sleek white egret launches itself

sleek white egret launches itself 

from the rock it chose

 round which no fish run

why stay?

rise up o'er the Han. 

move where you may go.

feel no pain and never care.

know your home.

know your acquantances,

but not their names.

live in the moment

but remember the river

where you have hunted,

and drunk fresh water.

well, what do you know?

you flew back

12-16-13

 



all the foul-smelling wind that waifs across the Han

all the foul-smelling wind that waifs across the Han
couldn't dull the joy of two small birds
answering each other's calls.
the litter by the wash-off trough that wasn't there yesterday
may still be there tomorrow
but i won't notice it with too much disgust;
a few assholes are sufficient to bring shit flies lilting
onto the beauty of a million roses without noses.

the blessings i've been served  -
Simone and Amanda sharing love on graduations,
Ariel and Renna finding their kindred spirits -
and Leona, mighty and deliniated,
sweeping rose petals fore and beyond my path
without a hint of foul odor from her scooter,
dispersing crowds in the path
and joggers who jog behind, not in my face
preserves the grace of this wonderous place
with runners on base before the grand slam!

12-7-13

how sure the I Ching was about it falling

how sure the I Ching was about it falling
after a zenith it wouldn't again reach
this time around on the merry-go
how to flippant kids i preached
without a clue of what to do
thinking they knew what was doing
for this foreigner old and out of touch
their lives with so much brewing
with nothing saved but here and now
no reason to think about tomorrow
or crucial reason to survive the sorrow

with a family raised and cared for
no more punching in and out
i've only to enjoy this wonderful day
and hope i don't get gout

how sure the I Ching topped it off
on the verge of something solid
but built upon such shifting ground
and groundless states of statements stated
used to repression and being berated
how can one know what one's never been hated
or try being bold after you've been sold
when the ruling class with power
can fuck you any hour
a terrible terror that terrorizes
keeps one eye on your two closed glowers

with a family raised and cared for
no punching in and out
living these bright wondrous days
there is no need to shout

I Ching saw it flake away
like paint chips from a leak
be proud of new year bonuses
and dime-a-dozen paper sheep
the last dynasty with nothing to learn
cook my food and fix my toilet
they need no help to help them boil it
too proud and sure to ever soil it
clench those butt-cheeks tighter smile
and hang on for a little while

a family raised and cared for
mean more to me than you
i need just entertain myself
enjoy the whole day through

my technique makes you fluent
we both are sure of that
and i have mastered getting passed
that big black union rat
clouds are puffy, skies are blue
retirement is strange to you
you work each day until you die
take no advice and i know why
you don't ask me how it's done
i've offered once or twice a gun
now i have to run

to family i pay attention
give my endless love
flow Han waters gracefully
with help from the Lord above

12-6-13

tiny spider hanging from a wisp of web

tiny spider hanging from a wisp of web
floating from the overhang of a riverside bench
to and fro within the gentle wind
looking large as a swallow darting through the sky
over Han waters whispering by
comparable to a distant auto in size
or masking a noisy helicoptor in its shadow


egret or crane, whatever your name
stand mid-stream on a boulder the same
and a butterfly fluttering by
is silent but to bretheren cry
see the vanishing point of a sparrow
or see the great river get more and more narrow
squeezing fish like glue in a fist onto the riverbanks

spider, spider, to an ant you're a feast
and big frogs in their little ponds
hop for their lives in an earthquake shaking
between the earth and baking sun baking
where nuclear-armed Americans
do what only comets have done
to a tiny spider's dreams

