Ride The Rise

That one got a glow that goes right through you 
That one got a lively light
That one knows a hope that flows into you
Shining through two diamond eyes

That one got a tongue that sings like silver
That one got a voice so bright
That one knows this wicked world can kill you
But we got a mighty life

That one tricked the traps with maps of laughter
That one got a vibrant mind
That one saw the crap we scramble after
And he left it all behind

That one got a face that’s all our faces

That one smiles like a sky
That one got a soul that knows what grace is
Every time we breathe we fly

Ride the rise while it’s climbing so high

We got time ‘til the night
The world is scheming and we know it’s dreaming
Up a lie that’ll try to blind us every time

That one knows a man can change his story

That one wrote his own romance
That one quit a road that’s cold and lonely
Hatched himself another plan

That one don’t get sunk in funky places

That one does a lover’s dance
That one ain’t hung up in stunts and chases
But he got a gambler’s chance

Yeah he got gambler’s chance



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8 Haiku

Lonely gull singing 
in a rosy morning sky
shared with an airplane

Watching fields of light

through a train window at night—
glimmering city

Ocean: big calm lake

gleaming white with full moon light
just before morning

*

Sunrise in the east,

fat raindrops patter the streets—
rainbow in the west

Thunder shakes the house—

or is the next-door neighbors’
garage door rising?

Laughter like rattling

skeletons from some workers
on a pre-dawn bus

*

Cranes like dinosaurs
against a wispy sky—
don’t look awake yet

From the beach house we

watch people watch the sunset—
brief blaze, then twilight



.

Politician

—based on a song by Cream

Hey now baby

Get into my big black car
I want to show you
Just what my politics are

I support the left

But I’m leaning to the right
You know I’m gonna give in
Without much of a fight

I’m a politician

Hard to practice what I preach
But try to catch me baby—
You’ll find I’m hard to reach

I am your mayor

Your president
Your council member
I’m in your parliament

I am a pimp
(If you could see my hands!)
Just remember baby
Your dreams ain’t what I am



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Climb The Sky

A snake on the path
We’re silent and stare
Hawk circles the air

Child tiger god face

In a tree in the breeze

A breathing being

A breathing being

A life that climbs the sky

A smile you can smell

A crushed candy cane
A break in the game

Tense painted face

Totters on her high heels

Hair like a...hair like a...shield

A sweet nectar scent
A blur in the blooms
A bird like a bee

A sudden shimmer shivers

In the leaves of the trees

Breezes breathe

Breezes breathe

A life that climbs the sky



.

18 Haiku

Crude roar in the sky— 
on the street he shakes his fist
at the fighter jets

After last night’s rain—

tides of lighted cars and trucks
drifting on wet roads

A tanned grey-haired man

shouts That’s as fun as it gets!—
still wet from surfing

*

Brassy razzmatazz
blaring through the big ballroom—
can we dance to this?

Rosy island clouds

spread into dust in the dusk
over the ocean

Howling tunnel ride,
a warm cup between my thighs—
can’t drink on the train

*

This face in the sky

—slash of a mouth and two eyes—
it doesn’t judge me

I’m an apprentice—

I play a master’s song and
imitate him too

Cinema: flashing
antics of illusionists
pretending to live

*

Walking before dawn—

just over my head some wires
sizzle in the mist

Old guitarist shouts
I already forgot it!
when I play too fast

The hiss of the hose

as she waters her roses
in the soft twilight

*

Bits of broken glass

from car windows smashed by thieves—
stars strewn in the street

The warmth of the earth

under my feet as I watch
the cat nipping grass

We’re rolling slowly

through the tunnel—as dark here
as it is outside

*

Weed whacker buzzes
and flits around a man’s feet—
smell of gas and grass

Abandon yoga

and get swallowed by the world—
foolish destiny

A sliver of sun

slips slowly into the sea—
sunset becomes dusk



.

6 Train Ride Haiku

Rumble under foot, 
breath spreading through my belly—
standing on the train

Asleep on the train—

an upside-down umbrella
dangles from her hand

Speeding between stops,

blur of walls through the windows—
a train underground

*

On a train at dawn

we burst out of a tunnel—
mountains of blue clouds!

Clattering of rails

and some ripe basso gossip—
three men ride standing

Through the rear window

I watch where the train just was
rush away from me



.

Blown Down Blues

Oh mama...I’m so sick and sad 
Oh mama...things looks awful bad

All the famous faces

Look so mean and mad

Oh mama...everybody’s used

Oh mama...what we gonna do?

The bank went broke when the deal was done

Then all the houses of cards blew down
What’s the sense of pretending they’re still around?

Oh mama...where we gonna turn?

Oh mama...we keep getting burned

Dealers keep on dealing

Like we’ll never learn

Oh mama...will it ever end?

Oh mama...what’s around the bend?

A sudden rumble took another tumble

In a boom that just went bust
Is there anything left for us in the dust?

Oh mama!

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