cold mountain (15)

where it is an accusation
to be young

cold mountain (14)

here there can be no
absurdism because misunderstanding rules the day

my brother's transistor radio

placed atop my scabby white knees


like a rolling stone


1966, summer

FROM FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE I KNOW WHAT A DRAG IT IS

to have seizures

cold mountain (13)

figures

cut my hand on the coffee tin

snow this morning

gone tonight

a good thing to have

one bulletproof apology

snow

now

LATE FOR NIGHT SHIFT AT THE MEDITATION FACTORY WHERE WE MAKE MEDITATION

because I like the idea of
no followers, zero, zilch, nada, zip

but 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tweets

read by no one
not even me

like cricketroar in a deaf poet's ear

zen is

not doing zen

at the intersection of hollywood and poetry

James Dean (1931-1955) wearing thick glasses,
reading from a book of poems
by James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

yesterday on cold mountain I spent hours on

YouTube


I 'copied and pasted' a few video clips

on my other blog of visual stuff

I like to call it, 'Looking With My Eyes at Sight-Things and Hearing With My Ears Sound-Things'

Alejandro Jodorowsky
Samuel Beckett
Sergei Parajanov

go there, look the

sea

the importance of learning how to count

1,2,3,
4,5,
6,7,8.

9.

Whereas prose is spatial,
poetry is temporal.

10.

What the hell does that mean?

after eating, you could say

we're all
behind
the 'ate ball'

[you groaners get lost]

my life

meh

king lear (2)

enough
with the raging on the heath
already

king lear

enough
already

Louis Ferdinand Celine

hate filled
bastard

genius

thank you

______

Roberto Bolano

from

the poets

design flaw

the ear
ache

A POEM FOR GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS (circa 84 BC - circa 54 BC) WHO WAS KIND OF A 'BIG DEAL' BACK IN THE DAY

_____________

I don't care
what they say
about you
in your home
town

Verona
is a cow
town anyway

Here you're
just another
old skank

a good word, a simple word

FIN

cold mountatin (12)

internet service
is lousy

postal delivery?
forget it

IF I KEPT A DIARY (WHICH I DON'T) IT WOULD BE SLOPPILY MAINTAINED AND THIS ASPECT OF MY DIARY WOULD BE A SOURCE OF SOME BACKWARD PRIDE, PERHAPS

[illegible]

my good friends

n[.....]
b[..]
a[...]

don't even know I'm alive

the beauty of the shell-like human ear

and its tendency
to miracles
of pain

on music

once I cared

cold mountain (11)

even here
a tiredness that hounds

a book

made from 10,000 lbs.
of granite

it would
take eight months
to turn a page

&
eight years to
re-shelve it

caught looking at the american apparel

cotton spandex
jersey tank
thong girls

what Gordon Lish told me in a letter

Get out of Iowa, man. You've been punished enough.

too much coffee?

1

sometimes I heart the
fear racing in my chest

2

sometimes I fear the
heart racing in my chest

heirloom

grandfather's
wooden leg
kicking

zen moment

*

NO CREAM!
NO COFFEE!

lines for a future cage

a

My necks
are sore

b

I call
them Hunger

in praise of

A BOLD
ITALIC
CAPITAL

published

seeing my poems in a
journal

nothing but sick

tangerines

three of them
on this kitchen table

for a certain poet, renowned

Dogged thing-a-majig.
Of the heart. Never
Use the word heart.
The heart is
Snapped shut like an old tire,
Language is, yours.

cold mountain (10)

missed garbage pick-up
this morning

again

regimen (2)

alternate


one push up.

that's it.

regimen

100 push ups.

10,000 abdominal crunches.

meditate 5 times a day.

up at 3:oo a.m.

sweep floors.

clean counters in kitchen.

dig turnips.

wash laundry in river.

dust.

haul.

push.

drag.

eat.

drink.

piss.

shit.

lie on hard floor.

breathe.

weather

*



Clouds


doing their cloud thing.


