2/29/08 Leap Day

Well now I feel like an idiot

because it's 10:00 pm on leap day
and I had meant to do something commemorative
(like mint a coin) and/or especially rare (like get born)
at some point today but I forgot. I blew it.

Well, I could do something right now I guess.

Or I could take the tiny bit of disappointment in myself
that I feel at this moment and transform it into
an opportunity to do up leap day even better in 2012.
Maybe I'll mint a coin.

2/28/08 Jungle Out There

If brown crusty snow was lush tropical foliage,
or if streetlight poles were in fact coconut palms,
if slushy patches of sidewalk were quicksand,
or if that little dog that lady is walking
were a wild boar or a big cat of some sort,
if the corner of Avenue D and First was either
more lush or more complicated or both,
it would be a jungle out there.

2/27/08 Running Into You

It's odd that I never run into you.
Might be partially because I never leave the house.

In order to run into you,
you'd have to be in my house.

Like if you were sitting on my couch
or taking a bath in my bathtub,

then I could say something like,
Wow, it's really nice running into you like this.

2/26/08 I Got My Dot

blah blah whatever dot com

it is a period though right?
okay, so when did period turn into dot?
are we gonna do it all the way then?

like, No you can't go to the roller skating rink. Dot.

or, I feel so shitty, I got my dot yesterday.

2/25/08 How I Feel

I'd like to tell you how I feel,
and I have lots of interesting
word combinations that would work,
but I'm saving my choicer turns of phrase
for a better poem.

2/24/08 Crotch Rocket

fiesta villa has the most delicious fish taco
(it's a restaurant, not a person - come on)

mid-afternoon margaritas all around

and then Catherine and I discovered
how much of a difference there is between
a crotch rocket and a crotchety rocker

2/23/08 Gael

So according to Daniel
the whole world just found out that
my boyfriend Gael Garcia Bernal is gay.

But that's okay.
He can still be my boyfriend.

gay straight
straight gay

Probably just Daniel's wishful thinking.
Either way,
it's good to be flexible.

2/22/08 Agreed

The talking doesn't work.
So we just shouldn't talk.
And we should drink more.
Well, we can talk as long as
we're drinking.
Okay, then.
Agreed.

2/21/08 New Town

Thank you, Dan, for the delicious coffee.

Thank you, dad, for the power point projector.

Thank you, Sanish, for your watery sacrifice.

Thank you, Derrick, for your free legal advice.

Thank you, moon, for being so pink and later
for being slightly less round already.

Thank you, Yenti, for your insights into msg.

Thank you, New Town, for the fried chicken.

Thank you, Prius, for 150 mpgs or something
ridiculous like that.

Thank you, Tracy, for being my perfect complement,
my little bit better than an exact mirror image.




Oh, and thank you Roger Johnson - you know why...

2/20/08 The Dance Studio

so what's the story with this studio
you are working so hard on?
what are you going to use it for?
where is it?
can other people use is or is it just yours?
how big is it?
what color is it?
does it have lots of mirrors, like a dance studio?

that is so like you to open a dance studio...

2/19/08 Operation Hydration

is the codename I'm giving
to what I should be doing,
which is drinking some water
in place of or in addition to
the coffee and the beer,
not unlike the flash floods I used
to simulate for the long succession
of cactus plants that I have killed
by over-watering, although
that may not be the best comparison.

2/18/08 Reality Television

I hesitate to be too critical.
I'm not like everybody else.
I don't hate reality television.
You know that.

I just doubt the realism
of the voting-people-off premise.
Cause I keep trying to vote
people off of my reality
and they won't leave.

2/17/08 Bad Mommy Day

don't talk to me
I'm dead
just turn the
close the
watch TV
I don't care just
don't touch me
close the door
Cartoon Network
no I will not feed you
dear jesus
you don't need
to eat
don't
it hurts

2/16/08 Spring Fever

I would write a happy little ditty
about what it feels like when the spring fever comes hard.
I might have used to know what that felt like,
but it's been so goddamned cold for so long
that not only have I forgotten, I think
I may actually doubt the existence of spring at all.

It's just some kind of cruel meteorological hoax
made up in a dark corner of the newsroom
by a couple of petty, conspiring weathermen
looking for some extra airtime.
A conspiracy, if you will.
And I'm not buying it.
Not buying what you're selling. Bastards.

2/15/08 Snowman Time

Oh, yeah...that's right baby.
Today we're gonna make a snowman.
You know how I know?
Cause today is Saturday, and Saturdays
are the days when we make snowmen.
Friday night is when Cook has dance class,
but Saturdays are the days when
we make snowmen.
Cause everything is just right.
Conditions are perfect.
There's no school.
It's kind of warm out.
Conditions are perfect.
(sing it with me)
It's snowman, it's snowman time...

