8/30
As the food supply
upon which we rely is
a copyrighted monocultured
all too shallow
gene pool of virtual
Irish potatoes,
I have to wonder
how it all will fair
in the Brave New Climate
we are building.

Will we
in our sagacious obesity--
(with tens or thousands
of monatized compounds
dancing in our DNA)--
dredge wisdom enough
to yank the needles
from our greedy veins
in time?

& if not--then when
the sky goes dark
who will build
the fucking ark?

8/29
here
under a ladder
third on a match
on Avenue Chat Noir...
while
these things don't
always catch one out
when the dropped shoe
lands on you
it's hard not to take it personally

far be it from me
to begrudge the urge
to succumb to the seduction
of connection
or even superstition

we want these things
& so they become our genius
& we can't abide the cruelty
of doubt before credulity

8/28
Would I could opt
for a more labile reality...
e.g.
...an archly sensitive laugh track
...subtitles noting the inner monologues
of passing strangers
...an arresting crawl of  dadaist headlines
along my vision's periphery
...pop-ups of emergent ironies
...visually graphic onomatopoeia

The talking unicorns
& time traveling jetpacks
don't tempt me
like life lived like
the tropes on T.V.

8/27
re: The Heroic Quest...
Having been
-sourced in requisite Mystery
-cloaked in tropes
ancient as mitosis
-called to action
by visions & voices
-mentored by
the appropriate memes
of my culture
to follow this yellow
brick autobahn--
I would hock
my toolkit
for a hand-
full of magic beans
& with them feed
each encountered monster
home made frijoles--
(the food of love)--
not so much as to
impress those distressed
damsels who swoon
over displays of mystical powers (i.e.
cooking chops & compassion)
but because every perfect gesture
in the school of tragedy  must
be performed at least
once before the audience
is finally excused & that's one
I still need to
Chekhov...

8/26
We have learned
that echolocation
allows interested cetaceans
to "look" beyond
a diver's skin
to "see" a heart within
pulse warm blood
through the curious alien
venturing into their
dark fathoms.
But what
if their "visions"
could show
the meaner workings
of the human soul--
& allow Leviathan
to make or not make
a distinction
between swimmer
& agent of extinction?

8/25
Fragments From the Lost Hexagrams:
The 69th Hexagram

scroll down
this page's infinite
drop-- stop
@ each cross
road (as each
must be marked
in ones & noughts)

only
a suggestion of presence
presents itself: wanting
everything at once right
now

the sickwind 
begins to score the panes--
real storms pend

 rely on 
duct & conduit
for salvation

 strive 
in monogrammed
color coded
coveralls (avoiding
or course the red
shirts of the disposable
extras)

note to self:
there is space between
particles yet
to be put to good
use

8/24
wilderness
of alpine lakes & orogeny--
upthrust & subduction
erosion & metamorphisis
 where
tectonically sculptured
gothic spires
rise & scar the sky...

we ache for an apex
for it is there we are far
seeing--richer with
the wisdom of altitude

8/23
stone
on stone-
-transcending
crenelated walls
-scoring the horizon
with a magniloquent verticality

stone
arches-vaults
spires & traces
buttresses & pinnacles

stone
saints stare soulfully
at eternity 
while
stone demons yak
rainwater from on high

stone
imposts & corbels
spandrels & mullions-
loom over the awed
& the cowed--
gripping souls &
lofting them into
a sun-glazed
light

8/22
winter vestage
holds to north
slope--flows
down--molding
stone--to a near
perfect sphere--
(shadows on cave
walls?) falls--
sojourns in
tarns--ponds--
lakes--takes
vaporous flight
into a welcoming
sky--or seeks
unity with
the sea to
repose & return
with winter's
snows...

