frogs or toads alongside the roads

(click title for fun frog facts!)

driving to Marshall
on a warm spring eve
sun setting behind us
reflecting off
the little strip
of grainy asphalt
worn smooth
called county highway TT
(Simon and I call it the Pi-way)

elevated a few feet
along gravely ditches
above unplowed cornfields,
grassy lowlands,
reedy wetlands

windows open
windy as we pass
temporary ponds
laid across the freshly
exposed farmland
snow blanket disappeared

breezes
toss in
something
wonderful

strange
cranking
noises fill
our twilight interior

chirping
in cycles
like a wind-up toy
clockwork
unseen

tigers
and leopards
dating
hope to be mating

it's getting late
otherwise I'd stop
and listen
to that surround

let it resonate
around
my cochlea
and tympanic

intense
hypnotic
mechaníc


(these little videos are from this website: http://www.midwestfrogs.com/ go there -- it's cool!)

worm castings

is it something
to sustain?

some kind of
nutrition?

can we feel
heal
have a meal?

together.

this is how
it ends
is it?

in a field
somewhere

in a compost
heap
urostyle
fused
evolved
solved

each part

marking
time
by the
notches
etched

spending
too much
saving
nothing

reduce
reuse
recycle

he won't
even ride
the bicycle

that's OK
just another
notch
etched
upon
nickel
and
brass

missing
class
breaking
glass

substituting
sex
for
love
and
kink
for
sex

it's OK
though
everything's
OK

because
nobody's
ever going to see
each part
together

they'll
never see it all
together

each part
still seems whole

Odoscope

in my ear
high pitched tone
slept straight through

the heat
turned up
under the skins
terribly tired
soaked
woke up

the nurse came
to look
(who knew)

She gave me
a bunch of her's
so I'll take one

I blew you off
Love

Beatnik gone

you hurt me

it hurts
to think about you

it makes
me sore

all my organs
constrict
into tiny
little knots
deep under my skin

adjusting
my position
doesn't really
help at all

it makes
me sore

it makes
me sorry

but I worry
that without you
there might not
be any

monolith

entropic
thunderstorm
reorganized
unrecognized
but still
a bit
familiar

only one
single stone --
monolith

'til
it cleaves
forming more
from that one

the
monolith

that monolith
inside
that
undesigned
chaotic
mass

empty

there's nothing more
inside

just empty

no buoyant
continuance

no getting
right back up

it's all gone

no brushing
it all aside

the failure
is inside

where it's all
just empty

my little seed

stolen moments
breath on ice
flesh on flesh
dreams entice

long emotions
mending hearts
time ticks by
bending starts

little seeds
rest inside
fertile chances
missing tide

calling over
man his boy
bring your love
plant some joy

over most
only stones
keep true love
within their bones

cozy cove

I follow the shadows
they turn across the wall
as the cars pass
into the night
outside
my room

in my bed
I snuggle down
under
soft sheets

my nose presses
into the pillow
and when I inhale
there you are
my genie
my muse

I want to run out
into the street
stop the cars
from passing
stop them
and tell them
everything

the wind picks up
tossing tree tops
swaying to the
drumming thunder

now lightning
breaks the dark
no cars pass
rain begins

I breathe again
your scent
your mystic apparition
is an envelope

I nestle cozy
in the cove
between
your chest
and arm
I am home
no storm
no harm

swallowed a fly

swallowed a fly
inhaled it actually
it made me choke
but eventually
it worked its way
all the way through me

fecund

well preserved
a harbor
within
a rocking
torrent

stealing
inside
murmurs
whispers into
the future

unsettled
float
bobbing
under
flesh

light
for timid
beacons
racing
through
fog

touch

a fear
too near
to the part
of my heart

that beats
me up
and bruises
my history

stitches
across the gap
a sutured
strap

I hang
from there
and dare
to draw
conclusions
by connecting
the contusions

once your touch
made me warm
now it makes
me bleed

I ate it up

glanced at you
over the page
of the newspaper
the type presented
a special session
and blistered
over it's
noise
a certain
decision
I've made
to ignore
the more
obvious
signs
of
your distraction,
your dissatisfaction,
your dysfunction.

I fly friendly

a fire fly
flew
from a leaf
to a branch
to a blade of grass

it picked itself
up and off
the twig
and sent
itself
drifting
zig zag
through
the night

it teased
my eye
set my heart
in awe
oh to be that beautiful!
that you cast your light
glowing green
onto every scene

through the shear curtain of night
its distortions and misperceptions
uncalculated
so random
and bizarre.

I start to follow your path
through the tar of night
then you shut off your light
as if to tease.
I lose you.
but then over there,
another light.
could it be my old friend?
or is it another
I need to make anew?

pose

soma
nocturnal
fire

some
breech
beckons

deliver
onto
around

misty
absinthe
bliss

rest
reforms
stroma

a gift

I have a gift for you
it has no mass or relative dimension
but it is heavier than gold
and infinite as the universe

it has no specific location
but is everywhere at once

my gift is intimate as a kiss
but you can't even hold it in your hands
or behold it with your eyes
its form exists beyond our limited perception

one can't ever understand
exactly how or why or when —
that, not even the giver
can comprehend

I bare this gift with utmost respect
as I have seen its awesome power
In giving it to you, I only gain it greater, and greater

such a precious gift —
yet it is not unusual to return it
which is why I'm sending it back to you —
hoping to keep it, forever

I'm a goner

all the days
and nights
left wondering
are finally over
and now I at least
know
and since I know
I can put it to rest
sort of
and since I can
put it to rest
sort of
I can move
into a new
phase
finally
and start
building on it
and all I want
is for it
to treat me
gently.
anyways.