Mountain Highway

Left Turn

2006-07-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

This notebook has packed up all possessions in a handekerchief, tied the bundle to a stick, slung the twig over shoulder and thumbed down the road to http://mountainhighway.wordpress.com - effectively closing down down this taco stand. You may consider subscribing via http://feeds.feedburner.com/mountainhighway for continued poetic encounters.

2006-07-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

Sky blue trepidation
low as bricks
soft as flakes

My brother called
something about
quitting jobs
remembering jobs
remembering summertimes
building log houses
muggy days
broke by coral seas
sanddunes stretch
past the yellow cedars
jump again into sento
soaking hot
feeling low
straggling past
the circumstance

Sadie Superstar

2006-07-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

Sadie often I told you
don't break two laws at once
Sadie don't wanna scold you
but i won't bail you out
more than twice

You've been taking
candy from strangers
since you were a kid
now you're craving
the impending danger
your habits bring

Sadie Superstar
I believe that you'll be
even better
than any of us are

I'm not sure
how to explain
but your twinkle
and your poetics
make you sublime

Sulphur Pile

2006-07-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

There are just a few things
that i know about the sulphur pile

first, is that i am not sure it is actually sulphur
second, the pile is not harmed by rain
next, the (assumed) sulphur is used for something
somehwere else
trains bring it here, ships take it somewhere beyond

and the pile never changes in size

glowing like Van Gogh's pool table
under cafe lamps

Leaving Iceland

2006-07-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

Thorvald sets sail
to follow his brother's trail
unsure of expectations
but comfortable sure of direction

headed towards vinland
where scraelings abound
he's windy and heady
and leaves nothing behind

Twenty Bill

2006-06-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

Feel like a twenty bill
Stony drunk and built to spill
Out on the roadway
Like i feel

Got a few of bucks for gas
Spent the rest on rest
and Roll it up to
Keep it real

Stowed away on slow ships
Left behind on roadtrips
Trains lost somewhere
Seeking a meal

Haggard memories of embrace
My boots in your suitcase
and Somehow is comes back
back to your smile

So paint me up in Crayola hues
Aquamarine and rusted patina blue
If i could be someone else
I'd choose
Coeur du bois or you

Luminescence

2006-06-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

the first flicker
of luminescence
soggy matches
and pouting lips

watched you wait
like my best friend
from third grade classroom
swingset memory

lakefront fireflies
proving too quick for jars
rocky beach and the
proverbial stars

you called me out
to a distant place
i couldn't even recognize
that it's my backyard

Sidewalk

2006-06-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

libra vox bravada
close in seeking treasure
the news box on pender proclaims
"zoo faces charges of cruelty to hippo"
just not something you read everyday

the buses bring touists,
flower hats blocking sidewalks
commuters struggle by
couching earnest glares

resisting urge to interfere
instruct
counsel
the nervous pleated pants, clip-on tie namebadge

busy time afoot
stained tile wallks
manage reflect sideways
amidst the grime

17th to 41st & Oak
a single coin is often,
indeed standardly,
exchanged for variations of
sustenence &/or convenience

The Ferry Changes Tack

2006-06-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

The ferry changes tack
to let the seaplanes land
tilts gamely from
the wake left behind

dragonflys were
the first to migrate
flying miles in just a day
discovered by someone younger
studying ambered fossil chunks
and specific DNA

cruisers berthed in harbour
barges haul the ore
trains railing sulphur,
prairie wheat and coal

ships robust laden
steaming to a horn
lonely crewman leans past jericho
leaving gastown cobbles behind

Edwin Embarks

2006-06-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

Edwin wake up!
His father shook the boy
the journey begins this moment
before us long roads
and open seas

but poppa i'm tired he cried
and missing ma so much
do we have to go now
tell me why we must

Yes child
i believe you
hard and drawn
cobble paths and study oars
lead to distant shores and homes

but we'll leave our home
and the greenest shore
grey rocky bluffs
that we'll see no more

myths we follow
to a westfaced coast
somewhere vacant
with peaceful straits

stony walls
upturned hulls
protect us now
from the wolves

edwin let's tread
come boy you're strong
adventure awaits us
lit by late summer sun

