive time...

I am so tired of
think, think, think,
talk, talk, talk,
words, words, words.

Give me a break!

Ahh, reprieve.
Now I can just
put my car in drive,
put my mind in neutral—
Hey! How do you
shut this thing off?


070514

MAMA AND CHILD

Offered by her child:
Yellow rose for drama.

Taking it, she smiled.
Yellow rose for mama.


070513

Mother’s Day

I felt in the peak of health
till I peeked in a mirror,
then fell into a fit of pique.
Now I feel rather peek-ed.


070512

[Under development]


070511

HANNIBAL REVISITED

Start your parents reminiscing
about their early married days, and
you’ll discover how colorful
your childhood was—
quite an adventure,
if you had only known.


070510

OVER COFFEE AND TOAST

Horse-hair snakes
(a whole ‘nuther story)
have the crew at the café laughing.
Others eating there
smile along and launch
side conversations.

“Laughing is important,”
says the elderly woman next table over.
“We should all laugh every day.”

She speaks with earned authority.

Until recently, she worked at
the local footwear factory
in spite of severe arthritis
and swollen hands.

When her retirement became imminent,
her work instructions changed;
she was told to work standing up
for the entire workday.

Knowing what her employers
most certainly did also—
that her body would not stand
the strain—she quit.

She has little money now, she says;
no retirement funds, but no regrets,
no grudges.

She smiles with earned authority.


070509

YOU LOOK LIKE YOU
COULD USE A HUG

cuttlefish, cuttlefish;
do you ever cuddle, fish?
fish so subtle! fish so sly!
with mock meek face
and languid eye;
a masterpiece
of fish eye spy—

cuttlefish, cuttlefish,
do you ever cuddle, fish?
your rounded eye
with squared lid-flap
that doesn’t meet
(that leaves a gap)
never seems to be asleep
never seems to take a nap;
only spy, only peep,
only peer through
tears you weep.


ICHTHY: YES!

What are ichthies?
They are fishies.

One of them’s an ichthyus;
ichthyii is more, is plus;
each-for-all’s an ichthyist.

What’s an ichthyologist?
One who’s very ichthyous;
one who studies (nights and days)
ins and outs of fishy ways.
Should he turn quite wise
at this, he’d turn ichthyosophist.

Now consider; answer this:
what, pray tell, ‘s an ichtheist?


070508

TEXAS BLUES

Above; no blues
at all, for grays surpass.

Below; bluebonnets
all outgrown by grass.


070507

AN EFFORT TO BE AROUND

When will it be enough,
I wonder. How much
must I do? When will life
be satisfied with me?

I suspect the answer is:
when others don’t have to
wonder these very things
in connection with me.


070503-06

[under development]


070502

STORM FELLED

Pinecones
still litter the alley.

At its end,
that tree must have been
scared shitless.


070501

DOGGEREL

if you get
an idea for a poem
and it’s a dog,
you can dress it up
in a frilly outfit
and make it jump
through flaming hoops
or do other fancy tricks,
but it can’t outdo
itself:
it’s always going to be
a dog.


070429

VISITOR INFORMATION CENTER

Welcome to Texas declares the site,
offering parking-space teats aplenty
for every suckling vehicle.

Inside, basins upon basins and
stalls upon stalls assure no stalling.

Obviously, and perennially, and why not—
Texas is always expecting a stampede.