Awake
as a flame
hoping
to burn out.
Sleet and cold.
The cat wonders
what the fuck
is up.
The BBC
reports that
the world
remains
a mess.
What is
worth knowing
at 4 AM?
You are lonely
in darkness.
It will be
a long, long day.
You burn
and burn,
but are not
consumed.
mce
Monday, January 28, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Integrity
Sixty-One years
of searing thirst
and yet I
have refused
to drink
the Kool-Aid.
Hooray for me!
mce
of searing thirst
and yet I
have refused
to drink
the Kool-Aid.
Hooray for me!
mce
Friday, January 4, 2013
Prayer Upon Hearing Of A Friend's Cancer
I looked
into your eyes,
death,
when I
was only 20
and I am
not afraid
for myself;
only spare
my friends
and family,
just a while,
if only
you will.
mce
into your eyes,
death,
when I
was only 20
and I am
not afraid
for myself;
only spare
my friends
and family,
just a while,
if only
you will.
mce
Dragonfly Dance
and how they did:
nine choppers
in perfect formation,
gracefully deadly dancers
in a choreographed ballet
of death.
yet even as you
puked and prayed,
for that suspended moment
you briefly knew
a floating sensation
of mortal beauty,
a brilliant amalgram
of expiry,
elegance
and vitality
never felt since.
mce
nine choppers
in perfect formation,
gracefully deadly dancers
in a choreographed ballet
of death.
yet even as you
puked and prayed,
for that suspended moment
you briefly knew
a floating sensation
of mortal beauty,
a brilliant amalgram
of expiry,
elegance
and vitality
never felt since.
mce
Monday, December 24, 2012
Christmas Eve 2012
Mozart,
Shakespeare,
Picasso.
Auschwitz,
Hiroshima,
My Lai.
Two sides;
one culture.
Everybody's shouting,
which side are you on?
mce
Shakespeare,
Picasso.
Auschwitz,
Hiroshima,
My Lai.
Two sides;
one culture.
Everybody's shouting,
which side are you on?
mce
A Christmas Wish
Please keep in mind
what Jaron Lanier said:
You Are Not A Gadget.
Anything you own
that you can't explain
is smarter than you
and makes you
less of a human.
I prefer to be a human;
I hope you do as well.
mce
what Jaron Lanier said:
You Are Not A Gadget.
Anything you own
that you can't explain
is smarter than you
and makes you
less of a human.
I prefer to be a human;
I hope you do as well.
mce
New Year
I'd like to believe
that it will be better
than the old,
but as the they
used to say
in the teachers'
lounges
when I taught
high school:
There Is No Bottom.
mce
that it will be better
than the old,
but as the they
used to say
in the teachers'
lounges
when I taught
high school:
There Is No Bottom.
mce
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Newtown
Trained
40 years ago
to the sound
of gunfire
now he hears
it again
closer than
he ever imagined
possible.
mce
40 years ago
to the sound
of gunfire
now he hears
it again
closer than
he ever imagined
possible.
mce
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A New Year's Wish For My Sons
How I fear for you
(And I have heard
the bullets
whine and miss).
Youth is a necessary fiction
of light and hope,
but fiction nevertheless.
War, death, disease,
disappointment and dread
stalk that silver road
you imagine before you.
I hope you evade them all,
and anyway it is pointless
to tell you to be careful.
Your lives are your own.
May your dreams,
against all my experience,
be just as you imagine.
mce
(And I have heard
the bullets
whine and miss).
Youth is a necessary fiction
of light and hope,
but fiction nevertheless.
War, death, disease,
disappointment and dread
stalk that silver road
you imagine before you.
I hope you evade them all,
and anyway it is pointless
to tell you to be careful.
Your lives are your own.
May your dreams,
against all my experience,
be just as you imagine.
mce
For The Children Of Vietnam Long Forgotten
They gathered
in skinny packs,
in laughing circles
around him.
He stitched their cuts,
bound their wounds,
gave them,
like some OD Santa,
chocolate bars,
antibiotics,
aspirins and
C-Rations.
They laughed louder,
begging for more,
shrieking and calling him
Doc-san #1.
This phony comedy
made him feel better,
feel human
even though he knew
at night their parents
would do their best
to take his life.
Forty years on
he knows behind those grins
they must have hated him:
his height, his food,
his round eyes
and the doom
he had brought their world
that no trinkets
could ever allay.
Now, there is nothing to do
but remember and be sorry.
mce
in skinny packs,
in laughing circles
around him.