Dramatic times, drastic crimes

2006-06-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

Dramatic times
drastic crimes
commited every hour

killing words
from overlords
hoarding stolen power

Except for us
it's all a bust
why bother even trying

i'll tell you why
if i can figure
which are the lies
and when i'm fibbing

it's something 'bout
knowing the way to lead
and kickin' the reasons spinning

ride along and smile twice
and i'll always see you later
if you need a chance
remember to to ask
me when i get a clue

Sweetzer Road

2006-06-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sweetzer Rd is
admittedly devoid
just wandering cows
and rattlesnakes

when you stop here
in roadside shade
there's no chance
that you'll miss the town

Origins of Tapioca

2006-06-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Pondering the origins of tapioca
is it a gelatin or does it come from
uhhh a tree or something?

"It's gelatin," she says
so they can make it any size they want.

I am a bit confused
but I nod along
don't have a guess
so either way
i'm wrong

Juniper Road

2006-06-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

Juniper road
Umitilla highlands
the pass heads straight down
to the straight road
into Pendleton

High as radio waves
past towers, o'er canals
Burley in the distance
moon just shy of half
just enough though
to light the stars

Pondering the Question of Advice

2006-06-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

He pondered the question
for over a day
he could have died without answering

finally, calling me close, hoarsely

"make a hundred million then cut and run"

The Smallest Town

2006-06-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

the smallest town possible
Sublett Idaho
(or Utah?)
no matter
i've been there twice

Sunken Awake

2006-06-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

Ashen sunken
eyes awake slowly
from morphine haze
"it relieves the anxiety to breath"

from time to time
he screams "i can't breathe"
and i say "you're breathing now"

he remembers his father, "a financial genius" he says
he is the kindly man with the pipe in the painting
"it hangs above my bed"
each word slow
he was always good to me and he is calling me home

come wuickly he said
i won't last long
don't leave yet
you'll have to wait

he said,
i am just too tired
i am just too tired
i am ready to go
i am scared

head drops
struggles to move
i am ready to go

Ranch Exit

2006-06-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

V1
Ranch exit Oh de Oh
O'er the pass we gonna roll
'nigh services up ahead
just us and trucks
rounding the bend

C
Dropping in and shiftng down
half past Snoville by 10 oh 5
would stop for pie
if the town were open
but shuttered down
so we keep on rolling

V2
Ranch Exit Hi di hoh
mother trucker swerving solo
slow on down ya great big loader
bail out lane is
right there for ya

V3
Ranch Exit Low de doh
diggin the starshine show
riding green and rolling low
past the flying J
dark in idaho

B
Ursa Major pointing us ahead
wellsville rising far behind
as we are northward bound
idaho's road are bumpy
utah beer is swill
oregon holds the gas pump and
washington is greener still

Columbia Daunted but Still Roils

2006-06-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

One way these track run
into the elevator
and onto Mt Hood

Turning east
stopped by wooden fence
dam the beyond
columbia daunted
but stil roils

stunted but strong
regressed to measure and
potential
water spreads
thinner than gold
every fiefdom wants a piece so they
bridge it
dam and tame it

rocks and monuments
observe the folly
silt builds up behind
water cool ahead
moving beyond memories
of drowned villages and
uncovered artifacts
entombed, enshrined
only the tugboats
come close

barge drifting
silos wait
trains slip past
and columbia rolls

I've held the Globe

2006-06-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

I've held the globe
thread for vapor trails
of journeys
each color a route
pinned from Greece to Kenya
or St John's Bay
is that Israel or Syria?

A blue loop with stops at
20 pins circumnavigates
a memory of connections
meals with colleagues
strangers and stewardesses

Red thread of elongated triangles
crosses over itself
making obtuse angles o'er Pacific
Tinain, Hawaii, Japan, Guam
a green line returns to Perth

Pins cover provinces and states
organized pushed with vigor and precision
Prague before velvet divorce
Cuba pre-Castro

Misnamed Indies several times
around Belize, Venezuala, Colombia, Paraguay
Paraguay why?
Was it a holiday steamer
or a recruiting mission?

