Trying to Find the Right Word

No— 

In the bureau of the abandoned, 

Stark is not the word 

For these photographs, 

Stark is never 

Stark enough. 

A Found Poem: When I Was Twenty-three

—for Elisabeth, whose words I found to be wise beyond age 

Back then, I felt nothing 

Like what the doctor had ordered. 

Strange 

How perception can change 

Over time, and not so bad 

My younger self, I think now, 

But as I say that’s not how 

I thought then—ugly 

I thought then, sad 

To remember that 

Perception now but better 

Than nothing feeling nothing again. 

Psst!

Damn you, ham 

Actor forever 

Forgetting your cues 

For the last time, 

The world is not your oyster— 

Now, spit it out 

And get off the stage. 

Stairway to Knowledge aka The Book of Life?

So many, 

Innumerable perhaps, 

But one only 

Steps one at a time,

And that’s not open 

For discussion. 

Creep on Wall Street

Not an order, officer 

But a crawling 

Subaltern of worm not worthy enough 

To crawl away from, staying 

To face the rot.