Piercings

While we ate shrimp and cheesecake
At AZ 88
My father gave
An eighteen year old girl guff
About the jewelry that adorned
Her face.
He said he would forgive her
When she removed the shit from her
Eyebrows,
Nose,
And lips.
I asked him why he wasn’t wearing his earring.
Everyone wears them now,
He said.

The Shape Of Things

Buson
a master poet
and a pretty good painter

Told his students to use the common place
to escape the common place

Is there a short cut
a student asked

Read

Chinese
poetry

He said

Waiting

When you
Left Sunday

I went to church
And prayed

You would
Come home soon

Long Walk

we walk across the bridge
into the woods
the flowers whisper
secrets to each other
and smell so good
i think we might
make it
all the way to town
you pester me about
things i might have done
if i were a better man
i am what i am
that isn’t enough
you say - smile - light
a cigarette - laugh at
the setting sun
it’s hot i say - sigh and
sit down on a rock
under a big old tree
what are we doing - you ask
i need to rest
we’re running out of time
i know that

Starving

I reach into the river

for a fish
like an Indian

she smiles

lightning precedes thunder

Laughter and rain
fall over and on me

I take her hand
she
pulls
it
back

runs away

across a meadow
into a cornfield

I watch
it unfold

like a silent movie

that's not
happening to me

in slow motion

and don’t understand

why I can’t
grab a fish
out of the river

for her

throw it back and

catch a bigger one

The Barracks

I landed hard beside a river rolled up my chute walked into the woods took a piss picked up my chute and walked across the drop zone to the buses dropped my chute in a pile of parachutes got on the bus and waited

The bus took us to the airfield I grabbed my duffel bag and walked up a hill to the barracks I put my stuff away went down the hall to Brown's room he was drinking a beer listening to Kiss Lick It Up in his underwear

Brown needed six dollars of quarters to get a twelve pack from the beer machine in the day room he was thirteen quarters short I went back to my room and came back with six
Thanks Brown said Hey how was Texas
Cold man

I went to my room took a nap Norman woke me up we had supper in the mess hall
How was Texas Norman asked
Cold
I had two cheese burgers french fries a piece of cake a glass of milk lit a cigarette and went upstairs to go look for a ride to Linda's

Linda wasn't home and this was before mobile phones so I sat on her porch until dawn and hitchhiked back to the barracks

Last Jump

I stood on the runway hating the Army
Myself and life in general
Wondering why we couldn’t wait on the plane
It wouldn’t have mattered

I grew up in Phoenix and
Thought the desert would be warm in the spring
I didn’t bring a jacket
It’s a different desert in West Texas

The plane seemed even colder

The guy sitting next to me had a blanket
Half way to Florida he offered to share it
It helped but wasn't enough

We dumped the Ranger students in a swamp
Landed at an Air Force base
Got off the plane and stood on the runway and waited
For the plane to be gassed up
It was cold there too

When we were back in the air
The jump master asked me if I wanted to jump into Benning
I said
Why not
He tossed me a chute and as soon as I had it on and inspected
I got sick
I wanted to lie down
For half an hour I sat and hoped that I could get out the door
Before I puked in front of the rangers
It was a close call but
I made it

As soon as I jumped
I felt better for thirty seconds
And than I landed but those thirty seconds
Were pretty cool

Like finding money
In your pocket
When you're doing laundry and
You think you're broke
You need cigarettes and
You want to get drunk

Anyway

At least

Between Wars

I was in Texas packing parachutes for ranger school and
Went to a bar in El Paso with some ranger instructors
After a few beers and a couple shots
An E7 flipped out and
Called a waitress a
VC
Gook
Bitch
I thought she was cute

I saw her standing in the door of a dive motel
While we calmed the Sergeant down in the Parking lot
They’re Korean - someone said - they can’t be VC Sarge
That’s what they want you to think
The crazy sergeant said

She could have been black
Mexican or white
I couldn’t tell or care
I walked across the street
Hey baby
She said
How's it going
Pretty good I replied
Good baby do you want a date
That’s an odd way to put it
I thought

Well
She said and smiled
She looked kind of like Tina Turner
Yeah sure
Come in
I did
She closed the door
A pregnant girl was sitting on the toilet
You get to pick
She said
What's your name
I asked
Angel - honey

I ran into the rangers
In the parking lot
Fifteen minutes later
Trying to talk a girl
Into giving them all blow jobs
For seventeen dollars

I went back to the bar
Had a beer
And took a cab to the barracks
I had a hundred-fifty parachutes to pack

Boxes

My uncle
Wrote a book of poetry that
My father published
My brother and I stored
The books in our apartment
Because my dad couldn’t sell them and
Didn’t have any more space than we did
The boxes got wet
Most of the books were damaged
The poems are about my grandparents
Alice Walker
My father
Lost love and
Arrowheads

