CHANNELING RICHARD BRAUTIGAN
I wake up
next to Last Night’s
Girl --
I’m still
in the Promised
Land.
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AVE. A GIRLS
The Ave. A girls
of my dreams
in the bar
of my past's future
the world has
caught up with it
spilling
along the way
Jimi Hendrix
Janis
John Lennon.
Now it’s filled
with belly buttons
tattoos
earrings everywhere
except ears.
I've aged out
of this street
this business
now the children
who were not
are no longer
children.
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PENS
(for Don Levy)
Discarded pens
in the avenues of the park
black busted Bics
along the pathways of the city
capless stick pens in the grass
cheap broken pens
leaking in the gutter
the perfect blue rolling
ball with a bent clip
chewed but still working
Once could simply write
with a supply
of discarded pens
one could write forever
stooping to the sidewalk
for discarded pens.
“With these pens,” the poet said
holding one cracked, black
felt tip triumphantly aloft
these pens one could write
the Great American novel
or a prodigious grocery list
of epic proportions!”
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ORDERING LUNCH
"How do you want it?"
she asks
and I'm not quite sure
what she is talking about.
Waiting for my beer
listening to the jukebox reggae
I look at the smooth white
contours of her tee shirt
the dark animal fur of her eyes
her honey hair like morning light.
Waiting for Bob Marley
to reach the chorus
I touch the soft warmth of her arm
and almost tell her.
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POEMS ABOUT POETRY
We speak with water on our tongues...
-Charles Olson
The waves are calling us
from the Circle of Moms
quite modestly undressed.
In my sunglasses
in the green reflection
I am a stranger
to myself my cock
restless beneath kites
pressed into the sand.
With a room-key in my pocket
I wear what you see
& walk the beach towards town.
I watch the horizon blend
& when it was over I was there
without saying the word “end”.
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ONE POEM
(for Changing Spaces Gallery)
One poem
that’s all you can read
is one poem
a poem written last night
or today at work
or right here
right now
it could be unfinished
but
it can only be one poem
it could be your first time here
or your first time ever
or your only time
even your last time
but until tonight
we’d never know
the poem can rhyme
or not rhyme
but
it can only be one poem
it could be
dinner & tea in fading light
burning goddesses
dressed as LL Bean models
crawling on the bedroom floor
it could be kisses & politics
but
it can only be one poem
You could be
an old Albany poet
or a just-moved-in to Albany poet
a Woodstock poet, Kingston poet
a Saratoga poet
a hick poet
an urban poet
an academic poet
a self-published poet
an undercover cop poet
a fascist poet
a lousy poet
not a poet at all
even a dead poet
but
you can only read one poem
the poem could be
“the more satisfying game”
“carved spaces”
it could be
about what’s up George Bush’s ass
about the hope for peace
“monday morning blues”
about war
“making time”
it could be all cliches
but
it must be only one poem
you can ring bells
you can bang on drums
you can make people sing
or hum into kazoos
you can make them cry
or laugh
you can insult them
or give them bad advice
but
it can only be done in one poem
the poem could be about
love
loss
sex
quickies
deep or shallow love
it can be about
trying to get fucked
trying to avoid being fucked
trying not to remember being fucked
it could be tributes
or rants
or attacks
it could be
petty
or it could be
--petty
but
it can only be one poem
the poem could be about
the forgotten
or the wished for
or the living
it could be about
the mundane dead
or the great forever gone
the poem could be scattered about
in the pieces of a pinata
or be about movies
or radio
or television
especially television
but
it must only be one poem
you could be
an alkie
or a junkie
a lonely
a homely
a beauty
you could be
high
turned off
hungover
beat to shit
having to pee
or almost horny
you could be
broke
or merely incompetent
but
you can only read one poem
just one poem
one poem
& then we applaud.
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Poet, Peace Activist -- Host of the third Thursday open mic for poets at the Social Justice Center, member of 3 Guys from Albany, & photographer who has "the world's largest collection of photos of unknown poets." Member of Veterans for Peace