Heavy machinery to militants, airplanes to diplomats or typewriters to rogues
a letter carried from a mexican ambassador from a round of golf decades before -
carried not as a prize but a pocket card, not an ace but a jack at least,
"This is to introduce my friend, please provide any due consideration."

Outside the machines dig holes for bricks
disguising the drip and hum of appratus
chest heaves so shallow,
mouth gapes, head askew,
hands, arms, fingers flush with fluid
ruddy, worn and odd
a man who worked with head and heart,
but little by his hands

Railyards passing by

2006-04-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

journeys waylayed
undertaken - tossed
fields of weakness
past trestle stretch
long past
the hazel field

storage sheds
of secrets
cul de sacs
dead end
in empty fields

glassy roofs volcano top
early whiskey with ginger-ale
intrepidly past
railyards of enterprise
waiting on a signal
to leave only one

hard fought coincidence
leaving me on time
you've won the anecdotes
and left me the prize

double loaded
dump truck grey blue
against the green
spring fast jaded
as though an accident
mistaken incident of mine

like fresh grass growing
burst past the
blackened mold
hay bale
cut for winter
first browned - forgotten and
settled to waste

alongst hidden railway yard
seen flashing past
noticed by someone
who might live there
or just be passing past

not a stranger
just someone who doesn't make it by
except when the train leaves or
when cherry blossoms occur
just to confuse the birds

Adolescent Punk Song (Time is now)

2006-03-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

V.1
He raises his
arms in triumph
celebrating nothing
but mirth and mischief

V.2
youth gone-astray
by indifference
must grab the reins
of resistance

C.1
the Time is now
to take a stand
not by force but by
by circumstance

B.1
go prove yourself
able to handle (hang)
with the worthy praise
of the generations
victory is ours
for taking
if we don't buy into the
crap they are slinging

C.2-3
The Time is now
take a stand
be yourself
not a brand-
new anecdote
or target eyes
separate yourself and
take a stand
and don't believe their lies

V.3
Generations
spiraling down
think cheesin out
is not allowed

V.4
Storied chants
you're standing tall
complacency thwarted
after all

Middle-aged punk song (I remain)

2006-03-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

I've finally
slept all night
and sort of
feeling right

i thought
i'd feel sad
but you're gone
and i'm feeling nothing but glad

i'd decided
that it might
be better
to give up the fight

but then you
and me split
and well at first
i'll admit that it sucked a bit

but now your split
and i'm perplexed
got time to think
when i'm not wrecked

told myself
i'm better off
without the hassle
and all of the strife

##

you left
i stayed
in this house that
me built

you split
i remained
but i'm convinced
and i'm not ashamed

you said
you'll move on
unconcerned
by the befuddlement
you left behind

Vanessa of the B-line

2006-03-14T17:01:00.000-08:00

V.1
I've heard that pretty girls
don't rides on buses
but here you're here in curls
and glasses like ordered

V.2
You seem to recognize
that i'm already considering
roman holidays in cafes
and train rides to switzerland

B.1
You and me it's agreed
got a history already
set-up in fast forward speed
old photos in albums
like a future unspoken
just give in sooner
before my i need a new token

C.1
Already i call you
perfect Vanessa of B-line
Before my stop on davie
somehow gotta make time

V.3
Looking so smart
but I'm too shy to stare
Vanessa in glasses
ponytailed, reading Baudelaire

V.4
Alive in that bus seat
Vanessa you might be
that cool chick inFouevlougs
riding down Cambie

B.1
I'll wear bow-ties and
serve on faculty
furry eyebrows intact
while you save the world
at ribbon cutting some photo-op

V.5
On the back of my ticket
I'll pass you a note
off at waterfront station?
i'll invite you to toke

Refrain
Vanessa act quick now
we're almost passed the street
i'll too nervous to tell you
that i think you are
sweet vanessa of the the b-line ...

dogma/karma

2006-03-13T12:18:00.000-08:00

meaning stuck to ceremony
with duct tape
and question marks

tired books thinking
how you should be
otherwise it's all right
as long as everything is justified
by candle wax and gilded framed

it's suppose it to be
the hand me down coincidence
that clouds the fact that
3 or 4 or right or read
isn't the truth
it's just 5 and wrong

