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- short play date
The pit scampered in
and made a beeline for the
comfortable couch.
- three kinds of memory
Long-term fact storage.
Planning future strategy.
(I forgot the third.)
- to swerve man
It is not enough
to feign disdain; let us dig
deep and feign action.
- aging eyeballs
The letters became
blurrier and blurrier
till he switched contacts.
- the asians you see on tv
Nerd, tech guy, awkward
loner, kung fu guy, but not
the love interest.
- you never know how you’ll be judged
Height, weight, hairstyle, wealth,
credit score, car, breath, teeth, shoe
size, grammar, aura.
- milky ways
Many dimensions,
but they’re all based on shades of
white, eggshell, ecru …
- true hunger
Never being full
on water, ketchup soup and
ketchup sandwiches.
- fair-feathered fiend
I kept an owl
to scare the mice and hoot hoot
around the house house.
- yellow snow
Filing nails to a
fine powder, keratin falls
in a flesh blizzard.
- murder none
Shoot whoever you
want, but be wealthy enough
to purchase justice.
- huddled around the phone
The video plays.
We’re unable to stifle
ruptures of laughter.
- disinterest rates
So many movies
to skip, so many people
to fully avoid.
- even thieves need to recharge
The burglar stopped to
pet the cats and hunt through the
refrigerator.
- colbert notion
The scrap of paper
spoke truth: “At every moment,
we are volunteers.“
- the worth of a woman
A living, breathing
birthing chamber who cannot
be trusted at all.
- a candidate for every whim
Tall ones and short ones,
loud ones and quiet ones, lots
of ones in between.
- looking at a bunch of objects in a museum
Art is a fancy
way of saying globs of paint
or hunks of boulder.
- the newness wears off
Once the shine is gone,
what’s left but a decaying
mass of molecules?
- a bargain at any price
Instant access to
all the world’s markets and yet
still so hard to choose.
- clickwait
The newspaper found
out that women exist and
have strong opinions.
- books on shiny platters
The narrator droned
on and on for another
35 CDs.
- foamy devices
One of my hobbies
is to replace dead leaky
batteries too late.
- a shell a day
Troves and troves of beach
treasures, piled in a bucket
to make necklaces.
- beyond the tombstones
Their legacy is
freedom. Freedom to challenge
the powers that be.
- the hottest on record
Sunny skies, sizzling
temps, a meltdown like no one
can ever reckon.
- what little we can do
What little we can
do is more than all the words
that have been uttered.
- an extra pair of glasses
Tiny type defies
bleary eyes, requires a
modest adjustment.
- sniffing around
New territory,
new things to smell for canine
visitor off leash.
- clear eyes
To be aware is
to go mad, to get mad, to
see the world as is.
- loon on nineteenth street
He whipped his shirt off
and juggled water bottles
while spouting nonsense.
- everything is history
We are caught looking
backwards as our lives spin out
in dubious ways.
- phantoms of the night
On streets and sidewalks
they roam invisibly to
oncoming traffic.
- my tenth grade english teacher’s rule
The plot is the least
important element in
any good novel.
- great acceptations
To change the world, you
must first accept that nothing
is acceptable.
- downpour on the rocks
At long last, the rain
soaks the parched earth badly
in need of a stiff drink.
- hole moods
They stood in line a
block deep for a free doughnut
to brighten the day.
- stupid smart
We are curious
creatures but also rigid
unlearned morons.
- the long lost viking
Alone, he neither
pillaged nor plundered, content
to go reckoning.
- life-or-death distinction
This verse ends not in
a graveyard but a field where
bodies are buried.
- steps to dictatorship
Own the media.
Consolidate all power.
Don’t show force — use it.
- equal under the skin
I can manage my
body. Why can’t women have
that autonomy?
- the beach is alive
The ground undulates
beneath my burnt feet, lapped by
wave after sly wave.
- the 5,000th haiku
I stand, not at the
summit, but at the small ridge
of a long ascent.
- the small of it all
Baby dog? Puppy.
Baby kangaroo? Joey.
Baby man? Baby.
- a mighty fall
Chainsaws carve up the
remains of a giant oak
into stubby logs.
- sandwiches of times past
That perfect reuben
haunts my foodie dreams as I
starve with ham-on-why.
- doorstep detente
Zealous dog wants to
meet the UPS driver
so very badly.
- not quiet quiet
The chirping bugs, the
hum of the AC, the soft
rustle of the wind.
- darkened windows, bad vibes
She wouldn’t enter
the strange cantina even
though her boyfriend would.
