You Did Say Abbott and Costello, Didn't You?

“That person”, that demonstrative impersonal 

Third person singular who’s lost

. 

His identity, why would anybody speak 

Of himself like that? 

. 

In the first place, you might ask 

Who is going to answer? 

. 

In the second—man oh man forget it— 

Here comes the Babe 

. 

Who’s just cleaned the bases and is now

Rounding third, headed for home! 

Common Ground

Muse, I’m at a loss for words— 

Each step I take towards you, 

You take one back—please, 

Don’t be so mean—like everyone else, 

I too wonder what all this artful dodging means. 

Cupid's Arrow, Deflected

You said you were going 

To show me how 

Much you needed me. And me? 

I turned away and missed 

Your point completely. 

Hamming It Up at Grauman's Chinese Theater

After hands-down performance, 

head temporarily in firmament— 

feat soon to be cast 

permanently in cement.

Gesture

unmistakable 

streaming unerring beck 

a song 

birds call. 

Et Leviathan Ego

I swear if I were God, I’d tear a hole 

In the heavens to hide myself, 

Knowing full well that blasphemy 

And evil so dark 

The universe would rend itself asunder to know. 

On I-90 in Big Sky Country, 1976

A below zero morning somewhere between 

Bozeman and Billings, a small blue-colored bird 

On a wire fence with the road ice keeping us moving along 

Slow enough to see its breath another cumulus cloud forming.