The Chat Room

sound coalesced
from chatter
from scatter
blown to fluted glass
yet unfixed

magic dances
swirl and freeze
a frieze in time
unrealized
yet sublime

Massachusetts Massacre

A Massachusetts pallor sets my soul
Aquiver, cloying vapor, no escape
From pending loss, of dreams digested whole.
Election leaves depression in its wake.

But one year since Obama set us free
When Slash! The strings our every move controlled
Sliced by Hope's blade, regained our liberty
The puppeteers their toys cast in their hold.

Their trap, a liar in a pickup cries,
"I'm one of you!" Compelling puppet brings
A veiled agenda, writ by moneyed ties
Four million puppets blithe retie their strings.

"I am not dead!" the year old baby cries.
The facts quash Truth! I mourn while Freedom dies.

Slap. Wrap. Stick. Too thick.
Willing Workers On Organic Co-op.
Source. Label. Price unstable.
One wave. In the basket drop.

Slap. Wrap. Too thin bin.
Craggy boss with one-word Fix.
"Add," grunts. Fragment shunts.
Wrap again. The member picks.

Slap. Wrap. Styrofoam
Blue for bluefish, white for meat.
Shift ends, now go home.
Shelf of free-range cows complete.

Shrink wrap. Butcher's knife
Hair nets, gloves, tools of the trade.
Buy our food, prepare, serve kids
Your dollars my employment made.

Slap. Wrap. Simple tasks
Mindful no-mind members' gift.
Link intention with your meal;
Collective will creates your shift.

Adoption

niño
parents teacher rabbi
bilingüe
I turn a page
parientes
ask que sucedrá
el va a leer la Tora
his golden hand grips
el yad de plata
india ink swims in parchment



they wonder
amigo que no conocemos
responded to a post
para traductor en su templo
faulty spanish
no falta corazón
the child his parents
ticotora judiotico
love needs no dictionary
orgullo sin traducción



In a day my own
judiolatinos chapin-ebraos
lisp letters off twisted tongues
einam y'cholim they can't
no pueden
erase the retroflex
from the awrrrr to form a resh
the distant errrrr-re
no closer than the hebrew
twisting sinuous across these
pages I translate
en la memoria

Why am I stuck?

Mei Nu, your Lao Ren calls you across the cold water
A day long by JP4
A week long by arctic tern
Microwaved body tangles doubting
Questions draw blood at the dot my gut
I dither wander fritter
Timergy besotted with lust and longing

Cannot move without moving
Cannot think without thinking
Cannot calculate without
Mantra, "Think, Answer!:
Will the carbon offset
Balance the forces
Clawing my spirit
From my soul?

Custody Hearing

void
mold filled with polymer
forces known only to math majors
break the consistency
bubbles form
air stronger than polyethylene
directs the filling of the mold

pocket
break in an avalanche
forces beyond the reach of math
make a ice wall
oxygen
air stronger than thunder
directs the treacherous white mass

voids
unseen objects in my breath
forces counting one Erez two Rebecca
Break the flow of breath of qi
Your Honor
Decree stronger than life itself
Direct my soul to flow ungapped by loss.

Grey

water
struggles to freeze
clings to the carapaces
of black nylon cockroaches on two legs
furtive scurrying skulking
seeking cement bunkers

leaf
still green on the bough
clings to gnarled skin
of bony twig on quaking branch
shivering confounded chlorophyll
forgetting how to die

water
trembles in the creek
forced to march too quickly
on the rocks of the Wissahickon
breathy rasping croaking
longing to freeze solid

ferals
conceived in summer
huddled under scrap wood
remains of lost collapsed shelter
unaware their kindred
curl in warm clothes baskets

water
filthy gurgling queue
pools at the corner gutter
splashes daggers from thoughtless tires
drenching penetrating
bones longing for sun