So Mush Depends
Ipso facto windshield viper
Some adults must wear a diaper.
Cave canem slush adjuster
Sitting down makes mush of mustard.
Arse e’en longa vita brevis
Glaze and chickens lay a premise.
In memoriam starstuff Bill hums
Here’s to William Carlos Williams.
Cathedral Rock
If you hear organ music
It is your imagination.
If you feel a vorticular hug
It is marketing.
If, though, you feel you are receiving
A message
When you look silently at this rock array…
You are.
You may commune if you wish and are capable.
You are neither welcome nor unwelcome.
The rest of the message
Is an adjustment of your importance.
Love of Work
1970
The kid is 15
He has a Social Security card now
He was hired by his grandfather
To sweep and stamp literature and neaten shelves
For a dollar sixty an hour
And he goes to lunch with the warehouse guys
And the waitress has false eyelashes
Thick and bristly as the pushbroom he uses
And thrills him by telling him he has
“A dry sense of humor”
..
1997
The man is 42
And he has been a warehouse man a registrar a busboy a delivery driver a receiving clerk a warehouse supervisor an office guy an administrative vice president a sports marketing office administrator a graphics designer a help desk tech
Now he makes spreadsheets for managers of a healthcare system whose responsibility is to track and improve revenue streams
He has a badge that gets him into the building any time he wants to work
He is on salary and with the hours he puts in sometimes that seems to amount to minimum wage
But the insurance is primo and he goes to staff meetings
And he edits and publishes the in-house newsletter
And payday is a thrill
..
2026
Alarm
Stagger to bathroom sink
Wash hands take pills floss&brush shave shower towel dry
Underwear undershirt
Put coffee in filter fill reservoir with water close lid flip switch
Socks uniform pants belt uniform shirt cut’resistant gloves in left back pocket wallet keys money in left front pocket FitBit and smartphone in right front pocket pop-machine money in right rear pocket
Slip-resistant shoes
Pen in left front pocket
Coffee Wordle Bogggle Words With Friends
Rinse cup exit apt lock door unlock car get in seatbelt ignition lights KJZZ back out carefully roll slowly through speed bumps to gate left to 32nd left to Thomas right to 16th St left to Grant to parking lot
Lock car pocket keys pull out wallet activate door activate other door
Drink water in the break room gabble with friends line up at the time clock clock in
At work at peace
In love
The capsule enters the atmosphere
Like the tip of a hot microtome-sharp hypodermic
Inoculating the inhabitants of Earth
Against ancient, false notions; the heat shield flares
And takes the frictive, searing air
That the four star voyagers
Be not meted Icarus’s fate.
It is poetry in technology, seasoned with courage,
Marrying competence with competence.
Their splashdown completes a decelation
From Mach 20 to a peewee 20 miles per hour.
The gorgeous parachutes become drenched,
Withered flower petals.
The unscathed-survivor smiles
And the society-reentry strides
Are the best poetry of all.
Glazed Clayscape
The edge of the table is an interface
Between this world
And the next. In this up-close world
A queen and a pawn may have roles
But the vessel is beholden to neither
And manifests indifference to the rules of chess.
..
The other world seems to be abandoned
Or in abeyance. It quiesces
And will abide till souled visitors
Displace the spaces.
There is a portal to a multitude of elsewheres
Prepared for drama, revelation, fools’ errands
And farewells.
..
Queen, pawn and vessel
Have no other world in which to transition,
No situation to covet,
No agendas.
They leave those to what souls
May arrive.
