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...

Walking from my car to the store through the parking lot I wear my game face it’s the one with the dark fixed gaze the implicit scowl my eyebrows forming a ridge intended to intimidate this is the “don’t ask me for money” and “no I’m not signing your petition” face it’s the “try it and risk the wrath of my righteous indignation” face let there to be no mistake: it’s the “if you fuck with me I will bite your neck in two” face when I use this face I just want to...

Mrs. Moskowitz says “You’re not a Christian …yet” Well, I’ll add it to the list: I haven’t resigned myself to old age yet and I haven’t bought that Corvette yet or had my midlife crisis yet and I haven’t acquired a taste for the bullshit of the world yet I can’t have intercourse for more than 20 minutes yet and my penis isn’t 12 inches long yet I’m also not a 36 inch waist yet and I’m not eligible to retire yet I haven’t composed that Top Ten hit yet or finished...

the clock is ticking and days are escaping and any time we’ve saved is already gone don’t waste your breath bargaining God’s heard it all before and ask not for whom the box in the ground waits it waits for thee so take off your shoes and feel the cold wet grass tickling between your toes turn up the music and dance ‘til you’re done and seek out the face that is still comforting after all these years and tell it how you feel when I was a kid I loved Disneyland, pre...

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...

The veterans have been married too long they always remind us that we’re newlyweds like our marriage isn’t real Our married friends sometimes seem like adversaries who sleep together they speak in shades of disdain with their “humorous” faux insults “She never gives me any” “He never puts down the seat” and I know there is a little truth in every joke but we don’t say such things we’ve had our fights ugly fountains of hateful words have hissed through our teeth ...

My Christian friend tells me not to worry because there are already so many Christians praying for me thanks I’ll take all the help I can get and I look at the Little Blonde Talking Monkey who calls me Pop-o and answer her as honestly as I know “well, the men who flew the planes into the World Trade Center thought they were doing the right thing by God but they were very misguided” but were they bad? “I don’t know – they did a horrible thing but I don’t know” ...

My Christian friend tells me not to worry because there are already so many Christians praying for me thanks I’ll take all the help I can get and I look at the Little Blonde Talking Monkey who calls me Pop-o and answer her as honestly as I know "well, the men who flew the planes into the World Trade Center thought they were doing the right thing by God but they were very misguided" but were they bad? "I don’t know – they did a horrible thing but I don’t know" ...

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 -...

Work is a struggle school is a struggle love is another struggle yet finding the right word and pasting it into the right place in my poem is a struggle being a Jew in a world full of Christians is a struggle listening to someone droning on about their own interests is not a struggle but keeping that interested gaze is a good night’s sleep is a struggle keeping my memories filed correctly so that the regrettable scenes don’t blot out the present is a struggle...

I couldn’t leave the woman I was with on September 10th it was a life I had known and she needed me but I stopped needing her and I had left long before this only my things were all still there and my soul was crying to be released from the stranglehold of guilt and obligation we shared a bed but were not intimate we shared a life but were disconnected we shared a house but were not married she survived a lifetime of sexual abuse and trauma and those scars carv...

I hate the way I look in mirrors I like the way I look in my head and I live in denial of how I really look but every morning and every evening I face the naked truth as I exit the shower and I really look at myself hunched over head dripping my glorious mane matted down showing exactly where my bargain hairstylist botched my 'do and where I used to have pecs I now have pointy nipples and a bustline that most ten-year old girls would envy and invariably I look at my ...

I was mowing the front yard just before nightfall and out of the corner of my eye I spied a red balloon with just enough helium to keep it about a foot off the ground it's string had been broken and it looked like it was escaping something a gentle wind was blowing it up my street and I realized I was wearing a t-shirt of exactly the same color and I heard it speak to me "hey, you in the red t-shirt, yeah, you. I just broke free of this stupid children's pa...