I re - read the book
While watching Grambling play Southern
My buddy Billy and I bet on the game every year
It’s a tradition
I’m for Grambling
They haven't won the game in five years
Billy usually calls during the second half to rub it in

I turn off the game in the third quarter
(Grambling 10 Southern 6)
And go play golf with my brother
And Kurt
The poems make me sad

I don’t want to watch Grambling blow it again

My brother and I threw the damaged boxes
Into a dumpster the last time we moved
When we still lived together
I think we ran up to my mother's house on the Navajo reservation
With fifty dollars
A quarter pound of dope
And one box of undamaged books

Grambling ran for over 250 yards and won by ten

While I was walking down the first fairway
I said to my brother
I read Jim’s book again
My brother laughed
How many times have you read it
He asked
Too many times to count
It’s a fine book he said and
Cut a nickel
Ten feet from the stick
Yes it is
Great shot Kurt said

Guided By Voices

I know the world is large and the possibilities are endless and
You will be tough to track when the cold north winds blow and
The hard rains fall and the trees cry 'cause it's so unfair
Take shelter and remember I'm learning to hunt for you and

I am almost there

For my girls, Penny and Cate

5 To 1

Our good luck assured

We threw it all at a nag

Who won by a nose

Rapids

When all is lost
The river’s red

Our boat is small
Wind from the west

Rain falls
Out of smoke

No signal to send

In The Day Room

Back at Benning
He said
You have to set the motherfucker to receive

He handed me a bottle
I took a swig

What the hell do you mean

I mean you have to set the motherfucker to receive Sergeant
I will do my best sir
Get yourself some new jungle boots

I hate the Philippines
We all do - don’t forget
Yeah I know - kill 'em all
Even the babies

Cryptic Iconic Advice

I think you fight me when there's no fight to fight

Lets sit down
Have a drink
Smoke a cigarette

It's like Micky Rourke said
I would rather be dead and cool than alive and uncool

Don Johnson jumped off a train
Hitched home to tell his girl he loved her
He had a suicide mission to go on while

Ol' Waylon played a sad song

Mickey Rourke showed up at the last minute
Gave him a ride
On the back of his bike

Cause that's what a man does

They did not die but they could have

So I will fight you to the death baby but I would rather not

Penny

My wife bleeds
Sunshine

Like a
Clear
Cool
Lake
On a hot summer night

Apple pie for breakfast

A snowflake in the desert

A great rock and roll record

Like a book you can't put down

Big Ears

i fucked
more women
than jack kennedy
better looking ones too
jackie's better looking
than bird
i admit but
i didn’t marry bird
for her looks and
if the blacks had to wait
on jack
to get them a civil rights bill
they would have waited
until god knows when
he was busy
trying to kill castro
and now his little brother
is baiting me about vietnam
how ironic is that
since it was jack
that left the rat fuck
on my desk
like a pile of burning shit
so now
instead of making sure
every american kid
gets enough to eat
and creating better jobs
for their daddies
i’m in a pissing contest
with ho chi minh
over something
i don’t even want
that much
and he knows it
that’s what scares me
to death
i wish that i could have a cigarette
goddamit-clark
i have to call you back
i’m five minutes late
for the ballet
if you can fat fucking believe that

Maybe Tomorrow

a horse
eats grass
at the base of a hill
a hundred yards
from my house

my daughter
calls her
Tasha

my wife wonders
whose horse it is

she’s pretty
my daughter says
I agree

my wife looks worried
about what
I can’t remember

it will be all right
I say
she isn’t buying it

my daughter asks
if she can ride
Tasha

her name isn’t
Tasha
my wife says

how do you know
I ask

and no you can not ride her

Wisconsin

Cattails
Sway gently

On a summer
Afternoon

I watch
The sunset

Columbus 1986

When I think about
Your cold blue eyes

I remember your old brown car

Weed
Acid
Wine
Whatever else we found

Laying beside the
Chattahoochee river

How easy it was to fall
For you

Like a rock from a cliff

How much I desired
Your respect

How sad you looked
Standing

Outside the barracks

How inevitable it all was

The way your hair
Smelled

After you washed it

Frank

I met Frank on Christmas
While listening to Jack Keroac
Front a jazz combo
in my foul
Smelling
dingy
dark
cold apartment

He knocked on my door
introduced himself
said he was my new neighbor
asked why
Keroac
My dad gave me the CD for Christmas
I said
Cool
I invited him in
asked if he had any dope
No - wine - want a glass
No thanks
I said

Frank told me he was an artist
his brother was semi-famous
that he grew up and spent his
whole life in Phoenix
We became pretty good friends