Road Sign 33-1/3rd

2006-03-13T12:16:00.000-08:00

life clipping by
at 33 and one third speed

stand here hugging nothing
count dusty nickels
start looking what road signs say

there are many things i don't have
tickets, dollars
ways and means

sunday providence
grey like last week
with my bargain matinee cough syrup nod
candy coated hold onto my thick head
next wave goes to mars
next even further
watch the clothes spin
in their fluff and dried
nebulae

i've tried it all on bended knees
but i'll just think here and sit about
lost months and misplaced friends
haggard days and ice cream cones

i'll stand here
holding nothing
try to think
how i got here
then figure where i am

i'll stand a shady place
counting nickels

and happenstance
empty out my pockets
on the ground
you can't trade lint for bread and cheese

it's cloudier now than
its been for years

i've spent daze moving quickly
years dreaming loosely
and hours watching patiently
and weeks muddling and fidgeting

Bridge

2006-03-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

i can't cross into new york city
across the george washington bridge without
thinking about all the letters i meant to write to people filled faces hid behind

through bronx filled places and streets with places
as indifferent as you and me
finding beauty in dirty brick, sweaty shows and musty shit
the world still spinning fast
story in behind those bars
broken worlds and kalidescope glass

But we've jumped the hedges
with nothing on the other side
and we've sat on ledges
watching from high above the tide
going somewhere
we could'nt've been before

and we've watched the airplanes
going to someplace far
seen then from the dirt going somewhere low
while they take the people
i've never seen

and we've stumbled sidewalks
tripped them in our boots
stayed out of the drain grates and
ended up where we weren't

so tired but sometimes
so inspired bewildered
and in love with something
we've never met
and history yet unseen

that diesel smells always
reminds me of being exactly here right about now

these neon lights and cheap motels
styrofoam coffee and sleeping bags

~
but i am going elsewhere
not here but maybe it'll look like here
i have no way to know
i just hope not

20 Bill

2006-03-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

feeling like a 20 bill
stoney drunk
and dressed to spill
onto the roadway
looking like should i feel

the collective sigh
of the worlds sleeping and
sheppards keeping frogs
their head out my roadway way
byways otherwise
i haven't felt this way
since this time last night
since something exactly like this happened
right on random coincidence standard time

Jiri Bubla / Vlad Krutov

2006-03-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

V 1
I get three fifty k
to just show up and play
been three weeks since i lst scored
and yet i still don't ask for more

V2
I don't give a shit
if i even get a hit
cause my agent called me again today
and told the check clears either way

Chorus
Hot dogs and vodka
Wash it down with beer
smokies and caesers
i've never been so clear

Hot dogs and vodka
half dozen before each game
gimlets with hoagies
maybe thats why i'm so lame

V3
Sometimes I'll admit
that i've done some crimes
stole a smokie from the cart
at granville street and vine ...

Bridge 1
In fact, i've thiefed em
a couple dozen times
they hard it over
it just ain't that hard
i load it with relish
and they ask for my two-nie
and by then and eating my napkin and my lord i am running
i'm running, running, running ...

Bridge 2
Now here i toil
broke, sad and turmoiled
thinking of all the kids i let down
i sweep up your mess
and you can't hardly guess
that i use to skate on that ice

V4
But it really don't matter
if i get any fatter
i can still sweep the wreckage
from the coliseum aisles

V5
When they came out to scout me
they should've looked more closely
and discovered my true ambition
ahh the beers, ... they steal all my affection

Thunder Bay

2006-03-13T11:58:00.001-08:00

Right on
That's cool
A good Canadian kid

Hey yeah
Not too bad
Proud of what he did

They named his Ray
born in Thunder bay
back when still called
something else

Tired hard in school
Not that he was a fool
He just didn't
care that much

but he won 2nd place
In science class
His volcano
was the best

Played Junior A
But couldn't go all the way
Just glad he
saved his teeth

He hitchhiked east
half-way at least
almost made it
to Labrador

though he dug the times
left the Celts behind
and took the
rails back west

With a coffee mug
and pawned guitar
he rarely
missed a feast

Crossed the prairies fast
and hit rockies at last
and kept on
rolling to the coast

