Sonnet 30--Who Wore it Better??????

Whenever I sit in silence and think,

Inevitably, I dwell on the past

Recounting every unharvested dream

And not making each millisecond last

Then my dry eyes with tears are overflown

For rare friends... sailed on to that distant shore

For precious love that turned to stone

For all I never knew, or know no more

I lose again what I’ve already lost

Revisiting every grief anew

And once again I cover the cost

As present wounds--fresh as dawn’s dew

But if in my woe, my mind finds your face

Then all of my grief, your love does erase

scallywag night

this scallywag night I
would slip like a penny through the sewer grate
or float like a cottonwood seed on the breeze
of forgetfulness
into an infinitely black hole

Dirty old Truck Driver

Video poker at the bar
a soothing respite
from Sophomore essays
far from the maddening voices we're
struggling to find
Game's on and--
I miss my dyslexic friend

What do heavy equipment operators
and English teachers
have in common?
football--mostly

how arrogant to assume
after 28 years of  Jr. High technology
and remedial reading
I could step into high school English

How much D would appreciate
the ambiguity of Hamlet
or the religious satire
of "The Lottery?"


The stool next to me speaks

"So, where you headed"

"I live here."

"Really? What do you do?"

"I teach."

"No..."

"Yea.. High School English."

"No Shit! I thought you was one of us dirty old truck drivers!"

"Well... (what am I supposed to say)

...thanks!" (it's nice to fit somewhere)

Like Frankenstein

somewhere smothered

under the glaring white 

lies my summer

you know

the three reasons 

I teach

june

july 

and 

august

and it's just

january

so.....

i've come to believe

just as much as Persiphone's return from Hades,

or Promethus's Fire,

it's my dreams

that melt the snow

we read Frankenstein in February

while I'm on Cabelas

filling a cart with fishing tackle 

hammered nickle, brass,

or chartreuse cowbells?

brown or brookie rapalas?

hell just buy them all...,

a little lighter action fly rod would be nice too
For those days I'm up to my hips in cold river

'aother pair of waders and

Dr. Frankenstein's search for the Elixr of Life?

... duh.... 

alienation rejection by our creator and society

really...

we don't need no stinking creator, 

we don't need no stinking society 

we don't need no EDUCATION

Huckleberry, give that monster a fishing pole

problem solved

responsibility you say? .... to society..  to friends ... to family

oh my god....

                       I could really use a new boat... 

or at least a new motor

hmmmmmm......

nature... oh sweet mother of mine

freedom..... 

I'll be responsible to her... and only her

I hear Alice Cooper 

sing'n 

school's out for summer...

... somewhere... out there...summer

on that ice

with that monster... and I'm chasing it

like Frankenstein