carpentry

thick carpentry textbooks

15 in total

dusty

stack of seven

stack of eight

the perfect angle 

to prop youtube projector

heavy secrets

secrets....got em.

yeah deep

not even in my body

much much deeper

tethered to a ghost chain

dragged along

anchors through earth

secrets yeah

sometime they jump

from their graves

land hard 

on my robed shoulders 

secrets held

at bay

with single malt whiskey, strong beer,

prayers, poems, punches,

music

heavy secrets.

Post Script - Philosophically I'm anti-secret and pro-surprise.

Breathe In...

 breathe

you are ok

cool mountain air 

fills your lungs

pine scented

damp with creek mist

you are okay

exhale

street crow

something is wrong with that crow

he's crazy

he's lazy

he's garbage fat

walking slow up the street

crow wanders through the ditches

up into the neatly lined pines

scratchy footprints in the snow

leading under the chain fence

in behind a rotten tree stump

not crazy, lazy, or fat

he's just dying

one day

one day I'll ask my body to move

   and it won't

my mind will still move

out over the lakes, marshes, tall pine trees

up north through the rugged valley

up the highest peak

to a most vivid view

of the last dayspring moment

Scattered Wind Blown Poems

i)

evil spilling down

through a sieve of fools

splattering toxic nonsense

respond with better words, blessing, 

midnight prayers, truth steeped in love. 

ii) 

poet laureate's laurels

scattered spinning in the wind

down the alley

past the overflowing dumpster

and open kitchen doors

iii) 

not much call these days 

for a claw hammer banjo master

folk songs under fall maple trees

iv)

tobacco, or an offering tug

from a plastic whiskey bottle

a song, a poem

all medicine  

I'm a Human Being

up early

pre-dawn dog walk past the Mission

fellow pushing a cart stops me:

"I'm a human being...

and a teacher you know."

He looked up into the sky, 

then back to me.

"Got a word for you... your homework:

find joy."

I handed him some money - 

he pushed it back with both hands.

"Give that to the next saint you meet;

there's one just up the street."

He gave his cart a big inertia breaking push

turned the corner singing.