f-hound

whittled from commution

writing on the bus/streetcar/subway from my apartment to work and back

Sep 24 – and on and on

route wrote route
wrote route wrote
route wrote route

Sep 24 – 28

“when tornadoes come
open your mouth”
drop a penny from the cn tower
“you have a sister in brazil
and she needs you”
seven minus heaven
morning decoy
the joy of hedging
the joy of hiding
the joy of living more

*

one man’s chalky hands
a pile of bricks two roses
bright as your nose
in january in montreal
the beavers circle
a geranium cries in your hand
one red line under your right breast
(rogers’ next)

*

hey zeus! hey neptune!
“i dig your vibe”
i dig your irish potato
your disintegrating groin
broadway in the fire escape
“no one is hop less
who’s he p is in the lo d”
the kingdom come
is not in service
the raft of medusa v/s
the queen of angles
brought to you by
look alive play ball!
the super revolution is
sleep right and safe
“all i need are dry clothes
and happy feet”
run interference! skunk on the bus!
consumer’s rear end
adult tanned princess for sale
fluffier than a porndog
“the roses will bloom through to november”

Oct 1 – 5

it’s beautiful to fall in love
and go to work to prove it
“emotional support
is lacking for the children”
the old country is newer
protestants don’t remember anything
confess nothing give six cents away
poofed regardless the saddest girl
i have ever seen scares me.
i arrive. i wake up.

*

“finnish busline retrieves and ships
lost poetry notebook to canada”
not only was it a difficult first name
it was an impossible last name
the smiliest girl i have ever met
writes a meditation on addiction

no more pies at the local
backstabbers abound, go figure

*

baltimore home of eve pagoda
mushroom farms and two bags of
fresh corn tortillas on the way
to baltimore to buy a foot pedal
i remember the fallout shelters

*

shock the lady who thinks she’s jesus
lives with stones and turtles tarot cards
weak coffee incense purified water clarinet
who loves friendship bracelets and women
cold lakes and wet dogs abandoned
parking lot paintings her children
purple and turquoise dolphins
porn and astrology books
peter gabriel and living
under other names

Oct 8 – 12

holy land village meat
island time inside a mind
jekyl and hyde psychotherapy
& counseling crossroads
duke of earl flapjack perfume slap
she’s using a fanny pack for underwire
it’s a waiting room on wheels
no grass stain on astro turf, you say?
the world of mending demands mouthfuls
regular eating regular moving
moderate laughing polite pleasing
no hair pulling or name calling or biting
or throwing stones at someone else’s head

*

two lonely men
two girls’ night out
two “serious” thinkers
(really talkers)
two loners
two bored with each other
two smiling at each other
three buddies
one regular
three lesbians
(one with pink push-up bra)

*

nine ready fingers and no time for questions
or fear here “the chaos of the sun”
god’s illuminated tongue stretched
across the ceiling of a tanning room
at the back of take 2 video
on route 6 port allegheny p.a
it takes so long to brighten

in port allegheny p.a
the argus comes weekly (for less
if earl’s delivering, for free if it’s louise)
the milkweed’s fit for milking
jack-cries-in-the-pulpit
a stirruped syrupped chorus sighs
hot rolls make the butterfly
certain baby brothers are born believers
as are certain roses and snap dragons

Oct 15 – 19

i spy a hen in a fox coop
sitting on an old tooth
managing her calendar
lining up her charms
(cue coffeetime instrumental)
mary mary hiding in the presbytery
how does your garden grow?
with a rosy red posy
a mump and a slump and a smile

*

the salamanders that live in his mouth
are a fine distraction for everyone
“sick and tired of being sick and tired”
the equivalent of a miracle beer
at the daily mecca where we are free
to praise our good bugs deny the bad
tenderly what’s wrong with tenderly
the city and its exhaust
its cracked puppetry its records
the coercive, “no free lunches”
button up champion
it’s a smooth ride “we have so much”
a full tank & we’re off to the races

*

we regarded each other with new glasses
smoked cigarettes at the running of the bulls
it’s difficult to keep a poker face
the windows clean the seagulls spitting
c’mon maiden drive! for sam’s sake drive!
curious miles abound
and the universe loves nothing

like drive

*

the joy of owning
the joy of having more
pockets full of candy wrappers
asses ashes
cement blocks
star-blocks
and
nothing
neatly
stacked
“hit me up on the one two”
the boss is faking it
but the executive accessories are for real
patty cake bulla cake hot dog trailer
dancing purple hydrangea

