Food for Thought

Grit your teeth on this 
Piece of homily, ‘Murica— 
Just so 

You can squeal 
Your piggy little hearts out, 
Once we have the elections 

In the bag, you’ll be free 
To skedaddle out 
Of the poke unfettered 

And amble in 
To the nearest Salvation 
Army melting pot. 

2016 U.S. Presidential Candidates Enunciating the Question of Poverty in America

1. Hillary Clinton: 

“For once and for all 
For crying out loud, 

Tell me what 
You want?” 

2. Donald Trump: 

“For crying 
Out loud, tell me 

Once and for all 
What—YOU WANT?!” 

Blind Patriotism

In brief it is 
When you see what 
You don’t want 
To see—say bombs 
Bursting in air over 
The land of the free— 
And still you believe 
You’re seeing things. 

Narcissist on the Shores of Lake Placid

Smoothie, spill but

One drop of oil on
To the surface

And watch it
Disperse it

Self in the firmament. 





 

Sickle in Abeyance

Tilted to the right, 
The red-orange crescent 
Moon suspended just 
Above the twilit 
Western horizon seems 

(If one is so inclined) 

To be sending a signal 
For us to hurry and set 
Our house in order 
In order to fully reap 
Our rightful bounty 

And get out of tilt forever. 

Old Country Derelicts Gone Fishing: Raymond, Washington, ca 1950

On the stinking mud 
Flats of the Willapa, 

Old houseboats inhabited 
By leaky old men once 

Forever young. 

Discrete Aegean Sequence

More than enough

Here of what a sea 
Bird’s kept 

Folded be 
Neath 

Its wings. 

. 

                inland urchin 

Ringed by mountains 
Strange that 

I should have been thus 
So drawn to the sea 

I don’t remember 
Whatever became of me. 

. 

               inlet 

Salt sprays 

In the recesses 
The mind 

Tastes of brine. 

. 

               katabasis 

In a poem 
I once wrote 

Conches nest 

And thinking 
The sea, the sea 

Engulfed me. 

. 

                tail end of evening 

Of sails in the sunset 
Small white cries 

Of gulls sailing over 
The edge of the world 

Unfathomable. 

. 

               archipelago 

I shall pave 
The wide blue 

Sea with slates 
Of marble 

And keep on 
Striding 

Till I find you— 
Wait and see.