chopready

Curtains Up

2012-01-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

Cool for the real show
Steady as a rock
Slipping through calendars
Picking my own lock

Seventy or eighty numbers
Stood surrounding me
No order I could cipher
Would make them really be

Some now will come soon
Again some voice will tell
Confusion has an ending
A beginning just as well

I do go slow, though
Faster in my brain
Cool for the real show
Starting over again

JM

Funeral

2012-01-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

My body slowed like a rock
The clock crawled to a stop
Simple pounding thoughts played
The cadence over riding the phrase
Doom of a bad news day loomed
How soon will it go, and where?
The scene of a roomful of people
Saying good bye to one

JM

All In

2011-12-06T10:58:00.000-08:00

Awake and dreaming
I made the truth
Of a lot of friendly faces
If some were grim
A face behind the face
Letting me be
Calm acceptance
Carried for humanity
I dreamed it there
Behind my own face
A sound lack of disgrace

JM

Waves

2011-10-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Coffee dried in afternoon cup
Subtle goal of giving up
The jacked-up state
The State requires
Awake for a while
Then everyone expires

JM

Silent Walk

2011-10-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

A well worn path
From your padding feet
Winds around a mini-woods.
An island in yard town
Without "landscaping" or golf grass.
Meticulously tended, though,
Gleaned of twigs.
Invisible wishes surround,
On the path, a prayer, too.
Leaving the dust of thought
In the care of trees.

JM

Embers

2011-09-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

Sound in the wood
Came creeping out
Pounded in for years
Like a ghost revived

A groaning and snap
A mumbled promise
Someday a fire
That already was

Targeting oblivion
A listener wanders
Harkening strangers
Grow with orchestra

JM

Without Chills

2011-06-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Add sunlight
To a soft breeze
In Spring-time trees
That whisper sweetly
Before Summers hiss.
Lighter green and fresh
And time out combine
To breathe and wish

JM

Poem Lite

2011-06-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

It's the time of night
When I like the slanting rays
Coming over before sunset
Through the window
Across my plants
Onto the doorway normally dark

It's the time to step outside
Or go for a ride
But today I write this poem
Sipping water, chewing greens
This form is right it seems
On lines of paper normally white

JM

One Meal

2011-06-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

Dinner on a plate
Nevermind I made it
Sitting by my face
Now in my mouth
Pleasure comes in small bites
But no delirium
No ecstacy or oblivion
This time

JM

Weight

2011-05-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

A light touch is enough
When spotting a tuft
Of crowded green tips
In some temporary sun
Just a soft grazing of sight
A sustained glance, one eyed
Lest comprehension spoil the moss
Tenderly leaning in Spring

JM

Mildly Perverse

2011-05-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

A round wire sang
Under her bow
Her fingers touched the strings
Lit fires in me below
And desire to be
The elegant wood
Held between her knees

JM

Informer

2011-05-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

A ghost on the edge
Of an open drawer
A sock top dangles
The ghost doesn't move
There was nowhere else
And no other time
To be a ghost on the edge
Of a drawer half closed
With absence required
I was away but heard,
On my return, of a ghost
Alight on my open drawer
Which now again half closed
Supported my talking sock

JM

Tragedy

2011-05-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

I forgot to dance
Then when I remembered
I was too self-concious
And a string of logistical excuses...
I didn't dance
Now my flinty gaze
Is fixed on the place
Just in front of my feet
Still not dancing

JM

Head Bound

2011-05-09T11:43:00.001-07:00

To calm and contrast
An abstract attic of
Spilling thoughts, branches
Of trees reach out.
With leaves or without
A pattern or chaos of twigs
Satisfies a balance sheet.
When thoughts go scattering
These tall plants can ease
The speed of not quite real.