*

you can have these teeth
but good luck flossing the street
(we read your complaints)
more people choose blossomfield
than stardewlake
“be kind to the people!”
“be kind to the people!”
sneeze once for no thanks
twice if you see global warming
(i see it! i see it!)
beautiful girls stacked on beautiful girls
future stars of discuss and long jump
kissing brightly kissing in English

*

no bones like dry bones
in farsi in dairy in swahili
next stop “promised promise”
concrete smack
sweat stained back
mike colle bribes children with ice cream
squeegee weegy nic fit
fold the yellow wait

Oct 22 – 26

the most sensuous organ can’t help itself
tin foil shimmer from sunnyside to hamilton
the sky is so clear we add a feather
& no one notices   “they arrested her
and gave and her a needle
she didn’t recognize the time or the place”
or the risk sometimes the risk of receiving

*

some people don’t make dinner
for the one’s they love
but they don’t care
some people do make dinner
for the one’s they love
but they don’t care
some people don’t make dinner
for the one’s they love
but they do care
some people do make dinner
for the one’s they love
and they do care
that’s why i love srna

*

p is for pirates
for andy and patti
for pittsburgh
and ketchup
and crocodile shoes
for bridges and y’uns
and the aviary
for three rivers
richie havens
juliet street
the mexican war streets
the mattress factory
the north side shoot-out
(corner conversions everynight)
the stolen yellow caddie
carbon monoxide poisoning
the strip market
eggplant parmesan
bill and cleone and billy
and carly and sara shutlz
the biggest bass ever
pulled out the allegany
and a lilac
on pennyslvania ave
that blooms every year
for carol’s daughter

Oct 29 – Nov 2

“how to tease a healthy eater”
avoid words like face plant
like mama duck like baby duck
you can’t give all the world
a bath because that is disrespectful
“recovery, productivity, endurance”
you get the superfoam rally finger
and a four out of four for effort
twenty years of watermelons
and no rotting, one wonders
how many languages are you
screaming in? mostly melon
old fashioned thigh pie silhouettes
on your arms and mudflaps
take your clothes off slowly
fill the rio grand with your morsels
your fungus on the rock of ages:
“new ways of living an adult life”

*

with a little help what explodes might still work
it’s morning again and you’re off
to reward yourself sweep the street
lift the bird then the cyclists
rearrange your life so that all the spirits are included
breakthrough tabernacle at livingstone road
two chubby children sort the razors from the apples
the head bard hands you a card says
welcome the lard it’s for your own good

*

all saints day
the internet is killing magic
the church is a mess
repercussions of no enthusiasm
for the realms of the unreal
“with generosity you can
rearrange someone’s life”
henry tried
the rock of ages hovers
it’s a good year for converting
so many saints
so many concrete houses
side effects of no sabe no
there goes the roof
and the only rose in the world
stranded

Nov 5 – 9

the era rolled off lake ontario
smelling of sumeria
a bird hops up and down
keeping its place in gravel
faye says emotion is in three places
and seagulls never surrender

*

“the whole thing is we are one person”
blind man with sensational focus
carries her lunch in a crumpled lady di gift bag
transmits “surrender your flags”
before the birds fall to sleep
srna is saving beans
the letter was sent
a little light feels the world
and the only thing left to destroy is my bed

*

the sign says universal daily service
morning after morning it means business
the dogs run loose at castlefield
saint valentine’s day is way off
one man says divide
one man says sum up
let’s all grow roses
buy tickets to cuba
improve our loss of control
put our money where our shoes are
stop long enough to see the breeze
spring the trap remember:
prince is the king of milwaukee
the boss is the boss of the boss

*

convenient convivial connivance
more triumph than i can stand
private people grieving publicly
public people unleashing tigers
“tears for the years you made me
drink beer” a wreath
for the thursday husband
who made it down the mountain
with unsteady hands and stolen apples
cloaked in the scent of hope
pink tubes deliver one side now
a conversation sometimes
there is love in the city

Nov 12 – 16

yours is a house with no chairs
just statues of small men
coffee sunshine
the stain on your sweater
virgin spasm
girls in the trenches
high clap jazz hands bloom
a siren in the air “get out the polis”
introductions: meet a mountain
you can’t say no to
put down your bottle

wait.

*

children without friendship
bracelets self-destruct tolerate
cold sores teach meek
horn pentecostals to accept
overcomers
red poppy red poppy red lest
we forget how to proliferate
how to sacrifice how
to raise the bar neatly
fold the losers’ flag

wait.

