AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

If ever I go berserk, I won't go running amuck
through the streets...I'll just go out and spend
every last dime I have on books.

Today I've taken to rubbing the covers (front and back)
of my favorite volumes all across my skin--all over my body.
(And yes, YOUR tome as well--you know who you are!)
The glossy finishes glide smoother than the matte.
 No matter. It is pure ecstasy.
 (The fact that you cannot do this with an e-book should not be lost on you.)

Never before have I derived so much pleasure from the written word.
Soon I'll open them to certain pages--my favorite passages--
and follow through in similar fashion.
(This is called absorbing the material.)
I know....I know...I did the same when I was twelve,
but those were magazines with pictures.
I've grown beyond that adolescent stage
into a pure "lover" of the written word.
An ageless, timeless, complete love!
I knew that I would find it someday,
and what a surprise to find it right there under my nose!

Make love to what you love.

Uh oh... I'm starting to feel that urge again...
that craving...to go out and score...about a dozen more.
There's a used book sale the public library
is putting on down the street. A buck for a book!
(Sometimes fifty cents.)
Somebody stop me!
Read the first fifty pages--
if it doesn't grab you by then, move on.
(Good advice for any relationship.)

It is enough just to have them,
Stacked here, there and everywhere.
Don't worry, I'll find SOMEPLACE to put them!

Books up da butt.

THAT SAME GUY

Poetry Potluck

One Shot Wednesday

Back in my little town

I never knew

a truly crazy person

back in my little town

there was the town bully

the town slut

the town eccentric

all harmless cartoon figures now

in a land obsessed

with violence

and war

just turn on the TV

and there he is

it's the same guy

DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?

it's the SAME guy

day and night

night and day

spraying bullets

dealing indiscriminate death

tune in at eight tonight

to see him again

we've created him

and glorified him

with our dollars

plunked down at the movie theater

we've created him

with a power structure

that assures young people

it's okay

to kill for your country

but only at OUR direction

don't come back here

and try that shit

on your own

is it any wonder that

some get confused

and get it turned around

you know

you are already too far gone

when you pull that trigger

when you are just following orders

all insanity

of the highest order

the inmates

running the asylum

inciting us daily

from podiums

and radios blaring

the politics of division

and hatred

a nation coming apart

from within

fueled by excess

and greed

glowingly referred to as

The American Dream

yeah

just another mentally unbalanced dude

spraying lead at a shopping center

they said he was cold

emotionless

desensitized

as he went about his business

as everyone asks

WHO created him

and somewhere in the background

Michael Jackson sings

time to look at

the man in the mirror