I would walk outside around noon sometimes
find his work drying on the sidewalk
Some of it was really good
I wondered when he did it
neither one of us did much
at least he had something to show for it
When I’d see him later I’d tell him
I liked his stuff
he’d sort of smile
look down at his work and shrug

Frank started dealing coke
He painted less
my brother-in-law
saw him more often than I did
When I would run into him
he’d offer me a line
talk about
painting or rock and roll
maybe do another
look through his portfolio
I like the stuff on the sidewalk
better than any of this slick shit
I’d always tell him
Frank would laugh
pour a fresh drink
show me his brother’s book
I like the stuff on the sidewalk
better than any of this slick shit too
I’d say
Frank would grin - say

You always say that

The Point Of Pointlessness

I spend most Sundays at my brother's house
Watching football games
After the game
We play golf
Sometimes we take his dog
To the lake
That runs
Through the tract house subdivision

Throw back fish we catch

My brother is always telling me about essays he's read
About Tasmanian Tigers or
Sailing across the Pacific Ocean in a canoe
He gives me books and magazines to take home

I read about Song Dogs in a rock and roll magazine
Song Dogs live in Alaska
At night they gather on the outskirts of towns
Howl at the moon
It's a pretty cool cliche

A great name for a compact disk

My brother put a fish hook through his lip
To see how it felt

Charles Bukowski called Love A
Dog From Hell

Maybe that's why
Song Dogs
Play the blues
At two in the morning
Outside Barrow
My brother says

I can't feel my toes

1978 In a Trailer (Listening to Something, Anything)

I have watched the
Best minds
Of my generation

Sit at a table
Stare at a bong

Somewhere in the desert

Declare
Or explain
What they saw
On television

This morning
Last night
Tomorrow

It was stupid

But funny as hell


What
Turn it up
What
Turn it up
What

Yeah man

Zeppelin rocks

Hard

It ain't Led Zeppelin

I think it's Black Sabbath

There's a cloud in the sky and it's raining on you

Is it Aerosmith

It sounds fucking gay
Put on some Waylon Jennings

Eric Clapton isn't gay

It's not Eric Clapton

Who is it then

Davis Bowie is gay and he's cool

Having a couple good songs doesn't make you cool
In my book

I think it does

Me too

One Night Stand

Blue light
staircase cold

water in the sink
waiting

for you to
come home


Green eyes
see purple

girls dancing
on glass islands

I remember
her

Photograph

Red door
Little girl

Giant plant
Spooky shadow

Christmas
In Cave Creek

Ambush

Dead truck
Sun gone

Sad
Sweet
Song
Looping

Through the sand

Lord I wish I was Lord I wish I was Lord I wish I was

Stoned

Please God
Fix the truck

Tracers fly

Over
Around
Into

Sand
Steel
Stone
Concrete hut

Full Moon
Neon sign

M16

Should have been cleaned
Yesterday
Morning
Laid around

Jams

Stars blink
Off and on

Radio dos not work
Out of smokes

Come on all of you big strong men Uncle Sam needs your help again got himself in a terrible jam way down yonder

In the rat fucking desert

Digging a hole

A long way from the PX

Los Olivos

That's not where we put our trash Cate said
Pointed at a Coke can
Beside a fence
Under a street lamp

No it is not

I was pushing her home from the park in a stroller

I don't want to walk daddy

I wouldn't drive her in the car
Four blocks

This is awesome Cate said
It's almost as fun as chasing birds

I called my wife at work
Told her I pushed Cate to the park

That little bitch
My wife said
Is lazier than a dog

A Booth In A Bar

What do you think I should do? I asked.
You stared at your glass of wine.
I’m screwed either way. I said.
You sighed and nodded your head.
It was getting late and we had to pick up the kids at your parents'.
Would you like another glass? You asked.
Why not?
Maybe it will work out.
Yeah, maybe.
The bartender brought us another bottle and filled our glasses. I watched a couple whisper back and forth, every once in a while one or both of them would laugh. You looked at the other side of the room, at what I can only guess, nonetheless it had your rapt attention. I looked at the bar and saw the sports news on television, unfortunately I was too far away to get much good out of the information it was trying to give me. I thought about moving closer but I was already too far away from you. I killed my glass in one swallow.
We should get going, I said.

Crazy Love

you stood next to an oak tree
under a quarter moon
in my backyard
smiled
shrugged
said
i love you but

you laughed

you’re such a screw up

i agreed lit a cigarette said

but you love me sort of

yeah sort of

i picked up my shovel
walked into the house
poured us each a shot of whiskey
yelled

you coming in

in a minute

i did both shots
poured two more
my dog walked into the kitchen
looked at me like i'm nuts

i am crazy

about you

that’s true