*

how
everyone talks
and you echo
you sunshine
you slow cascade
delightful you
how you delight
slow cascade
praise for november

Nov 19 – 23

nodes gnaw olympia’s throat
“the appeal is watching her self-destruct”
swans floating across concrete
plastic the most horrible bird
nests in the corner lot’s wife
is exhausted
a stoic man beside
a beautiful lady never licked
imagines a clown licking real letters
not indexical or static
bruisy swarm gut chat
mahem at salem
tazers and musharraf and
say something old and relevant
and not how great the sardines
and pink and essential the sensitive parts
it’s hard to stand
to ear another
h another wine
rosco -
we don’t like it
when you meow
preoccupations of occupation
“count on the cash house”
roses are impatient
“don’t wait on anyone; just go”

Nov 26 – 30

the primary ethical framework made warm and wet is organizing snow against her better judgment a best seller sucks her teeth at honky tonk (hockey talk) zamboni blaze quack grass “let go your head” “run just as fast as you can” give it away get away unlikely you turn giddy puff the magic relentless dragon nervous forecasts the banality of traffic of plumped little girls crushed separated by hue peachy pink trickle treacle dew

*

next stop
minnows not off the hook not dead in your belly
long nights in public washrooms not fair
what if the light indeed piously feeds the cross-eyed
paul pea sour toe c monkey cross-over poke pope steal
love acceptance the word echemelon the moon
the curl of the g g g long g
the little light and no avail the font
in the fountain bodies bury lone star plastic
the small vital things swans perched on industrial air conditioners
a window of discarded claws shells
a version that rhymes with three thousand years ago
and the trick to human happiness
when eight minutes of nit-picking
was all it took to fall asleep

Dec 3 – Dec 7

lunchbox shoebox mutiny
zip lip signal impervious
“say sorry stop whining”
hold your nose
the Other’s hand
flock not but flock
round an old cooter’s fury
glory bound dandruff flurry
heel to hound
eyeing its own tail
“not at my table
le droite eleve”
it’s true and okay
there are more ipods
than anyone can count
(who’s counting?)
it’s superball sunday
the citizens are galvanized
confident swearing by it
look! la nueva vida!
more flakes!

Dec 10 – 14

pigs eating ladies with pretty boots
and matching toques
forecast spring will come soon but
the telephone boxes will be empty

(file under public commitment:
it’s time to sing and dance again)

*

spleen splayed on hera’s altar
thy shy honey thigh there’s nothing
to pinch or crown why no
whine no bare it’s time to sing
and dance again happily
rhythmic statins blinking
skillless spectral constantly
happily in the darkness
happily “where’s that at?”
“if you want me ill be in the barn”

Dec 17 -21

8 voices

the turtle who was a cello:

“what did i know of love’s austere and lonely offices?”

baby god of thieves:

“offer wings as retribution”

the house that community built:

“care for the blade: care for the stone”

trophy girl (with one leg, one wig, roller-skates, and a serpent):

“upholding rules arouses your mom”

your mom:

“i hate it when you bring your trophies to the dinner table”

i ching:

“itching
leaching
lipo leaking
li po eaking
luck shun
lick shun
lick chin
lit chin”

one galaxy shooting radiation at another:

“mistake not noble life for inglorious death”

a fool’s tool:

“shhhhhhh”

Dec 31 – Jan 4

the cow’s dilemma:

how to
appease
without any
cheese

*

indiscriminate
since 2008
i watch tv
gather nothing
but numbers
are absolute
and momentum
apparently
begins in iowa?

*

path
through
the woods
two woods
on tv
it’s a
killing
spree
watch out
the u.s.
is looking
for h.d.
x3

*

neither the trees
nor the school teachers
in kenya are doing well
the boys move to cities
the girls dig wells
diagrams on the internet
confirm rampant fantasies
of peasant revolt

Jan 14 – 18

he understands clear nose
and soft hands
teeth counting pink suites and ties
one on vermillion blindly
thinks how children bury children
in the time it takes adults to sip
three teas
litter of disregard dear baby
freckled and sleek
how to follow water move antlerless
yet fast through water and wet
a handsome stallion sleeping till
i pass and the mustang
is german and the buddhist is errant
with desire to blend in blue
short a runner on a dime
stop at every other remembered outing
fields of heave ho hum mightily
night mare foal morning
static pattern and no one is
embracing the computer
is broken neither is he
in the sinuses the sunrises a
window sill of pigeon beaks
in unison ignored
the recursive gimmick, cavities
straight to the brain
a dentist’s gleaming package

*

he is righteous who shoots the breeze
“oh my ears and whiskers” sweetness on a stick
after mine own bloated heart
a girl undigested for the record
the prettiest illuminated leaf
was not broken or easily persuaded
today no one is bluffing
“today…i like people”

