The Hall
"The hall is five miles long and five miles wide
These people had never seen fireplaces before"

The Gentleman
Last night the earth trembled
For many minutes it seemed
I was standing in line in a bank
With a very large floor and a very high ceiling
The upper inside corners of the walls cracked gradually
Dark
Jagged
Lightning shaped cracks
Growing slowly
Showed the light of day
The trembling continued
A soft distant roar
A gentleman and I
Walked toward the door
Others stood inside with wide open eyes
Glancing at each other
As if telepathically saying goodbye
Once outside
In the brightness of the day
I saw trees
And poles
And buildings
Sway
The streets were vacant
As if to say
Folks here know
There's no escape
The trembling slowed
And the roar went away
The gentleman and I
Each went our own way

Poet Sailing
However real
The flat world may seem
There will always be a poet
Sailing

The Omaha Vision
Tornadoes ripped through the city of Omaha
Downtown beneath the pillars
Of the Woodman Tower
I watched people
Running and screaming
Fearing for their lives they ran
In the sky
The clouds of green and gray
Thick with rain
And full of endless shades
I'm not sure but maybe ten
Tornadoes ripped the city then
The wind
Whipped through my hair
From the front and both sides
And from behind
Faces freaked
With arms outstretched
Fearing for their lives
They ran
North on Eighteenth
But mostly east
On Farnam Street

The Man Who Drifted
After being chased and pushed
By a large red barge
In a fit of violence
His boat slammed
Into a wooden dock
On the East side
Of the Willamette River
Where the fire station sits
Near the Hawthorn Bridge
He went home to his wife
Somewhere on the mid
To upper east coast
Offering roses at Christmas
For forgiveness
For he had also drifted
In his relationship
He kissed the roses
In their wine glasses
Filled with murky
Pale white wine
While holding her right hand
In his left
As they both sat on the floor
With his back to a wall
He offered no other gifts
He asked for none
But forgiveness
The area below the Christmas tree
Was bare
Except for a couple of gifts
Which drew no attention
From the couple
Music began to play
With an anger in the beat
There was a knock
At the front door
Asking if everything was alright
The wife waited in
The husband said yes
The man knocking at the door
Was unconvinced

The Days

As the days slowly fade
Into a massive blur
Magnetized we are
About the days
Which never come to stay

Broken Bridges
Bridges were forced apart
In the City of Roses
The trembling earth
Broke slabs of concrete
Separating beams of steel
Where they were connected
All I see are broken bridges
A sunny day with faces affected
All I see are broken bridges
A city flooded
With Willamette stenches

Tensay.......
Tensay Tensay
Pensay Pensay
Ensay?
Sets

The Submarine Dream
Russian sub in an American bay
American alarms sounding
Someone pulled a plug
In the ocean
The bay began to drain
Someone else walked
The drying floor of the bay
Shutting off alarms
But the sounds did not stop
Until I awoke
And shut off my alarm clock

Skyquake
I saw the sky breaking
Intense
Continual sounds of thunder
Shattered the sky
Pieces of sky
Larger than cities
Crashing hard upon the earth
A huge
Rolling
Tidal wave of earth
Chasing people as they ran
Through the desert
Seeking safety

I see myself
In a dark room
Swimming under water
Through the stars
To the moon
Of a quiet planet

Now Is Forever
Let me think
From the very beginning
To the very end
There is forever
Which is now
Just a thought

Moisture
Let your soul
Evaporate
The senses
Of reality

My Little Green Army Man
Across the bridge
And down the river
Lay abandoned
Slaughtered soldiers
Of the enemy
Up ahead and to the right
Within the thickets
Across the field
Stay the enemy
Down the darkest corridors
I send my man
Through every door
To kill the enemy
I've been introduced to death
I have killed
With my bare hands
I fear you not
And you'll not stop
My little green army man

Limbo Town
There must have been hearts
Sealed within bottles
Devil weed within us all
Dreams and flings
This crystal ball
Just seems so cruel
I can only conclude
It's the ammunition you pack
That leaves you relaxed

Lingering Voices
Voices lingering
On ancient currents
Paths of indignants
Who have walked this world
Congregate now
Before a day of Satan's spell
Relay concealed wisdom
To those who do attend
Distorted masses
Of detention

The Snake Pit
I was having evil sex
With evil men and evil women
Oh, yes
I was having evil sex
With evil spirits
In slow motion
I was burning
I was drinking out of bottles
In a bar
Crumbled glass
Ground against my teeth
I spit and tried to leave
I saw a man
In the mountains of a picture
There was a woman
Lying in a meadow
First the trees
Then the water
Then the mountains began to breathe
The man began to turn
The woman woke
And tried to leave
Oil dripped down the wall
Snakes slithered in
From the hall
In under the door they crawled
Up my foot bedposts
Onto my sheets
Snake eyes gazing back at me
I swallowed the taste of death
And reached for the bottle
Beside my bed

The Words of a Dictator
"I've walked through this garden every day now for twelve years"