All right.

fine dining

The pound cake we ate least night.
A goodly amount.
A goodness.

insult mind

I'll read Catullus for insult &
Han Shan for his hermit mind

question for my non-existent reader

does anyone know how to increase the line length (characters per line) on this blog?
I don't like the relentlessly short line look of my blog as it is currently set-up.

send me intstructions,
please

Saint Valentine's Massacre

Poetry today is
I almost typed 'powetry'
across the windshield in bleached sandwiches

sad rest-stop dispensers

huddled you always drop dimes in the snow
dream the cat lady
is eating out of a cat dish
on the floor
her rear raised

you won't post this it's what you feel
walking the mall, holding non-permanent
tattoos in Target bathosphere

you'd go on a crime tour of Chicago's
Saint Valentine's massacre
real cold glamor squared

cold mountan (9)

dream of silos
& barb wire
like waves

cold mountain (8)

tweet free
zone

standing in a ditch a guy asks me for directions

I can't understand him
so I point anyway
up north on Crow Hill Road

basho

pond
frog
whatever

cold mountain (7)

we sit on the porch
watch the city
burn

cold mountain (6)

up here our favorite tv show remains
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

someone from work phoned to ask if i would come in on my day off as it was busy and Sven was sick and so the department was short-staffed and

i didn't go in

cold mountain (5)

drink coffee
wash cup

burn underwear

mother look what i can do

too late
you're gone


(for my mother, 1924-2004)

poem in two parts or sections

1
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::::::::::::::::::::
:::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::
::::::::::::
:::::::::

2
:::::::::::::::::::::
::::::
:::::::::
:::::::::::::::
:::::::::::::::

poetics

a parlor game

word I made up for use in a sestina

flarge

cold mountain (4)

not sure
what all
the fuss
is about

cold mountatin (3)

this twig tea
tastes like shit

cold mountain (2)

my whole life
gathering
wigs

parataxis

what. he. them. is. what. here.
there. blunt. lit. not. then. dark.

cold mountain

I've seen colder.

trees without leaves in springtime

PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!

typo, example of

the world is haunted by bad typoing

astrological forecast for geminis

okay

math

17 per cent
on your
2nd semester
math exam

in high school

history of rock and roll in a weird nutshell

I saw you over there
in your ragged armor
and blue suede shoes,
showing all the girls
your rock and roll fangs.

Rock on, you bastard.
Rock on.

second floor mud room

forget it.


meh.

either or

I prefer the broken hunchback



to the hollow-headed



movie star,

poem

don't worry.

no one is reading.

the knife sharpener

1

Summer. The
knife sharpener
would come round.
All the house-
wives would
bring their
knives out
for him to
sharpen. He
was Italian.
A nice man
who walked
slowly ringing
a hand-
held bell.

2

It was good
to have sharp
knives.

I LIKE THE LONG TITLE. THE LONG TITLE IS SOMETHING I LIKE. IT ISN'T CLEAR TO ME WHY THIS IS SO BUT IT

just
is.

bravery

cowardice with fists.

to all whom I offend

I offer this:

aggrieved
spice in
jaw clamps
for the rabid

Leonard Cohen

A bowl of rice.
Green tea.

An army
of beautiful women.

Walls
in ruins
at your
feet.

middle aged poet practices typing with eyes closed going at speed far in excess of what is possible with his pre-arthritic fingers

[Tedium demands
the real
be deleted.]

word

A

word.

elements

for Peter Markus


a

by fire?

by water?


b

by water.

to be with the fish.

ordinary

1

oh

okay

sure

i guess


2

what?

what?

uhhhhh.

I guess.


3

what did you say?

oh.

no.


yes, sure, I mean yeah.


4

oh christ.

I forgot my.

no. no I didn't.

I put it in my coat pocket.


5

let's get going.

i've got to.

what day is this?

too late. missed it.



6

where's the.

oh.

sure.

I guess.



7

see you.

encycling like a dorm head forger

TIRED IS THE KILLER MONKEY


Not so bad as a loose tooth.

The handsome one, who cleans himself like a fucker.

No nightmares, tonight, a simple prayer for those in need.

The slags they aren't calling as much, lucky

hard-headed heartless man you've more friends than you deserve.

Gone to find Jane.

poem

poem
[ppoe,
poem
poem
poem
poem



poem

book recommendations

Recently I read two books, both of which I recommend highly:

EVER by Blake Butler (Calamari, 2009)

BOB, OR MAN IN BOAT by Peter Markus (Dzanc, 2008)