JM

For A Spell

2011-04-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

Surprise Revision visited
Everything was fine.
None the less a change has come
I need a new design.
Sun is moon so
Day is night.
I was only joking, but
Started a genuine fight.
Letters come in bundles
Wrapped in bar code lines.
I tore into mine
Before it arrived.
A lower case "i"
Deceived the lette M
With a false apostrophe.
I had to make a better plan.
With letters on their own
My watercolors ran.
In time the visitation left
Revision took it's leave
Everything was fine again
At least so I believe.

JM

Into The Air To Look

2011-04-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

Nothing unexpected,
That would be impossible.
Surprises are allowed,
Wonder, awe, revulsion...
What is impassable waits
On the lip of vision
To be taken as needed.

JM

Bounce

2011-04-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

At a wall, unpainted
This terminus hurt.
My headlong down
Was shortened up.
With a bit of hair,
Some blood, I marked
My non-return.

JM

2011-02-27T16:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks for reading
I'm taking a vacation

Melted

2011-02-17T16:03:00.000-08:00

This mud, covered by Winter grass
Like a trap
Sucked at my sole
And dirtied my uppers

Two steps in, the damage was done
Maybe big steps or run
My path was ragged
From avoiding deep spots

The other side and concrete
Stomp, stomp
Doing a shuffle foot
Still some chunks for home

JM

Phase

2011-02-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

I was back to myself again
After a strange vacation
Guided by lazy usurpers
Governing by comittee
From my abdicated station

Vacation isn't quite right
A period of exile
Banishment by wandering
Into odd velocity
Out of synch for a while

More about that later
I was feeling over-confident
For what the situation required
Not my element, but, still me
A gradually perceiving monument

Onward to distraction
Humbled by constant variation
Last thing I remember
The ride was smooth and driverless
Then re-gaining my orientation

JM

Threat

2011-01-18T07:43:00.000-08:00

Big tree Depression
I have your axe in my belt
Don't lean your leaves
Too close to my path
Cracking a branch won't sadden me
I know about Ecology
That plea won't shelter you
If your trunk impedes
My blade succeeds
Where you, not I, Shall cease

JM

One Two

2010-12-29T11:59:00.000-08:00

We are the factory making
Hand made days
Counting on our fingers
Soaking up the rays

We are the watch dogs
Taking time away
Like a load but lighter
On our back to stay

JM

Standing Still There

2010-12-24T04:57:00.000-08:00

It was early evening
But December was dark
With no wind blowing
All was still outside

No snowfall was laying
Over Autumn leaves
All swirled into corners
From another season

A clear moon overhead
Caused light shadows
Away from street clatter
Peaceful without cars

But not silent, really,
Echoes from city sounds
A critter noise or two
And there was my breath

JM
Merry Season to all!

Bouyant

2010-12-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

I floated on a borrowed raft
Words of other writers
Beauty on a placid lake
Words of other writers

I took my time and stopped a lot
Pages turn forever
Patient waiting joy to take
Pages turn forever

My senses finally had enough
Drifting from the shore
Thinking of a poem to make
Drifting from the shore

JM

Collapse

2010-11-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

Memory completes change
And it holds still for analysis
To a point
Which is the recent now
Still sloshing with life
In half-formed reality

JM

Your Absence

2010-11-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

I can tell our being
Together
Is a wonderful time
By when we are
Apart
Not simply memories
Find a place inside
But desire to share with
You
What happens from time
To time with
Me

JM

Short Satisfaction

2010-11-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

I stared at a tree trunk
Thinking about connection
Of this to that and everything.
This self a living extremity
Of Earth alive.
My one big job; to be
Just me, happily.
The short eternity of now.

JM

Return

2010-11-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

I thought if I closed the door
On what led me here
I could escape
That I might go backwards
Unlearning what damned me
To compassion for idiocy
My own and others'
I could escape illusion
To stand tall in stark Reality
No longer complicated
With the dreams and desires
For a newer, better prison

JM

Leaves

2010-10-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

Fall leaves not fallen
Hang on the trees in color.
When morning skies are blue
And temperatures are cool
I trample the ground leaves,
Themselves at peaking beauty,
To watch upward as others launch.
With a breeze they flutter
But in wind they fly;
Swirling in yellow, orange and red
Swarming my squinting eyes,
Surrounded as I feel another
Autumn creep deep inside.

