YOURS DROOLY

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

There was a time when I 
thought that I was gonna crap 
out before the age of thirty
in some romantic James Dean
bullshit kind of thing 
but now being to hell and gone
past that (and past the point 
of caring 'bout most things
I cared about then)
I gotta kinda wonder if
live fast die young 
might not have been
the better option
cuz the last thing 
I ever wanted to be 
was some decrepit old fool
who can't get up off the stool

but that's probably coming

then again I think about
how I would have missed
this lovely shit show 
we've got here today
(I know I don't have to go into it)
and I'm kinda glad that I can be here to commiserate with you 
and help you through it 
in my own little way
so come here and put
your head on my shoulder
cuz it's a lot easier than me
trying to put my shoulder 
on your head

Yours Truly,
Still Not Dead

COMING

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

the odor of death
hangs heavy over the planet
the corpses of angels
strewn at our feet

and it's coming


the people were told
by the high priests 
of climate change
but they paid no heed
till it started to rain
(say what you will about Noah--
 he had strong animal magnetism)

what to do now:


rob the liquor store
do a lap or two
around the lap dancer
circumnavigate the moon
swing on a comet's tail
eat in the kitchen
crap in the loo
the creatures marched in
two by two
look out Flahr-Da
there's more soup for you

take a Greyhound to Memphis
do a thing with The King
drink your whiskey straight
masturbate
(as you can see
it doesn't matter to me)

'cause it's coming

the odor of death
hangs over the planet
you can see it in the skies
and in the children's eyes

but what we will carry:
the scent of earth
and twigs
and pine

we'll always remember you
Mother 
just as you are
as we gaze wistfully upon you
from some other star

and we are coming

THIS DREAM

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads--d'Verse Poets Pub

Here's an encore presentation from a few years back. Many of you haven't seen it,or if you have, you don't remember. Isn't memory loss a wonderful thing?

In the morning
I awaken once again
into this dream

In the blueness
of the day
the arrogance
of ordered existence
becomes clear

As the day darkens
I come to terms with
the illusion of meaning

I've taken to staying up 
while others sleep
spinning and turning in time

That blow to the head
could have felled a rhino
but all I did was stagger
about a bit
in that lovely planetarium
behind my eyes

Now
in my world of ambiguity
the universe precedes the big bang
the lesson begins the teacher
and life plays out 
from finish to start

In a parallel universe
I am perpendicular 

And like the world
it all makes perfect sense
if you don't think about it

ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

I got myself a tribe
their wordless tongues
don't have to wangle
only nimble fingers
flying over a keyboard

My foolscap is a monitor
for monitoring fools
determined to give the Big Lie
just one more try
as tribal warfare
spills across the screen

A manhole cover 
on my head 
to brace
for the incoming
a hail of toads
wet-stained and sweating rain
as life is cheap as dirt
in cyber land
but the truth
now that'll cost ya

NO FORGETTING

Down at the bus station
drunks and drifters 
prepare to sail away 
to somewhere
anywhere 
away from here
as if you could 
somehow get away 
from you

You're not of that ilk
but with a little letting go
you could be

The woman 
in the adjacent seat
is talking to someone
that isn't you 
and you surmise
it must be God

Out your window
snowflakes plummet
onto an empty plain
and there is your God

Darkness descends
with only the open road 
and the cold stars
beaming out yesterday

This is where you belong
and there is no forgetting

RED WATER, BRONZE WORDS

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

The road is just more geology
we kick up pale dust that hangs
peels back to the left
northbound lane
a hawk circles low

America 
I sometimes wish
you would remember me
under the glitter
on frozen moss and snow
the wet seasons
red water
bronze words
new shoots of spring wheat

I have enough despair for two people

A voice calls me to the river

When you see my reflection
in the dewdrops 
on the heather
you'll know that I have returned

ALL THE BOOGEYMEN AND THE GODDESSES ARE GONE

dVerse Poets Pub--Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

I initially engage a book of poetry
somewhere in the middle, 
looking to avoid   
beginnings and endings
as one always leads to the other
and if we'd just meet each other
halfway the cycle might be broken.

I  don't need new and improved
like the dubious claims in that
laundry detergent commercial.
Am quietly content with 
a 1997 issue of Ploughshares 
that I picked up at the used book sale.
Those poems have been neglected
for some time (I can identify) 
so I pay them a visit to find
lo and behold that neither they
nor their creators have aged...
only me...old and unimproved.

And then the next ad pops up 
and it's  the real people-- not actors--
with their testimonials, don't you know.
And as for those backhandedly maligned
thespians, I wonder if at the end of the day
 do they turn back into real people again 
when they go home to their families
or maybe just a room with one dim  
bulb hanging down from 
the ceiling and a cat.

And now back to our story.
But maybe I'll just switch it off 
before the foregone conclusion.
Have done it before.
You just walk out the door.
(Avoiding the saddest part of the drama.)
Used to think maybe I would
miss something that way. 
But now can see that 
all I missed was the ending.

THIS BIRD

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

I saw someone
who looked a lot like you
before you went crazy

but it was only from pictures
that I saw the resemblance

for as long as I knew you
you 
were a little off
but I just chalked it up
as part of the cost of loving

but there comes a point
of diminishing returns
on one's investment
so you cut your losses
before they cut into you 


the song of the cuckoo
as she flies over her nest
will bombard my heart
with second thoughts
but last impressions 
are always more telling

who have you been
for lo these many lives
and how many people
are crying quietly inside you?

You wanted me to be your knight
but I can't save you from the demons
that will one day drag you screaming
to your own private hell

WHEN YUKIMI SINGS

d'Verse Poets Pub

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

Don't sum up your life
by the awards you've collected
nobody gives a crap 
'bout that but you.

Or your service to the war machine.

U can only be proud of that if 
U didn't snuff out the flame
of a slanty-eyed someone you've
never spoken to and never
given it a second thought 
cuz U did your duty by God and country.

And when Yukimi comes gyrating onto
the stage to do the vocal for "Empire Ants" 
it's already the middle of the song
and the crowd goes nuts in frenzied
anticipation with a thousand flames
held high cuz they know it's about
to kick into another gear.
And then that beat engulfs you
 like a big Asian tsunami 
and just sweeps U right you away.

So let's say that U also dug
Gorillaz--then there'd be some hope
that you and I 
could engage eye to eye
and I to I
 and lo and behold
there might be mutual understanding
no matter who or what we are.

It could be just that easy.

RUNNER

Imaginary Garden With Real Toads

if you're numb
if you're just numb
you can block out
the shame and regret
of all you've done
otherwise there ain't no way
you make it through 
to fight another day
you want to have clear
vision not clouded by
tears and your nose
not running with snot
you're running with the bulls
you're running with the devil
you're running from the stench
of the past 
and that's a marathon
you'll finish by god
bloodied but unbowed
pick up your participation medal
on the way home