8/21
does the body bemoan
the loss
of feudal certitude?
the mystery of the hunt?
the rhythm of cultivation?
does flesh rebel
against the tyranny
of limitless opportunity?
extract a price of freedom?

the evening news
spews adverts
shilling remedies
for the maladies
of modernity

most of us die
of surfeit

outside
climate controlled rooms
a whirling sky
marks the planet's passage
through infinity--
leaves
bud--photosynthesize--
brown & fall

8/20
note
the inverse relationship
between
contemplation & connectivity--

how the noise
of digital toys
crowds out a space
once used for creativity

new
age brains
once trained
to survive wild places--

now
we are asea in the assembly line
mentality of an industrial
economy

now
we rage @ the 10 second download
wait for restimulation

now
we circle like yaks
back to back
facing outward
thumbs a-twitter
bewildered by the animal within
our skin

next
the organism adapts:
a neuro-electo ADD
extinguishes long-term memory

&
Judge's Idiocracy
becomes a documentary--
watch it live:
as homo (slightly less) sapien 2.0
is hurled
into a Brave New World

8/19
I just saw a new
poll from Pew
that says
18% of Americans
think the President is Mohammedan.
This is hard to fathom since
it's not borne out by evidence
Ask Americans what any truth is
& 20% or so are stupid.
e.g.
20% or so believe...
...that Saddam Hussein planned 9/11
...that Christianity's the national religion
(& is says so in the Constitution)
...that men & dinos coexisted
( that's from science teachers in Texas)
I'm noting, but I'm not surprised,
that these beliefs all lean stage right.
Clearly those who form their views
listening to Limbaugh or Faux News
have gotten just a bit confused.
Could brain damage result from
listening to Republicans?

8/18
On Building a Mosque in a Sacred Place

What is so hard to understand?
Bigotry is un-American.
Yes, the bloodstains on our history are real,
but they are betrayals of the ideals
enshrined by Declaration & Constitution.
Those engaged in this political prostitution--
i.e. mongering hate to pave a path to power--
unleash forces that would leave the land devoured
by a maelstrom of bigotry & hate.
Remember this while it is not yet too late:
This land of immigrants & invaders,
and those enduring few surviving natives,
was not defined by race or even place,
but by a doctrine that the purpose of the state
is to defend our life & liberty
from those who  persecute by race or creed.
And besides-- is not kind of treason to
conspire to prove the terrorist libels true?
We must all mark these bigots--
mark their words--their names
for history to memorialize with shame.

8/17
Sonnet

Was it the boiling ocean that reminded me--
sent me to the bowels of my bag--
as corvid armies rode the air on wheels
and the vermin of Wasilla ravaged slag
mounds from glaciers gone awry?
Sapient homos head for higher ground.
Others take their rapture in the sky
where strings of universes splay unwound.
Once there were basilisks. Once there were dodos,
systems, cycles, & connecting links.
Riddle me this: Where does the soul go
when finally its species is extinct?
We ask of heaven that it set us free
from knowing our responsibility.

8/16

The rage of generations
simmers behind those eyes.
(Assholes breeding assholes... )
So why are we surprised
when we become the target
of one his attacks,
we ignore our better angels
&  reflexively strike back?
The physics of karma
&  the Third Law of Emotion
say what goes around will come around
and second his remotion
from us (who wish the world well)
to his squalid spider hole--
where he plots how to inflict on us
the pain within his soul.

8/15
Sonnet

"What's on the tube?" "You know, the usual dreck."
"I'm goin' surfin'. Hand me the remote.
Check it out--on Fox it's time for Beck."
"I'm not near high enough to watch that goat-
-blowing psychopathic asshole now."
"Oooo look: close ups of greasy fast food meat!"
"These ads that show me what's inside a cow
are just killing my desire to ever eat."
"We could watch D-list Celebs & Donald Trump,
or Skanks & Morons of the Jersey Shore,
or The Morbidly Obese Reduce their Rumps..."
"Doesn't anyone hire writers anymore?!?!?"
"But, dude, without Reality TV
we might catch on
to what's been done
to our reality."