Jan 21 – 25

hair tangled mat man licks dog’s nose
sudan fumes mink oil double spaced
look at those margins! po po for people
another diagram to describe beauty he believes
ever after an avalanche and his family
sailing places worth hiding from new order avoidance
in community they showed off their shiny clean nozez
ignored the buy buy empower the hozez
tattled a tizzy through the woods
exuberant extruded suckling straight
strong true she won’t live he cried mother
may she “go faster faster” dear bessie
“go faster” don’t strangle on a tire
fly away bessie live

*

to ottawa to die to fuck the perfect architect
the architect ran away to fuck his liver
make digital conceptual art about liver as fucking
love as liver made valentine’s day look
oh sterile clammy concrete fondle the prickly
*evocative* beakers glowing bleakers!
fucking charez and guave and c’mon
“so what i’m fucking pregnant”
the computer big dig butt of ham did it
100 cents a gram after the buffalo
and bison whirr partner up to the sternum
hello kitty hello dolly hello promise
or don’t come at all 60 % “not one of our
identified priorities but we’ll take a look at it”
a strategic little plan a light a look! forward
the architect can’t acknowledge
neither his liver nor my liver nor any liver will
secure him a platform worth waiting on

Jan 28 – Feb 1 (where there is * there is *)

where there is carnage there is venom
where there is unity there is victory
where there is falsehood there is sin
where there is possessiveness there is violence
where there is force there is friction
where there is faith there is love
where there is love there is life
where there is love there is pain
where there is sorrow there is holy ground
where there is rhetoric there is persuasion
where there is doubt there is freedom
where there is grading there is boredom
where there is stillness there is depth
where there is contentment there is paradise
where there is neverland there is peter pan
where there is ahimsa there is infinite patience, inner calm, discrimination,
self-sacrifice and true knowledge
where there is arrogance there is poverty
where there is pride there is progress
where there is desperation there is change
where there is han’s laser products there is han’s laser service
where there is transparency there is increased trust
where there is broadband there is social networking
where there is ignorance there is neglect
where there is selfishness there is man
where there is confusion there is profit
where there is muck there is money
where there is greed there is blame
where there is condemnation there is redemption
where there is hemp there is hope
where there is longing there is possibility
where there is realization there is potential
where there is demand there is supply
where there is saltwater there is saltwater
where there is bait there are bass
where there is vinny there is sexy
where there is barilla there is italy
where there is coke there is hospitality
where there is interpretation there is subjectivity
where there is a will there is a way
where there is a heart there is a home
where there is smoke there is a fire
where there is polysaccharide there is polypeptide
where there is moose there is owl where there is sunshine there is an oriental red bicycle

Feb 4 – 8

there she is my love my taco bell
funny and comely i love her so
i’d buy her anytime a beard
it’s ladies like her earn back vulgarity
fly in the face a crummy princess
citizen napoleon applies his lipgloss shouts
“hey meathead show me your brisket”
next stop tenderloin high ho silver
sterling silver “the world inside
the world swims like a strong
black fish” razor scale of the core puss
call the sea men lame to carry away the prey
for less than a dollar a day nothing
should be trusted or remembered
or shot in the face for that matter
will they never learn not bull’s eye
the dot to walk it off hegelian
for you she’ll be a lair don’t be afraid
she is asking to be patronized
vanity un-fair rock salt and raw meat
across the street modello venezie rossa
hallelujah murial you come in 60 second blasts
and never finish a sentence bill is fatter
balding 12 years a good fit he doesn’t envy
her anything but flights of fancy
nickel nippled nancy reagan swivel
and cocked bracelets in his dreams band-aids a railway
acid on his handsome “this is faux.
and the shit you said about boys!” challenge
to the ugg. 12 steps look she is not eating
or making it up be advised there are great
winged creatures not made up swooping
to attack versaci knock-offs butter won’t melt
in a good girl’s mouth the price of cost
thank goodness a fever there is what the hell!
thank goodness a fever in his cockled heart

Feb 11 – 15

a man came up to me on saturday cloaked in a purple flag and he said hello young friend you shouldn’t be riding a bike in this weather can you spare 73 cents and i said that is very precise why 73 and he said because it is like 29 it works both sides of your brain and he wanted a beer and i smiled didn’t understand the both sides of the brain bit but did understand wanting a beer he said “pleasure to meet you. i am february. i am forever.” i said you are indivisible and the pleasured mine is mined.