- the #metoo era
Same old rapists, just
more visible, defiant
and traumatizing.
- beepless for a while
The unmoored feeling
of discovering your phone
is nowhere nearby.
- southern state of mind
Can’t be captured in
lame sweet tea homilies and
down home duncery.
- invisible harmony
We see the pattern,
and it cannot be unseen.
From chaos, order.
- a domestic dispute
Nothing to see here.
No frightened children, no wife
in overwrought tears.
- the bills
The bills brought nothing
but continued frustration
at the bleeding purse.
- summers past
Days unbound by mere
routine, freedom to explore,
to suck the marrow.
- dystopian blues
No hope, no justice,
but at least our matching rags
look somewhat snazzy.
- ebola offensive
Thousands infected
but only half survive the
pernicious outbreak.
- our darkest thoughts
Running off the road.
Leaving a family behind.
Drinking to blackout.
- christmas through the year
The wreath hangs on to
the door, greeting guests with an
unseasonal cheer.
- low property taxes, unfriendly neighbors
We’ll build the house of
our dreams in Minecraft land, a
pixel paradise.
- america the pitiful
Stop bombing countries.
Stop mass incarceration.
Stop blaming others.
- fahrenheit 452
They took away our
books, not with a flamethrower
but with a click. Poof!
- two old guys at the coffee shop
A busy morning
of arguing politics,
belief and football.
- canine conundrum
It would be nice to
own a dog, but what if he’s
cleverer than me?
- pizza design
A careful placement
of pepperoni, a dash
of sauce, piles of cheese.
- cake obsession
I dream of cool eggs,
precise flour, some unstiff
butter, set to mix.
- almost time for vacation
Look out the window.
Picture yourself on the beach.
Watch the clock not move.
- smog snog
Nothing scares city
folk more than the prospect of
abundant fresh air.
- ask the guru
How much life is the
right amount of life to be
lived and encountered?
- songwriter’s rule
A perfect rhyme can
make you a liar in the
lyrics. Scrawl for truth.
- the forced smile
An unnatural
raising of the mouth’s heavy
corners on demand.
- refuge for the refugees
Lady Liberty
shoos away the tired, the
poor for worthy souls.
- persistent advertising
The billboard chased me
down the street, blocking out the
sun, hawking its wares.
- the divide
His psyche vs.
my psyche. Her truths vs.
their truths. Disconnect.
- the balladeer
He strummed the guitar
with precision on even
the most minor chords.
- out the windshield into the world
Gazing upon the
wondrous breadth of creation
from the driver’s seat.
- we are the aliens
Two explorers land
on the desolate moonscape
to plant footprints, flag.
- book exchange
She grabbed a paper-
back from the outdoor box and
left worn hardcovers.
- half-staff
A salute to the
fallen, a brief reminder
of a sacrifice.
- the verdant blanket
A soft carpet of
green teeming with cities of
ants marching to work.
- smoke break
A seven-minute
grasp at the outside world while
the work continues.
- a bar of your own
Cooler with the right
brews, TV with the ball game,
jukebox with the hits.
- the merger
His couch, her bookshelves,
the rest to be stored in this
corporate takeover.
- here we go gathering nuts in july
The skittering on
the roof by grey trespassers
sounds like a stampede.
- the new girl
Old hands eyed the new
girl with a mixture of dulled
lust and mild disdain.
- another skipped dinner
Home so late and straight
to bed, the belly rumbling,
the psyche sleepy.
- dead on her feet
Her strangled tootsies
supported (barely) a tired
aching falling frame.
- ambient symphony
Conversations and
cross talk blend into soothing
flowing melodies.
- shhhhhhhh
The library is
especially noisy with
loud kids and adults.
- if we just breathe
We do it without
thinking, yet we think we can
do it mindfully.
- the stream
Everyone wants to
know what to watch next from the
tsunami of shows.
- a consumerist plot
The budget goes out
the window when it comes to
impulsive buying.
- there goes hair
The photo revealed
a balding head atop a
denying body.
- the last days of summer
Back to school soon, but
still time to run free, goof off
and catch fireflies.
- the modern traveler
Always connected,
always needing a charge and
sick of airport food.
- millennial morass
Can’t catch a damn break.
Mired in debt. Stuck renting.
So misunderstood.
- a beautiful day in the subway car
They serenaded
dear Mr. Rogers on the
line running uptown.
- mature subject matter
You were once a child,
how easily you forget
your smaller stature.
- improv lines
A robber hides out.
Yes, and he loses his loot.
Yes, and he finds love.
• • •
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