He stitched their cuts,
bound their wounds,
gave them,
like some OD Santa,
chocolate bars,
antibiotics,
aspirins and
C-Rations.
They laughed louder,
begging for more,
shrieking and calling him
Doc-san #1.
This phony comedy
made him feel better,
feel human
even though he knew
at night their parents
would do their best
to take his life.
Forty years on
he knows behind those grins
they must have hated him:
his height, his food,
his round eyes
and the doom
he had brought their world
that no trinkets
could ever allay.
Now, there is nothing to do
but remember and be sorry.
mce
Back In The World
He had witnessed
the innocent dead
piled up
in a country
far away
where death
was commonplace
and no one
baked cupcakes
bearing the names
of the slain,
only keened
like maternal sirens
against
the inevitable moment.
He took comfort that
Back in the world
the children
roamed in safety
and grew plump
on promises
far from land mines,
shrieking Phantoms,
dangerous strangers
with barking weapons.
He did not,
could not,
foresee a time
when those
same weapons
would turn
their deadly mouths
on babies,
not back in the world.
But the sins of the fathers
circle back to the world
and the bodies of children;
doom grins like
a death's head
at the karmic irony.
Now that illusion
of a last, safe place
is rent and torn
and there is
no longer a world
to go back to.
mce
the innocent dead
piled up
in a country
far away
where death
was commonplace
and no one
baked cupcakes
bearing the names
of the slain,
only keened
like maternal sirens
against
the inevitable moment.
He took comfort that
Back in the world
the children
roamed in safety
and grew plump
on promises
far from land mines,
shrieking Phantoms,
dangerous strangers
with barking weapons.
He did not,
could not,
foresee a time
when those
same weapons
would turn
their deadly mouths
on babies,
not back in the world.
But the sins of the fathers
circle back to the world
and the bodies of children;
doom grins like
a death's head
at the karmic irony.
Now that illusion
of a last, safe place
is rent and torn
and there is
no longer a world
to go back to.
mce
Monday, December 17, 2012
Feathers
The earth decays
toward solstice
and the dying year
turns.
OK, I am old.
But age may bring
the poet
new perspectives
engendering
new poems.
Maybe better.
Like the new year,
I may rise again,
blazing eyed,
phoenix like,
an aging Argos
lively with
with new tricks.
Let it be so.
mce
toward solstice
and the dying year
turns.
OK, I am old.
But age may bring
the poet
new perspectives
engendering
new poems.
Maybe better.
Like the new year,
I may rise again,
blazing eyed,
phoenix like,
an aging Argos
lively with
with new tricks.
Let it be so.
mce
What Else Is There To Say
Children
forget the school children
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1,000,000 dead in Vietnam
60,000 dead in Iraq
30,000 and rising in Afghanistan
how many by our proxies
in El Salvador, Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Chile?
forget the millions dead
in nameless civil wars
or of preventable poverty and disease
in various hell holes
around the globe.
the rest of the world
may be sorry,
but not shocked:
they have come to know
the smiling murderers
we have become.
20 dead of madness in Connecticut
and the US wallows in drivel,
kitsch, hollow words,
self-pity, media frenzy.
a little arrogance here?
oh, we love our kids,
just no one else's,
so let's put black ribbons
on our cars
and call that enough.
Once again, the culture
of selfishness, greed,
shallowness
and patriotic stupidity
inevitably raises
its predictable head.
No country that murders
the world's children
with a shrug
should be surprised
when that violence
turns inward.
I am Vishnu
Destroyer of worlds
My name is Death
You can't have it
both ways.
We must love one another
or die.
mce
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1,000,000 dead in Vietnam
60,000 dead in Iraq
30,000 and rising in Afghanistan
how many by our proxies
in El Salvador, Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Chile?
forget the millions dead
in nameless civil wars
or of preventable poverty and disease
in various hell holes
around the globe.
the rest of the world
may be sorry,
but not shocked:
they have come to know
the smiling murderers
we have become.
20 dead of madness in Connecticut
and the US wallows in drivel,
kitsch, hollow words,
self-pity, media frenzy.
a little arrogance here?
oh, we love our kids,
just no one else's,
so let's put black ribbons
on our cars
and call that enough.
Once again, the culture
of selfishness, greed,
shallowness
and patriotic stupidity
inevitably raises
its predictable head.
No country that murders
the world's children
with a shrug
should be surprised
when that violence
turns inward.
I am Vishnu
Destroyer of worlds
My name is Death
You can't have it
both ways.
We must love one another
or die.
mce
Saturday, December 15, 2012
A Short History of Capitalism
It is useless work that darkens the heart.