Grew some grass for friends
and than had to make amends
when the poe-leece
shook him down

after 3 months rest
in suburban house
he was ready
to make a stand

he sat in front of trucks
and sat some more in courts
all for bearing witness
as trees fall to th'ground

now in these older days
almost twice as wise
and he learned the tools
to change the world
he gots to build a life
to prove it can be done

sharp enough to know
to hang out with the flow
and think how he's gotta
turn to make life fun

he doesn't forget
that to make it great
you can't leave
your clan behind

ya gotta be nice to others
help them from time
to time i guess

Coastal Starlight

2006-03-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

Coastal starlight
rolling alright
through the moonlight
Past the cedar trees

Puget sound
in the distance
beaches covered with
weathered dreams

Sammamish crescent
Chuckanut parkway
bottle of klickitat red

one long toke now
on the back bench
as we pull through
the darkened hill

drifting nicely
and watching closely
white volcanos
up ahead

i've read about
all these mountains
in books by snyder,
old smoke blanchard
and poor dead jean

Riprap pathways
Adams gleaming
in distant
haze up'head

Junipers and scrub oak
give way to spruce
and river camps
where explorers lay

Ahh Cascadian byways
Coastal starlight
With bottle of beside me
of Klickatat red

I've watched the junipers
give way to cedars
and seen the volcanos
fade away

If there no mudslides
or strange derailments
soon i'll be
back home in bed

I stopped in Portland
for the Crystal Ballroom
and in Centralia
for some beer

Left Olympia
far behind me
and Fairhaven's
just getting near

I'll trust that
you'll be waiting
at the grey station
terminal at main

Engine running
three in th'morning
take me home
i won't complain

terminal city
gets a bit sketchy
and i'd rather
not get robbed

i am worn now
but feeling happy
waiting in stations
and railing lines

i've not forgotten
the columbia gorge
at those moments
just a'fore sunset time

Pacific Coast Highway

2006-03-13T11:57:00.001-08:00

Down the by-way
Pacific coast highway
It's my driveway
Since we left
On Boxing day

We left on yesterday
and took the slow way
past manzanita
through to redway

Drove to Phillipsville
into the redwoods
Ate ceviche
at the haunted roadhouse

Headed north
on New years day
took the hard way
o'er siskyou hills

Took turns
driving the curves
rain clouds settle
watch sequoias
grow an inch a day

across the bridges
rolling southway
to pacifica
we'll sleep well there
til the new day

Couldn't be greener
onto mendicino
and the open ocean
drop off the sides

On the byway
Pacific coast hi-way
It's my drive way
all day today

left on boxing day
took the slow day
past manzanita
to redwoods today

then on news years day
take the hard way
heading northwards
o'er icy hills

Moving Fast

2006-03-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

An irish pub
a dirty couch
all day drives
and wretched nights

grinding hard
and moving fast
competing less
if there's no test

you know the scene
from my notes
just now find out
for yourself

C:
Just say something
that sounds like yes
and we'll disappear
into somewhere else

When we find out
Where we are
we'll enjoy it even more
just as long as we are there

New again, waiting

2006-03-13T11:56:00.000-08:00

I can write my name
in Japanese
and in gramma's garden
i can name all the weeds

But i din't mean much
when it all sucks
cause you are gone all summer

the other girls
they don't thrill me
i'm a wreck
since you went
to your gramma's house
all holiday

since that night at the fireworks
i've of you mostly
but i must admit
if your not back quick
i'm gonna find another

when your back, we'll have a blast
we'll have a blast
I've a trick to teach you

All those times
at the bus stop
copping kisses
stealing feels

I want more now
& I've grown impatient
you've got to ride the greyhound

Run away from summer
got on heading this way
i've got two weeks left
to getta know you

we'll never be this new again
so don't tease me so dammit now
just hop the hound and
make it here before the snow

Henry at the Edge of the World

2006-03-13T11:55:00.001-08:00

Why Henry
Why Henry,
why did you leave the tranquility?