Doree
This all happened less than an hour ago
The National Poetry Writing Month 2026 prompt is Write
About a beloved relative
And unbidden my memory leapt back to 1965
That is when I met my cousin Doree and her brother Craig Meyers in the tiny town of Oxford, New York, where my aunts Zilpha and Bernice (pronounced BURN-iss) lived
And Doree was a little taller than I was and she and I hung out and picked currants for pie and had nice stretches of easy conversation
She was nice
But then she disappeared for most of a day
And then I saw her across the vast back yard and she told me that my brother Harold thought it would be funny if she avoided me
But she found that she didn’t want to avoid me
And that made my ten-year-old heart lurch with happiness
So we were friends and parted friends as Mom and Dad and Harold and Brian and I took off to go further upstate, to Clayton, new York, and then a cottage on the St. Lawrence River and Thousand Islands
And I never saw Doree again but there was occasional news and I came close to writing her a letter but was too reluctantly shy
The last I had heard of her was she joined the Navy
..
And I have just read her obituary
She died just four months ago
“Doree Bernice Meyers Harrold passed peacefully on October 19, 2025, surrounded by love and prayer.
Raised in Endicott, New York, she was the daughter of the late Harry Lyman and Claire Scarlett Meyers. She is survived by her brother, Craig Meyers, and his three children; her two grandsons, Ethan and Andrew Thomas; her sister in Christ, Rita; and her beloved niece, Allison. She was preceded in death by her son, Jason, who passed away in December 2011.”
A wave of regret and sorrow is on its way. I never wrote her
“A meaningful influence in Doree’s early life was her great-aunt, Zilpha Aylesworth Bowers, a devoted teacher and mentor who passed in 1993 and helped shape Doree’s love of learning, service, and independence.”
Aunt Zilpha had suitors but never married. She sent me, knowing I was an aspiring artist, a book about my illustrator relative Franck Taylor Bowers. Later she convinced me to pay her another visit, saying “It is later than you think.” My brother Harold and I went to see her in the late 80s
“During her military career, Doree received numerous awards and commendations, including the Navy Achievement Medal (3), Good Conduct Medal (4), Naval Reserve Meritorious Service Medal (2), National Defense Service Medal (2), and the Armed Forces Reserve Medal (2). She was transferred to the Fleet Reserve on January 1, 2001, marking the culmination of a lifetime of dedication, service, and patriotism.”
She attained the rank of Yeoman First Class (YN1)
She gave the Navy twenty years of her life
I am stunned with her loss and and
And angry with myself for never reaching out
I hope she is enjoying a Yeoman’s heaven
I am proud to be her cousin.
one thing you can say about him: he tells it li e it .
one thin
one thi g y u can s y abo th m is he g ts t I gs d ne.
one t i g you can s
..
th
o po it of
d sent rat on
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integration
A Brief Meditation on Grief
Dad left in 1983, Brian 2018, Mom 2020, Harold 2025.
Four years brought four kinds of grief.
Dad was only 49. Brian was the younger brother.
Mom’s suffering ended. Harold got a tough break.
..
Many Thanksgivings Mom used her turkey roaster,
Dad demanded rutabagas, Harold and Brian and I
Ate like savages and clowned around
With pearl onions and gravy and green Jell-O salad.
..
Brian’s ashes are on my shelf of knickknacks.
I keep trying to make a good urn for them.
Brian seems to tell me from time to time
Yeah, Gary, no rush, don’t worry.
Colormatch schemes inhabit my dreams
And help me to draw near
Uncanny camo is my ammo
And it helps me disappear
I got weird eyes and I snack on flies
And I ain’t no suckertoes gecko
As I skitter around with a lifestyle profound
A miraculous visual echo
Sweetheart Darling Baby [Love] (duet)
(Note: the boy is bold, the girl italic, together both.)
We will figure it all out
Sweetheart Darling Baby Love
Push will never come to shove
Long as we’re together.
..
Karma’s what it’s all about
Sweetheart Darling Baby Friend
Fall and rise and rest and wend
Long as we’re together.
..
Sugar in our every kiss
Sweetheart O so empathetic
Now we’re Type 2 diabetic
But we are together.
..
Fun and Games maintain our bliss
Sweetheart Darling Staunch Companion
And our ardor fills a canyon
Evermore together.
One with Clay, Image and Text 