Sunday, January 24, 2010

value





the monkey chased the elephant down the empty highway
he finally cornered him in the back lot of an abandoned walmart
you have cost me a lot,
said the monkey

and i hate to do this to you
but you have too much value
what is cost,
asked the elephant

and what is value
as the monkey brought the ruby encrusted statue of the virgin
(or maybe it was vishnu or lenin or sarah palin)
down on his head

the elephants last
thought
was
but i'm bigger than he is




Monday, January 18, 2010

away in the soadfo



this was inspired by this post about word verification on jon parsons' blog "a blade of grass"

the words in red were generated by blogger's word verification gadget

the words in blue were the "comments" used to prompt the word verification



"yikes", exclaimed albert as the soadfo started spreading across the road.
"zounds!", echoed colonel bankwait from the back seat as he peered over albert's shoulder. "i'll get the geril out of the trunk."
"that sounds like a bit of all right ," miss carpenter-st john agreed. "but i would feel better if we had some nognan ."



it was certainly a sight to behold . the colonel had to carefully restep back and forth over the spreading soadfo , as he gingerly made his way to the trunk of the caleflay .
"if i only had a mopsp , to cover my face with. " he muttered, considering his chances.



it was a definitive moment.
"can he get trichona from that stuff?" miss carpenter-st john peered cautiously out the periscope of the caleflay . "or is it exponentially , too early to say?"
"this might be an estorik occasion," miss goldenday, seated besde albert in the front seat, observed. she looked fabulous .



"oh, oh," albert said. "the pirkili is leaking out of the engine. i will have to get out myself and put some vessiste on the hull to seal it."
"be careful," said miss goldenday. "we wouldn't anything to happen to you."
"especially," added miss carpenter-st john, " as you are the only one who knows how to fix this organism. it's more complicated than the metabolism of an ahrestri ."
"i hope we don't have ahrestried development," said miss goldenday. "but look - the sun is setting. it looks gorgeous ."
"as you do yourself, miss," albert noted. he took a humungous pousn and and an incandescent madin out of the glove compartment and carefully opened the door of the caleflay and stepped out into the road. he noted some jellyfish floating in the spreading soadfo .



albert actually had no idea how to fix the caleflay . he wasn't even sure how to open the hood, or if the hood could be opened. this is going to be one kinesthetic experience, he told himself.
suddenly an acculai flew up out of the soadfo and fastened itself on to his neck.
miss goldenday shifted her lissome form over into the drivers seat of the caleflay and gazed out the window at albert's form writhing on the ground.
"is that an acculai , or a suregai ?" asked miss carpenter-st john.
"i don't know but i sure feel sorry for the gai ," answered miss goldenday.



meanwhile colonel bankwait had done a masterful job of getting to the trunk of the caleflay but had been unable to get it open and get the geril . he was pounding on the rear door for miss carpenter-st john to let him back in.



miss carpenter-st john nodded noddingly to miss goldenday. "should we let him in? it doesn't look like he accomplished his mission"
"i think he has a flask of diespe in his back pocket," said miss goldenday opportunistically . "let's give him a chance to redeem himself."







Sunday, January 17, 2010

the wanderer





icy lights
behind black

glass. come on
buddy, you

have to go
someplace else

can i stay
until i

finish my
candy bar

let's go - now!
i went to

harvard, i'm
a teacher

at berkeley
the candy

bar's made of
coconut

it will freeze
and break my

teeth, all right
make it hard

on me, do
you really

want to make
me fill out

a report
and take you

downtown in
this weather?



then i won't
be your friend

any more
i went to

harvard. i'm
a science

professor
at berkeley

berkeley is
three thousand

miles away
i know, i.m

waiting for
the bus, but

i lost my
ticket, and

besides, you
are not a

real cop, just
a transit

cop, oh just
a transit

cop, and this
is what, your

private bed
room, icy

lights. sudden
blast of air

goodbye. lost
my ticket






Thursday, January 14, 2010

wichita





he told me
the saddest

sttory i
ever heard -

went to the
track, lost his

whole welfare
check, on the

way back, he
gets stopped, gets

a ticket
for speeding


arnold





the terminator
was at the uc cinema

i thought it might be
good for a laugh

got there early
they were waiting for me

my fellow arnold fans
with open mouths

thick glasses and scraggly beards
giants caps on backwards

field jackets stuffed
with candy bars and stephen king novels

a chill passed through me
and i continued on

down university avenue
to serendipity books

to buy a nice
book of poetry

but who
was i kidding?

i was one
of them

they were
my brothers


Monday, January 11, 2010

pirates





i had a dream
last night

i wasn't in it
myself

it was a movie
about pirates

they had a green flag
with a gray rat on it

it was the best movie
i've seen in 20 years

i wish i could
remember it better

i'd tell you
all about it