2/14/08 Shame on You

I will imagine that one of my pointer fingers
is a vegetable peeler,
and the other pointer finger is a carrot.

And now I am peeling the carrot
in such a way that the peelings
are flying right into your face.

And it is all very shameful.
But if I want to double the impact,
I might say to you, ahh verrr.

2/13/08 Crossworder

In my mind a crossworder
is interchangeable with a jogger.
Both enjoy exercising (brains/muscles)
in kind of a contrived way.

Maybe they are just not working
hard enough or thinking hard enough
in their everyday lives.
Not being challenged.

Maybe the joggers should come over
and shovel my driveway.
And the crossworders could do my checkbook
or something if that would be helpful.

I do not understand the crossworder/jogger.
But I would jog if I were being chased slowly.
And I would do a crossword if -
no I really wouldn't do a crossword.

2/12/08 My Favorite Word

Listless.

But not the one you're thinking of -
but that is a homonym. Good job.

I'm talking about when you
absolutely don't have any lists.

My second favorite is
asterisks.

2/11/08 Barking Dog

There is a dog
outside barking.
Apparently, he's having lots of fun
and has been for two hours.

I wonder if the sound
of a human being having fun
is as obnoxious
as the sound of
a dog having fun.

(1/12/08 makeup) You Should Write Poetry

Writing poems is all about
stepping into awareness of the moment,
because you have to in order
to find the words to describe it.

That's what's so grounding for me.
Not that I write poems.
I'm saying if I did, that would be why.
I write sentences.
But it's the same with sentences, probably.

I'm not trying to convince
you to write poetry,
but I really truly believe
that you should write poetry.
And sentences.

(1/11/08 makeup) Wisdom Learned the Hard Way

Heed these words
for they are true and right:

sometimes it is really good
to change your clothes.

Now, don't misunderstand.
It's never really, really bad
to change your clothes -
I'm just saying,
sometimes it's really, really good.

2/10/08 Cat in the Snow

I often wonder how a cat
can walk around in the snow.

I mean, their little kitty paws
are just like fingers.

Fingers in the snow.
That hurts.

Or is there something else
that I should know
about paws?

2/9/08 My New Wooden Earrings

I bought a new pair of earrings
at Seeds of Hope yesterday
and I couldn't tell
if they were very cute
or very ugly
so I asked my mom
and she said they were
very wooden.

2/8/08 Gypsyfoot

Great band.
No doubt about that
and generally worth the effort
to go see them play.
But when it's 50 below?

Gypsyfoot?
50 below?
Gypsyfoot?
50 below?

You can see the gesture
I make with my hands
like a scale
weighing this decision.

2/7/08 Lego Trees

Ama holds a lego tree
to her mouth and sings
twinkle twinkle
into it like a microphone.

The roundy manicured (deciduous?) tree
is shaped a lot like a microphone,
but she will also use the pointy pine lego tree
and will suck on the point while she sings.

2/6/08 Oh, and more duck eggs

There are always duck eggs
(barring weasels and freezing)
and we try to eat them all:

sometimes ravenously,
sometimes grudgingly,
other times thankfully

because there isn't always a lot of food around here,
but there are always more duck eggs.

2/5/08 Super Fat Tuesday

barf
in a snowbank

Obama sticker
in my pocket

pretty fat

ridiculously super

2/4/08 Feathery

The trees are all feathery
with silver hoarfrost,
and as the day warms up
it sprinkles down to the ground.
It's very magical and surreal,
but still all I can think of
is my sister

cooking bacon in a sequined bikini,
bumping her gigantic Las Vegas headgear
into the cabinets and the oven hood
while her family watches on,
expectant but patiently amused,
waiting for some bacon.

2/3/08 No People

Outside I only hear
dogs barking and
cars driving and
an occasional train.

I don't hear any people.
Unless you count
dogs and cars and trains
as people.

2/2/08 My Trees

My trees
are older than my mother.

They may be even
older than my grandmother.

Funny that I think of them
as my trees.

But I guess I think of her
as my grandmother.

A girl's gotta have
something.

2/1/08 Grinding Stone

Waiting for a chance
to use the grinding stone
I found in the cold water
up Wildcat Gulch
the time I jumped into the stream
with all of my clothes on.
It happens.
Hard to resist
when the water feels so good.
That was many years ago,
and I still have
nothing to grind.