Tamago Gohan

One scrambled raw egg

Steaming rice fermented beans

Rising sun day starts

Balcony Haiku

Long legged hornet

Between my hanging laundry

Lulled here by flowers

Adieu Gir

I walked with Paz

Through the desert

My trickster guide

To rivers of mud and blood

Where stood Moebius

Drawing himself

Erasing the past

Continuously

Eye Problem

I have stopped being able to see

Colors

I cannot distinguish

Black or white or red or yellow
Man or woman, child or adult

Gay or straight

Christian or muslim or jew

I only see people

Must be my old age

I can still see

The clothes they choose to wear

The hood of the Bigot

The sari of the Peacemaker

The burka of the Zealot

The boots of the Fascist

The laurels of the Sage

And the robes of the Lover of all people

Which I hope to wear

Poem for Donna

Thank you so much

For always trying to show me the right

And the light

We are all in darkness

And although the lights we choose

Are different

We are all

On the same path

And if some of your light

And some of my light

Makes the journey easier

For us

Then that is good

Star Seed

Has our starseed failed?

Has the shoot

That reached the moon

And came back

Crossed the stony soil of the void

Failed to bear fruit?

Do we die here?

Strangled in the cradle

By misers

Prophets and madmen

Traded fantasies for dreams

Failed to face reality?

It sure looks that way

In the darkness

Before the light of dawn

On Writing Poems When Older

Alas!

Had I only written poems

When my young cock

Engorged with vital blood

Reached towards the center of womanhood

Through gates of velvet

Gardens of orchids

Finding the pearl at the center

Now these eternities

Sit dusty in a row

Perfect snowglobes

I have not looked at

Or shaken in years

Alas!

Had I only written poems

When my tender young mouth

Made McDonald’s

Taste like real food

When my inner furnace

Turned grease and poison

Into energy and love

Instead of fat and self-loathing

When I was so alive

I could forget to eat for a day

Or eat enough for two of me

And be no different

Alas!

Had I only written poems

When my almond eyes

Saw only the good

Squinting against the brightness

I would have lacked

The contrast the years bring

The cool beauty of rainy days

Greater love of light

As the shadows lengthen

My poems like wine

Sweeter for having rested in their cask

Stronger than the juice of youth

Morning Ablutions

Tie up the curtains

Open the window

Enter the kitchen

Do the horizontal horse stance

Fifty repetitions

Lie face up on the wood floor

Put a towel under my lower back

Then do leg raises

Fifty times

Then cross leg raises

Fifty more

Stand up

Wash the dishes of last night

Look out the window

Stare into the sky

Think about what to do today

Kiss my wife

Turn on the computer

Do work for an hour

Go out

Not a bad way to start the day

Don't Call Me Doctor

I am doing a degree

Worth about the paper it is printed on

I will be a doctor

Who cannot save lives

If someone crashes on a plane

I will not stand up to the call

“Is there a doctor in the house?”

I will try my best

To make my life and work

Worthwhile

To open minds and banish ignorance

And that will be enough

Just don’t call me doctor