30 June 2024 (30 June 2024) ( )

Attempting to write my annual June 30 poem, 

but I'm dealing with plumbing problems, so

I'm distracted. How can anyone accomplish anything

while having plumbing problems? Plumbing problems

are probably responsible for the end of the world!

June 30 June 30 2023 2023

This day in history:

    wars, fires, plane crashes.

This poem. 

Molly Parker is born. John Quelch dies

    hanged (he was a pirate). 

This year: it's Corvette Day (the sports car)

Social Media Day (ha)

National Watch Day (as in wristwatch, 

    not spectator) (I think.) 

and International Asteroid Day

    (not the sports car, rather, rocks

    in space). 

Mourning the Savvy Gentleman

The savvy

gentleman, being no help,

will trick

food into the pan

and wait for freezing

snow to melt

 

rather than melt

the snow. The savvy

gentleman is freezing

to death. Help!

He would pan

for gold rather than trick

 

’r treat, or trick

’n’ cheat, melt

the gold down, and pan-

handle like a savvy

traveler, never asking for help,

even when freezing

 

to death. The ol’ freezing

to death trick.

Help!

It will melt

the heart of the most savvy

cynic, like Zamfir, master of the pan

 

flute. (The pan

flute, so cool it’s freezing,

chick-magnet of savvy

hipsters. Not.) It’s no trick

to melt

hearts on a help

 

line for self-help

addicts if you’re a pan-

like god. Will snow melt

hearts, freezing

unprovoked? Will early spring trick

the savvy

 

gentleman, eating a tuna melt? God help

us all, both the savvy and the pan-cake-eating,

freezing-yogurt-eating, and other trick-food-eating masses.

 

Love's Circus

I claimed to be all out of tears,

though I’m sure I’d just heard that phrase somewhere

and thought it sounded hardboiled. Like

something a detective would say to a beautiful woman

who is not impressed. And still, I was sad,

but not sad so much as resigned to the whims of clowns.

 

I claimed to be whole. But that was a front, in clowns’

makeup, a fake-out, a mask with drawn-on tears.

In reality, I was far from sad.

In reality, I was off somewhere,

looking for a home, looking for the woman

with whom I was in love, and who I didn’t even like.

 

That’s not true, either. In fact, I was nothing like

a man in love—and much more akin to a clown’s

saggy ass. And in truth, the reason was a woman.

I think. Though it was really hard to see through the tears,

to see the horizon of perspective, off somewhere

beyond the edge of town, at the intersection of desperate and sad.

 

By noon the next day I was tired of this sad

sack complaining, and I resigned myself to act like

a grownup, over lunch somewhere

expensive, and then coffee, at the place clowns

go to die, drowning in their own tears.

All of this to impress a woman!

 

Had I been a woman,

I’d have been repulsed by this sad

posturing—the artificial tears

and unconvincing tales of woe. Like

a bar where only clowns

drink, acting like nowhere is somewhere.

 

I wanted to go somewhere

else, somewhere new, with the woman

of my dreams—not a nightmare filled with clowns.

I wanted to be through with this sad

life, and reengage like a butterfly, like

a cloud, like a rainbow sprung from God’s tears.

 

You clowns! I know you’re hiding somewhere,

behind your tears, behind the love of a woman,

where happy is sad. But we’re all alike.

June 30, June 30

What happens when you outgrow your reality?
This.
     —30 June 2020

phone

I can't find my phone
I can't even call it
with my phone
because it doesn't work.

Past Members of Tangerine Dream

Edgar Froese

Lanse Hapshash

Kurt Herkenberg

Volker Hombach

Charlie Prince

Steve Jolliffe

Klaus Schulze

Conrad Schnitzler

Christopher Franke

Steve Schroyder

Peter Baumann

Michael Hoenig

Klaus Krüger

Johannes Schmoelling

Paul Haslinger

Ralf Wadephul

Jerome Froese

Linda Spa

Zlatko Perica

Iris Camaa

Bernhard Beibl

Mildly Prohibited

Chairs
Blankets
Weapons
Misters
Sleeping Bags
Umbrellas
Sunglasses
Kegs
Furniture
Carpeting
Dogs
Golf Carts
Smoking
Hats
Nitrous Tanks
Totem Poles
Flags
Bug Spray
IDs
Music
Shoes

Headline News

Randy Russell Takes Hit
(submits resignation)
FAKE NEWS

The Great Loves of My Life

Clipper Star
Pacprincess
Hong An
Pacific Wisdom
Dorthea Oldendorff
Poseidon Honor
Ocean Phoenix
Tetien
Sea Prestige
Anapoe
Andros
Sea Emerald
Michelle
Pacific Governor
Atlanticway

Leaves

With the autumn leaves
she leaves, and
leaves my love life
on leave.