Navigating into nowhere
speculating on something
better than perfect
prince of confusion
or driven by pride
please tell me it wasn't for greed, spices or pope
just to go
the cove protected heavy ships from plunders
the point at the edge of the all anyone knows at this moment

Why didn't you turn right
dancing with galacian girls
or left into well enough

now it's the ghost of you and cristobol
me and two earnest germans
watching everything heading into somewhere
no longer new.

the wind blows the same
sometimes we wait
in Aljeezer patching holes.
sometimes we make it nowhere
Navigate elsewhere henry maybe draw me a line
to divide something
and don't compare hard

Temporary Lighthouses

2006-03-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

Beyond the aspens
three of us
together fast

Please let me go now
the tension is just
a bit too much
to last

No no she says now
let me go he goes
just wander
into trees

There you say now
go on together
twos easier
than we three

Into the aspens
disappeared
white birch maple
and mystery

The three of us
not too soon
she sang again
riding free

Swerved around right
can't bump the road
on the empty cold
desert night

Chorus

Windy days
and beach front fires
lighthouses calling
you away

I don't mind
suppose it's better
i'll keep a mind
to remember
nights together in the aspen grove
before foothill evening
turned into today

Cemetary Afterall

2006-03-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

Terraced footsteps
hills for wooden stairs
cobbles arranged by someone
slip slip into graves
candles burning flowers wilting
an empty space next by waiting
averting gaze from blackened hood mourning someone
for 30 years
or maybe el Papa since yesterday

Napoleon Conversation

2006-03-13T11:53:00.001-08:00

Hey Napoleon in your caskets
why did you hafta mess it up
it's not that i've reason to care
here on top of your arch of triumpaht celebrating the farmers, dead bastards
buried cold, scattered families told to feel pride as your consolation prize
did you feel unloved or just condescended
you under willow tree squared up in st helena's rocks
was it ever enough
when did you plan to stop?

perhaps in your next circuit
we have a baquette and talk about the good times, you know them all
listed in marble next to your heaving pompitude
over wine on the Siene
tell me when the fire started
when did you know?

just a couple answers for me because i'm greedy too
thirsty for life
questing for quiet and paints over battlefields and
coerced congratulations
did you not realize the power of restraint?
the art of deflection?
now on champs im' not sure
your reflecting face
at odds with the deriliction
now where you are
do you room with caeser or the saints?

Beers in Bruges

2006-03-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

Drinking beers from Bruges to Paris
ah you like good beer he says in halted words
punching ticket in boxy hat
winking, "i'll be right back
six small cans of Stella Artois
They fell off a truck
gratis
not as good as Grimberger
but free

He said, i am french but i haven't a plan
just a guy doing what i can
i'm not a hater, i've been to the forests and plains
and i like my wine and friends
i wonder what is like to be there
a little envious perhaps
but not ready to trade

Mona Atlantico

2006-03-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

Si si si you'd say
and disappear through a door
me looking -
finding you alight
and aflitter
anxious to avoid your iodine stare
its not i that i try to please you - i just do
something always new

Interludes and anecdotes
from Florida or yesterdays' shorelines.
you pull the blanket over
over your shoulder
in the aftermath
vanish into dreams of olives,
mountainsides &
Manzanita sunsets.

Yes indeed i've found you
and you are my Andalusian girl today,
Catalan girl tomorrow

Si si si you say
in another terrace cafe, another beer with another name
sure enough, you've met a new friend but are
always half of me

Tell me Mona
how did it make you feel?
That time in Esposende?
was it more than the night train ride into Coruna
all night blowing smoke from the only open window
from time to time
red wine with strangers

After sleepless days
and forgotten nights
sandy strolls, missed turns and just caught trains
April palms and cascading church bells,
crumbled castillos and fields of the cows

Inspired by your tenacity
stunned by the honesty
confused by the intensity,
Mostly thrilled by your smile from Malaga to Granada
through tunnels, over bridges
and crossing waterways from books