12-3-13

An American Eagle Thanksgiving Prayer

the Hopjes bring me back to Linden Boulevard
as sure as scent quickens a stray dog to its pack on the Han
Monitor and Merrimack steam of ancient radiators
filling the old living room warmpth like a hot air balloon
hear Dad's self-assembled Lawrence Electronics amplifier
spinning Peter, Paul & Mary on the Garrad turntable
Auntie Ray fussing near Uncle Joe grinning on the sofa
Thanksgiving in Brooklyn with Hanukkah latkas

my American Eagle family of colleagues
pre-revolutionary brother Pilgrim Darren
fellow bicyclist Agya and Rising Sun David
gluey Nicole and Zoe's reassuring smile
thank the Lord for the children a while
Antonio, mange, falissimo!
as Kenny clicks photos i'll never take home
but it doesn't matter; the films in my head
as sure as Pershing Arms' red hot marble buttocks
on a crisp November night in the Brooklyn tenement
with Bubby's borscht and Pop's frikisee
or the bushiban's noodle communal dinners

thank you for coming and warming our seats
around this Thanksgiving table of sours and sweets
thank you Teddy and Celia for making us able
for joining us at this American Eagle table
to see the bright faces of all the dear children
like you, Johnathan,
we do it for you and your little friends
on a crisp Taichung Hanukkah turkey
may it never end although it sounds jerky
amen to the light in the candles of life
and thank you for Leona, my dear loving wife

11-29-13

From Far Formosa's Warm and Wonderful Winter

each drop of starting rain reminds me
of deluges and dreary days overcast and chilling
tire wheels splashing puddles wave toward street curbs
dammed up corner sewers beige and golden leaves
red autumn exodus of weakened winter trees
blown wicked wind wetting skirts and pants
unprepared boots and inside-out umbrellas

there must be a chill in the air of Thanksgiving
a long parade of sickening Santa pretention
pasted over memories of childhood retention
wasted Halloween jack-o-lanterns
that could have become pies unrotten
and stacked up cars windshields wiping
Hasidic boys hurrying in shower-cap fedoras

angry gray sky of Brooklyn Novembers
only as nice as childhood remembers
adult inconvenience of finding car service
wasting in malls and musty museums
revolving lead library Grand Army Plaza
stayed home and safe from night travel madness
cable disruption at least there is Swiss Miss

trains aren't running past DeKalb again
the lie that's a pity, 'the greatest world city'
outside dark danger of ghostly leftovers
drunkard smashed bottles and whiffs of urine
nothing you've got there you really need
century twenty-one man down-coat plead
only your friends would smoke that weed

the raindrops are vanishing from spotted Han boulders
large graceful egrets take to the wing
palm trees soften the sting winter brings
a stray dog strolling holding head high and wagging
Brooklyn in autumn approaching and sagging
with puny beauty lost in snot and sleeze
from far Formosa's warm and wonderful winter

11-22-13

In Taiwan I'm Uncle Tom

in Taiwan i'm Uncle Tom

and what I preach is true

i've got a hunch you're just a bunch of

"don't tell me what to do."

 

i've seen them linger, wag their fingers

at  mercenaries greed

marching here, trashing there

they won't get what they need

 

they need a job or it will rob them

of their precious lives to

love themselves and find their mates

and children's sweetest spice

 

suffer Moses, can't you see

the heretics are mocking thee

though you've a path and hold a staff

your leadership won't set them free

 

i retreat to being happy

with my lover and my home

but there's a higher love above

that won't leave me alone

 

the peddle-footed sewing Singer

the miracle of light

as slaves went through the Pharoah's ringer

to bring us here tonight

 

your wild-eyed appreciation

your activism cause

will burn you like ghost money

but harmless to your boss

 

hear me not, young anarchists

your work place organize

don't waste your feet on restless streets

when with the union you can thrive

 

11-21-13

 

 

 

In The IWW battle for Taiwanese Workers

In the IWW battle for Taiwanese workers

skirmishes and aversions like a French & Indian War

rarely has there ever been self-management

an occasional murdered owner

thousands of mom and pop collectives

while Mao agreed to let socialists in Taiwan be

never were collective decisions enjoyed by the progs

while warlord Chiang divvied the land to the KMT

then

on orders of American overseers

martial law was lifted

it seemed a chance for workers duly gifted

but top-down remained

the ruling class gained

Bian was imprisoned and there went the vision

to China in deed America flees

keeping the economy under its thumb

workers who’ve suffered these sixteen years

through dead-end jobs

at part-time convenience stores, my son

China through Cooloud’s communist big shots

workers remain downtrodden and defeated

bosses from China and America keep

workers unorganized falling asleep

in the confusion no revolution

the Industrial Worker solution

nowhere to land

where is the path to indigenous hearts?

