forty-niners vs the packers

although it is night

i put my face on my face

and drive into the city

my heart sleeping 

in the little bed

in the little house

god built for it

being driven

into the great darkness

in my beautiful car

fish eating my hands

and arms the blood

making bright blue snakes

in the salty sea water

you said you'd call right back

hut one hut two

forty-two fifty-five hut hut

snapping the ball

into the inside 

of your thighs

the feel of leather

i put the phone

in the bag with the rice

and hoped for the best

the love of god II (paper, magazines, string, acrylic paint, glue and wood)

the end of an era

we were stranded in cleveland

angie dickinson and me and the spider monkey

we’d huddle together

to stay warm most nights

the rats nibbling on our feet

the fresh venison laid out on the end tables

the flies in slow lazy circles

buzzing through the tent

she’d tell me stories of when she was starting out in the business

how she’d got her big break in ‘police woman’ 

she’d dated charles dierkop for a while

but the relationship ended in his apparent suicide

she’d always end the story with the question

‘who never dies?’ 

gazing out the hotel’s window

chewing on one of the deer legs

boom (paper, glue, wood, dan winters photo and acrylic paint)

tina turner

all the black girls

at my house

were laying on the floor

taking out their underwear

and wrapping it around

the moon

i threw my phone 

into the ocean

and tore my clothes off

catching all the rays

around my

pool

i’ve been

peeing the entire

time i’ve been writing this

into my pants

and all over

the floor

black as cake (wood, acrylic, glitter, glue and paper)

sometimes it’s good to see

your name is a bowling

alley in my mouth

breaking my teeth

off into the wind.

little skydivers

their small hands

cupping the holy water

fish swimming in their depths

wearing the boots of beggars

filled with thorns

starburst wrappers

covering the living room

of my bloody mouth

while bombs explode 

in the background

the naked reporter on CNN

dipping her cheeseburger

into the BBQ sauce

quietly telling me

‘she’s loving it’

her thin hipbones exposed

she can’t be more than thirty

death a distant dream

Easy On The Eyes (wood, paper, glue, acrylic paint and inkjet ink)

it’s hard to write a good song these days

my mind was once full of music

and melody and ideas

now it’s a forest of facts

and figures and formulas

i can still remember what it was

once like…..well, sort of

it’s only a memory

a city that floats out

onto the ocean

and is gone

but not quite 

forgotten

HOTP-Martin Buber (paper, glue, string, inkjet ink, sharpee on canvas)

everything’s oklahoma

i laid my head

on the yellow pillow

at the party

with the good weed

and the butthole surfers

manager dude

who had just made the 

freshest blotter and

i took that and

moved into the future

with this new knowledge

that there was more

than one way to experience

everything and nothing 

was really the way 

we think it is

Super Lone Ranger (wood, glass, acrylic paint, paper, inkjet ink,polyester resin and glitter)

Star smoke

You'll bow down before

God shivering and afraid

And full of shame

And darkness filling

Your heart handcuffed 

To a clown midget

And it will be easy

Ten hours will come and

Go and you'll be unaware

Of it's passing

A thin towel wrapped

Around your legs

Birds living in your beard

Remembering all the

Words of every song

You've ever heard

And it will be easy

You'll smile

And it will be the only

Time you've ever smiled

And your face will

Fall to the floor

With a clang

Waking the stranger

Sleeping beside you

In the car

You'll have a meeting

In a coffee shop in Seattle

Concerning a musical event

That will never take place

The woman you're talking to

Occasionally writing

Down notes with an

Orange crayola marker

All hope lost

You'll grow much older

And die one afternoon

In a hospital bed

In Houston

And your son

With his heart breaking

Will allow the nurse

To discontinue

The life support

And the world

Will spin through

Space forever

With the rest of the universe

And clouds made of

Billions of galaxies

Will gather together

On the edge of infinity

And it will be easy

The New Moon (acrylite, glue, paper and  inkjet ink)

The War Years

PART I

Chiến tranh Việt Nam

sometimes you have to write

all the good stuff when you're young

because part of you knows

you won't be around to do it later on

that's one reason 

i've held back for so long

i don't want to go anywhere

new right now

PART II

the american war

Life begins to happen 

around 40,

for instance

the presidential race

lasted most of the weekend

and the winners and I

celebrated our

victory aboard the

USS enterprise

the whole crew was in attendance

lt. uhura handing out the "punch cards"

unable to approach her i left before the police showed up

captain kirk

struggling with

depression

in sick bay

his daughter elezra

by his side

weeping

the ship speeding

through endless space 

inside the paramount pictures movie building 

the useless lights of the ship's control system

blurred and blinking in the background