Sin Tax

the truculent incorrigible
perfidious and nefarious
sidles alongside
the reluctant diminutive
dressed in red-velvet
slipping away to gather itself
further away than
before it was noticed
by persistent observation
of the unwholesome one
standing now outside
the window leading
to the room where partying
describes the dances of grace
before thought and after whimsy
unbuttons its waistcoat
to the incoming breeze

'Sup: nouns, verbs, etc.

syntax flows
hydrangeas grow
invariance steps
fragility breaks
cohesion melts
perspicacity wells
intransigence knows
mercy spends
tolerance defends
indecision steeps
violence creeps
metaphysics leaps
regression repeats
inveteracy loses
desire chooses
honor snoozes
politics decries
wealth deifies
hope sneezes
justice wheezes
hate quickens
love loosens
time flies
years die
galaxies bloom
in another room
amen to that
and this

Redundancy

redundant;
that's right, you there
down in the back, up in the corner
head nodding, eyelids drooping
shoulders sagging,
we gotta learn this stuff
all seven sides of it
right side, left side
front side, back side
inside, outside
blind side;
now d'ya see;
stuff it in:
look it up, look it over,
above and below
through and through
get it down; it's something,
can't get away from it:
the falling down
the piling around, getting
into and through it, stuff;
before getting out of
or over with it
traveling along
from here to there
on to bigger things
back to the beginning
up from the start, over and over,
down and through
finishing up with,
the very stuff of
outside and inside,
on top of and below,
being said and done
repeating myself
alone or with others

Grammar, Grandma

it's grammar, grandma,
the ’that which“ of quiddities
carrying us through
the this and that
naming and describing
of the whatnot ideas, objects,
and who(m)soevers
how they tango together
squeezed into our abode
at this or any time
to come passing down
the generations
recipe for this here
meal tonight which I
must thank you for
whose deliciousness
I enjoy one bite
at a time in a place
not able to do other

In the middle

intermediate
in the middle
amidst, among
and between
hung out to dry
and happy to see you,
neither exactly
awash nor afloat
in the flowing in
between who tells what
and who sees who(m);
I dabble in grammar
even in idiomatic
conversation
gathering nuance
mood and half-thought
into piles of cliches
burning bridges
over roiling waters;
this clutter of words
may almost be real
-I hear breathing
(metaphorically)-
from mewling to moaning
which sings a little
song before nightfall
where they live
in the midst
of before to become.

Words & Syntax

obverse and reverse
inverse and converse
add perverse to get the picture
of the human remnant
forming in the interstices
of the words and the syntax
I've been in love with forever
or so it seems, possibly
only almost that long
since Booth entered heaven
with his big bass drum
boom, boom, boom,
"Are you washed in the ink
of the word," he might have said
but didn't, other things
on his mind, in there too
I've joined the chorus and
I keep on singing,
not what my daughters, or others
would kindly call it, oh no,
I've been Vachel Lindsey'd again
Ooooh, baby! I keep singing!

In the beginning

In the beginning was the blog
and the blog was with CESL
and CESL loved the blog
and the blog loved CESL.

This word and that word
curled on this page
orientation in space,
in time, moving as I type
I must leave now
gotta go, gotta get up
and go, gotta know
the territory we see
not a map merely pointing
to territory rounded
out in space and time
as the goldfinch flashes
gold and black
in morning sunlight
fluttering on and off
the thistle feeder