for Dan

do you believe in the big guy upstairs? he asked me.
(some time later I recommended a kayak)
a kayak is too small a boat for me
last day he worked at Joeys

on the west creek

on the west creek
a spider's web
catches my face
telling me
secrets

you can't get into my soul, you can't

to the
unpaid labor on
my idea of happiness,
delusions of grandeur,
what lazy
misconceptions!

I will chase you
from me
and cut out of
this weed cocoon.

I don't need
you
I never needed
you!

bent trees revenge

When I was younger my family went camping quite often. A big part of camping for me was carving sticks, or I believe the proper term is whittling. On one trip to upstate New York, I wandered away from our campsite in search of a young tree about the width of a quarter. Selecting one, I touched it's smooth bark, saw that it had few branches and decided that it would make a fine walking stick. In order to snap the tree at it's base, I bent it down to the ground and stood on it. After a few back and fourths, I could smell the freshness of the wood and realized it would not easily snap. I bent it down to the ground again, only this time the tree escaped from beneath my feet and sprang upward striking me directly in the face. For a moment all I saw was black, then I ran screaming back to the campsite. Within minutes I felt a throbbing pain in my face as the bruise blackened one of my eyes. After I stopped crying my parents thought it was funny.

imagine that you are building a robot. which brain parts do you think would be especially important for a robot, and why?

I feel like a million cups of coffee
have you ever eaten a sugar packet?
like chewed and swallowed the paper and all
if I could build a catapult out of
sugar cubes and coffee stirrers
I would like to get a job as a
coffee stirrer
but i'll quit if they
make me wear
a name-tag
I fucking hate name-tags

red flags fire, firing

shark cartilage as a cure for cancer
sharks cancer less frequently
you're laughing yourself into wellness
my friend is fire-walking down the sidewalk
sweating in your sweat lodge
feet didn't burn
didn't learn
nothing vs. everything
paradigm
it's time to shift your

mindlessness matter
your life blind study
sugar pill
from capital hill
while the sound of the rain
your pain
keeps coming and it's going
while the patients
sleeping in the train station
and their brains don't work the
same since

you made'em happy
choking down that burger
on the tv and your

in the bathroom
since your stomach went crappy
all by itself pouring
down into the bowl

rainy day

I.

the rain
drugged them onto
the couch
and the wind blew it all away
he sat there half-
listening when he asked her
"what did you learn in class today?"
"girls hear more
words than boys," she said
"girls use both sides
of their brains more,
they have a higher vocabulary"
"because they
are always talking"

II.

when he
dropped her off at class
the crazy gate lady only said "fine day to do that"
and he
was surprised because
she wasn't taking
her job so
seriously today

sitting in class
the girl sitting
next to him
proudly
said
"stanford binet"

nobody

I was told
to put this
here by my
friend.

He doesn't want
anyone to
know who
he is, or
what he
looks like.

He asked me
if I could
do him a
favor by
placing this
here for
someone to
find.

Congratulations
you found it!

guilty and stupid

The weekend wrecked the house
high, today is a cold, March morning and the basement is still hung lower
Last night I said, "We both did it so we can't be mad at each other"
but that's dangerous thinking
we'd been drinking
the song is over.

the bike parade

stringing
streamers
into our spokes
tying them to
trail from our
handlebars
red
white
blue

wrapping around the frame
of a melting ice pop

Lips

what I'm trying to say
thinking by judging their shape
Sometimes I don't know what to do with my lips
they are unusually large and feel people
know
they are not resting
properly in certain social situations
If I smile, people will look at
still, looking
at them wondering why they never move.
If I frown, people will
literally in the way of
everything I am trying to say
about how to wield them
in the way of
nervous sometimes and
Sometimes my lips get 

for the wooden hand sanitizer post

Oh wooden hand sanitizer post,
standing tall at the edge of the tile floor
You offer so much more than sanitized hands
masterfully constructed of timber
stained cherry brown,
like a beacon of hope to the
students walking in the library
Providing us peace of mind
A weapon in the war against germs
You are lonely and jealous of bathroom sinks
yet constantly offer protection
We take you for granted
with our strong immune systems
Only I notice your yearning for sweaty palms
they neglect your healthy gel!
You just want to be held
rubbed in
relied on