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Asa250

NO SON TOO HOT
A collection of poems from 1978


SUNSET

Palm trees
are truer poems
than most the verse
I know.
And seagulls
sing sweeter songs
than they play
on the radio.

 


END OF THE LINE

The end of the linage,
the youngest generation --
the tip of the whip
of passed on expectations --
a line with frayed ends
whose only desire
is to lay at rest,
but coiled.

 

VETERANS

When war was reality
young men engaged the enemy.
From this war
three million men returned.
Three million men returned
but left so many dead
that still,
they struggle.

 

SUNSET DERBY

Again
I saw the greatest race,
when Secretariet won the Derby.
There were twin spirals
of burning incense
atop a Pepsi can
at sunset
on Lido Beach.

 


I DON'T KNOW

I don't know
if ever I will go
to where the bluegrass grows,
to a place I used to know --
the one I left so long ago.

And I don't know
if ever I'll be rich --
living's just a hitch,
Dylan's boxcar ride
on a railroad going nowhere.

And I don't know
if someone will be there
to love me in the end,
to care and be my friend
just like it's never been.

And I don't know
if ever I will see
my family and my friends again --
these thoughts surge without end
till I answer and pretend
I don't know...I don't know.

 


FATE

The days pass by
like spinning pictures
in the slot machine of time.
While an imagined God
holds a fistful of quarters
and pulls at the handle.

 


WAITING

I find myself
lounging in this world
waiting for
a helping hand.
When none comes
sometimes I wonder
if maybe
I should give my own.


CLASS

Please,
don't speak to me of class --
over half of class is ass!



SMALL

While less than infinity
Now is still the sum of reality --
like a point on a line through time,
it is the boundry of our minds.

The space of the vain
is very large --
they spend their days
clockwatching.
They alone
know life's score,
and they alone
care anymore.


LONG LIFE

If the science of medicine
could keep but one man alive forever,
would that not raise
the average age
of all mankind
towards positive infinity.
And then,
would we not have
instant immortality?


CROSSING TIME

Are glimpses of now
like stones in time
like stones in a creek
on which we step?
Or,
do we glide through time
like a firefly
through a warm dark field?



WIND UP FISH

Once I made a windup fish
took it to the ocean
and I watched it swim away.

I woke up, showered and I shaved
I ate breakfast and smiled at the lady
I worked and earned a day's freedom.

At sunset
I drove to Lido Beach
and walked into the surf
just like my windup fish.



WHAT I SEE

I'm just a glass-eyed observer
in a transparent world
looking for the why.



THE LONG JOURNEY

Obliquely,
I stalk through life
always looking sideways
always searching for myself
and seeing a moment too late
a life that never was.


SHE TALKS

Like a voice
from deep space,
like a gleam
on a cosmic sea;
the plain girl smiled
and subtly asked,
do you want me?



A WOMAN WHO FOLLOWS

None of the women
that I have loved
have loved me enough
to follow me here.
But the one
I find here
in this low state
will follow me anywhere.



FOR SALE

The sign it hung
on the right windshield
of the car
he'd bought for her.
The sign it hung
on the right windshield
in front of where
she used to sit.
He looked for her
but now she was gone--
only the car was left.
Cleaning the window
one last time,
he wondered
what the car would bring.
Cleaning the window
one last time,
he wondered
what she was worth.



THE SEARCH

When once I know her name
then I'll know who she is.
I can ask my friends
where she goes
what she does
I can ask my friends
where she lives
who she is.
Someday maybe I'll find her
if I keep looking for a lady
that looks like the lady
that my friends talk about.



QUESTIONS TO AN OLD LOVER

What kind of person is the person
who is living with you now?
Does he tuck you in at midnite,
does he dry you with his towel?

Does he listen when you whisper
to the words within your heart,
does he see you when you're sleeping
though you're sleeping towns apart?

Does he notice when you're hurt
or cherish that you care?
Does he mingle in your thoughts
and offer a life to share?