like Native Americans who took French and English parts

how can they be armed with power to fight

for neither side but the workers' might?

how can they be moved to reach a new level?

how can One Big Union defeat the devil?

like thread through a needle

a seamstress’s seed will

pull the garment together

it will win better

 

11-19-13

moonrise over the eastern foothills

moonrise over the eastern foothills

a landscape with cataract-depleted division

a green mausoleum factory building

up steppes of rice-belly cemetery plots

a bare-footed hobo walking the Han dyke ledge

with a different concept of space

two feet from my face

 

nothing in front looks American

the moon, the boulders, the bleached river bed

even the trees the water Taiwanese

only behind is America heard and seen

the creepy bronze poodles

the motorcycle engine scream

the Mactech company with parking lot employees

the wire fences

with jogging joggers jogging by

 

soon it will be night when cataracts close their eyes

the sky will look clean as all dreams choose to be

the round moon Jackie Gleason saying

"Norton, one of these days..."

as egrets, larks, and sparrows head to their nests

the night behind becomes blinking neon

piercing closed-eyed Taiwanese victims too soon

 

11-17-13

Buhay ka pa naman di ba? (You’re still alive, aren’t you?)

just a spell up the road
from a place you'll never return
is a place you cannot leave
once you have arrived

shining like the midday sun
the brightest just behind
keep on shining through the night
with noon getting closer tomorrow

a job to sweep the path of debris
that is all the supervisor will see
not the styrofoam thrown over the ledge
with a hungry trash can down the way

like a book she forgot she borrowed
one she didn't really care for much
brushed aside but can't be hidden
as it follows her like an albatross

jerk off your shoes, strike the china bank
gather the coins from china fragmants
and drop them into a knotted sack
give that to her, take her away from here

rather lose a book than find you've stolen
like styrofoam debris until the breeze 
blows it into the Han water stream
away with others' fragments of china

11-12-13

light in menorah

as white or black as Joe Christmas in August
as white and blue as a Jew who's never dreamed of Israel
such am i
an outsider with insides out
like a t-shirt label not meant to be seen
or worn on my sleeve to see my value
fickle life and fleeting
rip the labels off

birthday candles may fit in menorah
but they lack the soul of the people
the phoneticized prayer on the cardboard box
the miracle that brought us here
outsiders
but Presbeterian is my cloth
bible black for my creator
heart laced with the tallis of love
only his love
befriends me

11-7-13

long as the river rolls is there to remind us

long as the river rolls is there to remind us
clear your mind of mountains behind us
have respect for the strait ahead

crackling sounds of what burns around
firecrackers, bonfires, guns of the world
subtraction equals addition
eliminate addiction
so long as the river rolls
whether or not we're here to sense it

what's the use of fighting boulders midstream
flow around them and live the dream
boulders can't but by backhoes be moved
industrial de-evolution made nuts of the screwed
what is put on paper is merely water vapor
so long as the river rolls

the future belongs to the youth of nations
rivers roll in every land and language
it babbles all the way home
if we hear what commentators say
but if we listen to what's in our hearts
feel the hunger in our veins
the river's tributaries are powerful trains

be wise and organize yourselves
our problems singulary none repaired
the river carries pollutants away to oceans of distain
and the river always flows
whether we sense it or not, the same

11-2-13

how can a butterfly flutter by windward

how can a butterfly flutter by windward

when all else in the world is heading south?

the vehicles unnaturally going uphill

i peddle a little harder to reach this bench
 

but the butterfly's flight so soft and light

when even sparrows up blue winds fight

egrets rest after doing their best

Han waters pushed down like a steamrolled vest

 

i know how a butterfly works it out

she has no resistance and harbors no doubt

like winds of Chuang Tsu bend the branches

unlike weighty cattle on western ranches

 

if a butterfly had a voice i would hear her sing

like the love from my daughters erase life's sting

all the merriment the orange butterfly brings

like my son and my lover's wind under my wings

 

