today we are Magi

It took 3,000 years to walk 3,000 miles.
In the East, we
traded clothes for destinations.
Today we are Magi.
Tomorrow we don't know.
There are trials and tragedies.
These are celebrations.

He Walked like Sidney Greenstreet

He walked like Sidney Greenstreet
and he talked like Benny Hill
He arrived like Billy Sunday
He washed up like an oil spill
He had one arm around you
It was maybe your best chance
He sang along w/Elvis
Costello in blue pajama pants
He turned his back on anarchy
and dead-bolted every door 
He wore cuban hats and JCrew T's
that people don't wear anymore
He was a sight for sore eyes
He never let you down
Once or twice,,,someone like him
in a lifetime...comes around
He walked like Sidney Greenstreet
and he balked at irony
He smiled like Billy Sunday
on Pentecostical t.v.
He said he's never leaning
that he's as straight as straight can be
He walked like Sidney Greenstreet
very...cinematically
...

I hear Otis Redding

                                           " oh -no "
                                       they're shouting.

                       " tell me something " says Lucy Ball ,
                              " are our best moments
                                        sewn together
                              like that afghan on the wall? "
                                                 *
                                           " oh-no "
                                       they're chanting.

                        "find one thing " says Ruby Dee.
                                  Walk the Easy Path or
                                       talk to Buddha.
                         She said " they both worked for me. "
                                                  *
                                            " oh-no "
                                            that's Otis

                                Redding, you fool, i swear.
                               If you're on  the Easy Path
                                      you don't know his
                                      " Lover's Prayer "
                                                 *
                                            " go-go "
                                         we're urged on

                                   to " find that one thing "
                                            Or repeat.
                                 Throw a blanket over Otis.
                                       He's a crime-scene.
                                          Like Cobain.
                                            Like Keats.
                                   

a blue jar candle

      Once upon a time there was this
       blue jar candle
      sitting right there
      on the corner of my desk.
       So blue.
       I didn't mind.
       I went about my business.
      It's gone now, but i
       remember.

       So blue.

The story as told

      So you pick up your life
         and you shake it
          and
      carefully, set it back
         down.
      You're wondering now,
        " did you break it? "
      You don't remember it
        making that sound.
      So you throw up your hands
        and get quiet. because
      that's what you do for dimension.
      Or you shake it again,
         somewhat harder, thinking
     maybe that'll get it's attention.
    Or you pick out a line
       from a movie
      and cleverly pass it around.
    But you're wondering now,
      " did you fake it? "
    You don't remember real life
       making that sound.
    So you blow up your plans
       to start over, because
     the glue and the clamps cannot hold.
     All that's left are
      the pieces and
     they're everywhere...though that's
     not
     the story.

     The story as told.
   
   
     

f*ck fantasy football

I like football.
I watch football.
I read football-related
 articles in the Sun-Times.
But i don't give a damn about
 fantasy football.
It's stupid.
F*ck fantasy football.
F*ck fantasy anything..... well,

     almost anything.
 

Waiting for an explanation from God

   Waiting for an explanation from God is
       not like waiting
       for a bus.
   It's not like waiting for the
       phone to ring.
   It's more like having a mouthful of dust
       on a hot summer day
        in Selma, Alabama.
   Waiting for an explanation from God is
    like
    writing f*cked-up poetry
    to yourself.
    at 2 a.m.
    in
    your
    underwear.


    Yep, that's what waiting for an explanation
     from God
        is like.