SHOWTIME

A person alone
gets into life
without paying fees
cause
they never see the show.
They're just a guest
the actors ignore
and they never understand
cause
no one ever tells them
that all the fakes are real
in the circus of life.



NINETEEN AND SEVENTY CENT DREAM

He thrashed about
in a cold cruel world
inflicting acts of kindness
and bringing folks together
just so they would
chase him out of town.



THE LONG WAR

Long ago
when they did revolt
they lost.
Now, they gather in bars
and engage in mind wars
only to inflict
confusion on
their enemies within.



INCURABLE

"sick?" you say
"yep!" he says,
"came down with life,
no chance to survive."



WORDS ON SAND

When a man
loses faith
he finds himself.



REFLECTIONS

Sometimes life
is like good fiction --
made up stories
that you want to believe.
Worlds filled with gods
and shopping center temples
Congregations
peering into windows
watching comic characters
substituting
illusion for reality.



PERPLEXED

Each time I ask
why I'm the way I am
confused's the only answer
my mind can understand.


CHALLENGES

Dogs and horses
are easy to figure
they run round in circles.
men are much harder --
only one is twenty
knows where he's headed.



HORNY MENTALITY

He didn't want
to join in the exchange
of knowledge --
he justy wanted
to stuff his ideas
into somebody.



THE MAIN ATTRACTION

For an hour
the old seagull and I
watched the gulf and bathers.
One young bearded man
spun a frisbie with dexterity
but failed to attract
a single lady.
The seagull laughed
and I smiled
when the local queer
winked in applause.

Recalling encounters
with so much harsher places,
I hold onto Florida
like a hard©to©leave woman.
I listen close
and I pay attention
so when I snuggle up with death
in a place like Sarasota
I'll have enough stored memories
to sustain my old age.



PURITY

Is the world soundly sleeping
as the geniuses
exhaust man's knowledge?

Does the zenith of our progress
rest on building better sewers?

Have we passed the point
where it's still possible
for people to care?

Have we lost our purity?



TO MARKET

Our leaders sold our weapons
then they sold our food.
Oh, they liked the profits
for they could live so good.
Next they sold the way we live
and they sold our land.
Why they sold our future
no one could understand.
But should a market ever arise
for politicians to deride,
we could offer the world the best
and then
our people could get some rest.



IMPASSE

There can be no sale
when the product's not the same
when the sellers offer the past
and the future's the buyers game.



SECOND HONEYMOONS

The palm and I
alone stand fast
as winds of time
blow gently past.
We watch hungry gulls
search for food.
We watch aging couples
search for their youth.
We see lonely couples
stumbling on reflections
and groups of gulls
pecking on broken shells.



VOWS

Now that we're married
and alone at last my dear,
let's sign a contract
to always be sincere.

In horror I watched her run --
was it something that I'd done?
It was just a piece of paper,
it was just a thought.



BRUTAL VIEW OF LIFE

Once,
I saw a man
beat to the ground
and kicked in the face
with the heel
of leather boots.
With each kick
his body jerked --
a helpless drunk
and a crazy man.
He'll stop, I knew
but he kept on kicking.
I got my gun
but could not shoot.
For if I shot,
my own life
was all I would destroy.


SEAGULL LONESOME

The last rays of the sun
grasp at the colored clouds
while cool breezes blow
on a body that's grown old.
And my soul softly longs
to follow the fading sun
and lay me down to rest
in some quiet hidden cove
where no one ever goes
where only seagull sleep.



AN ANSWER

Like waves forever lapping
beating constant on the shore
fool's voices demand of me
that I be something more.
Though I have to listen
I no longer hear;
Though they spend their fury
I no longer fear.
For all I can ever be
I've forever been.
I'll always be myself,
and always be a friend.


FIRST LOVE

She built a fire
that burned a lifetime
in my heart--
and when I saw her
with other lovers,
I felt no envy--
I was not jealous,
but my heart,
like a burning ember,
smoldered and glowed.


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