10-23-13

 

 



you may see an evil black devil in me

you may see an evil black devil in me
streaks of red blood dripping down my face
but I am King Jorma from the land of Hot Tuna
as anarchy's too scary in this place

that this shirt even fits me is a testament
to the life bike-riding the Han has meant
totally black Converse, my blue suade shoes
soften my flat feet and rout my gout

a Halloween event at the bushiban
for kids to enjoy the English-mon
what is spooky is why i look kooky
with classic branch broom accoutrement 

wearing it now, hours from the party
enjoying the river, laughing hardy
wrist-band black, Wobbly black cat
even my shorts and socks are that

if there were a party for adults
where costume and mayham result
i wouldn't be in it,heartburn would thin it
i just couldn't stand that tumult

10-25-13

gray egret

gray egret with head perpendicular to body
standing as stiff as a driftwood branch on rock
Han ripples white-crested splashing around him
grey egret, flys, skirts mist to further up
one gray egret like a black-sheep bird
wonders not why it's not lily-white
missed its chance to mate in flight
yesterday when egrets played
hop-scotching chasing dames away
in time for nests of rice stalks slashed
in clear-burned paddies nestling down
potatos growing in the ground
stedfast gray egret beyond the river-ocean
strange gray egret beyond familiar notion
can forget the narrow-minded egret
and then he sees one atop a mild breeze
float and sail through the wind
float and sail through and through the wind
spread those wide wings sail wide and wide

10-18-13

the grass-blower approaches

make haste,
the grass-blower approaches
racing the northerly breeze
pushing Han waters ever faster
tumbing bags of Doritos by
slowing vehicles up wind hilly climbs
lizards lose their hiding places
bottles show their ugly faces
so sad to see no hay sacks in sight

hark,
i hear a buzzing like bees
from gas tubes of blowing motors
even swooping gnat birds fly off
riverside sparrows sip off their cough
the harbringer blower sweeping the road
leaves on my sandwich, dust in my eye
before i start to cry
i must be on my way

10-15-13

now that i'm here, it's been a year

who measures time counts the days
the islands of life transitions
progress or regress by standing still
accounting laurels recognitions
counting words in literature
like money in the bank
possessions in the home
bottles of wine we drank
number of loves or lovers
days you get up and do it over
mornings you stay in bed
crises when you're rudely interrupted
and back in the saddle again.

now that i'm here, it's been a year
twelve thousand miles uncovered
back for the flood to clean up the mud
off to Japan despite Suzanne
New York half-summer, couldn't be dumber
up to Albany, Newington, Quebec
people i love and will never forget
sought Duquene in the Pitt of the burger
sweet Intercourse Amish crossing
down in the dungeon the home i'm divorcing
smoking an ounce, eating, not flossing
teaching dear children is my pleasure
reading and writing at my leasure
loving Leona timeless, priceless
who measures time?
goodbye to the thankless

10-14-13

as the sun goes down on Saturday

as the sun goes down on Saturday
the evening could be cozy
with wine and cheese and warm affection
perhaps a film or non-talk TV
nachos cheese tequila white lightning
or even some place to go
a scooter ride or perhaps a stroll

we could get on a train to another town
bed-up 'till morning and then move around
or ruin the night suggesting it

i want to fly into a cloud
blind to the other side coming out
what can i do and what can i see
i love you so much i'll wait for thee
whatever you feel we'll make it real
doing nothing is the biggest deal

10-12-13

this is Taiwan's patience

pirate hideout rendezvous
bury booty, patch a sloop
trade with natives maybe stay
live to plunder other days
stormy haven, plant a seed
hunt and gather, build some huts
start a plantation
cash crop colonizers
Portugese and Chinese
Dutch, and wily Japanese
never a country or a nation
Sinification, Japanification,Americanization
who are the Taiwanese?
tell me please, tell them please
collecting these for centuries
Pacific island
superstitious
warm and friendly
and so delicious
so Han waters run
through draughts and typhoons
many influences
o'er rain forests and plains
many moons
this is Taiwan's patience
and will remain
this is the hood, this is for good
for those who home here
living as we should
for carpetbaggers and capitalist business
for colonizers and communist traitors
be on your way, suck my fist!
don't patronize her
we learn to resist!

