The End of the Sphinx

Jon said that Ron could have been as good as Dylan
When we were at the cafe in Petersham Mass
And then I drove him to Logan
Where he got on a flight to LA and I went back to NH

Almost everyone died on the way back
P.A.M. died, the Sphinx with long legs
Who took a fucking great picture of a tree
That I thought was great art - she liked paintings

I had come through the trees in a place that
Might has well have been Lothlorien where
The people were soft spoken and just standing in their forest
Could keep you alive an extra year

let alone watching them touch one another
And I had to scurry
Because the ice storm dropped a limb
Almost on my head

Last summer I felt strong in a blue tee shirt and shorts
Was running with P.A.M., though we didn't get too far
Made it to one of the summer cottage lower bedrooms
And I learned that i didn't have to be a porn star

I gave her a painting - she touched my thigh
While we drove to Dartmouth
And because life is short and uncertain
She said she loved me- I was crying

Damn fascinating- we did some Yoga together
and used to meditate facing one another
before bed- She tired of me quickly
Family dynamics, unresolved issues
I failed the checklist and the last straw

Was an Indian dinner that was abit late and wasn't homemade
Instead, it was gourmet canned

I never answered the riddle - correctly.

State Line

Coming across the border from Mass
into NH the fog was so thick I couldnt see the edge
of the road until NH - and then i breathed easy

dropping a friend off at Logan
on the way down we started writing
our screenplay

someone asked me to write a poem
about putting mustard on a hot dog
while drivingone handed a pink steering wheeled Cadillac

that briefly brought a smile to my face
i appreciate that
like i appreciate my cd playing in this laptop
which cost 18 dollars

if you're wondering how much
see the hexagram "grace" in the i ching

tree limbs were breaking from frozen rain
i stopped behind a pickup truck
someone and someone else stopped the truck
got out, and were clearing the road

i listened to some music
then drove past as they were finishing up

all the way north into darkness
all the way into night
and if you had better sight

you'd see ghosts tailing my red lights - tailing em real close

dress it up fine
life and death all around us

on the State Line

Zero Sum Game

Someone better be careful
Global warming has other implications
This cafe just proved to me
There's a ZSG going on here

Between the gorgeousness of women
And the average winter temperatures
However, there must be a lag - a glitch
Because the earth is getting hotter

And so are they - up here in Bemidji

So what?

(do you know what a ZSG is?
ask me or Aaron Abrams
any mathematician or logician can tell you the answer
but you see - me and Aaron
We'll give you the answer -
And we'll make it funny
Or we'll couch it in a poem about pain
Or both - possibly both (Aaron's likely to focus more on the humour))

Anyway, as I said, so what?

You can repeat affirmations
And espouse the tenets of Christian Science
Wherein evil and suffering are illusions
Of this, our failing Mortal Mind
Or attend workshops on co-dependence
12 Step meetings, 45 minute meditation sessions
Of course don't forget martial arts and weightlifting

And in this immortal sun which you'd construct to cling to
The ice fishermen still stomp their feet
If they can't afford to buy a shed and an ice stud ATV
To haul the thing
And I still sit drinking mango tea and watching
These 20whatever angels coming and going
Waiting to walk in the pines - in the wind - in the grey
It's not cold, but too cold for the ice to groan with thawing

At her house, my daughter sleeps, delicately mumbling things
And curled on her stomach
My son sleeps, even more delicate, his lashes gossamer
And his emotions gauze
She sleeps as well, ill, broke, lovelier than ever
Still as tough as nails, still the one to lose her wallet
Right before the crucial airline flight

We're basking in this deathless, warmthless, sunlight
Me and all these other creatures - just basking

While I walk off alone into the birches
Somewhere someone must be gaining something

- written @ Cabin House Cafe
Bemidji, MN
With the ex-wife and my kids napping at her house