Snow World

Come and I will show you
a world fit for a snowshoe

You can leave at the same time
and arrive to feel sublime

In the Snow World
everything's fine.

The Ghost in the Room

There's a ghost in the room with me.
Probably several.
I suppose I'd known it before
but up until just now
when I thought about it
I guess I didn't.

But the ghost is there.
Probably several.
And I'm okay with it.
Because ghosts aren't so bad.
They're like reminders.
Read this poem after I write it
and you're reading a ghost.
That's what happens.
You leave something behind
and you're still there.
Here and there.
A ghost.

Probably several.

Rule

What kind of word is rule?
What kind of word is it
when it's not pluralized,
not the subject
of guardianship,
merely left on its own?

I think it begins to sound
differently.

Not Rule of Law,
not Follow the Rules
not a mighty Ruler.

By itself.

What do you say about it then?
It becomes more abstract,
doesn't it, something you
have to think about,
and for all its
connotations.

What does it end up meaning?
How do you begin to see
where it starts?
And what does that do
for all its other meanings?

Rule is rule is The Rule,
a rule. Like any other word,
the more you concentrate on it,
the weirder, less familiar,
more foreign,
it looks.

Go ahead and give it a try.

An Overpass is not a Bridge?

People may not say it that way
but you may call me a walking stiff.

No, I am not stiff from walking.
Walking is an activity
probably most people fear.

They have for a very long time.
Horses, boats, trains, car, airplanes.

Many ways have been created
so that people will not have to walk.

Great distances are crossed
but are also necessitated
because people don't like to walk.

Even short distances.

And because people don't like to walk
regulations must be made, rules and charges
that limit the ability of one
who does not wish to walk.

Flunk and you walk.
Or be the mercy of others
even when it is cheerily given.

People don't like to walk
and they look at you funny
if (when) you do.

I think it's all kind of funny
another symptom of a system
that takes the most perverse stance

on everything.

The Public is the Public

the only problem with the public
is that it goes out in public

you can tell
because of the mess it makes
that the public
can't control itself
like a puppy

I was thinking
if the public
was out long enough
it could be trained

How You're Going to Ride

You don't need to tell me
where you're going
it's etched all across your face
like you wanted me to know already
you're going
and I'm going
and you're wondering why I went
and I'm wondering, too
but you look like you've been ready
to move on
like there was never anything
but space between us
which is going to become
a reality quickly enough
in more ways than one
with more definition
with feeling
with a distinct lack of hope
and it's not like I'm obsessing
but there's just no way to know
not like the stars in the sky
which misguide and dazzle
and pipe away the jazz
like it's not going to be known anymore
which is the fear that motivates
us all
and so when we move we fear
and we fear because we move
and when we do one
we do the other
when all we wanted was to escape
tap and dance and all that.

Natural Hi

The thing about the Springs
is that these people,
if they're not careful,
could decorate their
landscaping to the point
where they don't actually have
anymore rocks. Right now
they have mountains to look at.
I'm just sayin'
they might not have much left
if they keep it up.

At some point
"they"
will be
"us"
I swear,
but as the spirit goes
through the doorway
I'm just not there yet.
I'm there, but not there,
if you can make
sense from that,
and not just change...