And what is work for,
beyond substanince or
occasionally joy?
It produces surplus
which is bartered,
traded and sold
until it becomes money
and the alchemy of usury
piles it into the hands
of a few
who use it to opress
the many
who created it
in the first place.
mce
And what is work for,
beyond substanince or
occasionally joy?
It produces surplus
which is bartered,
traded and sold
until it becomes money
and the alchemy of usury
piles it into the hands
of a few
who use it to opress
the many
who created it
in the first place.
mce
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Sentient Beings Are Numberless, I Vow to Liberate Them
I cannot
make my bed;
the cat is dozing
peacefully
upon its ruin.
mce
make my bed;
the cat is dozing
peacefully
upon its ruin.
mce
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Tableau
deathly morning quiet
an old man shuffles
to the coffee maker
listens to Carter's
Sonata for Cello and Piano
hears the silence sing
between the notes
fumbles for a working pen
creaks onto the couch
and against all hope nurses
delusions of literature
mce
an old man shuffles
to the coffee maker
listens to Carter's
Sonata for Cello and Piano
hears the silence sing
between the notes
fumbles for a working pen
creaks onto the couch
and against all hope nurses
delusions of literature
mce
Friday, December 7, 2012
Better Than a Book Club
All my ghosts
meet me in the morning
for coffee.
We chat about old times,
what's happening,
possibilities, politics,
sex and aging.
It's better
than a book club
because
you don't have
to bring
dessert.
mce
meet me in the morning
for coffee.
We chat about old times,
what's happening,
possibilities, politics,
sex and aging.
It's better
than a book club
because
you don't have
to bring
dessert.
mce
Ambivilent Alzheimer's
My mother
slips to and fro,
mindless
in a nursing home,
unaware
of the Mayan Apocalypse,
the Fiscal Cliff,
Tom, Katie or Siri,
the corpse children
of Syria,
Yoga pants
or the impending
asteroid.
Wherever she is,
she's not missing
much.
mce
slips to and fro,
mindless
in a nursing home,
unaware
of the Mayan Apocalypse,
the Fiscal Cliff,
Tom, Katie or Siri,
the corpse children
of Syria,
Yoga pants
or the impending
asteroid.
Wherever she is,
she's not missing
much.
mce
Drunk in the Morning
Sometimes
it's the only thing
between you and
suicide.
Distillers
have saved more lives
than all
the suicide hotlines
in the world.
Here's to you.
mce
it's the only thing
between you and
suicide.
Distillers
have saved more lives
than all
the suicide hotlines
in the world.
Here's to you.
mce
Thank You France
In this time
of Post-Modern disorder
only the personal poem
can speak truth.
The Wasteland
Patterson
The Cantos
impossible
since the Frogs killed
Truth.
mce
of Post-Modern disorder
only the personal poem
can speak truth.
The Wasteland
Patterson
The Cantos
impossible
since the Frogs killed
Truth.
mce
G I Foodie
Rain plummeting
like rivets.
Seated in the mud,
soaked beyond notice,
beside a fried APC hulk,
eating cold C-Rations
with his fingers.
This photograph
can never fade.
mce
like rivets.
Seated in the mud,
soaked beyond notice,
beside a fried APC hulk,
eating cold C-Rations
with his fingers.
This photograph
can never fade.
mce
Ecdysis
Seven years
of molt and shed,
people lost,
mistakes made.
We change,
but we live
one person
at a time.
OK, I'm a new man.
But what kind
of man.
mce
of molt and shed,
people lost,
mistakes made.
We change,
but we live
one person
at a time.
OK, I'm a new man.
But what kind
of man.
mce
Semester's End
What Good
have I done
these blank
children?
A teacher
never knows
a final result;
never knows
the joy
of saying:
I did that.
He is left
in darkiness
to imagine
success.
And then
to find the will
to try again.
Lord,
let my heart
shake
with purpose.
mce
have I done
these blank
children?
A teacher
never knows
a final result;
never knows
the joy
of saying:
I did that.
He is left
in darkiness
to imagine
success.
And then
to find the will
to try again.
Lord,
let my heart
shake
with purpose.
mce
Resposibility
thirsty pages
gasping
for ink
a Muse
shriven
to whispers
the whiteness
off the Whale
unmarked
a privacy
of sadness
and desire
a dumbfounded world
demanding
a departed
Logos
mostly
disappointed.
mce
gasping
for ink
a Muse
shriven
to whispers
the whiteness
off the Whale
unmarked
a privacy
of sadness
and desire
a dumbfounded world
demanding
a departed
Logos
mostly
disappointed.
mce
Monday, December 3, 2012
Siblings
Next time around
the Wheel
I want to come back
as a very rich,
very only child
orphan.