Dear Friend

2010-09-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

It was great comfort
In my disrepair
Having your friendship
Not going anywhere

Miles may separate
We hold together
Knowing our true past
Stronger than weather

Now on this trestle
The train is on time
You holding my hand
Is helping me climb

But when I let go
That's your cue too
I'll go down the tracks
And always love you

JM

Meager Offer

2010-09-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

Stray cats in my neighborhood
I look foolish calling them
They stop to look
Curious and wary
{Just leave the food and go}
One by one they know me
The one without a morsel
Squatting to offer love
Reaching my fingers
(Here puss cat)
See ya next time
And that was that

JM

Pest

2010-08-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

I think there's a barnacle
On my hull
Causing extra drag
Or it could be loose paint
Probably caused by barnacles
Or maybe old skin is flaking
Not quite off
Barnacles love that
I think I"ll have to search
A little harder, deeper
For barnacle repellent

JM:)

Tumbleweed

2010-08-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

Tonight on tracks long dug over
A Ghost Trolley took me away.
So sure at first of a short
Scenic ride, I drifted asleep.
Though I was dreaming, the
Sound of brakes and heavy wheels
Assured me of my passage.
Part of me awake noticed a
Long bending expanse and less water.
I even half thought of waking up.
Too late I noticed a sign in
A foreign language, some town...
Wake Up! This ghost trolley
Isn't going back,
It's only leaving!

JM

Balancing Axe

2010-08-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

Chaos in curling smoke,
Like a cigarette or incense,
Coupled with a slight breeze
Begs me to create order.
An easy request, really,
The beauty of disorder wears
Down quickly without patterns.
So some I cull from random
Actions, while others are invented
Strips of meaning emitted
From curling smoke like
A well ordered sneeze.

JM

Cleaning Glass

2010-08-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

In the mirror chair I can
See myself an accident of
Placement. Reflective
Surfaces tilt at me
From surrounding collected objects.
I turn the chair around
To hide myself. Intentionally
Placing reflections behind.
My eyes are closed, watching
My flashing pinball thoughts.
Rolling distortions bounce
On inside light. Did I
Create this reflection?
No pane, no frame
But it feels like me.

JM

Fetching

2010-07-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

Not all my hunches
Are readable. Not every
Problem is solved by a poem.
Still, trying is no more path-
etic than a moth at a bulb,
No less natural.
Someday it will turn out to
Be the soft edge of the sun I touch
Instead of a glass wall.
Maybe I'll burn up or just
Turn around, bringing an-
other poem to the ground
Wondering where to plant.

JM

Odd Thoughts, Even Now

2010-07-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

A flying fish or a sunken tree
A zeppelin or a submarine
A rock not tossed, dry between rains
Another underwater also remains
Wet yet dry in the middle grains
If you could check.
A diving bird or a floating duck
Each could be the same
Mistaken for the other at another
Time and place

JM

Wishful

2010-07-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

I'm thinkin' if I don't
Give 'em an inch maybe
They won't take a mile.
I made my friend smile and say
"They'll take a mile either way.

JM

Marching Through

2010-07-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

July is hot today. Even at
Night the heat stays in
Pavement and buildings.
The breeze is asleep while
House lights blink on for
Insomniac reading or T.V.
Even many pets are pacing
Just to feel the air move.

JM

Turning Bad

2010-07-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

You creepy children scream
Scared of your pillow again
Wearing pajamas in public
Hoping to skip a night of sleep
Screeching the wheels
Bought with Daddy's blood
Rolling the windows against
Money from Mommy's love
Stinking of bitch cocaine
Smiling like a frozen corpse
Dressed for your funeral

JM

Flowers To Follow

2010-07-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

They are beautiful.
That being said, I have been where the flowers
By their sheer numbers, wore my eyes
Way out and I got blurry.
This is not a brag, the city planted
In crisp regular boxes,
A brilliant unfolding display.
I don't want to buckle under guilt,
It's not so serious as that,
I want stronger eyes or deeper to
Let so many petals in.

