Mirrors

The mirrors on the walls
     of the yoga class
facing each other
repeat themselves into
     infinity
and the old man sees himself
     quintuplicated
     and old-looking
He moves to a far wall
where he does not face
     the mirrors,
     the old man,
     the wall clock
so he can stretch out
feeling young inside himself
     and timeless

Cabin Fever

frozen snow falls
like crystal dust
tree limbs cracking
ground crushed underfoot
but crows fly
perch on cedar branches

oh for the feathers of a crow
to fly through a blizzard

mind awake/mind asleep

snow falling
faucet leaks to fix
poems to pages
calling friends
things to do
keep me present
while mind wants
    to slip away
except at bedtime
when it stays awake

Solstice

At the solstice
Bikinis in Brazil
Snow Shovels in Wales
Foggy rain in Seattle
There's no center of the universe
We are all scattered together

Told Her A Thing Or Two

Well wasn't he born
out of wedlock?

Out of, in of, what does it matter?
He was born
Hallelujah
and he don't regret it.
Why should you?

Well, I'm just saying...

Well don't be just saying.
God said go forth and multiply
and didn't specify
     exactly how
in the beginning
and even allowed Lot's daughters
to do it with their daddy
     in a cave
so's they could go forth and multiply
and then there's whole pages of begats
from those two girls
and God said nary a work about that
so why should you.

Reading Murakami's "After Dark" while under the influence of morphine

waitng   waiting
for the morphine to override
      pain
in my penis, my bladder
piss dripping down the catheter tube

Murakami's sleeping Eri
wandering sister Mari
TV sets blurring the story
my eyes slip downwards
      close and enter TV
snap awake searching the page
      for lost words
           lost sisters
book slipping away
my dope enduced fantasy
blending with Eri Mari
Murakami's words fuzzing
      into my dream
book slipping to the floor
head jerking awake
eyes closing into dream
      bye bye Eri
      bye bye pain

red suede boots

in red suede boots
she strides laughing
tosses her hair
music in her ears
talking with her thumbs
but does not see
     the trees around her
     the leaves beneath
     the long-haired youth
         eyeing her from across the street