Ode to Unfriending People

Facebook

Is not just the place

Where I say hello

It’s where I let you know

Exactly where I stand

And where you stand with me

But if you cannot agree

With my expressions and digressions

Then you are free

To unfriend me

And go on your way

But stand in my way

Or try to dictate what I say

And you will be unfriended

Our connection ended

Just as it will end

If you prove yourself not a friend

But show me a face

That goes against my values

Or spouts bigotry or tyranny

Then I will set free

Both you and me

From each other’s face and Facebook

Life is too short to tiptoe around

Christmas in Old St John's

"Your folks still live
Down in the Battery?"
The question hung in the peppermint knob air

"Nah, they sold it
To some yuppie couple who fixed it up
Whole place is maggoty with them"

We talked like this in the wine bar
(Wine bar in St John's? Go on wit ya)
I had got in from Japan a week ago
He in from Montreal yesterday

We sat
Young men
Wrapped in the flesh of older men
Steel wool beards
Replacing the Jesus locks of youth

Escaped from our parents' homes
40 year old men sleeping on foldout cots
Next to our wives
No children either of us

Christmas lights in the window
Lit us
Silhouettes of young smokers talked outside
In a language we no longer understood

With gold cards and fat wallets
We bought and drank whatever we fancied
No longer contenting ourselves on Blue Star of mainland specials

"You ever think of moving back?"
He looked at the crowds, not me, as he spoke
"I did my time during grad school here. No work for me here"

The town was booming
I had once thought to buy one of the cheap houses
That exist now in memories and photographs

The town was booming
For people not like us
Overeducated and understimulated
Working mainland jobs in more than 10 block downtowns

"Nice to be back, though. I saw a ton of people on the plane in"
Silence
"Merry Christmas man. Sorry, no present"

First Ocean Journey

Pajamaed Girls in one room

Track panted Boys in the other

The first time our world rocked

On a larger ocean

Snuck off two by two

Virgin pairs of innocents

Or couples who knew exactly

What they were doing

If they touched each other

They didn’t show it

If they touched each other

We didn’t know it

You and I talked and laugh

Then grew silent side by side

Looking at our reflections

In the night mirrored porthole

Pajamaed Girls in one room

Track panted Boys in the other

The first time our world rocked

On a larger ocean

Police Man

If you let yourself

Become a tool in the hands of the powerful

Don’t be surprised

When you are prized from their grasp

And thrown down with them

Don’t plead law and order

When you don’t stand for it

Japanese Gay Boy

You stood cycling against the wind

As I walked pushed by it

Sensing a common strangeness

Neither Yuki nor Takeshi

You wondered how big I am

How hairy

I wondered how good your English is

Would you be happier in San Francisco

Or in Berlin

In places where people like you

And people like me

Exist

I Phone

The end of the human race

Is in hand

You boy stare at the screen

While she looks at your eyes

Trying to connect

Finding no signal

You bicycle girl

Eyes glued to the screen

Playing games in traffic

No one will love you

Just like your avatar

In its digital garden

DAYS

There will be days

When everything that is made

Will be unmade and made again

When the land heaves and pitches

And the dark sea stands still

Warm snowflakes melt my cold body

Till nothing is left

There will be days

When everything that is made

Will be unmade and made again

When

Sunlight leaves me blind

And I see in the night

The darkness as clear as daytime

Beppu Spring Haiku

Morning's cold sunlight
Hot spring steam joins blue sky clouds
Spring comes to Beppu

Bugs in The System + Slowdown Report

BUGS IN THE SYSTEM (unfinished)

When life is a broken app

So easy to fall through a crack

Can’t turn back can’t go forward

Things end up turning morbid

You want to reboot and start over again

You’ve found a bug in the system

And there’s nobody here who can fix it

Just trapped like a bug in the kitchen

Waiting for something to squish it

Life feels like some big game

God played in his mainframe

If there ever was a creator

He must be coming back later

Because he isn’t paying attention here now

We’re all just bugs in the system

Looking for someone to fix us

Dodging rocks as fast as they pitch them

Hoping the better team picks us

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Going on a trip for a few days. Back the 12th with some good memories and a fistful of clear sky poems.