GREATEST HITS, 2006-2008
Here’s 25 of my favorite poems from 2006-2008:
RAINOUT
June 16th, 2008
some words / for the creator of the universe / who makes it rain / on the baseball game
HOW TO BE A TEXAN
June 11th, 2008
a big / wide-open space / and a cowboy hat / but / what matters most is / the swagger
PARTNERS
June 9th, 2008
partners / that / have an intense choreography / which is demonstrated / on a bicycle / in the most marvelous summer light
THE KUNG FU MASTER FALLS IN LOVE
June 4th, 2008
“in the near future on an assassination mission…”
BEGGING FATE
May 28th, 2008
“she started in / begging fate to take itself seriously / to sing her more traditional melodies”
THE ARCHITECT’S STORY
May 23rd, 2008“the architect / on the completion of a soaring 75-story hotel / said / he wanted to be an artist…”
VANDALISM (FROM THE HEART)
May 15th, 2008
“love baked him to the point of mummification / he spray-painted it / on a car / behind a wal-mart / near where he lived”
ADVENTURES IN THE BATSUIT (RETOOLED)
May 12th, 2008“i am not the type of guy who would want to frame Batman / I’m not like those twerps / I bought a suit only because it fit…”
IN THE GREAT MIDWEST I RECALL
May 8th, 2008
“a gym-bodied wife / lonely / working in the farmhouse / her tan neck and forearms / in the great midwest / i recall…”
VISUAL THINKING
April 29th, 2008
newspaper blackout poem: “forget about / trying to speak / the image / is the travelogue / in which mundane subjects are routinely raised beyond their ordinariness”
AGORAPHOBIA
April 24th, 2008
“space is a big place / a little too big sometimes / if you are young and / at the beginning / and have a long way to go”
YOU MUST HAVE A PLAN
April 17th, 2008
“my plan in such / apocalyptic american times / is to keep charts / and complain / until the very end”
IN A HONKY TONK IN TEXAS
April 14th, 2008
“In a honky tonk in Texas / I saw God / set to a pedal steel ballad”
THE HOST OF ROMANCE
April 14th, 2008
“a woman’s bust / is the host of romance / so / don’t deplore my fondness for it”
HONESTY
April 10th, 2008
“I want to stay up all night drinking beer / and make trouble with the law / to see what good / and what tragedy / will come of it”
OVERHEARD ON THE TITANIC
March 27th, 2008
“I mean, yes, we’re sinking / but the music is exceptional”
FOR MY WIFE, THE BALLERINA
March 24th, 2008
“a slow, winding infinity / 60 percent of it is trash / however, it has given us ballerinas / and refuge in the most tremendous image…”
I AM SO OVER THE RAINBOW.
March 6th, 2008
“some rainbow / he was never the wizard / and i am so over yearning / for a better place”
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
January 18th, 2008
“this year / we just tried to keep alive / with friends and take-out chinese food / and television”
AT THE FOOD MART
July 17th, 2007
“in a suburb / every evening / at the food mart / the mind becomes still and the soul floats freely…”
THE SUITABILITY OF A SON
July 2nd, 2007
“long before we have our own family / we are talking about the suitability of a son…”
AGAIN, AGAIN
April 10th, 2007
“again again / I am fed up with the old architect…”
TIME TRAVEL IN A DOMESTIC CAR
February 19th, 2007
“mark plummeted from a previous time in a chrysler…”
HARRIGAN ISN’T AFRAID
December 8th, 2006
“harrigan isn’t afraid / after years of waiting / to be her husband…”
FOR ALL ITS HEARTLAND GOODNESS AND ROMANCE
May 1st, 2006
“life is confusing / you seek out a better explanation…”
