kibitzer

being opinionated
is not a vice

but willful ignorance is

don't have a care
about being a kibitzer
but back yourself with fact

you look both ways
before you cross the street
so look both ways 
before you start to speak

to the horizon and back 
for viewpoint panoramic
versus spouting
supposition myopic

take enough grains of salt
to be skeptical
but not so many you salt the earth
till no new ideas
may be sown and grown

be curious and be kind

and in the end
accept the truth you find

fastidious

no waxed mustache to twirl
no train tracks on which to tie the girl
still, in knots you've left her
insides twisted
composure cracked
the deck against her stacked
fastidious once in appearance and mind
now she finds
no cause to fight the grasp
of despair's ragged claws
she is disheveled and distraught
no cartoon villain
could have wrought destruction greater
and no Do-Right here to save her
she must find the will herself to save
giving more despite all she gave
to you, cruel caitiff
dastard and bastard
you took despite
her plaintive cries
yes, she is pitiable
but you, despised

macerate

fear and frenzy
threaten to pull apart
both liberty and safety
up to us to rise above
resist resist resist
against the clenched fist
before the slipping away of
the "we" we thought we were
macerated by the slow boil of rage
blasted by wave after wave of hot air
the erosion of identity
destroying our shared humanity
with edicts capricious or vicious
by the indefensibly suspicious

dander

I could guess
I could surmise
what it was
made your dander rise
what stoked the fires
I thought dead
the angry voice
inside your head
but till you say
I can't be sure
if reason fair
for bile pure
or if instead
it's pettiness
that lead us to
this long silence

omnibus

scaling print and paper peaks
higher than Everest
or sailing the salt seas in a
sprawling omnibus mind
off the map to the dragon lands
peopling cities of steel or sand
denizens darkly morphing
or gamely gamine
she adventures
under the covers

barbican

Liberty's no more a lady
and she'll shoo you from the door
she don't want your huddled masses
so don't come round here no more
build a brand new Checkpoint Charlie
so shiny and so new
then get on up there, sonny
and do what you have to do
from behind this ironed curtain
take aim at all newcomers
because the mines cannot distinguish
the fighters from the lovers
but up there in your barbican
you look through that rifle scope
best be ready to pull that trigger
fall in line or get the rope

ab ovo

If I had a time machine
to whensoever would I go?
Down the thread of history
to start over ab ovo?
And if I did would I become
someone else in somewhen else too
or was this always fated,
the ending written through?
Perhaps I'd go into the future
to see if one remained,
to see if humanity persisted
or if mother earth reclaimed
our dusty bones back into dust
as well we do deserve.
If I had that time machine
what purpose would it serve?
Could I make the world right again
but right again for whom?
Someone is always trod on.
Someone bursting the balloon.
I hope I'd do the right things
and I try to do them now
even when the choice is hard
and I don't really know how.
Still I wouldn't mind a time machine,
though I guess we're born in one
though it's got a faulty gearbox,
stuck in first til we are done.

uncouth

gaping jaws maw
as jellyfaced monster
jiggles with rage
uncouth and unkind
his manners and mind
he roars and rails
tars us to his coattails
while his paws
with tiny fingers
but long claws
open with a snick
they click and clack
as he races towards oblivion
with the world on his back
there's a skittering sound
as the behemoth bears down
dragging us along
through the shit
and the muck
filling our mouths
as we scream
what the fuck

sanction

our words like birds
flock and flutter
shout or mutter
they rest and roost
perch and preen
flying free or caged
still we soar and sing
what we mean
sometimes in braying caw
sometime in lullaby trill
make of our songs
what you will
with or without your sanction
our chorus fills the air
together we are joyous
come and join us
if you dare

vanguard

they began before we became 

back before we were born 

the vanguard of this vagenda 

each bit not given but gained 

our future by the past unchained 

mothers great and grand

bristled against the bridles 

with which they'd been saddled 

so we pick up the reins of their gains 

and guide ourselves along a new path

millions strong we find we belong 

determining our destiny 

not just going along to get along 

we see, complacency equals entropy 

only by acting can we remain free

xylography

with our feet
we sketch and etch
a xylography on geography
around the world
we march
we chant
we are here
indelibly
and we will be heard

tenet

Reminder for the days and weeks to come:

truth is truth
no matter what they say
and if they tell us lies
to make us come undone
remember
the tenets of our democracy
are not just words
they are the spirit
that resides in we

WE
THE PEOPLE
forming this imperfect union
must know that domestic tranquility
depends on justice for all and not "just us"

WE
THE PEOPLE
remember those
who risking life for liberty
only wish to be free
their happiness to pursue
and we who know
when others' happiness
does not materially affect you
believe it's not for you
to say or do yea or nay

WE
THE PEOPLE
who want government to stay
a force for good
the common welfare understood
to mean we are the best
when we regard the least
as equally worth our care