June 30, June 30

Since last time
everything has doubled,
and in some cases doubled
again. Though not
everything. I know that's
not what you want to
hear.

June 2, June 2

Poetry analytics
anal tics

Hot bath.
I feel much better.

Timing

I'm eating The Great American Ice Cream Novelty before
reality sets in.

It All Came Apart

It all came apart
inferior glue, and poor craftsmanship
and loose lips
and too much fun
while it lasted
while it was all that mattered.

Ad Infinitum

Though (typo)
Through (typo)
Though (typo)
Through (typo)

I'm My Biggest Fan

I turn the fan on, I turn the fan off...

June 30

Back to this index
except, like Sinatra, a few here, a few there, no dates
no direction
I feel no index.

No one can complain coming back
in 2013
but I've got an index
in this poem, another year gone by
because no one will look here.

No apologies for
me coming back
about something
as there are no dates
and here safely
like whispering to a hole
there are no dates here, and
there is no index.

The White-breasted Nuthatch

The white-breasted nuthatch
appealed to my basest longings
her breasts like silken tofu
probably

though, the consummation
of her impatience was
interrupted when
her boyfriend texted her
he must be psychic, I
thought. 

Time Wasn't

It never was.

Not Sure

The cat
is not sure.

Left

After a while
there was nothing
left.

A Miracle

That was grand
but now I'm high and dry
on the first day of autumn
generously.

My Cat Can Talk

Got him a job in telemarketing
now he supports me
but he won't shut up.

He Went On And On

...about its virtues.

June 30th, June 30th

—apologies to Richard Brautigan...

I think I'll go back to bed
and start the day over.

Christmas

Eve, Day...
...darkness.

I Don't Want To

All I want to do is eat Chinese food,
and walk around.

If You Say So

It's time to bring in
the experts.

I'm Not The Best One To Ask

You are.

To The Ends Of The Earth

Then what?

The Sun Always Sets

Still, things are crooked,
and there's too much to do.

They Asked Me If I Was Happy

"I am now," I said.

Neverending

Slight movement from air
deep under the sea.

Things Could Always Get Worse

Should should should
shroud.

Written while my back was turned and the floor was covered, sometime last summer.

The carpets the room.

Last Up The Stairs

Last up the stairs,
First to the street.

Something with a photo.

This is where
you can find it.

June 6, 2010

June 2, June 2

(untitled [revisited])

Mike Hauser
Badger Mascot
Port Sandusky Restaurant
Mineola Diner
Stephanie Katona
Rattlesnake Island
self portrait
This Book Will Save Your Life
Markley's
Unabomber's Shack
Nuevo Leon
Paramount Studios
Duane Thorpe
Pelee Island Sunset
fresh strawberry donuts
Infinity Donuts
screw head
plate-o-food
synonyms for "said"
"your name here"
Las Vegas panorama

(untitled)

Mike Hauser
a hat
Paramount water tower
Bagaceira
a bird
the hole in Buffalo Street
Anita O'Day
pink donut
Secret of the Caves
The Blue Hole
self-portrait with pink fish
the moon and two planets

June 2, June2

(no poem)

(untitled)

Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Chunk Dark Chocolate Nantucket Crispy Cookies
Firm Tofu
Paper Towels

June 2, June 2

Diddley Dead At 79
Diddy Slams Diaz Rumors

He Was Hungry

He was hungry, so he made himself a snake.

(untitled)

so is Choward's Violet candy

To The End Of The Line

Spent the morning at the Delancey farm, helping out with chores like painting some recently repaired fence. Got out of milking, however! Left with a dozen of the freshest eggs you can imagine.

Once over the river, the land spread out on the long island like a terrible, endless job. Looked for someone named Marcy. There was no one by that name.

Is Hewes another spelling for Hughes? Or is it related to hewn, like hewn stone, which is what this city is built on. That, and—like the Tower of Babel—a mountain of the piled bones of the bright-eyed and optimistic.

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway. They say there's always magic in the air. They say the women treat you fine on Broadway... wait... that's a different Broadway.

Central nervous system time zone casting library park America.

What is a Knickerbocker, anyway? It is the name for those trousers that always seem to be on the verge of falling down, first made popular by Dutch settlers in the 18th Century in what is now known as New York, whose religious views prevented them from wearing belts or suspenders.

Myrtle is the street I always confuse with Flatbush and Flushing (Flatbush and Flushing because they both start with "F" then "L" then a vowel, and Myrtle because it's the street I always confuse with Flatbush and Flushing). Myrtle always makes me think of "Myrtle Gordon" —the character in Opening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977) —and if you ever saw that movie, whenever you hear the word "myrtle" you would think of Myrtle Gordon, too.

