29 January 2013

you don't believe that
                                          do you?


by that time
     it was too late
i mean
                    we     could have
and
maybe
we     should have

but             the
time
      has     passed
                             and what’s
left
is                         lost

lost                      now

both with something
to      lose
      lips            hips

                           loose
                                    new

breathing             blue

the night
is the only truth

you don’t believe that
                                   do you?


11 January 2013

how long can you go between rewards?


it was the weight 
                          of the book
the weight 
              of the world 
in those words
stylish leather
           impenetrable
and forever

blank pages
with short lines
short thoughts
of a bad time

three months until it’s right

every thing that you learn
in theory
you can see the proof
socially
the ones who need
and the ones who might be
measuring

if you take
one hour blocks
and note the behavior
with a plus or a minus

intervene after identification
plan for the future
involve them
that is the hard line
in motivation

how long can you go
                         between rewards

reinforcing the contingency plan
rehearse the behavior
and bring it to the group
tell them all the news

bill couldn’t put it down
no matter how hard he tried
you see that look
the milk whites of his eyes
no longer very bright
and his shots
well
they were lined up
on bars
and no longer launched as
observational tales
of boys and girls
who never came close
to becoming men and women
that just wasn’t in them


the taste of fake sugar
after you just tasted
real sugar
leaves you wondering
which chemical genius
fucked this whole thing up

errors of thought
cognitive distortions
absolutely



09 January 2013

not the same river not the same me


change the lock
so
the loving unknown
what will you find 
when you finally get home

a pile for a pyre
evidence for liars
purity burns 
so soon in the fire

designed to return
the ash to he earth
by the wonders of women
willing to work
at coffee counters
in office buildings
wire tapping the 
bets in from the caymanns 
from the comfort of home
which is another kind of unknown

hymn 101 is still a call to arms
and not wearing a mask
protects the public from harm

not wearing a heart
on anything but sleeves
not afraid to see 
or be seen
in the traditional navy blue
and green
of the last pregnant pause
the withholding clause
that last bit of wind
blown and then
lost

collecting on debts
fifteen years gone
remembering life 
as it once was
but never will be

not the same river
                           not the same me 

you can reach into the past
and find your hand
sheared to the bone



02 January 2013

clement in the rain



                                  (who is clement?)

today is the twenty-first of july
and it’s the first day
i have ever wondered
both when and why
at the same time

the wounded are the first to heal
but only because they were the first ones 
                                                        hurt

you can see their little truths
in shuffling feet and
pick- me smiles
half-hearted   underwhelming
too many times overlooked
            too many times

the difference between life and death
        or east and west
almost certainly 
                starts in your head
before it moves to the legs
at about the speed that you’d expect

i spent the last three days
trying to draw the perfect flower
when i started
it was a daisy
now
it’s an iris

i’d feel much better
 if you were smiling

and not just with your mouth
i want to see it in your eyes

beyond affluence
and
                                  influence