PRESIDENTS NEED LOVE TOO
If every statement
is either a please or a thank you
and it just might be true
Then maybe all George’s little Georgie
wants for Christmas is just to feel safe
And if that’s true, and it might be too
Then all I want
is for him to find a safer way to do it
WITCHES AND WARLOCKS
I think
that the witches will win in the end
Independent as cats, stealthier than stealths
and higher than scuds they fly
every which, every which, every which way
While the warlocks are locked
into trying to rule
with the clumsy clubs of war
JERUSALEM AND OTHER TRAVELS
I wake in the night
in a prison of my making
rattling the bars of might have been
and should and should not have done
Unable to escape I pace and I wait
For Buddha to melt the illusion
Or for Jesus to open the door
with sweet forgiveness
Or God to at least send along
a minor prophet with
a file in a cake
A CALL
Five times a day
Moslems climb their towers
to interrupt my prayers
WAKE TURBULENCE
Deep in the night the great horned owl
strokes silence with silence
If you land a small plane behind a 747
(Don’t land a small plane behind a 747)
If you land a small plane behind a 747
the invisible vortex from its wingtips
can toss you back into the air
or slap you hard into
the ground
Behind the great owl
the softness of its passing hangs in the air
NEVER MORE BEAUTIFUL
(for Lee Cherry)
Visited last year and again last month
with old friend Lee in Tennessee
Ten years and more of cancer
and that Chattannooga choo choo
may be pulling out soon
The skin has become
more and more transparent
the soul more and more shining through
I expect by the next time we drop in
a floating glimpse of Alice’s cat
with a Mona Lisa grin
FORGIVENESS (the first sword)
And the first sword
that I beat into a plowshare
must be the one that injured me
A VALENTINES POEM
(for Dorsey 2004)
The beauty of a rose always
outweighs the pain
of the thorn
In this same spirit I would pray
that Valens be forgiven
their tines
Only when we bleed can we see
what lives within
the heart
WHO’S DRIVING YOUR CAR
The Siamese twins
had to move to England
so the other one could drive
The part of you that drives to the office
is not the one who arrives at the beach
The one who bought the purple dress
is not the one who won’t let you wear it
The one who got the license first
always wants to drive
While everyone else in your psychic car
the ones that can think
and the ones that can feel
all fight for their turn at the wheel
While it so often seems that the you
that includes and is more than them all
Is back in the boot, or trunk if you like
bound and gagged and tied up inside
just going along for the ride
THE NEW ARCHETYPES
Apollo is still locked into the light
Dionysus still dancing our darkenss
Mars and friends are still busy at war
and Aphrodite’s still getting her way
The old archetypes will never go away
but we have some new ones here today
Elvis is the King
John Wayne is the Duke
and Marilyn is Marilyn
Babe is the Babe and the Boss is the Boss
Diana the Huntress has become the prey
It doesn’t matter if they’ve come
from Mt. Olympus or Hollywood USA
they’re in us now, and they’re in play