*

12 months of waxing and shaping
sun gone (waning hairless, celebrating)
children horded unherd problem salve nothing
matters where there’s never a choice
but make do make noise and toys
and fuck tirelessly in the shade of a day’s work
plucky & clean & young in love

Feb 18-22

she leaves her montana running to get insulin
and returns to see her prize collection
of 40DD brassieres and her favorite wig
being driven away the wheel turning
over into faith though no ezekiel nor daniel
nor hope born of denial the lion’s done
the liars have smoked the cat out of the bag
to the quick the essence of hiding
support for vulgarity under a bushel
from the montana that changed a bird head
into a getaway car the winning team laden
one side fuming sometimes there is exhaust in the city

Feb 25 – 29

what the pipe the organs smoking
intestinal heat every day
gimp-legged stroke posse stoke
acts of divide and concur
of no sable no nylon
he who tows the line steels the feet
in spite the side burns jaw to street
chimney stacked pebbles stacked
means pebbles stacked or “o”
as in locked and bam bam
children by accident dead smoking
the roof or foundation (incredible)
standing lying taking it
to the last drop the bone white
imagine if of us the youngest were the first to go

Mar 3 – 7

when we recover paradise
it’ll be great we’ll whine and
yelp and howl and coo like
no tomorrow with no hope
or goals of liberation we’ll
bay “at once completely vacuous
and completely full” at the moon
even when it’s waning it’s 100%
we’ll get it without amortization
or will or bonds or cultural competence
just the dark side
saying i love love love love
the grip of habit
the feast of bias free commitment
to nothing collapsing

Mar 10 – 14

more than a promise he was an attempt
at a promise: he was an emotional truth
returning to the essence of feeling:
temptation, the brightest room in the house
“the luckiest fish in a barrel”
fish belly of light and luck and bones
he was luscious to the soft core
a clinical heap all cartilage salt-licked
inciting mutiny preserved
i remember hands that were fish
clammy, leechlike, always sucking,
also oily, oozing, enormous and tyrannical
deadly, mercurial, and splendid arrested

Mar 17 – 21

there’s a lost child
an untucked shirt
peeling face
gutless ritual
here’s an orange
perfectly peeled
the first time is magic
the second time is education
follow orders
think blood
a jungle
magnolias
look happy
dogs young poets
smooching publicly
lucky not to be in
philadelphia
“kill a del phia”
a right the second
commandment mother may i
pilgrimage to yankee stadium
and rip out the seats “you may”
“recriminatory litany of retributions”
nutty prohibitions
pass on pass over pass out
witchy naysayer
who is queer and tyrannical?
who is holding back her hair?
who is hungry?
who wakes us up?
who is jacked?
who is hungry?
who is chosen?
who raises the dead?
who threatened the birds?
who stole the child’s vital organs?

*

the foodcourt has enough bugs and raccoons
but not enough sunshine or raspberries
dufferin mall has birds!

Mar 24 – 28

everfeel goodwood wonderly
rosegully briarhill farfield castlefield
yen’s (at rogers) cleaver done
stonesthrow shantytown
hunter asknot all burn
wingold featherfield
old mews good mews

“did you talk to rebecca?”

“yes, i lied.” “i spat in her eye.”

Mar 31 – Apr 4

what with the hippopotamus
the ulcers and the crazy man
yelling at the construction workers
“did you think i’d be cruel”
you said (jaundiced and large)
(the homesteader in her pities the uppity,
is exhausted speaks kindly to the kidney bean
“little kidney bean you’ll pull it off,
husky flush, vertical bush, you’ll
pinken the brick of orthodoxy”)
the wheels go round and round
questions children and drunk people ask
large lady snoozing motorific implant
her purple eyelids “talk dirty to us”
janitorial supplies king tuck belly buster
club wagon circle bird reserved
slow avarice despite rhetoric
yes in fact yes i guessed i did

Apr 7-11

generational refusal to eat
to be born transnational into orthodentistry
in detroit its all about rampant externalism
sad and heroic turtles, prosthetics
and wigged not winged futures
singing victory singing “i cast you out, i”
impale you the highest heeled Good
smarting fresh starting smart
oil slapped face and silence
this is what you get
for getting too close for being broke
and dirty (unclean is worse)
and having no coins
having the wrong coins

*

it’s that time again, to sing and dance
8 am sunshine, triplets rippling
into a muddy morning three placentas
buried with pale seeds
permission rooting “help!”
cabbages crocuses tulips oozing
spontaneous lust for sauerkraut and small trees
on cold and lonely winter nights
the smell of fish on her hands
and the confusion of ceremony
of knowledge and of morning
confusion of this morning
and how many baby girls are waiting for their name?