JM

Static

2010-07-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Too close to my ear
With scant impedance
Though full distortion
Spits and growls almost
Words. Not music, just words
Projected with emotion.
Scattered like chicken feed.
It's hard not to seek an author.
When I do try, spaces fill
With imagination sight.
I stumble on my discovery
Of messages in the air.

JM

Soar

2010-06-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

Maybe the truth is I think
Too much
Somehow I developed and enjoy
The rush
Pondering deep where no one drills
Searching just to follow the trails
And maybe I can't quite quit
This touch
Which is reaching from beyond
Right here
Tickling my desire to think a little
Higher

JM

What Goes Up

2010-06-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Time was I believed
In stars and huge
Swirling galaxies

I don't refute the proof
Which is beautiful art
Gathered in lenses

I don't believe in
Stars that rescue
Or planets that care

I won't waste time now
Begging the cosmos
To notice my thoughts

Filling time I save
With greater creativity
Coming down from clouds

JM

Callous Memory

2010-06-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Barefoot all summer
Never broke a record
Hanging then dropping
Lowest branch up
Sharper ground waits
Quickly sitting down
Picking stuck pieces
A slow three steps
Then running to dusk

JM

At Once

2010-05-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Leave me happy,
Don't leave at all
I"ll wait for you
Not moving away,
You stick around.
Just we to be
A while in a small spot
Moving together to leave
Happily.

JM

Part Way

2010-05-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

Love is every part of love
No matter how you slice it
Even if all the slices have names
And carving marks from seperation
Love is on the way to love
Tracks left behind become the road
The challenge is to leave it
When giving away let go of love
Another part of the road returns

JM

Flight Walk

2010-04-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

From here on my perch
(I feel like a bird)
Traffic moves with the lights
(Featherless, without wings)
In clumps of cars and space
(No beak to speak of)
Here and there walkers pass
(Wearing shoes few birds could carry)
I only fly in my mind
(Just one eagle this season)
Moving over the rooftops

JM

Verb Centered

2010-01-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

As if I could sit
And write about this
I sit and write about
Sitting
Quietly listening
And so
But I quit that
Eventually
In favor of sitting
Naturally quiet
Making the noise
Of created silence

JM

Just Another

2010-01-13T08:53:00.000-08:00

Up before dawn again
Ignoring pop help suggestions
of regular sleep and excercise.
Eating candy in the T.V. shadow,
Later I will have a healthy breakfast.
Outside (smoking) the sky
Standing in my own fog.
Cold dark lifts in the East.
Bare trees, black against rose
Streetlights still burn.
I finish and unhitch my eyes,
Dragging back inside
Where I shut off the T.V.
Opening the shades

JM

Twice Baked

2009-10-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

Appreciation

2009-10-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

A yardful of daisies
Caught my eye, "A crafty
way to avoid mowing"
Thought I.
And further, "A beauty
for any passerby."
Good job, house with the lawn
Full of daisies
Carry on.

JM

Days

2009-07-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

I spent time this way
A while in the margins
Of sense and intentions
Whiling my sight on wobbly tracks
Vibrations of mind traveling
On slack notions and dozing
Is this Wednesday?
AM or PM?
With all the shades open
I can still miss the day

JM

Free Fish

2009-06-14T19:23:00.000-07:00

No forced rhyme this time.

Some rules remain as others

Break.

Though not "Free" or open verse,

The closing is not shut and worse,

The middle is vacant as a hole.

So leaving all this space caught,

The thrill of filling in the blanks

Remains to be claimed repeatedly.

New Rule

2009-05-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

Don't mention GOD.
Belief or not,
Faith or skepticism.
For the vast majority god is a pill
Taken on holy days
Or when feeling ill.

