four more years

four more years...and 39 days

I'll walk out of here

dropping plaques

and ink wet cards

in my wake

stepping over

deflated yellow balloons

spinning slow

against the stairs

like Lot

like that prisoner

walking out 

that jail in Edmonton

but I won't be breaking

a store window

to get back in

I'll keep walking

out to my 4x4 ride

then drive

into the wild

deep into the wild.

silence

music carries me

up over back country road short cuts

Neil Young and Crazy Horse

blasting hard fast distorted buzz

clicked off in my parking lot spot

a day of unrelenting cacophony

a stream of non-sequitur "facts"

questions and questions 

and questions about questions

head spins

exhausted monk

out to the car

silence

all the way home

just a slight tire hum

The Monastic Heart: Bells

a bell rings

attention is called

to this moment

a thin slice of a slice 

of the never ending present

in this micro moment

I think of you

and pray

haiku 60

poems are out there

waiting

to be collected

in my case written 

and numbered

in little blue books

59 haiku poems so far

the tired monk wanders

to the forest edge

past a little patch

of crocus flowers

haiku 60...

Ditching School in '88

got to school early

started looking for my buddy French

the smoking area?    empty

only Cliff...there as usual

selling loose American cigarettes

from a zip lock bag

he hadn't seen him

he wasn't in math

one of his best girl friends 

said he might be ditching

so I ditched too

I found him at home

out by the shed

sitting on a discarded kitchen chair

he'd found last garbage day

nursing a tumbler of Canadian Club

his cassette player was on

a low hum of Pink Floyd the Wall

filled the air

mingling with cigarette smoke

he looked up from his book

a beautiful hardcover edition:

Catcher in the Rye 

French poured me a glass of whisky

passed me his beat up school copy

the white cover torn and battered

he handed me a smoke 

lit it and said:

"this fuckin' Salinger guy...

man...he knows what's up."

date night

work ran a bit late

the "urgent" email said: "water emergency"

not such a big deal

ever heard of a shut-off valve? lol

quick stop for gas station bouquet

she just loves flowers

box of wine from the cooler

couple six-packs of pilsner

medium pizza from her favourite place

it is a warm April back deck night

a blanket over her legs

to ward off a slight cool breeze

sun sets in oranges...pinks

a refill of her glass

she says "to the brim" and laughs

one more slice

one more beer

as the first stars appear

 

soup poem

the maples fell two years ago in twisted splinters

today they are dry and gathered

chopped up neat with a camp hatchet

fed into the wood stove

heat grows

early spring snow flies

hambone, water, yellow peas simmer

remnants of an Easter feast