Thursday, September 30, 2010

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Diptych Love Story











eyes
the root
earth to my feet
handle to the stars
entwined hair
piercing

Friday, September 24, 2010

comfortable

i assumed the position against the concrete pillar on a concrete sidewalk in a bad part of the city. it had been a long time since i had been in an urban setting but i was comfortable. my leg naturally crossed at the ankle i leaned back and took it all in. the rough boys and the bad girls walked by all with heads down and purpose or avoidance. one woman, who might have been sixty, was all legs with a black skirt six inches above the knee and carried herself hard. then a couple hurried past, both slumped the same way, like they were joined together at the hips. they looked older then they were, with ragged clothes and faces. it was raining.  i felt at home with these people and the plaster falling from the buildings. i looked up at the four story walk-up to, windows covered with blankets, where no light penetrated. in others, the bare bulb. no one passed. was anyone up there?

i knew there were people there because i was once there. only time had removed me.

i was there curled up in a dirty blanket on a musty mattress on the floor, the filth all around me keeping me warm as the rain came down as raw as the loneliness within me. you didn't go out on days like this. even the rain seemed to attack, not give nourishment.  i walked around the block, comfortable, hands deep in my pockets, head down but aware of anything that moved. i walked to the tracks and looked off as i had done thirty years ago in another city. and this time i wasn't looking for a way out. instead i looked into an understanding of time, how the past and the present are so close, how we still live with who we have been, who we are now, comfortable.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

one hour before work































an hour with light
as i see you
i am whole again
as you see me

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Friday, September 17, 2010

hand held paintings

































rollers and round
golden brown
out of focus
dead vines spring
to the light of day

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Monday, September 13, 2010

once inside

































i leave the door open and draw the blinds. 
there is work to be done 
yet i wait and watch.

the light
the light streams in
and for a moment i am lost
in the glare
of abandonment.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Diptych No.5










as the birch is hinged to the board
a door is open to interpretation.
what we see we give back
of our own experience.
the communication,
the key to that door
opens, enriches our lives.
community
lives and breathes
in us the living tree
exchanging back and forth
until  a constructed dialogue
returns to the earth,
a new seed planted.


[As community resides, to my delight William has written parallel this morning.]

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

the saw

he bought his first circular saw with uneasiness. not because of the tool,
but for the fresh start. he was starting again and with most of his belongings still
back at the old place he just needed to start rebuilding here. it felt good to take it from the box all new when a brief cloud of spending too much money blew over his head - lucky for the windy day. he put the blade in place and secured it with a second or maybe even a third hand wrench that felt comfortable in his hand. he wasn't used to new things but he told himself that the saw would be the only one he would ever need. carefully measuring he took to the task. with a high pitched whine the teeth ripped into the wood. he was starting fresh and as the saw moved smoothly across the surface he thought of the blade spinning and thought of his life spinning
full circle.

incendiary





























Monday, September 6, 2010

i shave

i shave
and i shave my head
to feel your hands
sculpting the potter's clay
that is my skull
shaping and molding
my thoughts into a bowl
holding the water we bathe in
drink from
feed the garden.


i shave
and i shave my head
so each moment's breeze
keeps me aware of life
and
                                                death.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

the warm trickle of red

i have been moved so
the warm trickle of red
coming out at 8 or 9
out of a sitcom into
the world fragile
a volatile discovery
beyond the stoop where
a comfort resided black
this youth searching so
a meaning significant.



thank you Tom.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Fourteen again



















we walked the fairgrounds
and the midway.
i bought her a five dollar belt
with studs.
a date i didn't have
when i was fourteen.

Quiet morning