Apr 14 -18

woman gives it all for mr right
patron saint of digitalis
D for dead man’s bells
“smell of honey
swallow of brine”
a heart in the city
no ears but a heart
a heart that can’t hear
god in the city is corn
(no whispering)
seed weed for the lesser
yellow underwing flying
at 150 red birds burning
silos chains change
figwort cupping his pinky

*

stories of wolves annual infants
second wives balls of hair
organs ingested “he was roasting me”
another weak strike and after that visitations
dustpan after dustpan hairy mary buffing the street
her burdened brother sings without belief
but chips ahoy! we are here
st. shared life pass the pickles
the gypsy pie the gutted library
where common people on the run
rush to try their hands again

Apr 21 -25

i’m especially proud of the butterflies
“no seriously, i am all night princess gates”
uncultivated promenade hymn to high men
“yer fishes er plump but taint enough legs on yer”
a dead spider huge in comparison
waiting for kindness that’s a penalty
a rush and a courtesy call
look that away scarves pinned
old men nursing babies it’s a business
they’ve changed four corner hustlers
vice lords maniac disciples have you changed?
“a little bit of mom a little bit of moses”
“the devil’s in the teeth” twice removed
i haven’t changed

Apr 28 – May 2

May 5 – 23

after sweaty betty she’s nobility
not by the book the communist’s daughter
“tough compassionate respectful a model”
working on pills in real life who believes
forsythia begonia impatience fuscia
there’ll be no chains when i get home “soon”
“in other words you don’t know” lilacs!
working class rural poor beer flattened
no beer remembered or reason like busty’s heart
sunflowers’ mission counter cows and pigs
hoe-down rows of green beans french cut-up
here’s a cucumber put salt on it
be a girl and if you do it right
everyone will be happy salted cut-up
not by the book happy and maybe you

*

there’s a person sleeping turtle
an abandoned body
strangers chasing green
a squirrel twittering (no internet)
a baby bird transfixed a.m. trans am
grandtheft auto guy cozy in his paradise
“and there i was rushing like a fool”
yearning for bountiful a soft city
“pent up to emerge in spring”
a living wage for our fleshy wishes
our fragile ruckus and no harm done
no harm gained we’re holding on
with our plastic bellies sky blue
like eyes blue like oh brother
can you spare a sister
is it ever too late to sing walrus
run flaming sambuca to the tree house
school for underage sex pre-masticated
J yelps after K limps after I
fall off strictly speaking fishy
the wagon packed to the gills
a slow bus up dufferin
“i know you stuff stuff” stuff stuffer
overstuffed double dutch gouda grolsch
my way of pitchin it farmer style
of falling and getting off before we met

*

we’re all going north no funny ideas
but gratitude to be out of the rain
and the birds are always okay in the rain
and shannon down there in florida
gluing communion cups
get thee behind me welfare boys!
bed is no place for our lady of assumption
gen x though you love gen y though
the father charged with daughter
let her jelly shoe get away all the way to pittsburgh
to the gulf of mexico the way of shannon
her red corderoy jumper passed on by the school nurse
mrs turbot who checked all the towns ears
and her deaf son not mute made a jewelry box
traded it for lumber for adirondack chairs
shoulda woulda coulda been anything
a whale’s wail in braile a plumber

*

if this is love where is sarnia?
rolling up the rim the yellow band
didn’t give up the grand
“turning learners into leaders”
eventual feed for ducks rabbits pigeons

May 26 – 30

red rover red rover i call old ladies
with modesty to turn over little girls
on their skateboards creating countries
all shaved not shaved trimmed
ladies and their scarves
high heel converse all-stars
lacy hats dirges
men and their fancy cars
reliably “nothing’s free, life is hard
you must learn to deprive yourself”
society for the introduction of bare breasts
little jimmy sneaking sally up the alley
deprive yourself, introduce constraints!

Jun 2 – 6 (vacation #1)

went to many parking lots with old perfume grand marnia
salamanders (clean water salamanders) fuzzy baby geese
talked meat and potatoes sandwiches traffic mama hiss
tried injury and healing still always scratch
would rather quit my job then live moody with good skin
good moody skin his big fist love rocking nepal
adaption to bondage adoption to bandage first era of wrongs
boyscout chauvinism laughing armies forthwith
swallow the evidence kick the athletic and flexible
preacher man a twin an un-official picture
domestic collateral the girl is mystic the boy damon
the dad a trumped up “something’s out there” kind of guy
the law of daily suppression of gimme more love more django
blonde boy tall curly hair round glasses occasionally all things good
a priority over public our lives nothing doing
the long-term plan for self-improvement
maybe an inheritance

Jun 9 – 13

headless believers singing spring is in the here
two ladies crocheting yellow sun stacked brown arms
their mood is high but their parts are numb
though the world made the orange it did not
recognize the orange impatience moves us
elephant on top of elephant on top of turtle
not related to pigs though the noses are similar
i’ve myself asked the same question of myself
28 degrees in arizona and still a cloth
counterpunctual the bus beads at davenport
ya-mon miles of mies of i cream conventional
missionaries of the precious blow forget the yard
the glorious pinwheels rent out my hands
brain turn off books jump from 150 thousand
break the sound barrier spit