8/14
Sonnet

Summer lights the Northern Hemisphere
in blazing days & lapis luzuli skies
that loll above a torpid atmosphere
'till sunset breezes float us into night.
We lust after the sun and after water--
for pools & ponds & rivers & for oceans.
Skin resents cloth's superfluous bother--
would be skyclad & anointed in lotions.
Days now linger. Nights now saunter by
in lazy city sidewalk passenggiattas
or fields of children stalking fireflies
or eaters--al fresco, sated and besotted.
Time to praise these days. Light fires. Watch them burn,
& toast the sun before the the dark returns.

8/13

The Wrecking Crew
discovered the deficit 18 months ago.
Odd they never noticed it (at 2 trillion or so)
before they turned it over (like a reeking, steaming turd)
to the new administration,
pretending that they'd never heard
the budget balance in 2000 was firmly in the black.
But a strong & healthy government...
the Crew could not have that!
They promptly lowered taxes,
(though mostly for the wealthy)
then looked around to found more ways to make the state unhealthy.
After 9/11 they launched a couple wars
though there was some confusion over what to fight them for.
They claimed this would stop terrorism, then switched to say we seek
some somehow nonexistent WMB's.
(& all this at a cost of a quarter million casualties
not to mention roughly 2 billion bucks a week).
To minimize the sacrifice the Wreckers thought it funny
to execute the whole fiasco with borrowed Chinese money.
But when barely regulated banks lost big at the casino
we woke up & discovered that somehow between, oh
two and three trillion bucks had somehow disappeared,
& a Brand New Great Depression was quite possible we feared.
Now economists will tell you, in an economic crash
the government should save the day by spending lots of cash.
Bummer that the Wreckers stripped the Treasury to the bone,
so Obama had to hold his nose & take out another loan.
Now the guys who made the mess themselves all act all hot & bothered.
(Like a guy who sets his house on fire & complains about the cost of water)

Anyway election day is nigh.
We can guess how that will be
now that it's Constitutional to buy democracy.
I suppose all us Progressives
need to shake off our malaise
& get our asses into gear
over the next few days.
Remembering how these things go,
we can't work hard enough.
Because the Wrecking Crew
is ready to
pick up where they left off.

8/12
To understand the Wrecking Crew
ignore their words--watch what they do.
The GOP's no mystery
to those who know their history.
The rhetoric
is just a trick:
You watch the cape,
don't see the sword,
the real danger gets ignored.
Rabid ranting bloviators
homophobic racist haters,
are really only slight of hand--
distractions--when you understand
the real destruction that these guys have wrought
is helping uber haves take what they've got
by writing rules that take away from us
our rights, our unions, voices & our trust.
Buffoonery, you need to see, is only meant
to make a travesty of government--
the only power base we COULD control
if we ever woke the giant & set the goal
of finally taking charge & cutting free
from corporate controlled democracy.

8/10 & 8/11
Seattle 2--Oakland 0

Felix Hernandez
7 & 9 with a 2.71 ERA
vs
Brett Anderson 3 & 3
with an ERA of 2.88

The First
A's lead off with Coco Crisp
(you gotta love that name)
who runs out a bunt to take 1st base.
Enter Daric Barton who singles to center.
Kurt Suzuki lines to left. WTF?
Hernandez put a runner on every base--
Not what you want from your ace.
But he rallies--fans DH, Jack Cust
& renews fan trust
with a 4-5-3 double play off
off Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Ichiro leads with his samurai stance
but can't hold back on a crap
strike 3.
Chone Figgins fans --Lopez walks &
Gutierrez doubles left.
The table's set and...
... Casey Kotchman just grounds out to second.

The Second
Felix puts up two more K's
On Rajai Davis & Mark Ellis.
Radio tells us
This will be Cris Carter's
2nd game in the Bigs,
but he
cracks a brokebat grounder
that Wilson digs
out for out #3

Alan Moore flies
out long to right
Ryan Langerhans tries
and fails to hit a wicked slider
Matt Tuiasosopo sends
a high rider
chopper to retire
the side.

