Big Thaw, they'll call it

December 27

It's spitting outside.
And I sweat while I walk home,
jumping new puddles.

Weird; just yesterday
cars skated icy roads and
fingers damn near froze.

Big Thaw, they'll call it;
but rain and floods are fickle,
not worth winter's time.

All aglow

All aglow with a face
ruddied sweet,
and her eyes on the prize--
not defeat,

she has fronted what most
do not dare.
She has spoken
to his 'fair is fair.'

She has laid out her truth, full and bare--

And her words,
while to him said a lot
in her wisdom,
twas for herself she fought.

steady forward gait

Yeeww are missing out, she said--
and I told her I was not.
Yeeww should press forward, on and on!

and I became distraught.

Well what if I think I'm just fine,
pausing to exhale--
taking time to fuel up,
to look on at my trail?

Yew cannot be that happy
if yer not moving yer feet!
She said this, and then--mocking me!--
she danced on down the street.

And I looked on right after her
but did not follow straight
I took in a deep---breath---and--

upon lettttiiing iiit oooouut,


I kept steady my forward gait.

join and splash them, lick the rocks

Green takes me to WA
where they all know my name, see
and where I hike the beach

Blue, the light city
arondissements aplenty
and no address, yet

Gold, I've got rivers
between rocks, heading to sea
stretching, warming, good

O, in red, the deep
lines and delicious, brushes,
the tunnel round the bend

Make it colorful,
join and splash them, lick the rocks
all will turn bright white

underneath that tin

Just say it, she says
say it and wait. It will come.
Ready for something.

***

You won't do for me.
So easily decided,
she said to herself.

***

Underneath that tin,
and that charming toothy grin,
you've got naught but talk.

***

Underneath your ribs,
behind your submarine fibs
there is little might.

***

Underneath my skin,
no matter what form I'm in,
there find something new--

night lights and shorts in November

Night lights, shifting trees
sirens roaring through the breeze
this was my commute.

***

Shorts in November
Like a temperate desert
inside our condo.

(Wish I hadn't traded my camel for a stick of gum just the other day.)

My lips, oil'd at night
in the morning have turned tight
because they are dry.

We've tried the nobs, sure
we've bled the ancient heaters
and still we are baked.

Though I don't complain--
o, I'm no longer sane, but

It's a warm winter.

balloters' bikes

We took the 'L' to the garden in the City,
a bit past half after nine
where droves of balloters hurried their gaits
to join the bunching, to stand and wait

for a figure on the over-large screen.

they'd heard that the phone call had come in
their grins now had something of glee
it was certain for them already
and so they had only to see.

their bikes hooked like vines against fences
faces turned, like flies to a light
hats tilted, knees bobbing, pointed lenses
it would be a momentous night.

giants, they were on friends' shoulders;
daring, shouted their pride,
as their new national leader
had come from their own South Side,

had offered a really good ride--

and had won
by a most uplifting

Landslide.

A leader who'd promised a dream.

send us a star's corner, come on

send us a star's corner, come on:
something the thinkers can ride,
a rock that rivets the blanket
out in the great big and wide

as long as they're talking, there's reason;
when they're silenced, when the paper has dried,

then we're stoppable, spacewardly floating,
and why--? When
there isn't a question among 'em
that a fold in the night sky can hide.

There is a breaking point,

There is a breaking point,
at which things come
a
part.

Never full, not quite as high
and less than richly based;
we've been
effaced.

All things graffiti'd may be covered by
white fix
or they may be given prominence--
in the park, their own intentional place.

Nother put it back

Played to fool
distress in tresses
hopped on all that jumps and ties it on

Surely there's a Nother
left in the backlot scene
who can put all this back and be gone.

Nother, put it back and be gone.

If this just isn't it,

This just isn't it;
I'm ready for change.
And like that, I made up my mind.

I followed my ribs
to where I could BE
didn't know what I would find

but I wanted--
I really wanted.

and I know there's a reason for will.

As it goes, what you want,
if you say it enough,
it will come to you. Patience,
still.

Now what comes of this
but perhaps a surprise
pleasant or part of a low,

And it all could be yours
If you open your eyes
and give in to the almighty flow.

