IN ART AS IN LIFE
There are girls with tattoos
that go to places you cannot see
for clothes, or they without mirrors
There is art stolen by Nazis
that has never been recovered
There are more
openings than you can attend
more miles
in the Louvre, Prada and Hermitage
Here on the fridge, home from grade 2
notice the use of color and light
EXTRANET AT OAK AND ELM
The man on the phone
notices the frail old lady
waiting timid at the corner
Boy Scout still at heart
holds her elbow gentle
as they cross the busy street
Half turns and presses Send
to the threat to bomb the temple
OR ~
He pauses, smiles, and taps Delete
You choose the ending
MORE GLORY TO YOU
There is something
about a rotting church
in a by-passed prairie town
Pride become humility
spirit shining through the bones
ON THAT NOTE
Classical music fills the car
as we home from the airport in traffic
Our host is from Bulgaria
he plays the trombone, his wife the violin
sometimes they tour, sometimes he drives cab
He loves Austin, he loves his wife
Ahead and around
drivers speed and weave
I wonder what they’re listening to
WHERE ARE ALL THE MYSTICS NOW
According to Pir Vilayat Khan
Islam is the cocoon and Sufism is the butterfly
True of Christian mystics too
and all the saints, named and not
that bless each moment of the day
Every cocoon however
does not unfold a butterfly
In every congregation you will find
praying mantis – long may they pray
and wasps that swarm and sting
PATRICIA AT NINETY
Patricia Fiske
has just passed ninety
on the way to a hundred with her foot still on the gas
sometimes
with a little help
from some premium ninety octane in a glass
let’s all raise one to her today
MISSING LEONARD
Leonard Cohen is gone
He doesn’t call, he doesn’t write
So huddle with me now
fellow worshipers and weepers
Huddle with me now
round the poem and the song
and listen for the breadcrumb
and the hint of old perfume
that speak
of other ways to God
than through the holes
in Jesus and the goddess
AN OTHER WORD
There’s an other word for color
there’s an other word for creed
there’s an other word for other
in their tastes for Adam’s deed
There’s an other word for circling
all those wagons filled with fear
when the arrows dipped in other
are aimed at you this year
AURORA BOREALIS
The have found Franklin’s ship
a hundred years frozen in ice
Franklin and Franklin’s men
cold, hungry and can-lead crazy
blinded by the glare and the glory
Maybe this is how
we should paint the ceilings of the dying
SITTING BY THE POOL IN HOUSTON
Today I didn’t go jogging
or send a check to any needy cause
do anything much to my teeth or hair
that the product sellers said I should
or any of the million things
I’m told I need to do to be a better me
There is a man
In the high mountains of India
who sits beside a waterfall all day
and says to God
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
good work, good work, good work
I had a few moments of that