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

Twice Baked

Appreciation

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

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

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.

JM

New Rule

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(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

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

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

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

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

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