The Third
Cliff Pennington fans--
hands Felix his 4th K
Crisp beats out a single to short
But Barton grounds into
a double play.

Josh Wilson pops out.
Ichio grounds out.
Figgins strikes out.

The Fourth
Kurt Suzuki flies out right
Crust draws a walk
Kousmanoff watches
strike three zip by
& Ellis misses for his 3d strike.

Lopez grounds to third
but he's too slow even with Kouz's bobble
Gutierrez grounds out to short
Kotchman brings Oakland some trouble
with a liner past Pennington's dive.
But Alan Moore strikes out & so
that retires the side.

The Fifth
Davis K's looking
Carter fans swinging
Pennington singles to center
but then
gets nailed trying to steal second.

Langerhans singles to center
Tui strikes out swinging
Wilson grounds out to 3d
& ends another inning.

The Sixth
Coco sends a first pitch fly ball to port
Barton & Suzuki both strike out
Felix had his groove on
& the crowd is smelling shut out.

Ichiro singles to short
Figgy sacrifice bunts
Lopez grounds out to 3d
& Guiti's intentionally walked.
Then Kotchman spanks a rocket by
first baseman Bartons frantic dive
& Ichiro scores--RBI
Gutierrez steals third to open the door...
...for another strikeout from Alan Moore.

The Seventh
Cust flies out to left
Kouzmanoff grounds to 3d
Ellis strikes out swinging at a pitch down in the dirt
that gets by Moore, he runs it out
& makes it safe to 1st.
But Rajai Davis flies out right
& now it's Louie Louie time.

Langerhans singles to center
then makes the traditional bonehead
base running screw up:
taking off early for second & getting picked off...
...but no the ump calls a balk
the manager's talk
& Langehan's still alive.
Tui grounds to short
Wilson does the same
Ichiro grounds out to second.
This is really the pitchers' game.

The Eighth

Carter fans swinging
Pennington grounds out to short
Coco Crisp strikes out

A's sub in Craig Breslow to pitch
Figgy singles to center to keep
his run for a 9 game hitting streak.
Then Lopez executes a pitch
perfect hit & run behind a running Figgy
who makes it to 3d.
Saunders pinch runs for Lopez
Then Guti puts on the hurt
with an RBI single
But Kotchman smacks one in the dirt
for a 4-6-3 double play.
Moore flies out to right
but a two run lead is OK..

The Ninth
...but wait
O crap! Heavy metal guitars!
The scoreboard's gone all Hot Topic!
This can only mean...
...Aaaardvark!
When David Aardsma steps in to save the day
we shudder with dread that he'll waste Feliz's 13 K's
But Barton flies out to Center
& Suzuki flies out to Figgy
& when Cust is struck out looking
WE WIN! & everything's jiggy.

We pack up
& give thanks for the luck--
we caught a game that didn't suck.

8/9
young mountain
lee side introspect...

new growth
forest reclaims
an abandoned
homestead...

secret pond teems
with swirling swallows--
strobing afterimages
like so many
Doc Ellis curveballs..

we sense a peak
is near...

summit
view of the Salish Sea
bestows electric awareness
of connectivity--
lysergic reminders
of relationships between parts
and wholes--
polarities reverse--reveal
spiral phyllotaxic patterns--
surging--receding...

the species seeks high places--
revelation--transfiguration--graces
seers with visions of essential unity...

we would reach
for understanding--explanation--
creation of meaning--

climbing slowly downward
from
one
true
thing

8/8

looking out from
the comfort of
this handbasket--
asking if
an oracle opened
itself to query
what would we ask it?
answers we do know
we ignore--
bored by information--
we settle for sensation--
resolved at best
to deal later

& so destroyer
becomes creator

8/7
a house not abandoned--
only empty & unused

confused--what is
expected? will there be a test?
the mysteries of ingress...

