I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as… Ned Mudd (Verse + Art)

South of the Clouds

he discovered an insect
biting his hand
and said this could be the beginning
of something.

three weeks later
he died
somewhere south
of the clouds.

actually
this is a poem about drinking tea.

Objet d’Art

a man found the key to longevity
in a cereal box.

   he mailed the key to a woman
      in Germany, who sold it
         to Sigmund Freud.

the doctor analyzed the key
and discovered it had
a serious personality disorder.

the key was sent to a museum
where it became a political prisoner
of modern art.

a local critic made waves by calling the key
part of the lost city of Atlantis.

the key was last seen opening the door
to a Post Office box in Kansas City.

   the key enjoyed being useful
      after its years as an objet d’art.

Slice & Dice #17

imagine a cat jumping
off a ten story building
and landing on a geranium
outside a coffee shop.

does the cat walk away unscathed?
of course not.

but this poem is about the geranium.

Icons in Free Fall

Heidegger and Buddha sit in a bar.
one says: “it’s good of you to be here.”
the other replies: “yes. Being is everything.”
it is not vital to know who said what.
deconstructed their words mean little.
fundamentals do not hold.
no cause for alarm.

if they leave together the world may end.
rotation is perilous.
or maybe their separate paths trod by foot
will rise above the byline.

things are hollow. there are hollow men
who call our names. they would deal with us
in harsh bargain. the meek may inherit nothing.

Heidegger and Buddha are joined by another.
who shall remain nameless.

Bardo

sitting in a station
waiting
on a drop of rain
watching thoughts play bumper pool
while city chickens rustle peanut shells.

the bus is an hour late a tire
or possible terrorist attack. Somebody delayed
the autumn migration and left us
watching the skies.

indications are for more of the same: crystal radios
tuned
to a dying frequency.

the morning sun will find us in our cautionary state
bewildered eyes wide open the words refusing
to come. but they will come.

they always come.

And Now a Word from the Big Bang

if the Universe is expanding does that mean we expand with it?
   or is gravity holding us within our original nature
      like an invisible girdle?

         but what if gravity is expanding in exact proportion
            is expanding at the speed of words
               would anybody notice?

          it helps to recognize that words expand at the
          speed of light
      and at some point they will fly right off the page.
      unless the page
   is expanding at the same speed as light. In which case
   it won’t matter.
especially if E really does equal MC squared.

if it makes you feel any better –
the universe was inevitable.

there’s still one last question…

Chronometer

the facts of life
spelled themselves
   before him
like a fly’s footprint.

he walked the Rue de Gravitas
   singing songs
about the Hot Rabbit.

the friction of time
gave him the hiccups,
a dog barking at his shadow

in a past life
   he was a samurai,
a sword embedded
in his thoughts.

with reluctance, he dreams
   of a past
with no tense.

Let it Go Señor

the waiter who spilled your margarita
the wreck that killed your car
the candidate who stole your vote
the dog that ate your steak
the thief who robbed your bank
the son who stole your name
the woman who broke your heart
the gods who lost your faith
the time that passed you by.

let it go señor
let it all go.

Road Noise (a short story)

he had a breakfast of huevos
and thought about chickens
how the birds understood
the limitations of flight.

at the border he changed
from one currency into another
rolled across an imaginary line
painted by a gang of convicts.

in the terminal a woman told him
that the world was running out
of water;

even the oceans wondered
what was going on.

he asked the woman
if she wanted a ride
to the South Pole.

“Is that where you’re going?” she asked.
“Yes,” he told her.

at a village called Xapotalec
they ate menudo and watched
an arm wrestling contest.

the sun was trying to say something,
an alphabet of photons bouncing
off the table like mating fleas.

a man with a missing tooth
won the match
and everybody laughed.