In The Lurch

 

It’s a mystery how
The words have always been 

Waiting there just as you left them,
Waiting to hear you 

Go back.

 

Second Skin Didactic Infections

 

Mess with innocuous
Ideas long enough 

And they become bad
Habits itching 

To be scratched
To death 

Again and again—
What’s to be done? 

Shun yourself
From everything

Blah and dig in, saving
In the process,

Your worthless skin. 

 

 

Odd Curmugeon Quips Approaching 80

 

Better you
Lose that too bitter
Demeanor quick, Junior— 

You’ll find soon enough
It’s far better than becoming
Meaner and meaner. 

 

 

 

The Long, Winding Road To Enlightenment

Confused? Why,
If we were

All going in
The same

Direction, we
Wouldn't need 

A compass, even
In the dark, now

Would we? 

 

 

As Good As It Gets

—for Eleni, always there 

 

In the worst of ways you were always
Under one rug or the other,
Murmuring and wondering just
What to do with yourself when 

Her uplifting spirit
Got wind of you and swept
You off your feet
At the speed of light, 

And dragged your sorry lot
Onto a pied magic carpet
Traveling untrammeled through
Eons of uncharted space.