but the key is found
in the place
these things are always hidden--&
once bade--twice bidden
I go in

students of nervous & endrocrine
mysteries--
mental & experimental
know well the Ardaean rites--
ancient as life--are always
enacted in sacred places
(making every place sacred)

the angiospermal
reminders come with spring--
sing the air's own arias--
flying things know this
& so we fly--

dendrites dance
& spasm with joy
to see one instant
of eternity

8/6

What if the Belle of Amherst
Could have posted in her Blog--
About Things with Feathers--
And starting early with her Dog--
Of Enigmatic Mysteries--
That give Sophomores Migraines--
And how the Yellow Rose of Texas
Can colonize one's Brain

Would she wax Agoraphobically
About the World Wide Web?
Post Videos on YouTube?
(Tulle Tippets by Versace--
The Limo Driver-- Death)

8/5

back @ the
neo anarchist syndicalist medical center
again

Seattle summer
Capitol hill

looking east out the window--
a Norman stone church
& a precious Tudor apartment house
dapple in green leaf shadow

same prospect
another time:
22 years one day
after JFK
froze those of a certain age
in one time-place
for one lifetime

the scene--then
daubed with snow--
gone gold in a rising sun--
like a postcard sent
from another continent

behind me my
love at rest--
a new-born child
on her breast
looking out on this--

the first day

8/4

A REFUTIATION OF CRITICALLERS

O you knowitallers
all colleged & degreed,
priding in your erronial superiorness,
languaging is a processication
of eternaful changiness.

Speakingers generalate
new usinations of wording
two meet new kneads of new timages.

Wear wood wee bee
if languagers restracted
thereselves only to officialzed
usifications and syntaxation
without referenation?

Englishing wood be strandated
in Medievical daze
wear weed be Chaucering
at one and other
as a posed to ever
modernifying our speeching
to meat changating technolocical
developations and alternativations.


So don't nock it smarty pantsers.
Your slinging your arrowings
at worldish leaderers
who are laborating to bringify
Englishness intoward
a new milleniumism .

8/3

Stand on the mall in D.C. sometime
& mentally transpose on it
a full color transparency
of the Forum Romanum
as it is today.

Spooky, eh?

gleaming marble/
crumbling brick

strutting patrician politicos/
feral cats & skittering lizards

Shit happens.
Ask Ozymandias.

If...
...military power is projected beyond borders
& then beyond economic resources,

...& resources are exploited beyond sustainability,

...& industrial capacity is sold off to exploit
cheaper (slave) labor--
squandering the buying power of
a shrinking middle class,

...& infrastructure crumbles under the assault of
moronic neglect and irrational parsimony,

...& democracy is subverted by a barrage of
mind warping entertainments
subsidized indifference & cynicism,

as the wealth of a nation
concentrates into
fewer & fewer hands,

then watch
all eyes attach their attention
to glowing electric screens--
bear witness
as Faux News announces
which New Caesar
just crossed
the digital Rubicon.

8/2

the crow commute
commences with
the sun set
west to east
hundreds fly
across the twilight
suburban sky
like silent ghost squadrons
of WWII bombers

.............................................

crow silhouettes--
thousands of them--
swirl on
wild autumn's winds--
a dramatic dance
to their caustic calls
& the exploding fall
of the season's leaves

........................................

crow
on snow
covered fir
limb
watches
silence
settle


.........................................

crows attack
who would dare
invade the back
yard--
on guard,
they protest
proximity to nest
in a raucous defense
of domestic
tranquility

8/1
the Samsa Virus & me

so
this morning I woke
up & found myself
morphed into a cockroach again

crap

in my dreams
I have mastery
over gravity

still
a day's a day
& I can face
the pain of skin
straining against carapace
so far so good--right?

at night
there is no hurt
except disappointment

it's been said
this exoskeleton
will be shed
at some indeterminate future

& that at some point I--
bewinged-- might
finally fly