The Dream Chipper – revised

Run my dreams
through the chipper
down the chute -
into the hole.

Cover this bootless
pile with
lye
rock
gravel
dirt
then seed.

I fertilize
this forsaken treasure
into green blades
which bend
beneath my shiny shoes

as I toss the children into the air
and they float down
like elm seeds.

the wife
watches
from her
windows

Put me on the train
clickity clack clickity clack
turn page check watch
wear tie
comb hair
turn page.

Run the tunnel
ride the shaft
bury me twenty stories

above the street
in a prolapsed mine
of glass and steel.

the boss
watches
from his
windows

I sit in church
staring at the butts before me
and trade my soul
for marching boots.

I think someone bigger is watching
I am frozen in a pious pose.

Amen.

2004

two uncles

two uncles
snoring through the night
raise the sun

2007

these are the heroes we offer

2007

always saying goodbye always saying hello

with each wave
these last moments
bathe our consciousness

there is nothing else…

(jobs are waiting)

put the tiny shells
in your pockets
i tell the boys

so the big ones won’t crush them

two buddies -
they are eleven
never to be eleven again

the breeze takes my tears

2003

Love Left Behind – revised

When my father died,
I was not with him.

I did not know he would die
two hundred miles away

alone with strangers
shocking that big chest
his body jumping
momentarily-

only to land
in
a
dead
heap.

I should have been there
to capture him in my arms.

How I wish to have dad back -

even for a minute.

(We can give a lifetime in a minute.)

2006

EWTN WATCH

“Only Christ can unite a very sick and sinful human race.”

i do not know
what god is,

but i am damn sure
what god isn’t.

half moon
cold night -
crickets!

my thoughts
come and go like birds
to a feeder

From 1985

Saw Bill Cosby
(a doctorate in education)
hawking sugar to the kids,
making cute faces
from inside the tube.

Fuck You kids.