But really, don't mention any gods.

JM

Purpose

2009-04-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

God is not dead.
Soldiers who defend,
Infidels who offend,
These and more have
Found their ending
Keeping God alive.

Is that not proof?

If God were dead
Nobody would kill for him
Or save a baby bird.
For him.
Good and evil deeds
Would need another force
To make them real,

To give them life with
Mystery.
Because, because
That's why
And God said so.

JM

Special Reserve Light

2009-02-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

After even stars were black
The night I don't want back
So sunny in the morning that
I cracked the window wide

Something I would never do
Except
Today the right thing is clear
Wide open to the sky
I want this sunlight near

In wordless incantation
Bright spots blast to edges
Clearing up my nightmares
A daylight dream emerges

JM

Hollow Tree

2009-01-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

This confinement I achieve is
A useful split from others
When reaching out is decayed
From lack of use and
From a driven purpose
This not really alone stays
Where I hear, see and feel
Plenty of people around me
Then extraordinary talk
Sublime and accidental
Catches my ear, lights blinking
A horn outside reminds-
This surrounded self keeps
Searching for connections and memory
Clouded by sparks of word rain

JM

Sometimes True

2008-12-31T09:27:00.000-08:00

Embarrassing poetry happens again
Un- pre- pondered, full of dread
Will it fit once all is spilled
Into the cracks of another head?
Some message, sure
That might clarify the blur
Or a copout excuse- the freedom to see
The message could spring from anybody
But next year for certain, Love.
Some kind of incantation
A spell for peace...

JM

Arty Facts

2008-11-29T15:40:00.000-08:00

If I stop making pictures
They seem more precious or valuable
Which can"t be true.
The worth of making is not moved
To the value of what is made.
"A lot of time went into this"
But it won't come out.
The value of made things remains
Inside the one who sees
A beholder because holding can
Only lead to release

JM

What To Do

2008-11-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

My presence
Heavy on this birthday cake
My wind noise
Unknowing annoys, escapes
My word silence
Still heard on old tapes
My leaving
Heavy at this funeral wake

JM

Mist Taken

2008-10-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

I see what I'm looking for
Most generally
Plus a little of what I see
The rest I miss, it must be true
It goes by magically
Unless that's what I'm hunting
Some conjured hidden view
Which I can do quite easily
Even when looking at you

JM

Insane Noodle Pie

2008-08-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

(with jalapeno)

Piled chicken heads
Slumping in sunlight
Crazy bloody beaks
And eyes without sight

Black crow snake
Has wings and a beak
It can swim across a river
And digest rancid meat

Spoon pike perch
Carries water ashore
An easy fish to catch
That tastes like parrot spoor

Toad skin trees
Weep you-know-what
Off bending branches
Of blooming toad gut

JM

Participant

2008-08-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

In time for one more joke
I thought it was later
Don't get me incorrect
I appreciate humor
So I sat to listen
Opened my eyes and
The stage was underneath me
Long windows cast a glow
"Election year!" I shouted
The shadows croaked with laughter
The podium on fire said
The stage is soon to go

JM

Old Episodes

2008-07-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

Don't listen too sharply
I'm hearing you back
From further here today
Where you ought to be
Not so far that I only see
Your ghost from memory
And don't watch if I can't
see you, where my prattle goes
Chasing a former life

JM

Who Do

2008-06-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

A name I wrote became myself
I wanted someone new
The time to leave my shell behind
Was getting overdue
The name I took from hearing
Sounded like the past
A mountain climb I left behind
Sticking to me fast
The name I made no different
People like to talk
I'll keep myself the way I am
A piece of the old block

JM

Two Faced

2008-05-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

I smile at people
Sometimes they wonder why
Either by frowning askance
A question of my normalcy
Or a shield of "How ya doin'"
Goes up supporting distance
I smile at people and you
Smiling back
Lock eyes with me in confidence
Sharing joy does not deplete
Still we break our glance
Discreetly chancing a second look

JM

Roadside

2008-04-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

Maybe snowdirt is a good name
People call it whatever comes to mind
Seeing snowpiles left behind
slowest to melt and heaving up
pieces of lost and discarded stuff
dropped by shovels and plows
who made the heaps
that turned into sooty bumps
The melting snowdirt of March
running into April streets

JM

What Use Religion?