WE
THE PEOPLE
must fight apathy and complacency
remembering that a right is not a guarantee
that a document is not safety
if there is no certainty in its sanctity 

 

whimsical

to grasp at gossamer threads in a gale
to catch music in the palm of you hand
to see a whisper or taste sunshine
writing whimsical wish lists
of the things we hope to have
so we search for silver linings
greedier for a glint
than the grimiest prospector
tie our treasures up in ribbons
smile over fool's gold
while we die hungry and cold
because of this false bill of goods
we were sold

raiment

dip my tip of toe
to test the temp
and crustacean claws
creep and crunch
captors nab and grab
to pull me to the deep
the green grey rip
to speed my trip
as kelplike leeches
cling and writhe
to make my raiment
an abyssal chain
wraps me round
'gainst which i strive
to rise on apogean tides
but land recedes more
as current carries me
beyond the reach of you
standing silent on the shore

abstemious

a lush in dry January
to better myself
I stop myself
from texting
or calling
or liking
or tweeting
to limit my longing
withdrawing
abstemious
and ascetic
as a saint at Lent
I leave a space
between
and hope
you notice
and mind
and come
and find me

paladin

sew your armor
and knit your shield
a helmet you crochet
your trusty steed: a metrocard
your sword: your voice, your defiance
no more reliance on the status quo
on a patriarchal pat on the head
that father knows better than you know
be your own paladin
and champion your own cause
chant and march and burn your bras
suffer no more suffragette
battle all their lies
it's time to build our Camelot
the time has come to RISE

cantankerous

eyes close

but something else awakes

robs me of my sleep

cloaked in darkness encroaching

as light of day departs

cantankerous thoughts 

rancorous

clash and clatter

the cacophony of 

shattered glass

a clamor of carelessness

the mutineers of mind

arise and roused 

carouse

neologism

words said and unsaid
neologisms become a shibboleth
that open the door
a key between you and me
inside jokes inside
the space we make
to make us smile
in the space between
the world and we

effrontery

when not directed at me
I oft find laudable
blatant effrontery
myself so rarely brave and bold
I hold high those who ignore
caution's cry of wait and see
not that I am never feckless
certainly I can be reckless
but rarely to good effect and so
still some part of me respects
those who fly upon the wind
never caring where they land

lachrymose

crumpled handkerchief memories
dissolve like tissue in a hurricane
the more it changes
the more it stays the same
as we dance a lachrymose ballet
by fireflies dying glow
as summer turns to snow
lost in the seasons
between what we know
and what we think we know

gambol

i may forget
if too long you stray
in truth, i may forget
the more you stay away
to sort yourself and suit yourself
i may forget
the way your smile
makes my heart gambol in my chest
i may forget
the comfort as we rest against each other pressed
i may forget
feeling so blessed, so if this is some test
be wary or you may regret
the things i have forgotten to forget

jitney

in worn out shoes
and shiny faced
we piled six of us
in jitney jumbled
drunk on youth
and whiskey and beer chasers
racers from Greenpoint's grace
to Woodside's place
made sinners and saints
in the course of a cold night
a century past
but also everlasting

immutable

like the ocean
surface ever moving
tides rise and fall
but underneath it all
something immutable stands
tempest-tossed or placid
lapping against the sands
you remain
volatilely variable
yet ever the same

haberdasher

dress him up in finery
still an empty suit
is just an empty suit
and no haberdasher
on Savile Row
could save the
hollowness below
the mask is not a man

beguile

a conspiratorial whisper
a sentimental kiss
those moments i live for
it comes down to this
it doesn't take much
it starts with a smile
a nod, a soft touch
i'm easy to beguile

factitious

run through the storm
toward shelter factitious
crumbling facade
the entirety of edifice
movie lot frontages
made of plywood and paint
left to fade and rot in the sun
still towards it we run
fooled from afar
by tumult and hope

maelstrom

a lady does as ladies do
curtsy, smile, see it through
with placid mask upon my face
drinking tea and tatting lace
I sit and wait for war to come
within me swirls the maelstrom

deem

a place for everyone
so say they
and in your place
you see they've placed
themselves above
those who deem
chaos as crass
mess as morass
climb out of the box
in which they shove you
break through
the cardboard
or shatter the glass
never content
to come in last

oligopsony

sometimes
I've sold myself
too cheaply
others
held myself
too dear
confused value for worth
perspective skewed by
an oligopsony lopsided
by the few, by ones
who manipulate the data
date by date to create
a wealth of love or hate
to profit on my deficits

baleful

clouds contract
upon her brow
beneath the baleful sky
swirling within
blue-grey eyes
jaw clenches and trembles
thunder approaches
grown tired
of the false light
of your dying sun
better run, boy
better run

rejuvenate

on a ramshackle road
new fallen snow
or summer rain
we are cleansed
and washed
and clean again
hope restored
in a moment
the flicker of a spark
ignited by the dawn
rejuvenated for journeys
and trials ahead
off the map
where dragons await
but we
we are perilous too