THE BILLIONAIRE

Heard on the news yesterday

A retired billionaire investor

Promised to give his wealth away

To those it would do best for

At first I thought this is legit

This billionaire’s quite the man

Then wondered how he earned it

That I couldn’t understand

He talked of those the system failed

How his money would save them

But those laws against which he railed

It’s billionaires like him who raped them

SWIMMING, NIGHT

We swam out to the iceberg

Grounded at Middle Cove

In half wetsuits we lent

To the salt sea we dove

We shivered by the bonfire

Cold gripping our bones

Our shadows danced on the cliff walls

As the surf boomed behind us

We walked out to Three Ponds

Lugging beer bottles and wine

Behind the university

We walked through the pines

We streaked through the moonlight

Our bodies were fine

Starlight winked on the water

As the wind whispered around us

We climbed the old chainlink

Pool of Bannerman Park

We giggled and shushed

As we undressed in the dark

Only halogen linings

Silhouetted our stark

Our eyes drank the blackness

Our hearts beat beat like drums

American Highway Story

When I was a younger man

I rode your ribbon from west to east

All the way to my icy homeland

In an ancient metal beast

First day, outskirts of the angel’s haven

In my mirror red and blue lights

Pulled into the front of a 7-11

Watched troopers and illegals fight

Like a dutiful Canadian I did stop

Thinking the lights and sirens were for me

Finally approached by a lone cop

Who pulled his weapon free

“Boy, why did you stop?” The trooper spoke

“I saw your lights behind me”

“Do you know these folks?”

“No, I just stopped for authority.”

The trooper was mystified

“Boy, where you from?” he said

“Canada” I replied

He sheathed his gun and shook his head

“Boy, go on out of here

Have a safe trip across America

But one thing I want you to be clear

Never stop for anything you saw”

I thanked him and we drove on

Through Nevada’s desert, Utah’s chill

Past badland hoodoos and suburban lawns

Nearly burnt the engine on Colorado’s hills

We shot through the corn states silently

Then through Michigan’s rusted heart

Up New York’s coast of golden-leaved trees

And at Maine’s border we parted

Ode to OLYMPUS

Spinning gold from air

Like raven suited gods

Perched on high

In their boardroom

Atop Olympus

They fell

Those old Japanese lizards

When the alien trickster

Revealed the truth

The magics they worked

Lost the faith of tithe-givers

In chains they await

No time for gods anymore

In this broken, idiot world

Good riddance

Wise Up Suckers!

When we open eyes on this insane place

Tabla rasa, hungry mouth and eyes

Not even words to give order to our space

Piss and shit factory that screams and cries

Born suckers for any con that comes along

Playing peek-a-boo happily for hours

No clue as to what is right or wrong

Believing greedily all things to be ours

As we grow, some drop their blindfolds

See how the world works behind the curtain

Learn to question all they’ve been told

Realize that nothing is ever certain

But too many want to stay lost for life

Happy to follow any given order

In conformity they seek to avoid strife

Never challenging their world’s borders

But most of us remain in between

Not quite sheep but not quite poets

Sensing there is a truth to set us free

But lacking the means to show it

Yet greater lights have walked this path

Their second hand wisdom is better than none

Start with the poets, read some Wilde

Go back and find Shakespeare or Donne

If the truth of fiction is not to your taste man

The philosophers will steer you right

Nietzsche peered into the modern wasteland

McLuhan and Chomsky turned back our night

In life there is no manual of use

We start dumb, but how we finish

Depends on whether we seek or deny truth

It is up to us to rise or diminish

3 Place Haikus

Warm winter night breath

St John’s between storms and fogs

Tint row houses blue

Plum scented night air

Seta on the Tokaido

Willows reflected

Blast furnace night air

Caressing skin in Aswan

Pharaoh’s moon shines blue

Making Heaven On Earth

In the park by Lake Biwa

Across from the cult grounds

Fancy black cars and tour buses

Mown grass and pruned trees

Brick wall embossed ‘Heaven on Earth Society’

Steel and glass space nipple headquarters

I found you

Shivering under a straggly bush

Mewling in hunger and cold

And fed you

With what little I had

If those nutjobs want to make heaven on earth

They could do worse

Than to start with a little orange cat

Suffering in front of their main gate

First Lust

Giggling and kissing teens

Hands down each other’s pants

Crushed tight in the backseat

Of my friend’s old Volkswagon

My lips stained black by red wine

Yours sweet with pink lemonade

We drank in the tent

On a warm summer night

Strong pixie cut girl

Beautiful long haired boy

Heading back through the Barrens

Past ponds and rocky game trails

To the city by the cold dark sea

Where our lust would run its course

But our friendship

Never

Book It Up

This blog keeps rolling along, and my original intent to write poetry nearly everyday has been a success, strengthening my writing muscles and improving both my phraseology and also my ability to sit down and write. Instead of taking away from my PhD work and ESL writing, it has made them less of a chore.

For which I feel pretty blessed.

The question remains what to do with all these poems, and so my summer plan will be to collate and edit a large enough selection to publish as an E-book. I will keep making poems, as I still feel them bubbling up inside me, but researching E-publishing and getting a book out there seems pretty exciting.

Thanks for your support and consideration.
TED

Open Letter to Madonna

Maria,

Isn’t it time

To crown a new Madonna?

Madonna was never meant to be

One person forever

She is meant for all people

For all time

Mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, Promethia

All rolled up like seXXXy tuna

Lift some poor child with an angel’s voice

Unto the throne of Queenship

Take your place in the shadows

As we all must

Stop wearing spandex

Relax in luxuriant robes

As your name carries on