Jun 16 – 20

a reverence for wood for potpourri for apples
not worms the pronged clench brought to bare
plastic gardens fade not curious
pop! the rising semaphore and all the tongues
(fancy sneakers) roses in full bloom
the smallest weathervane on the smallest house
porcelain prince and princess in the window
three feet high tall short multi-sided vinyl
russian (slow down) discount paradise
huddled in the rain smoking a headless chicken
leading directly to eagles and fascism
an all night texas hold ‘em
adult spa adult worship adult assembly
12 o’clock cross necklace 10% of her kernels to the birds
2 o’clock hills and all the years she carved “bark” into bark
capitalized on shame and cybersex the human prayer
“pilot my life” what lives under his nails

little bunnies 10 broken chairs tree count same

*

an obdurate leach on the littlest peach
“i am eager to encourage you and be encouraged by you”
collecting no frills bags / sweating under what kind of bird is it
giii? give up? time to read / hang with a puffed chest
symmetrical sells / if 20% is acceptable cow tipping
calculate big brother big hand extended cellular
singing like roses like booty slap
accountable recovery/ true authority / reliable dominion
a cameo on her finger calming but for the acne
dying in uniform and never making-up lost time

Jun 23 – 27

the real is remembrances, is pittsburgh
a city on a hill full of big and smiley people
hiding pickles in pine trees
recording hip hop & country music in trenches
tailgating, at three rivers, “look!”
five years and untold diseases later
self serve miracle and beer bar no more
nor second lives nor indictments nor letters
dear cbc, it all starts here
“another prime site secured
by sloppy’s demolition end excavation”

*

merrily flapping octave chanute once predicted
an age of peace and goodwill because men could fly
the same old lady helping the same old man
up the same (warhol is from pittsburgh) concrete street
past gardens: all pink, all purple, all yellow, all red
(new library, new intersection) oh so tender! the ligament!
gottlieb’s lyric, the brink (a fire in the hatch),
or as you called it, a lichtenberg figure

*

men of a certain age are casual
they match their vests with their socks
banter quietly and predictably
take out the garbage and so forth
seldom punch each other out

Jun 30 – Jul 4 (vacation #2, see “buckeye” posted on ther)

Jul 7 – 11

“is this really me?” stalking the wild asparagus
scratching at mars for dirt a land grab
a home jacked for anything wild.ca
anything faster than her tongue knotting
nothing on the block wails like celine dion’s
quebecois heart vines strewn a tigerlily
tiny flowers ripped squished future tomatoes
a morning pocked with ifs and declaratives
guilt not noticed before
a man with two minds weak eyes a ruler
“she felt a wound in a place
where she was not even vulnerable”
the way things were…
braided pigtails penny candy
aloe vera for a burn

July 14 – 18

hello whoever you are
staving off loneliness standing in an alley
your telescope pointed at shopper’s drug mart
“an ordinary radiance” a “cocktail waitress”
if you like, a rebirth of wonder!
stay away from the mob her worker said
turn yourself in and you’ll only get 6 months
so she pawned her watch and white gold earrings
pulled back her hair her beautiful black eye
woke up rich and brimming confident laced
up and painted her fingernails orange lips pink
took her hand away from her face it’s habitual place
“no i never capped my teeth” but i’m super
modern smoke and variety awake and everything vibrates
mythic ethos bathos pathos
call her stupid and it’s not my game
call her stupid and it’s your game
it’s your liver pecked for all eternity

Jul 21 – 25

winging through alexander’s dark band
his heart a tulip tiara and dove
umbrage of umbrella (light posts flowers leaves!)
bird in her hand drooping the differences cracked
knuckle syncopation hands covering faces
hands folded neatly children perched attentively
lips pursed nervously old ladies with tattoos for camouflage
double vision that’s how to see it with hope
water the garden wait for a single seat
on the left side (mercy) a rack a pitter pattern of people
self-weaving hidden codes in concrete once a fox a farm
now flocks of frocks and plastic flowers
(the steadfast variety) and users
flirting for favour flavour fame
(let’s make a safety word and exit strategy)
below, a crucifix dangles next to a strawberry air freshener
and lake ontario sparkles in the rearview mirror

*

thermos drooped cigarette out and ready
frayed corduroys stained eyes strained
one lazy lid bedhead cement dust battered boots
he mutters to himself he owes it to himself
so he tells her straight out tells her from behind
tells her pulling down her dress tells her purple eye
tells her how hard it is being better
than everyone and the cramp of commitment
of yielding of love and oncoming traffic