2008-03-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

One possible function
In the crumbling of states
While transportation and communication
Scatter tribes
Herds of hatred and seperation
Can test and assure allegiance
To one or another religion
While freedom remains
Difficult to express and scary
For the authorities

JM

Off The Top

2008-03-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

In the cold, sweat still rolls
Under the warm coat to shoes
Colder yet and sweat will freeze
Rolling in chunks around the eyes
Not falling, stopped in nose and throat
Until a small bird froze, there was safety
This was a warning
Bird said "I did not starve, ate no poison
just left the nest for a drink"
Dead now, no bird sweat, no cheep.
Soon this finish will find me.
Where I fly now cannot frost my feathers
Ahh dreams in bed. A covered head.

JM

Yarn Circle

2008-02-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I take a walk
unprepared with where to go
And it's fine
Other times the way is distorted,
made pointless by unpointed wandering
The empty purpose gathers weight
Pecking in rhythm with my steps
Drawing thoughts like excercise,
traffic/building/sky...views
Breathing different air
Then the ultimate destination
Rambling right back here

JM

Accumulation

2008-02-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

Today the wind drove
Snow through my screen
Rising on the window
Finding the space between

Today the wind broke
Branches from cold trees
Tossed to the ground
on last year's leaves

Today the snow fell
the long way down
Swirling and slanting into
Corners all over town

JM

Next Day

2008-01-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

Waking to music from next door
A lit candle from last night
Wax on the floor and tablecloth
Grey light in the windows
Softening the view of this disarray
Tunes bleed from the wall
Flickering like the candle
Our runny dreams rest on pillows
Uncollected while sleep fades
A party mess undressed by dawn
Dark covers are gone again
The music goes on for a while

JM

Ting-A-Ling

2007-12-30T19:45:00.000-08:00

A penny carefully wedged in braids
Shiny and new but tiny
Just a few could know
Repressing laughter until
Her turn at the board
The penny jumped for it
Ding, ting-a-ling, roll
Nobody could not know
Then since Patty Braids
Blushed with shame and rage
It couldn't be brushed off
Mr. Instructor called for the culprit
To even the score
Embarrassing the boy not nearly as much
With a penny on his nose 'til the bell
And it only fell once

JM

Won World

2007-12-18T12:26:00.000-08:00

Firmly enmeshed in us at times
Common seems real
We feel and hear the same roar
Jets flying over
Even if every head does not tilt
Experience ricochets
Off focus, dreams and covers
Distance, proximity
Quicker than a rock or sunlight

JM

Forehead Lines

2007-12-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

Taking Medicine A Sin?

Half Agree With Split

Blackout Worse At Night

Countdown Begins In Two Days

Hee He JM

Mistaken Sacrifice

2007-11-29T10:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight a bomb went off in my head
I thought to wrap around it
Like heroes do a hand grenade
A protection for anyone near
The concussion sustained in only
One brain for now
Blew up
Detonated
The inert case of fear and hate
Carried by all who lift it up
Remains inside and out, receding
Encroaching to fill what crack is left
When something else
Love?
Water?
Blows up perfectly undead
Detonates a reshuffling of energy
Outside my hero lust to affect
The schrapnel of exploded fear
It shatters my mistake

JM

From Here To Here

2007-11-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

Way too sad to sit inside
Walking I look away
From headlights, eyes and windows
Kind of tricky, sometimes I miss
To stare at something human
Over my gut I watch my shoes
Step, step, clumping along
I hear the walk go quiet
Wandering into residential
Finally the sadness leaves
I don't try to chase it
Back at home I close my eyes
In a chair by a lamp
Gratitude has room to speak
I hear my simple comfort
And think of making tea