I have a pineapple

I have a pineapple, but not a knife big enough to cut it.
A crush, that need only be so crushing,
a love of the city at night.

People should be explicit,
but then we would all just know.

And maybe knowing would be fine,
but surely it is not fun.

Sometimes I want to write all over the wall.

Stubby pencil

Idle eyes
petal'd pout
wonder what
I think about

Thing is
that you'll only know
if you're blunt and ask.

Incidentally,

When a man outside the Greek diner asked for my doggy bag, I handed it over. He took it, and asked for my friend's box as well.

I bicycled through town this afternoon, along the residential streets near the lake. On one block, at one brick house on the corner, trikes and balls and a pogo stick lay strewn on a green lawn, while a mom took stock of three scattered, smiling kids, playing. Then, on the other side and two houses down, a line of four people streamed in file from the front door. Two of them bore a stretcher that held a figure covered in a dark blue cloth. The person behind them walked mindfully, and pursed her lips when she caught my eyes watching the scene.

Through the window of a hot dog joint, I saw a woman outside and across the street hit the sidewalk, palms first. She seemed to have tripped, and several seconds kept her attached to the walk before anyone approached her.
By now, my eyes had shifted focus from my two friends just across the table from me, and my voice had faltered; they heard me pause the telling of my animated story, and they followed my eyes, turning their heads to look through the window behind them. After more seconds, my anxiety had grown, but the woman pushed herself up, inelegantly, with the help of a female passerby. A crowd had finally gathered, 10 strong and suddenly, to make sure she was all right.

I read recently that in bigger crowds, individuals are less likely to help a person in need because each individual assumes someone else will help.

Great words

Great words, little thought
it's back behind the ears, and
not without reach.

Lacking a 'right' way,

Lacking a 'right' way,
up being good as down, we're
all-but-left to write.

water bottle days

water bottle days;
fan in the window goodnights
after the solstice

and we've still gotta

Bubbling up, warming
butterflies in my morning
utter fuzziness,

that feels okay.

lightbulb grin, each time
and me, I like the light-lime
right now we're golden

and we've still gotta push play.

Hard to say, really

Hard to say, really
why that one becomes the it
the one magnet grin

where you found the line
drawn in quickly shifting sand,
where it disappears,

delight in fancy
not in fact, since fancy's got
it made; pie easy

you're sifting flour; why
be sure, don't think too much; the
calm are those who flow

whether weak that day
or sure, nonetheless okay
decaf coffee tame
When without truth, wait.
 On a too-quick thought train, pause.
If nothing else, sleep.

Instrumental strums

Instrumental strums
shifting hum to wayward hum
pulling me to space

Guitarish jibes ring
fingers drunk on Nescafe
singer souls out Os

Pulling me to gaze
around corners blending past
with soon and could be

Tens of arms pull strings
against strings, waves rush the air
drums set vibes to march

along we go, and
when we know the words, we sing
heads leaning toward beats

our minds transported
we know a type of Love, while
reaching crescendo--!

And all for one, sure
purpose: Universally,
music moves the soul.

People learn me by reading

People learn me by reading,
like what's me comes out in words,
but more than that, important is
the joy in face to face.

***

I'm not above inviting,
but I may not know what's there
so once I've tried, it's up to you
I'd say that's only fair.

SLU in haiku

SLU in haiku

My name is Billi
and I'll be your tour guide
let's all head outside.

That's Grand you will cross
for classes; get straight As if
your roommate is struck

Here's the quad where we
all play frisbee and lay out
with some weather luck

Dubourg's where you make
your class schedule, pay big bills
and wait in long lines

Meet the library's
Lewis Annex; the kind staff
don't make you pay fines

Griesedieck's on your left,
thirty RAs, two adults,
nine hundred freshmen

and here we have the
Cupples house, to your right; don't
rub the Billiken

The clocktower is
more than just a clock--it's an
institution, or...

Most of your classes
will be in Xavier--unless
you're a chem major

Let's take a look now
at Marguerite, where each room
is the style of suite

Here are Fusz, DeMatt,
the apartments, but better--
the Arena's neat.

