astronauts

there were several children, and they were all spoiled
in ways that made you think of milk.

and when you looked at them,
you wanted to use the expression
"high time"
to the full extent of the law.

at last weeks dinner party
where everyone was invited
even if they didn't show up
someone mentioned something
about people they’d met down at cape kennedy
with the air of an expiration date
under their collars.

jane said we shouldn’t talk about these things,
that there were better things to talk about,
and that she was looking for an extra grill rack.

that night in bed i told jane that i’d hoped they’d become astronauts
and spent their life out in space
making some sort of contribution
or studying how long man can survive on ice cream alone.

the next morning while jane slept i got up out of bed
and washed all of last night's dishes.
i put on some cut offs, and threw four things into the dryer
with a dryer sheet.

out my window i saw several glaciers
moving by the window very slowly
and just out of sight.

3 new jams up at funnel pages

so. there are three poems up at funnel pages.
for those of you unfamiliar with funnel pages, it is a website functioning as both an events calendar and a community review of art in philadelphia.

i am waiting

when he finally got out of the pond
the water in his ears and eyes froze
in a matter of seconds, and then
his body slowly lay down on the ice.
she was watching by the window,
wondering when certain things would return
like any color other than white
or tin can telephones
or a new dawn, a new day,
and she wondered would the ice in his head recognize the ice from the pond
and what this meant in the greater scheme of things.
and then there was the ice that was probably in his pockets
the pockets in which she had always placed
those little packs you shake to make them warm,
and she wondered if the postman was coming today.
there was a package she had been waiting for
for an exceptionally long period of time.

it was said by many that he walked a path as straight as the interstate

he walked in to the shoe shop and asked if he could buy that pair of shoes,
“that pair right there,” indicating which pair with his left hand.
the man behind the counter said "i am sorry. you cannot."

he replied "i have crawled through the hills,
setting fire to every house i could see,
until the whole town looked like a giant light bulb
and the rains came,
like a shower,
or a garden hose
operating on an automated timer.
afterwards i walked past a box of wild hornets
just to get here."
"OH NO!" exclaimed the salesman,
"a box of wild hornets!"

"yes", the man replied
"a box of wild hornets."

"i am sorry," said the salesman "but we are closed.
and if i make an exception for you,
i have to make one for everyone
and then my cost of living would be defeated
and me along with it.
also if you do not leave soon i will call the police
because we do not appreciate arson in this town."

the man looked at the salesman, and gave him his best understanding look.
he walked out into the darkness,
and crawled through the hills.
days later, he emerged,
bringing back several runaway fathers
and the townspeople rejoiced.

with his newfound good will,
he got himself a wife, and settled down.
they had three children who all achieved moderately good grades
and two of which played soccer for several years.

every night when everyone was asleep,
he would go into the basement
and invent a small model of a town
and when he had finished construction,
he would slowly and methodically set every house on fire,
and wait for the rains to come.

let's spitball some ideas

i walked past the cool out corner and there were four people
who had apparently needed to cool out.

although the sun was up, everything had the air
of an interior lighting scheme
and even the birds sounded like something out of a motion picture.

my exact feelings
were almost beyond description
and i was thinking about them
very intently
while a pigeon flew
directly at me
from the other end of the block.

the air smelled like hot dog
juice and sauerkraut
and almost everyone looked like they'd shopped
in the same closets as their neighbor
while i thought about the act of slowly
borrowing everything in your room
item by item
and placing it in a far smaller room
that i was building
for just this purpose