JM

Ghost Call

2007-10-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

Ghost Call

A persistent no-answer comes
To the question "are you there"
Or another "can you hear me"
When through the hedge leaves, whispers
Turn into calls, voices bounce off walls
A special cadence of speech collects
The hazy volume wavers
Almost patterns reach out
To a persistent no-answer
An almost functional, actually desperate
Fear of the not yet known
When confusion remains between
The source and who would answer

JM

Allow 4-6

2007-10-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Allow 4-6

I'm a late bloomer
If I bloom at all
Clear at the end of Fall
Maybe busting through snow crust
My flowers are unremarkable
Serving their intended purpose
Flexing which seed they are to promote
The puzzler is my soil
Moving with the weather sometimes
While almost opposite others
I bloom which is enough
Unless patience is too tough today
Then I have to wait

JM

Arrange Meant

2007-10-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

Arrange Meant

Memories are fine and useful
A trap where you lose part of the day
Sinking too long into what went on
The years collected on dust around you
All the fine and useful experience
Hanging on a wall or in that car
The look of the kitchen after meals
Especially at leaving or redecorating
The urge is strong to speed along
Listening to the way things were
Making changes heavy to move around
Into more useful and fine memories

JM

Reading/Show

2007-10-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Reading/Show

A woman walked in with covered head
A long heavy black dress
She sat to the left in front of me
Where I could see the silhouette
Of her small chin pointing at the stage
I tried not to stare
In just enough light to put a glow
On her full lips, round cheeks
And her brown eyes twinkling
As each participant, even me,
Got up to bounce light beams
Off ourselves and into the open face
Of the woman with the covered head

JM

Grim By Default

2007-09-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Grim By Default

These artificial means
Are easily as bad
As artificial pleasants
Though they fool more thoroughly
The face reflecting my facade.
To play at being angry
Serious business, that.
To gather those reflections
I must be mad.
When all but sometimes
I can portray glad or contented
Mock expressions

JM

Dead Day 9/11

2007-09-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

Dead Day 9/11

Another day got famous
All of them have various claims
This one is shame and fear
With the strongest being hate
Blood lust, killing justified.
We remember the day together
Separated by what it takes to kill
Some pay life, others taxes.
Very many lose mental health
A psychic virus bites into them
Penetrating on each anniversary.
So loud, patriotic and grievous
In enough decades it will die

JM

Times Fly

2007-09-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

Times Fly

We have more time than patience
Waiting is an art and a torture
A fly died slowly in my studio apartment
Neither of us had anywhere to go
She finally landed on my shirt
No more flying, she crawled
I killed her quick, impatient from
Two days of missed attempts
Though we were kind of roomates
There for a while, stuck inside

JM

Shuttered

2007-08-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

Shuttered

I shut down time
Like a curtain on my window
Closed my view on moving shade
I made a stillness appear
Slowly as my heart bent light
Breathing still, I applied still sight
A race of emotion then
Urges to think in words
The clock returned, I heard
A squeak in the wind
With my chest full and lively
With shade still travelling
I opened up time
Like a curtain on my window

JM

Ill Delusion

2007-08-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

Ill Delusion

A moment of clarity tells me
Which self is tragedy
Where the details marking reality
Are collected by certain
And uncertain phases of being
Which self is strong today
Clarity can't take too long
A little bliss and a taste
Of illusion belong with
A self surviving scrutiny
And accurate humility

JM

Audio Mirror

2007-08-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

Audio Mirror

They know my name
At the bottom of my breath
In the sound of cooling bricks
Are whispers chattering
Not all repeat myself to me
Not every television bleed
Is a conversation
Some though, enough to hear
Whisper or mumble my name
And I know it's just me
Reflexively I'm thinking "Here I am"

JM

An Experience To Write About

2007-07-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

An Experience...