Portuguese Snapshots

2006-03-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

Red roofs falling cliff high
into foaming waves

old man watches sheep
who don't seem to mind
wondering where atlantico
turns into the inland sea

the signs say no tractors
or this way to ferries

brick stoves & clay ovens
widely shown
the man with the donkey wanders by

she's happiest when moving fast
and straight
or eating small tasty thing with sauces

"you are saying these strange things to me but i don't know why"

concrete poles
houses thick and white
red clay courtyards
wrapped in blue tiles
guarded by saints with forgotten names
protecting palms and blue fired tiles
melted bold yellow walls
churraqueira in empty yards
wood cut even, stacked in jumbles

posters of singers and toros
workmen piling into tipico
early lunch, dried cod
chicken blood, sardines,

waving she doesn't watch
crossing shady lane with tiny cars
the dog with the shortest legs.

adieu Karol in color
Cerverjai dark, vino blanco
she opens it cold & hands it
sits down.
obrigato

The swarthy one points us
Saint Virgilio of Figuero de Foz
who we call Jack for Joaquin
Patron of wanderers, spicy clams and cold sangria
eyes like grutas of secrets
grottos holding reflection of monoliths
and winters lasting into spring

If i recall from the haze of the sangria night
Virgillio of the soulful eyes,
the fatima awaits
maybe we'll see it past the horizon clambered up the gates of treachery

like the nice boy told us
sue the Sud towards the 15th of April
i'm not sure they might be trees for figs or nuts
squat on fuzzy gnarled hills

I'm not really sure
just keep the ocean ot the right
i'll watch for antelope or impalas
past the grutas with the piney amnesia smell

Santiago, April

2006-03-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

Skin of bright olives, quizzical eyes
reflection flashing on a bike with bread
or books
cold on rocky step ledge
three spires fade into drizzly twilight
the bells ring again

Walking sticks clunking into a square
via sacred stairs
the bells ringing in dischord
and grief
as the galacian girls laugh down a impossible alley
twisted with greens and orange
where las templars hunkered
hiding three sets of bones through generations of darkness
now in a silver box of seashells.

Secrets Intact

2006-03-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

We'll die apart
with secrets intact
you winking to the end
me twitching my nose

an arboretum afternoon
english bay interludes
second beach under feet

driftwood delivering anecdotes
caught your hazel eyes last night
moonlight reflected from two-thirds
a world away

you told me about the hidden cafe
burning spoon and sugared rim
we both hold pencils and
somehow remember to breathe

our lives are fiction of
what we dreamed might be
but you must remember these moments
are sequestered
not imagined

San Francisco Afternoon

2006-03-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

Waiting thirteen minutes
for a 2nd rate beer

sunday afternoon
the empty bar
the one with the pretentious name
trying to be too smooth
but i'll submit to comfort
low-slung leather lounge
glass table top reflection

the menu has martinis
but i am drinking beer

this menu lists tapas
but i am no where near

not eating, just drinking
and thinking
somewhere far away from here

thinking on a san francisco afternoon
finding her walk-up
brick and stone tiny room
redwood walls and chinese food
somewhere near the embarcardero
waiting for red-headed tina
who i ran from years before

leaving in a hurry
and coming on too soon
admitting that in retrospect
you meant more then i let on
so i continue
waiting vacantly
sipping slowly and sitting low

the menu has martinis
but i am drinking beer
this menu is listing tapas
but i am no where near
hardly can guess where i'm strolling
suppose i am going home

a lost afternoon for me
belatedly exchanged for the
broken heart i gave you
like that foreign film
where the subtitles might say
i'm erred on a cloudy day
by the well near the olive hill

but really now
if you happened by
i just want an afternoon
of coffee, weed and your tangled sheets
like times before i ventured
drifting literal oceans away

unsure if you even remember
salt lake nights in the avenues
climbing oaks and sneaking into
that mansion thats been for sale forever
drinking port wine in the broken attic

or maybe you noticed me out here
peeking through a curtain
hoping to stumble like a coincidence
holding crocuses like missed
conceptions
and faltered connections

the menu has martinis
but i am drinking beer
this menu is listing tapas
but i am no where near
i am gone elsewhere
somewhere far from you
and here