I check around for poetry on cd but all I see are failed rappers and celebrity wannabees but I ain’t hip hop and I ain’t slam and I ain’t even feelin’ good about saying ain’t that’s not me I’m too old to be street and I’m too off-white to be black and I’m too brown to be white and I have too many college degrees and none of them in creative writing I have a lovely home on the hill with a 30 year fixed rate mortgage so where’s my pain? where’s my str...
I cannot see my way. It's dark and I reach out and up and around and I must be in a briar patch higher than my head during a moonless midnight. I feel about looking for the way and a voice tells me "do not trust your intellect" and another says "do not have blind faith" and still another voice is telling me to stop the search and yet another bids me forward so my progress out of this maze of confusion is painstakingly slow. God pl...
Five minutes on the snooze bar blinks by five minutes of early morning prayer is my investment five minutes of trying to hold back an orgasm so I don't come too fast causes a headache but five minutes of laughing with my daughter is medicinal and I hope the last five minutes of my life will come as a complete surprise if I could hold the red on the horizon for another five minutes if I had only reconsidered each one of my mistakes for another f...
The diplomat is Latin the gardener is Mexican the evangelical is Hispanic the Catholic is Mexican the bon vivant is Latin the mojado is Mexican the graduate is Hispanic the drop-out is Mexican bilingual is Hispanic Spanglish is Mexican El Torito is Hispanic a panaderia is Mexican and Taco Bell is garbage.
Will there be bibles in Heaven? or nations? or wallets? the first year in Heaven will be spent laughing at our previous imaginings of the afterlife and the Jerry Falwells the James Dobsons and the Pat Robertsons of this world will be there too looking for people to minister to but they won’t enjoy it so much because it really won’t be like they thought it would or should be and some of the inhabitants of Heaven will be expected --like the Christians who pro...
Happiness is a short-lived fancy chocolate kisses wrapped in coconut promises to be savored for a moment but once savored is but a memory I sit in the aftermath of happiness alone with my memories and try to discern their precise moment that happiness died nothing good ever lasts in its state of placid perfection for too long life stumbles in clumsy and inappropriately enthusiastic like foals in a crystal shop life is messy and loud and disruptive and th...
In case you’ve been too busy to notice: the currency in this culture is the promise of a quick fix to completeness the most obvious examples smiling laughing pairings engagement rings model homes baby clothes erections-on-demand life insurance policies and multiple orgasms of sexual and non-sexual natures are dangled in front of the money holders with a promise: buy this possess that master it and you will be complete. The carrot is always different but th...
My muse visited while I was taking a shower on Christmas Eve. "Hey, asshole, how long are you gonna ignore me?" I continued ignoring her. "Fine, you want it that way, just remember your songwriting drought of the early 90's. When I split that time you kept writing the same song over and over again with a hundred different titles. You think it's different this time?" I felt guilty but I just continued soaping up the crack of my ass "How about when you w...
In my previous coupling, finding the right Christmas card was a small but onerous task I’d approach the display with rows and rows of sentiment and imagery laid before me waiting to articulate all the things I should have felt: “I know I don’t say ‘I love you’ enough “ well, I did say it but I wasn’t in love anymore “I’ve loved every day with you since we met” that wasn’t true especially since her PTSD flared up in 1997 and our sex life became a memory ...
She drives me home when the night is dark and the highways are slick and teeming with indestructible teenage drivers lately I have become anxious driving in the fast lane or on overpasses or at night and I am embarrassed that I must ask her to take the wheel because I was brought up to be the man who takes care of everything so as I take my place in the passenger seat I thank God for this wonderful woman who has seen this weakness and still has not found me ...
I was parked in the Home Depot parking lot and in my rear view mirror I saw the back of my father’s head and I immediately thought: “look at him in that old shirt. I need to buy him a new one this Christmas. That one’s too tight.” as he loaded more stuff into his truck “and why is he always stooping over like that? Next week I’ll stand back to back with him and see how tall I am compared to him.” I looked and then he turned his head and I saw the face and I real...
Tell me the secret to your beauty how you have learned so much in so little time you came into my world already wise but still willing to listen to me serene, strong and touched by divinity like a tree made of sunlight and love the world is waiting for you to dive into its opulent splendor but I ask as everyone else discovers one of God's greatest creations: don't forget about us the ones who see all things good and right under your halo in another w...
It hangs over me like a cloud dark and pregnant with hot August rain it waits to be born the obligation was there from the moment the pen released me and I practiced my autograph as though anyone but a landlord would want it the obligation taunts and mocks me there is always something to do and duty to others is a comforting excuse but I know the truth my world is split into the life I lead and the life I write about living through it all once is har...
Again I look in the mirror and all I see are blank pages naively I look to you thinking you’ve got the answer I look back and see unintentional mistakes and close calls at the poetry reading I heard applause but did not trust it my pay stub comes and I think I fooled them for another month I listen for the voice of God but it sounds suspiciously like my own even my name was intended to destabilize the earth keeps spinning the world stays dizzy and I take a sma...
I’m giving myself only sixteen lines the unlearned poet am I I’m better with lyrics or valentines designed to elicit a sigh for I am suspicious of poetry, I’ve contempt for self-conscious craft, more than fortune or notoriety I just hope my readers have laughed I try to vary the topics I choose like soupcans on a kitchen shelf to my loyal readers this won’t be news: all my poems lead back to myself I've written this verse as neat as a pin is it art? That point may be moot -...