Little Girl (III) - draft

Up front, let me tell you, little boys and girls
that like Marlene Dietrich,"I sometimes like a man
who doesn't believe what a woman tells him."

By the cackling fire slept a party of four
to keep predators at bay
in a northern portion of Wyoming
overhead, an ink well of a night,
its stillness is engulfing
if stars could sing like cherubim, believe me
more than misty, my eyes would be splintered
sometimes, I wish just for that
for a million stars to pierce me through
and heaven's mercy might be just like that
as cold as the passing fire of meteors

And then the sky begins to pale in the quadrant
the foursome by the cackling begin to stir
and awake without alarm clock
to pack the gear in silence, which is rare for tourists
and drink a cup of bitter coffee, which too is rare
for only the flimsy drink black coffee sweet
and they that won't sip it deep or pack their gear in silence
for heaven's mercy might be like so
the fire doused, a new day dawning
and the steady flow of channeled water

they push the rubber into the stream
two men and a women and a girl, maybe all of 11,
a bit of sleep still in her eyes, it was not coffee that she drank
instead a cup of Ovaltine. Her mother believes
you drink coffee before menstruation
your growth may be stunted

Before they all get soaked and harried
I nuzzle up to the woman to inquire as to who she is
and coy within, she replies,
"Some of my friends call me Janet Reno"
and I to keep the gag aloft ask
"So who then is the President?"

For you who may not be in the know
Reno was once Clinton's Attorney General
infamous for the incident at Waco

Replies Sister Girlfriend
"Don't make me laugh until I cry
Bill's my ex but his last name's Davies
as to the other guy, he's next in line
to try to groom me...that is, if he survives the rapids


I, River Squaw, wink at the girl all of 11
flat chested, who's not yet to seen her first egg drop
and make to her a soft suggestion,
"Best hold on tight, Clementine,
this ride is just beginning."

And up and down they go,
a-rafting through canyon slides
as if shot from one helluva water cannon
white waters are not by boulders stopped
they cut their path through rocks and glassy mountains
with dipped and tipped and studded rings
of fingered aquatic diamonds
dipped and tipped and stutted

The Evolution of Species (draft)

Love me or leave me
but do not detest me
I am true to my calling
every contraption in the cellar
every trick up my sleeve
I have mastered for your pleasure
you want performance, so I give you
for I delight in entertainment
my shtick is one of three professions
that in Genesis evolved
farming first, mine the second,
Cain's homicide, placing third
than I think came prostitution

Legions of scholars and politicians
owe much to our ancient fellowship
Socrates, Freud and Darwin
especially Darwin whose disciples contend
that because man-sperm resembles wiggly fish
and man-blood in salinity resembles ocean
it follows, then, that fingers and toes evolved from fins
which would explain why once we lost our scales
we became susceptible to leprosy and itchiness

I'll do you better, than the evolutionists
hand me my trunk and high hat
watch me pull rabbits
I'll hold my breath underwater
longer than any fishy could survive the dry
but I won't cheat and call it religion
nor shall I dare to call it science
but what it is is what it is,
purely fog and mirrors
magic tricks like sawing pretty girls in two
and reassembling them anew
without transfusions nor need of stitches,
for life is art and art is trickery

Like Coffee Freshly Roasted (draft)

I am a poor boy farmer
who when weather permits,
plows the frost bitten fields
when a little sunshine warms

Then at sunset, me and the mule retire
the mule to the barn, me to my shack
the mule to where mules drift when they get sleepy
me to a lover of ebony arms, of eyes that look like coffee
darker is she than midnight, she sparkles in the darkness
more beautiful than morning light is she
my cocoa girl, where in her bosom
I am more than just a poor boy farmer

Tomorrow, should I live to see the sunrise
and if not, I die in peace,
for she is there to box the pieces

The Lovely Garland (draft)

In my garden, it grows abundant
I eat it by the bushel
any way that I can cook it
or else throw it in a blender
and pour it on a sundae
So what if this be Denmark
and "Mediterranean" is the least desirable
of body orders, it works for me to reek of garlic
thus, no one gets too close
which suits me fine
the smell of man, I can not stand
and lillies make me dizzy

Accept me as I am or find yourself a Danish
Were tar a fragrance, I would wear it
As for garlic, I'm worth my breath in tons

Invitation to The Masses (draft)

Who does not wish it for themselves
the perfect life, to live complete without contrition
to greet each moment confident
to have the right reply when faced with threats
to live so honest as to fear no man, no animal

To live complete, to live to die
when to die in order to survive is most desirable
to live the perfect life and suffer the perfect closure
but what is perfect?
Only One in whom my faith is treasured

Oh my, loving atheist
why cringe because I believe in what you don't
why fuss that I believe in what you won't
I extend the hand of peace
the white rose of humanity

Where Hell Would Freeze (draft)

He was born in the Congo
which once belonged to the King of Belgium
she was a missionary's daughter
in what was once called Rhodesia

In sophomore year they met in college
he studying to be an accountant
she wanting to be a tooth doctor
there they wed where they had met
in Black historical college, city of Atlanta
state named for English monarch, one of many Georges
Atlanta, Georgia where The Center for Disease Control safely stores
the Seven Plaques of Egypt and worst ---
virus capable of eating the poles and the earth's core
Atlanta hometown to the Cable News Network
which Bin Laden watches from his penthouse rock


Eiffel Ungali the accountant and Murray his dental wife
live presently in Minnesota with their kids of perfect teeth
Minnesota is where the great Mississippi River springs
it's a state rich in dairy where for the most part people are friendly
and not as dark as you'd expect
considering they are Lutherans
in a land that hardly thaws

Nirvana (draft)

we breathe from and into the thoughts of others
the poem unwritten the place that's wished
the way of deep affection, autumn passing into winter
planet tilt to or from the star that's fixed
but for how long
the thought to be extinguished
which suffers planetary birth and death