Had to kill alota Seneca to make this place safe for my wives and child. Give 'em a stop on the subway make 'em happy. Now shut up and drink yer sweet wine.

Used to be a Forest here, had to cut it down to make room for all the shitty cars to park. Left a tree.

Fresh Pond. Yeah, right.

Middle Village always used to make me think of Middle Earth. At least until they made a movie out of Lord of The Rings, which essentially bludgeoned my imagination, on the matter, to death. 

Paradise Casino is a sprawling, billion dollar entertainment complex, operated by former Native Americans, once relocated to Germany who have returned in order to take advantage of a tenuous— soon to be abolished—gambling law and taxation loophole.

The once grand and mythical El Dorado, due to not paying off, lack of respect, and general cultural decay, became Eldorado, at first a place tawdry and cheap, and later, just plain squalid.

The Rules of Heaven: No smoking. No dogs allowed. No bedbugs. No anxiety. No disease. No art. No work. Clean bathrooms. Temperature controlled. No need to stir the peanut butter.

Nirvana was also the name of a band who sold 75 million records whose name was originally Skid Row, a term that originated as Skid Road, in Seattle, where Nirvana ended up. Skid Row has also referred to The Bowery, in New York, not far from where this train originated.

Sloppy Joe's, the last stop on this line, was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

Jealous Of My Own Shadow

Joined with
each other for
all time we’re
lovers completely
out of bounds and
under the radar top
secret.

Open doors and you’re afraid you’ll
find new lovers where
my heart used to connect to
yours.

Oh, I know
we don’t really own anything and we
never possess anything at all.

Silently in the back of my mind
her memory is
alive as if it were here, but I’m
dead now because it’s all
over and it
will never come back.

Bad Letter

(I was hurried)
I sent a bad (I chose pretentious stationary)
letter, and even (I didn’t connect my thoughts) though
it’s rare to get a letter (I only wrote about me)
at all these days, is it possible
(I was boring) that a bad letter
is worse (I was depressing)
than no letter at all?
(I apologized in advance)

The Ballad of Day by Day

The ballad of the blessed “I owe you”
played out caustically at the Ghost Drum Apartments
in the glum evening while the cat’s paw
inadvertently grazed any passersby within reach.

The day’s advanced hue
agreed with the skipper of the rink oiler
sewn together with the day’s ballad
that oath I was harassed by: “I owe you.”

Paw dashed off the ballad as he and Hydra swayed
harassed by obsessive seeds they owed the thugs
shouting acceptance of them on sight.

Paw adds chaff day by day
bashfully afraid to withdraw from deal hunger.

He agreed to the eye gift
as the Arctic Fleet team aptly raged a heating party
they ate their way west as thirty yodel herds
heated the western air to a flaw ballad he had ha-ha-ha-ed.

The oath I harassed to owe now acts as fetus, okay?
Aptly, the weal hue agreed with rink oiler
sewn together west on the airboat I harassed you with
the ballad of apt paw dashed away and wreaked
in agreement with the rink oiler.

The western airway gaggled the oily few into a yawn ballad
then harassed owed thong to accept suck on the dashboard.

We agreed with the rink thief
about how the west air had hewn the airflow
the ballad harassed now acute and dumb with paw prints
on the dashboard far away from the “k” tool.

I agreed to the jail oath “thou rink is oily”
played out caustically as west air aptly raged
the ballad of obsessive day by day
the skipper agreed that life is oily.

Easter Sunday

Tom ato Ketch up
Pour able Mus tard
Supe rior Cof fee
No More Hot Cho colate
Fru it Ju ice
Lem on ade
Cran berry Ju ice
Or ange Ju ice
Ora nge Ju ice
Supe rior
War ning
War mer
7
Om ega
Ap pet iz ers & Sal ads
Tha nk You.

Carnelian

The only thing that is remembered is
redness in the dark. The slaughter at
the drive-in serves customers whose
appetites hold the spiritual accountable.
Room for dessert and an assortment
of insensitive variations
of a loving manner.

The starlight swims in the milky lake.
You can see its depth, but you can’t see
into it. Anxious and worldly, the fleshy
chromatically tuned bells obtain a
meandering course, cutting rather than
tearing, tearing rather than cutting.
A removal of merrymaking, a removal
of meat.

Time is opposed to eternity. It leans
over to one side in a headlong manner
an organized program of exhibitionist
travesty to illustrate the effect of grief
on the variable color of human flesh.
From pale to the grayish yellow
of tooth decay.

The effort to avoid omissions gives
emotional support to the irresponsible
in the face of the sphinx. The unread
books are quickly spent. Warm weather
means trouble. There is no longer life
on Mars.

(untitled)

I am forever waiting
behind four or five oranges
each with its own place to go
rolling along in the twilight.