Jul 28 – Aug 1

freshness delivered to your door for all occasions
“furnural arrangements” this occasion:
love on the bus on the street amazing grace
no crack and life is good happy teleflora
i can’t believe you died that way
and your pretty wife estranged
and spit out big girl palpitation and thud
sunshine on garbage the western union
out of a home find the richness in yourself
and there live free and fragile
the new jerusalem promises saris hugging saris
and no taliban for a young girl with strong legs
to run from or fear for playing soccer with strangers
she plants a fig seed and it rains all summer
there’s no apology for roses incarnations
tango without teaching the mind and body
rehabilitated in the morning a plastic hand
looks real “ooh la la” fresh meat and conversation
whatever it takes to knock us out
how about algae? hydrolysis?

Aug 4 – 8

angels congeal around a found hound
a house made of fondling of birds
and plastic cornfields through a window
over the allen an exoskeleton wings still
extended for charm & vertigo
beyond the highland mist debt free eternity
let’s “spread the feeling” both ways
& not take none of it personally
idle praise and petitions the sunrise parked out back
the town fountain cross-eyed tasting vanity
begging is for free a ready proverb
a night of drawn-on eyebrow violence
a broken foot her elegant crutch
pounds the pharmacia with concerns
never straight faced high round belly hair streaked
drop another coin in the slot & she will show you
cool treats hot eats psychic bianca
at the bustop prayers to mecca

Aug 11 – 18

the lawn ornament of canadian poetry is “occupied”
neither hired nor resigned his mob ships trainloads of
red bull in exchange for figments of bungalows
picabia grins (talks of peregrinations), “hey nabakov,
begonia looks good on ya” and complete sentences
slumped over the wheel spilled coffee ne’er to swill
19 billion sluggards passed in the limn beautiful shawls
mercifully cover cracked plastic runners
a dung beetle curls in their soles

Aug 15 – 22

panning for gold maureen says “posse up!”
silver linings tis not the season
she ain’t deer ain’t pre-owned
no more sore and seventeen no more john’s
disproportionate nose to chin hunters
concerned with tinted windows the frequency
the pitch no commitment mini binze shadowing a nurse log
charred field now fabricated interaction over
strawberries and bananas cut knees at beerrose
briar hell don’t step on her doubt it’s sensitive
like ears a heart glazed over catachresis
honey go sweetly and if you can slow down
the expiration date of a friend of mine
canned faces pantomime on boxes
not entirely realistic or important

Aug 25 – 29

twin monsters of self-discovery
of sudoko we admire the same flower
the mottled legs of a diabetic
cracked skin could be a turner
not useful nor fearful she waits
for the day eventually desperate
to utter a straight ortho fairy tale
a pretty smile naked in the dumpster
digging out next week you’ll have
a grandma with her leg torn open
a potato in the oven an envelope of dirt
that repeats nothing repeats she sits up
a rose rises to meet her feet

Sep 1 – 5

may the rose rise to meet your feet
may you “spasm when you sleep”
every moment unlimited a 7000 yr old
brick these ashes and cash money
a grand opening replete with raelian groovers,
harper boozers, sussudio snoozers,
gilded like st. therese and sanctified
reborn a peasantry worth defending
penumbra of a blue uniball
poverty still musters complaints
fold the yellow wait
til sundown til the count is in a tower
tic toc her bruised and swollen hip
swaddled silver on the river
murmurs of snapdragon
“just grow that shit” i.e live together
like the birds like fowl

Sep 8 – 12

trees and portuguese like troubadours
at the truck stop sour milk slopped
blue eyeshadow eyes lock step and barrel
she is green and special a public benefit
“victimized by her own rescue complex”
the mom says “wipe your face or you won’t
get anything ever” the wrinkled closet kid
slouches holes abandoned no parts delivered
he blooms blue blooms on the floor
her wormish veins wriggle torward
nicky in the stacks and steven staring
variegations of love burping a naive trap
a social species caught wanting isolation

Sep 15 – 19

exertion of purple and grocery buggies
sunshine on the west side
ladies with scarves their faces stretched
common drapery everywhere full of leaving
nemo being someone hailing
cyclamen next to mum thin and worn
counting her fingers pots and pans
in plastic tense olympia reclines among slogans
goys and boils the rest stop learning
despite good intentions timmy’s double
memo to mickey how many served?
fish eyes on every corner
a critical slump papered over
“ignore what you can”
not discounted –discounted discount –this passage
through the woulds was woulds
path into and out of woulds and ever
after roses woulds and on and on

rebecca tannetje houwer copyleft (with nod) 2007 to 2008