building up and letting down

a dream that has got to come true
dream when there is nothing else 
Thursday's July 3rd, Morrison Memorial Day
open mike at Salut Pizza 
time to read "The Lord & New Creatures"
Han River poem and other features
tonight at the Terroir Wine Cellar 
announce Forgotten People 
a dream to come true may not have you
about that, no one can do

consider taking serious seriously 
when royalty takes their thrones 
be the minstrel reflecting worn faces
milking the cash cow of half and half truths
alone insulting oneself scenarios 
on merry ways to peter out of earshot
believing the fraud one's become
till the fraud is flawed and one's ignored
by the butter churning without clientele 
with power spurning  they leave and wish you well

6-29-14

overgrown weeds wave bending northerly

overgrown weeds wave bending northerly
egrets all have flown
drunken crabber's empty nets
now chewing rocks in the wilderness
grinding teeth with July approaching
breathing the fumes as the train vacates the station
dismantling nests in unused summer vacation
when there's finally a break through
the backhoes return to start it over
welcome the typhoons
summer playground, the devil's hometown
the cooling shower of passing clouds
whetted in retirement
 being here and now
let the pests be pestered
i don't worry
the egrets shall return 
when the nest's packed up
vacant for someone else's turn
food we'll fish for in the Han
after the sunny Taichung sun shaded
summer rain coming down around 
a beauty that astounds  

6-23-14

perhaps i'll have to move on

perhaps i'll have to move on
keep travelling before i settle down
move around before
i can't move no more
in thunder from the south
rumbling low and loud
two days without crescendo
suggesting to me
i'd better flee
hodgepodge of gray blue skies
whisked northerly awaiting
clear skies following the dappled sun
and the thunder only
a ballast factory
churning boulders into pebbly rocks
like a pie baking
soon ready to be boxed
or is the hint of moving on
caused by
dangerous familiarity
sickening inevitability
out of desire to freshen the seat 
by finding another place
without burning houses
or slamming doors behind
by not answering when someone knocks
and asks
"who's home?"
who asks
the silhouette of the man across the Han from me
"hello, following me?
i must be going."
if the thunder continues to roll
and there are too many signs to move on
with hundreds of other places to go

6-17-14 

whichever star of God shined upon me

whichever star of God shined upon me
led me to this Han River bench facing east
randomly passed an egret by my eyes
permitting me to ignore motors whizzing by
whatever the whore's name
that brought him down
or the dead Bruno who took revenge
after the buy-out prevision passed
led me as stars had all my life
to sit with you, my love, enjoying a chat
even if every day we can't hold on to
any more than an egret's flight suspended
no coincidence our rendezvous 
integral steps of things to do
on the way to seeing
the wash spill in and mingle with the river
the simple angler with rod for a dinner
catching tiny fish, one by one
saved from ever reaching China
as i was saved by you, dear Lord
from bureaucrats everywhere

6-16-14

where the family photos are bound

where the family photos are bound
a Jew is a turtle with home on its back
photos in a knapsack 
on a stick of a hobo
wandering in shantytowns
along the tracks of a thousand trains 
that don't digress

Taiwanese Lin who remembers her path
couldn't get lost coming home
with a hundred thousand Lins before
mixed with indigenous blood
family registered Japanese
who never had to flee like we
from country to hostile country

i'll return to collect my history
for those who care to see
thankful for showing what once was
children's welfare, pleasure, and me
an empty nest nestled in my brain
which cannot be washed out by the rain
be cast away or stained

6-7-14

the leering sun burns off the mist overhead

the leering sun burns off the mist overhead
as anglers sit on smooth boulders on the river's edge
trying to catch fresh water sardines
as bloated darkened war clouds drift northerly
and undecided haze lingers over Beitun 
i sit in-between
with noisy little motors buzzing my behind

i don't see the alleged building department letter
o don't create scenarios about who rattled us and why
nor let commandments to have a nice day pester me
when it is my civic duty that is thoroughly questioned
only watered bills of egrets fly passed
nothing an ex-pat can do about sewerage back home
but hold a nose and pray it doesn't float this way

i am a fisherman, too, catching tides of attitudes
of every piece of shit afloat in my crystal stream 
with patience to wait for books delivered overseas
and no inclination to spread New York disease
or scratch till raw mosquito bites and fleas
or steamed streamed love-making
without pretending love she's taking

come sit to straddle me on this bench
with sky shaped blue between us two

confusing clouds of shy and proud
where old friends kvetching is not allowed
choosing not where agony rages
flowing Han-words on limber pages
ignoring all that seems outrageous 

two fishermen leaving without a fish
i am staying without a fish 
looking at the light in June twitching
Christmas flogged by August bitching
should i be reading Faulkner
by June's early sunset 
pretending that we never met? 

i will always believe i can remember that
i can always forget to
put the tackle back in the box
walk home fish-less from the rocks
still with legs to ride the river
to say 'hello' to egrets with my pen
and dream of the light in August
through a Brooklyn window again 

6-1-14

A Poem for Patti

for the bad choices that end your life
but seem like fun while you're doing it
and the choices that you live famously
in a golden cage
listen for the graceful choices
that share your dinner and
one another

i am here waiting by the river
a clown
who squeaked his brakes and sat down
a poet
a revolutionary who sees
dense clouds squashing the river down hears
motors whizzing beyond the banks

i'm a stray dog's tail skirting the ledge
like a periscope view above the river
the river you pissed into
as fame came strolling by

5-29-14