Commentary on "A Little Thing"

     I wrote this poem when I was very young, probably before I was fourteen years old.  It just goes to show, you can get anything published.

A Little Thing

I am smaller than a dinosaur,
and smaller than a house,
smaller than a lithoweer,
and smaller than a mouse.

Ants you see are big to me,
and blades of grass are trees.
A tear it is a flood to me,
and puddles are the seas.

If you can guess as to what I am,
you too are small and free.

           published in Night Roses, Issue # 14, Spring/Summer, 1996.

Cabin Fever

The snow had been on the ground
for three months, and according
to the radio another storm was coming.
Naturally we got stoned out
of our minds.
We took out all the plastic
plates from the cupboard
and played Frisbee at midnight
under a full moon.
We left them in the snow.
By the time we woke
there was another foot of snow
covering the ground.  We ate from
cans and paper for the rest
of the winter.  I'll know
when spring comes; the yard will be
full of red plastic plates.

          published in Bogg, no. 61, 1989.

Watchers

In the shadows of the night
we see the darkness;
in the darkness
we see the light.

My concrete steps are twenty
yards from the interstate North.
In the tiny hours before dawn,
flashing amber signal
outlines exhaust.
Waiting for disaster
while the hearth cools
before some dozing
love of what is fair.
On guard against sleep,
watching the produce trucks
ride a ribbon of death
dredged up from a world
so long past, it was reptile ruled.
Supplies move at night
so no one sees
them come
and go.

Anarchy in Proverbs

Ask me no Questions, I'll tell you know Lies.

1.  If you use people as machines,
     they will eventually be replaced by machines.
2.  Science and technology teach people
     how to use machines.
3.  Politics is the opiate of the middle class.
4.  Any nation which kills to protect society
     isn't the best.
5.  Any religion which claims to know what "god" wants
     isn't the best.  ("god" is more than capable
     of talking to any person It wants to, and vice versa.)
6.  Anarchy through Empathy.
7.  Organization should never last longer
     than it takes to preserve a life.
8.  When the need ends, so should the organization.
9.  Organization should never come before
     the need.  (Hindsight is always best.)
10.  Living is important.
11.  You never really know what Living is
        until you Die.
12.  Any nation founded on revolution
       should not be trusted to represent its people.
13.  Violence is an individual act.

             published in Wind Row II, issue 1, Spring 1989.

    

Commentary On "The Great God Time" & ". . . put a toast in it"

Both these poems were published at the same time in Not Your Average Zine.  I smiled when I pulled the old copy of this off the shelf where it has been gathering dust in the pile.  On the cover is an old Peanuts cartoon.  Sally walks up to Charlie Brown and asks, "We've been reading poems in school, but I never understand any of them."  She continues, "How am I suppose to know which poems to like?"  Charlie Brown answers, "Somebody tells you."

I sometimes wonder after years of reading and writing poetry, etc., if this is not true.  Are the good ones only good because somebody told me?

". . . put a toast in it!"

Evening sky
strawberry sherbet swirl in an electric
blue ice,
with a moon . . .
thanks to the moon.
It keeps that cloying sweet taste
out of my mouth.
A goddess in rut is
always welcome.

By dawn there will be
four planets in a line across
the sky; four of the old ones.
To the West Mars,
to the East Venus,
Saturn and Jupiter above.
Orion and his dog watch over them.
Mercury can not be seen.

This is Mars' closest point
since the last attack.
Next month it will be on TV,
and up there, unseen Neptune
is getting ready to come up
from the deep.

A tinker toy gnat is going
to take pictures.

        published in Not Your Average Zine, Atlanta, GA, 1989.