colorfill/chlorophyll/chloroform/coming storm
violet alyssum/violent asylum/valiant reliance/valid veined resistance
red readiness/bled sanctity/fledged steadiness/dread equity
willing vermilion/wailing rose madder/wallfalling scarlet/the crawl of an adder
lemony sunset/gethsemane onset/anemone capture/a cleansing a rapture
chloro renewal/caressment sensation/a flesh induration/a greensward to bathe in
deep blue tones come calming/a balm for the fever/a song a reliever/a singular psalm
i rode my soul to work today
my kia soul to be exact
encapsulated from the fray
and both our souls intact.
.
Afterword: About four weeks ago I traded my dependence on increasingly undependable and scary public transportation of more than ten years’ duration for a 2023 Kia Soul with about 31,000 miles on it. I don’t like the indebtedness that entailed, but I love the luxury of get in and drive away.
the social security administration/never sent me my 1099/and tax time looms/so i went online
i went online and clicked on Getcha 1099 Right Here, Kid
and suddenly was called upon/not merely to log in/but to prove incontrovertibly that i was who i said i was
which involved not merely to supply my social security number
but to take photos of my state-issued,
gold-star-on-the-front,
driver’s-license-on-steroids
identification card
and was that sufficient? nope!
ssa then commandeered my phone
(after they graciously got my permission)
and had me removed my glasses
and pose for a “video selfie”
which took three tries
and then compared it with my i.d. pic
and lo and behold and huzzah
i am indeed who i said i was
and from then the obtainment/of my 1099 both download and to-be-mailed hard copy/was a snap
but wait there’s more
a breakdown of all my social-security-taxed income was available/from the summer of 1970 on
which was fascinating
details on request
maybe
Yesterday at the grocery store/I hit the button for Cashback and then $60
“I worked hard all week. I want some walking-around money.”
Douglas at Bertha’s Café/Rang me up for $17 and change/On a Denver omelette and large coffee./”Keep the change, Douglas.”
Walgreens had my four must-have prescriptions at $5 each./Bye bye #2 Jackson Big-Head.
Walking across Indian School,/Then waiting for the light, a tall young man asked me how it was./”Things are terrible in our country,/But I’m still vertical and that’s great./How are you?”
He showed me his sign of woe./”I need to make rent.”
He still has a way to go.
We all want to be brave at the dentist
Though sometimes
When our mouth contains at turns
A mirror a nutpicker a micro-jackhammer
A wedge with a genius for finding fragile sensitive subtongue areas
A zinger a 500lb compacter
Cementum gold abrasion
And a thing that turns your gullet into a reservoir
We can’t help but feel like an enemy under illegal interrogation
And we can’t talk as demanded because our mouth is full of stuff
But we know this is all for our own good
So we tell ourselves Relax
And it turns out all kinds of muscle groups and areas public and private are not relaxed
Our eyebrows are trying to crawl beneath our hairline
Our left shoulder is totally relaxed
But our right shoulder is braced for a hit from a 340lb linebacker
Our sphincters all have ROAD CLOSED signs
And our fingers grasp cliff edge
But we are good soldiers
We relax
We live in our toes for a while
Or pretend it’s two hours in the future and we are watching the replay
And time spidercrawls on
And at last it’s time to rinse
And we run our tongue over pristine surfaces
Maybe even smile on our way out
Except on that last stop by the exit
Behold what it is costing
And will cost
OMA-GG
(O My Anti-Gingivital God)
But we get philosophical
Reflecting that ensuring that teeth won’t have to be pulled
Can be a lot like pulling teeth
it is saint patrick’s day
it is a tough day for irish alcoholics/a fun day for party beasties/an affirming day for those with Celtic pride/and a fine day to trot out your fake irish accent
for stripper erin mccallahan it is a day to wear her thin green shirt/emblazoned with “Erin Go Braghless”
historians will associate the day with snakes/but snakes will be indifferent
americans might wear at least one green garment/and the older ones might remember being pinched
while older patriotic americans might remember with nostalgia the late john f. kennedy
as for me i have a bit of irish in me/though more scottish/scotch
and i’d love to start off the day with a celebratory irish coffee of coffee and jameson and bailey’s irish cream
but i have a dentist’s appointment later in the morning/so plain old coffee and a spinach omelette/is about as irish as i can get/to start this green day
i may drink this evening
but no black&tans for me
3
cream of consciousness
some call it hyperfocus
sight insight super sight
.
2
dream of consciousness
it is elusively lucid
wake up then Wake Up
.
3
scream of consciousness
I CANNOT BELIEVE
MY COUNTRY–nOT HERE not NOW
THE MADNESS NEVER en
a longhand version/of an author’s love of a car/is in the passenger seat of that car/being taken to a husband about to be divorced/by the driver.
so the car is a conveyance conveyance
the driver is a conveyance conveyor conveying conveyance affection
and the husband is an incipient conveyance recipient/on his eventual way to divorce court
where the divorce court judge/may hold the transfer of conveyance ownership
in abeyance.
the moon is not in the seventh house
but it was just eclipsed by the shadow of our earth
and jupiter recently aligned not just with mars
but with siblings as well.
“bound to happen sometime”
is just a position
on juxtaposition.
The window went down but will not go up.
A few minutes prior, turning the Start key made the dashboard light up but didn’t turn over the engine.
I am in the parking lot of my workplace. I was eager to get home.
I have logged in the Triple-A and have requested roadside assistance.
Now I wait/And hope for no rain/And for a simple and quick fix.
It is noon.
I have about 14 ounces of water and this phone, which has about 70% charge.
I tried the key again. This time there is clicking similar to a dry-fired gun, about a click per second.
It is twelve oh four.
A text message says a driver is on their way.
It is twelve fifteen.
Clouds are making shadows.
I bought this car last than a month ago. I told everyone trying to sell me a car that I didn’t want anything fancy, just reliable transportation. One phrase I used over and over was “no headaches.”
It is twelve twenty-one.
she thought of Betty,
eyes closing when she lay down,
on the slow fast days.
.
the gondolier punts.
his name is Hafiz and he
calls her Doll, and smiles.
One with Clay, Image and Text 