Siblings
are the lurking
rattlesnakes
of the soul.
mce
the Wheel
I want to come back
as a very rich,
very only child
orphan.
Siblings
are the lurking
rattlesnakes
of the soul.
mce
Saturday, December 1, 2012
The Dying Moon
a shotgun rectangle
encircles his life
grey morning
sleek, purring panther
maybe Vivaldi
coffee and cigarette
later, perhaps,
maintenance:
vacuum, dust -
the dreary realities
of single life.
from nowhere
he imagines
hope as a burst
of butterflies
long since flown.
the circle is
a place on earth
and he is
a man on earth
caught
in the circle
for a while yet
even as the circle
shrinks
with each waning
moon.
mce
encircles his life
grey morning
sleek, purring panther
maybe Vivaldi
coffee and cigarette
later, perhaps,
maintenance:
vacuum, dust -
the dreary realities
of single life.
from nowhere
he imagines
hope as a burst
of butterflies
long since flown.
the circle is
a place on earth
and he is
a man on earth
caught
in the circle
for a while yet
even as the circle
shrinks
with each waning
moon.
mce
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
What To Do Next
Imagine
the eternal loneliness
that seized the Angels
when they heard
of God's death.
Every evening
I experience
that Angelic
loneliness
which reminds me
no one
is in charge
and help
is not on the way.
mce
the eternal loneliness
that seized the Angels
when they heard
of God's death.
Every evening
I experience
that Angelic
loneliness
which reminds me
no one
is in charge
and help
is not on the way.
mce
Monday, November 26, 2012
Holy Are The Days
Holy are the days of boredom.
Holy are the days of loneliness.
Pick a place to die and be content.
Life divided by time,
where time is the unknown,
always equals death.
Forget this fatal equation.
Weave the threads of memory
into tapestries of ritual;
rituals engender meaning.
Refuse to live an amputated life.
Remember that only joy slows the ticking clock.
Holy are the days that remain.
mce
Holy are the days of loneliness.
Pick a place to die and be content.
Life divided by time,
where time is the unknown,
always equals death.
Forget this fatal equation.
Weave the threads of memory
into tapestries of ritual;
rituals engender meaning.
Refuse to live an amputated life.
Remember that only joy slows the ticking clock.
Holy are the days that remain.
mce
Sunday, November 25, 2012
A Gift
Poems are messages in bottles
tossed into a sea
that does not care
if they be found or not.
Thank you for finding this one.
You can keep the bottle.
mce
tossed into a sea
that does not care
if they be found or not.
Thank you for finding this one.
You can keep the bottle.
mce
The Despair of Mirrors
Living alone,
I am randomly
eccentric.
It's not a quirk,
if no one sees.
Often at odd hours,
day or night,
I sneak a glance
at my mirror
hoping
to be surprised
by a young
and happy
reflection.
Never happens.
mce
I am randomly
eccentric.
It's not a quirk,
if no one sees.
Often at odd hours,
day or night,
I sneak a glance
at my mirror
hoping
to be surprised
by a young
and happy
reflection.
Never happens.
mce
Friday, November 23, 2012
Resistance
61 years
I have broken
every rule I could
despised money
hated power
loathed greed
standing alone
like a radio beacon
broadcasting
my only message
I will not provide
aid and comfort
to my enemies
I will not murder
for desire
I have broken
every rule I could
despised money
hated power
loathed greed
standing alone
like a radio beacon
broadcasting
my only message
I will not provide
aid and comfort
to my enemies
I will not murder
for desire
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Thanksgiving
That glorious day
of the year
when my family
gathered around the fowl
like the Waltons
and then acted
as if it had been stuffed
with PCP.
mce
of the year
when my family
gathered around the fowl
like the Waltons
and then acted
as if it had been stuffed
with PCP.
mce
Connected
there are still moments
when i see
the earth's splendor
wild turkeys
in a frozen meadow
the coiled copperhead
still making up its mind
vultures gyring upon
ghostly thermals
but mostly
it is obscured
by the encroaching
wireless microwave
fog.
mce
when i see
the earth's splendor
wild turkeys
in a frozen meadow
the coiled copperhead
still making up its mind
vultures gyring upon
ghostly thermals
but mostly
it is obscured
by the encroaching
wireless microwave
fog.
mce
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