Meager Offer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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