winding river, never straight
straying from the big debate
at the motor humming factory
that does not use your energy
just pours into and weakens the river
the next eventuality around the bend
will reach me like a dear old friend
revelry snaps ham radio's waves
a dinner for the Jewish slave
i will snorkle shallow, scuba deep
by vermillion cliffs of Page made deep
the trough gets worn down, rivers seep
like the moaning at open microphones
zoned for fossils' broken bones
at home in red room all alone
as Crusoe, Fogg, and Polo do
Friday, Passepartout, Nicolo & Maffeo are you
a journey unmeasurable in distance or time meant
not gold or spices or elephant
worth fines levied against me to be on my way
on my way like the rivers that people all pass
a doer, a giver, a home, and a lass
the shore lined with circuses
the onions many surfaces
by living have i done to deserve this
so wind, you Han River, onward wind
please to us be gentle and kind
though squeezed by sooty motor roads
and channeled by heavy overloads
thy will be done, as it is, like heaven
11-22-14
in honor of today's fresh air
ride the Han without a mask
drink the oxygen in
let the wind seethe
around my knees
with respect to rare stars seen at night
look forthrightly though opened eyes
the dark blue contrasted with twinkling bright
sore vision's remarkable sight
not squint and rub
even bursts of burning hay
in the azure blown away
trash of Buddha ash dissolved
skyward silky streaks of soot
in pants of heaven pockets
the Han in khakis slipping away
stops to reconsider
in irreversible streams
in dreams it seems
then blue skies turn to gray
leaves on distant mountain trees
i'm petrified to look
are gone again before the dawn
sharpness being not the norm
once was there once more
11-16-14
my good life has a lot to do with yours
if it is not your period
or the coffee brewed
then it must be you making me bitter
i see your friend in Hokkaido
vacationing with her husband
when you couldn't book us a room, you said
yet you made plans to visit Tokyo without me
you dressed like it was cleaning day
to see a free outdoor concert
and wore the same costume
for the Halloween party afterwards
without clear plans or directions
you scoff at my suggestion for a snack
but stop at a night market on the way
without a map for getting back
there's cigarette smoke in the night club
you're bothered by it and then
instead of doing your part to make it smart
find it better to do nothing again
noise i made chasing the cat off the tree
woke you up from your sleep
was more annoying to you
than the cat was to me
your midnight was noon in an e-mail you wrote
with our daughter cold in an unheated furnace
it left you off the hook
instead of getting you by the throat
thinking how lonely i am without friends
at least, unlike you, i'm trying to meet them
i'm stuck with some creeps that deny me
and peers that blow me off
the windy north-westerlies kick up the soil
from rice patties harvested and barren
i'm kicking up dust in my yearning
while the fire inside is churning
my good life to do
has less to do with you
it is not the life i would wish
but you're not putting enough on my dish
my life, like piss on an elevator floor
goes up and goes down with nowhere to roll
unlike rushing waters near the shallow Han
or nooks where still waters run deep
the butterflies scorn me
the pigeons cannot fly into the wind
it makes my life wonderfully windy
i sail on the breeze of my wife
whichever way she blows me
11-3-14