Well that's what we've got
here at SLU, and it's a lot--
we give our up-thumbs

If nothing else gets ya,
the tulips will--they're really
why everyone comes.

Nothin but the real

Nothin but the real
no words but those thought out or
faces without mind

None but that for which
one'd like to be remembered
along with her smiles.

Yet, separated
emotions from thoughts, she is
less open, less true,

less real. Unlike
that which she wants to be, and
more like a mirror.

Why is it that sometimes, something

Why is it that sometimes, something wrings us from ourselves

that the clouds get away with obscuring the Great Big
and with making us cozy on earth

that what we are, we complicate
we ask and doubt and reason

while the world we know may turn without explanation,
and we know it is beautiful.

And it's as if, without a plan

And it's as if, without a plan
I'll head in to the pro mist land
Unawares of what may come
and still less which path I took

They say there's danger, and I know
that I can handle any blow,
and that while I may win some
more than once I have been shook

Yet this invisible path I seek,
I turn to with a pull'n taught cheek
that grins and sounds a humble hum
and leads me where I may not look.

I wore out a tea bag today.

I wore out a tea bag today.
Sometimes I wonder about intention.
I think about amen.
Wish it was balmy, breezy, and mild,
and days that float would get caught on a river rock
for just a while
while I swim.
I like the words gossamer, resplendent and perhaps.
Perhaps, perhaps.

undefeated

undefeated we
who forge our souls in challenge
and cool them in truth

***

beside me I watch
as she runs for pleasure
and returns, too spent

***

what does it all mean
he asks his muse, like many
she sighs, bored again

***

ready to end it
with a visit to Eireann
she knew a new way

It does not help that

in Haiku

It does not help that
you have come to me to talk
when I must listen

when I must hear your
thoughts and relate carefully
not betraying me

and I want to shout
that you are missing it all
while you question you

while you question me
that your Now is right here
closer than you think

you know what you want
only come out and say it
or it won't be real

with no limits, no fears
make your Now what you will, now;

Please love and be free.

thoughts on potential

thoughts on potential
(when he winks, on the right note)

when he asks her to do something like she always does
when he is comfortable
enough to talk about anything
yet surprised by her beauties
and thrilled by each of her glances,
by her points of view
which he ponders seriously
always wanting to do for her
and there is always a bit more he wants to say to her
because conversation helps them both learn
and makes them fuller
when both make effort, but neither is ever spent
when he makes her feel wanted,
lets her know she is a centerpiece of his thoughts
lets her know;
and knows she feels the same way

In the name of fat Tuesday

In the name of fat Tuesday
(though it's Saturday right now),
we rise early to parade...

What is to celebrate?

It's the idea of carne vale;
goodbye to the body, they say
if they're playing at the rules,
what happens come Wednesday?

more than that I hope

more than that I hope
you understand my select,
careful avoidance

From a folktale I'm reading now

From a folktale I'm reading now, a timeless story for a girl I know:

'Once again she felt the difficulty of this man. When she met him or spoke to him, he improved the way she felt, he enlarged her life, he made her day bright and bearable. But he gave her no direct or tangible evidence that she had any effect, of any kind, on him.'


She can't guess and, after a while, she won't.
Give her evidence.

Older Haikus for Spanish class

Por la manana hace frio
ventana rujada y
yo sin un sueter

***

Podemos hablar
no te entiendo si
que te conozco

***

Bailamos todos
zapatos sin limites
hasta manana

Ten numbers, then

Ten numbers, then
Twice.
four-and-a-half hours taking depth by surprise,
two in front of a screen, cracking jokes quietly.

Then what.
Impatience retreated from Want-of-Pursuit,
Pursuit that you did not take.

first thoughts were on the Twice;
then hesitation (yours)
made it twice null (?)

In any case, Impatience still wonders,
while I sleep.

A few from KB

He dresses like Edward Scissorhands.
But thats cool, isn't it?

Yo compre dos pantalones, cuatro camisetas, ...
Ya yo tengo cinco.

It tastes exactly like the tea at a Chinese restaurant. Exactly.

I'm not going to bed until 10 (tomorrow morning).

All right, I'm going to take a walk and call A. Just in case anybody wanted to know.

I did.