10-10-13

as the number of ships lost on both sides escalates

as the number of ships lost on both sides escalates
less of wine and distaste for rum
smugglers and privateers prevail for no one
i turn to liquor in famine of weed
in weeks of Saturday nights
thanks to retirement on hands and knees

i keep my vessels where warm waters flow
to coddle the heart of the native returned
though fallen had she for Seneca Falls
the house of three gables would still winter travel
but storm-tossed island with little passion
this may as well be a starving Quebec flour ration

for all the ventures we've neglected
without rum or wine for travel perfected
i've taken to driving great distance on bike
flying to Hong Kong by myself as i like
riding high speed rails to Taipei
or going alone to a Miaoli cafe  

as she keeps her ships bottled up in her port
and likewise her priviateer pirated thought
no Thailand nor conquest Japan as we did
not for lack of bread that we hid
this old man moves onward before he turns dead
and upward into the wild blue yonder red

9-29-13

Taichung Park

opened floodgates wash not with force enough
to straighten the roads and flush out Taichung City
only north along the Han do invalids stay indoors
immigrant laborers push no wheelchairs
hookers don't hook and queers don't look
as ghostly newlyweds obligatorily cross the pond's bridge
to snapping shutters obsolete since digital cameras
in the gazebo pagoda surrounded by high water fountains
amid empty cages and bird soaked trees of Taichung Park
all things outrageous are attributed to you
the crippled mayor who moved real estate westward
hears none of the squeaky AM radio voices you play
he's far from the crowded park
that the Japanese made for the natives
downtown Taichung left dingy for entrepreneurs
folk that respect the past's prosperity
and beauty of the colonial gem of central Taiwan
the gentle folksongs dancing and tai c'hi
the food carts and art crafts of aboriginal splendor
regeneration of Taiwan's inner girations
out of the shell and old world renews
embracing variations not corporations
or capitulations to reunifications
sweet as the jelly grass under the lotus flowers
magical Taichung Park that the politicians discarded
we'll gather around your sweet water willowed creeks
remove the cheesy facades for a new merchant chic
reveal the old and make it vital
reclaimed, recreated, and recreational recital

9-27-13







 

when wafing tea breezes fill the air

when wafing tea breezes fill the air

sip warm oolong in the tea room

spent rice stalks smoking and burned

when the dry northerly wind dips low

typhoons pass over and under Taiwan

soon coolness will replace the sweat

over mountain ridges to greater heights

where trees shed orange and brown delights

falling from cypress forests down

past mid-autumn into winter ground

without a taste of New York bitter

change for better when the Han grows wetter

wrist-bound and fist thrust upward

clandestine soldiers wiser and older

political squabble break brittle and colder 

when doors show their thresholds

only snowflakes enter
into the red chamber

 fine wine poured from Spain

drink warmly with my lady

 

9-23-13

 

 

 



what use be vague "Taipei" novel?

what good be useless vague Taipei novel
not of Taipei but popping pimples?
which publisher took luke warm as heroic
and marched 250 pages of can't-make-up-your-mind
onto the New York Times best seller list?
alas, jobless and admiring hipsters,
turning Williamsburg into the opposite of Greenwich Village
wanting, like the protagonist,
to go from party to party
vaguely seemingly wondering where you left glasses
or which damsel with stardust brains
would associate with a man less firm than mucus.
ah, poor dying civilization,
where drones know more than video games,
more than blood splattered on neat uniforms
from all the anonymous hearts they've shattered...
vague is as vague does and the ruling class laughs
keeping lost souls moving around in circles
when they should be organizing against best sellers
and demanding to know which way they're going.
recognize your nebulous future,
the one giant leap which was a back step.
vaguely remember what your parents' generation had,
and your generation lost:
minimum wages
medical care
pensions and savings
social security

9-17-13