Off The Grid

Call us cheap
call us lazy
call us luddites
but our Clearwire renewal notice came
and we did nothing.

Now the computer sits
with dusty keys
and rotting mouse
used only for the occasional DVD
or picture show.

Off the grid-
now I play music
and work longer on campus
because the lab has a computer
and I need to post my poems.

The Law and Sausage

I once heard
that those who love Sausage
and the Law
should never watch either be made.

That's what I like
about funnel cakes.

Confessions

Monday
I started a program in plant science
five years with the beasts
and when people ask me what I am doing
they think I breath green.

Inside
all I can think about
are the three bonsai
I have started and killed
The acorn I planted
and watched die
and the nine pots of Arabidopsis
I planted Monday
that aint looking so good.

Little league

There are no bystanders in love
none are spectators
all are players.

try to only watch
and you will fail
try to play
and you will fail
but that's the point.

School Ditty

School has started once again
fill my brain with facts and figs
open books and reading late
home at midnight don't be late
to wake and do it all once more
so much knowledge is in store!

Breathing

Each breath forgets the last
not brothers
but generations
each new dissolves the old
like it never existed.

Friend

I smile
because I don't know what else to do
too prideful to admit that I am wrong
but running round the Mulberry bush
these many times
makes me dizzy.

And my head spins until I no longer care
and I focus on the sick exhilaration
that rolls around my stomach
like a dryer load of bricks
clanking.

I am a fool
and I know
but feel like I can't
do all that much about it.

I like to think I have more control than I have
that you seem to have without really meaning it.

Lame

Sorry team
my mind is spent
too much time reading
and not enough thinking.

Just a little stressed
my mind
my heart
my soul
stretched just a bit.

I'm not holding my breath anymore
but I'm not breathing out either.

Lentil Fest II

The bluegrass band
pounding banjo
and swinging violin
you couldn't help but bounce up off your heels
if you weren't already dancing.

A pulsing circle
straight from the Indian subcontinent
moving traditionally
straight out of Bollywood.

One stood in the middle
a different one each time
moving their hands
bounding their hips
and the others clap.

And I thought
once a year
these students leave dissertation
and research
to come to Pullman's Lentil Fest
and dance to bluegrass
and it made me happy.

Lentil Fest

Time to go to the Lentil Fest
with a big silver bowl
filled with chili for all
biodegradable spoons
made from potato starch
and a funny booth
that makes you pay twenty-five cents to race slot cars.

I'll go
and say hi to my friends in the beer garden
(which doesn't even have any plants)
and talk to the people
selling handmade bags
and dripping gyros.

The sun will fall
and the streetlights
will hum on
until the people dissolve into the night
like so many flies
when the meat has dried out.

Beans

Burnt beans in a pressure cooker
filling my kitchen with smoke
thin smoke that smells
like cannons loaded with haggis.

The heat was on
and there was not enough water.

Now its time to scrub.

Mist

11 miles
to the top of a shrouded peak
the view-
very misty.

Leggy

I had a friend
who was hungry
and in a hurry
as she shaved her leg.

She cut her ankle
and it bled for twelve hours
finally
she called her sister.

"Go to urgent care"
she told her
and wouldn't
you know
the blood stopped
as she walked through the clinic doors.

Tension

They say
a screw is tightest
when the metal stretches
and thread strains against thread.

So twist me
until I strain
and bind my heart to you.

Peaches

On the way back from the mountains
we stopped in Naches
and bought a box of peaches.

By the time you get back
the last one will be gone
they've gotten juicer everyday
and now taste
like pouches of candy water
on the edge of rotten.

You gave to others
I ate until I no longer want
we got through the box
you through generosity
and me for indulgence
good work.

Keys

Little pieces of metal
ridged and rippled
cold reminders
of a world without trust.

Do they make cars
without ignition keys?
I had a friend
who rigged his truck
to start with the flip of a switch
I wish I had that now.

I can still crawl
through my window
and the shower doesn't have a keyhole.

Little reminders
of how we live
(or are told to live)
like someone is waiting
to steal our car
or steal our underwear.

(If anyone can get me into the Clark building please let me know. I have a lonely set of keys in there)

Restless

My feet
ache for familiar paths
the roads that cross
through fields of
the expected.

Not greatness
but the mediocre
manufactured
like a McChicken,
always the same.

Now I choose
the grinding path up
sometimes
the ascent makes me restless
like waiting for a bridge to lower
so you can drive across.

Patience is not my virtue,
I am the captain of my soul.

Colony Collapse Disorder

When I am old

When I am old
I will play jokes
that only I get.

Like dress like Santa
for Easter
and drink water
from flower pots.

And no one
will say a word
because I will be old
and it would be rude.

Pirate V

I talked today with an older Pirate
He'd been around for a while
and seemed very wise.

I asked him
how he managed
to live so long
in such a brutal place.

"Never pick a fight
when you can get him drunk
and steal his boots."

"Always carry a piece of old rope
you never know when you will need it"

"And do crazy things regularly
to keep everyone guessing"

After he passed out from the grog
I took his boots
I tied him up
and shaved the monkey
that we feed hardtack to.

He doesn't talk to me anymore.

Happy Perseid

The moon it isn't full, but its getting there
and the streamer's getting washed out by the light
Perseid only comes 'round once a year
every August
far and near.

All the people turn their eyes up to the sky
and hope for something better than what they got
they see all that their afraid to hide
in the streaks if green across the night.

(This is part of a song I am working on we'll see about posting the rest)

Mosquitoe

The mosquitoes

bite

through spray

sweat

wind

and heat.

So I wrap myself

against the swarm

like preparation for a burial.

I am tired
I lie down.

Others notice

the swirling blackness

that settles on my body

but not me

for I am asleep.

Altitude

Here
above Pullman
and the world
I will stand
with friends
and with myself.

The rain
will have mixed
my sweat into my mouth
the air will be cold
and the wind
will chill my damp shirt.

And I will wish
you were here with me
not to talk
but just to stand
and watch.

Backpack

Everything I need
for the next day
or week
is in my backpack
on my back
and I am free
because I need so little.

Through desert
or mountain
river
or waste
All I need
is on my back.

Lotto Online

Wow! What a response to the visual-verbal fusion experiment! Today's is inspired from one of the comments.

Lotto Online-
I do not know you
yet your comments
cut like a winter breeze.

Because I know that deep down
I am uninteresting
show me the way.

I click
you lead me
to an online lottery service
I do not know what you sell
but find myself
wishing you had something I could buy.

Space Cat

Cute

The next two days will be experiments in visual/lyrical poetic fusion. Enjoy

Flyboy

When you fly

above the cotton batting

and can't see

the Christmas lights of the landing field

a friend once told me,

"You line up these two little lines

like a little cross hair

and descend

through the clouds"

the choking blanket

only watching the lines

until you hit the pavement

because they are all you have.

I only have these two little lines with you

and I hope I hit the runway.

(This is for V. Thanks for the email, and all the great feedback! My aunt also notices my typeos. Is this aviated enough for you?)

Fasting

I fast
to starve the beast inside
until he shrinks
into a dog
then a puppy
and one day
into nothing
just a little scar
on my hands
and my feet
just as a reminder.

Wonderland

My feet have found a trail,

move with purpose and with strength,

cross the stones of my adversity,

worn smooth with each stride length,

then a motorbike rips through it,

first annoyance then a prayer,

seems the wilderness is only soma,

till you meet me there.

Rose Tinted...

The sky is pink
people live to serve me,
and I them.

No hate
venom
jealousy
or malice.

This is my world today
and I am happy in it
I'll leave my glasses on for a while.