What I saw on the way to the zoo-
Wild animals between the cars,
Cramped into the odd tree
And green spots by the stores,
Hiding in silt of sidewalk cracks
And just plain flying.
At the zoo I saw
More variety in the cages
A little less wild though.
With people all over
The feature attraction,
Out of their cars and almost
Naked in just their clothes,
I sat down knowing mine
Would barely cover my gawking
On the way to the zoo again.

JM

Camp Pain

2007-07-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

Camp Pain

Noisey haloes on political pulpits
Glowing about their destinies
Never showing hell they make
Promising to stop ourselves
By force if necessary
"We shall impose new limits"
And "Work to undo our mistakes"
Then each meek vote shall inherit
The worthiest political preacher

JM

I'm Afraid Of The Lone Man

2007-06-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

I'm Afraid Of The Lone Man

Just to fit in and get along
I learned to avoid
Approaching a man by himself
Sufficient, perhaps pondering
Or drunk
It wouldn't matter, it is alone
That counts
I saw the looks he drew
Resolved myself to stay inside
Or among friends
Yet here I am and not that long
More and more alone
And I am him, I like him now
Walking alone, waiting for the bus
Where the scattered shyness
When I was a kid
Has been gathering together

JM

Sleep Cells

2007-06-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Sleep Cells

Sleeping was tough last night
So the morning gets here early
With my door cracked on sunrise
Birds precede the rising traffic
Giving up the bed for now
And jealous of the workers
I watch the day get started
Through open shades the skies brighten
In bare feet with coffee awake
I know a nap will happen later.

JM

Fresh Ground Words

2007-06-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

Fresh Ground Words

Between force and release
My words are not grease
When life is dry I grind
As phrase and pieces of idea
Find new shapes slower
More painfully, waiting
For something wet or living
To swell with what they said

JM

Been

2007-06-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

I have been writing a little less. Posting fewer
I have slow days.
I tell you now with vigorous unction
There will be another day!
And another poem...

Post-it Pome

2007-05-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Post-it Pome

Short like strobe ads
Quick as a bullet
Sizzling through before
You know I'm hit
Skull wise crumpling
Over buckling knees
Heading for slow stones
The edge of a short sheet

JM

Inside Job

2007-04-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Inside Job

The attempted theft
Of our way of life
By means of fear
Is not so effective
As theft by war spending
Theft by ignoring our ending way of life
And worst of it we wonder
What way is that to live?
What living way requires war
And what defense is necessary
When we steal from ourselves
Generosity?

JM

Aground

2007-04-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

Aground

When it's too beautiful to walk
Just sitting without talk or traffic
Only waiting as face after face
Turn looking from their jog
From their stroll, their car window
Glancing some surely notice
A contrary lack of speed, dozing
In a tree tickling breeze

JM

Onionesque

2007-04-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Kollege Killer attacks gun rights

Recently a few famous rampagers have conspired to amend our right to bear arms. While not killing gun control advocates, the students at several schools have left the job to us. As licenced and current gunowners it's up to us to be the new guard, the new wave of rampagers.
Fortune has provided us with a reason for anti-gun forces to collect themselves and that's our opportunity to strike. FIGHT BACK FELLOW GUN NUTS!!
Let us lead this lost country out of the non violent future that seems to be all too inevitable.

From Underground

2007-04-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

From Underground

Nobody needs to know it all
I didn't but never stall
Impressing myself with clods of earth
Like these can replace, even worth giving
My family or yours, odd worth adding
My friend I almost know, sadly
How punishing can be too slow, unkind
When ignorance is speaking now
I hear your voice like mine
Somehow we both may be clods or clouds

JM

Mortal Clouds

2007-04-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

Mortal Clouds

Steam became a cloud today
Like that needs to be said
My steps condensed and rain fell up
Downtown the streets were wet
Along another line of sight
A bell was tolled or maybe rang
Vibration sang to tell a code
So writing this is only a bone
Hiding in the cold waiting for steam

JM