Prediction

marked automatically;

    life passing within four walls

a leaky faucet of time

the overgrowth of yard

before the window

effortless and green

a million sown fields of pokeweed

glowing pink for a moment

in the stillborn sunrise

it's partly cloudy today

I am superimposed over this reality

there is rain in every imaginary forecast

time is a summer storm

before the window pane

the blackberries of july will become the winter's snow 

before I am gone

WS

yesterday
outside was the first real chill wind
it crept up and numbed my finger tips
over snapping novel pages
the sky was a reflection off sidewalk cement
and the brick red buildings on the square dulled
under its gaze
yesterday
those images crept into my heart
a man all in gray fell on the subway
refused all help
he rolled and his face reddened
yet he couldn't find the energy to regain his feet
he scowled at me and I hid behind my book
yesterday
a woman tall over 6 feet tall
dressed head to toe in gray with her friend beside
under 5 foot wearing brick red gray scarf
they walked away from me into other nights
across the wrong way streets
I averted my eyes
yesterday
each new vision brought misery
like I had gained the weight of winter
in gray somber snows
and brought them dragging from
stomach to bursting chest
to unravel like shoelaces at their expiration date
today
the Chicago Cubs won the World Series
dark voices screamed one hundred years of nothing
out into the night that was far away from their home
they were a happier gray than blue
even if nothing happy had changed
today
I am not really sure how I felt

Home

winter
my broken knee

it's too cold to read outside
and
my cat glances up at me

we both sweat in the apartment's heat

sigh gladly
when I open the window

ignore the rain drops
splash on the sill

Mixed with Spit

this is the shortest day of
the year, the winter solstice,

it's not all that cold,
I've left the windows open,

I am in the shower spitting
toothpaste,

there was a girl once, in this
shower, but I'm alone now, sexless,

past the fogged mirror,
if you'd wipe your hand
across its face,
are gray tired eyes,

a mind that won't settle,

water runs toward the
drain, gurgles, swirls,
settles for a moment,

disappears.

Note 12/18/14 (jotted down last night)

there's no stars tonight,
light comes from
little desk lamp too
far to reach,
no poems coming out,
no thoughts going in.

Anti-Freeze

take a sip of anti-freeze

one time

at that puddle
behind your car

where all the animals lie

panting
in the cold

slick insides
burnt out tubes

choking, croaking

jingle of salvation bells

green slime
hallowed halls,

seeps into concrete
all the brown sad birds
whistle on winter mornings

lungs cold
baying out blearily out

with a straw take it in
hold yer nose
or it'll burn

heaps of death
and crumbled
rocks mixed in
concrete shell

sound of heavy feet in alley
scatter of thoughts

breathless

one last taste
'til
divinity.

November Street Scene

a cafe

with only one table
outside

even in November
is strange

a man tries reading
Gravity's Rainbow

"but it mocks me."

I'd rather fry kidney's
on a stove

oil crackles like kirby
on the page,

think iron smell.

color is dull
to none existent.
all white, bland

utterances from
bodies lying on
subway grates,

morning

coffee sips mankind
a selective hi

novels in garbage cans

chairs upturned
on counter tops

chill winds
scuttle through
alleyways

old city pathways

cracked pavement
like an arrow
points north.

Winter

There!
             wind snakes thru
angry shutters, rattles ears,
cold winter breezes seep
vibrant colors of autumn,
life from fallen leaves,

             thin figures huddle,
hunker down in heavy down
jackets, hide their faces, be-
come two dimensional sketches,
wispy pencil smeared phantoms
on side-walked streets,

pass by without raising head
or hand, bleed out time and space,
storm's coming, bearing down,
thick wood on window snaps
and the air jumps back, whistles,
barks, howls--

clouds descending,
mirror the sunset,
car headlights click, and
as if out cobalt blue nothing
a searing knife cuts from
the fog,

blaring,
blaring--

Pen's drawings snow

snow melts on my cheeks
as I walk 19th
looking nordic
alaskan, canadian, visigoth,
cold, pea-coat collar up,
bandanna tied 'round neck,
reflected in store windows,
store door reflections,
hair spotted with white,
beard speckled with cold
melting flakes,

alive.

Went out to buy a pen. Can't 
believe I'm without one. 
Too much. toomuch. Too many.
buy a pack. Papermate. 
3 bucks? But forget it. 8eightpack.
(?). They write. is all. Enough.
is enough.

Stuffed in my bag,
head out into the snow
become ancient again
fell my face stiffen again,
Stare out into the clouds
listen to my boots
the steps
remember the poem
figure out the lines
looking cold american
east coast yankee
watching the clouds
watch back.

Take a walk we me baby, take a walk

breath,
white plumes of
smoke, winter hangs
on, bitter cold
last day of Feb.
shortest month
rent still same,
food costs, trans.

what's in the bank?
I dunno,
other peoples money
I guess,
or the bank's lent it all,

that one seems more likely.

the latter one,

closed the door
chill slowly melts
shake it off,
heat hits like wall
and coats you,

I am more uncomfortable in it
than the cold,

three people stand in the elevator
staring at me
as the door closes,
I am 3 feet away.

fucking fuck.

assholes.

Storm drains

Red marks the winter storm

warning, we gotta castrate that

mass of swirling cloud mass 

too, or vilify it, or worse personify it,

color code it, cause a storm

never settled over the northeast

or dropped three feet o'snow,

like the blizzard of '93 never happened

cause it happened in '93 and that's 

too long ago for any sane american

to remember and who wants to when the

color coded danger spikes and blips

on radar screens and chirps in our ear

the 15 day forecast 90% chance of 

seeing weather news on weatherchannel.com

real world real life real science meteorological

nightmare scenarios broadcast on every street

corner camera shot we can get, can you 

believe it's raining? Really raining?

can you believe it's never done this before?

Crystal Drive

They tell you to pull up,
watch the double park baby,
but you do it anyway,
no look, 'cause fuck it, right? who
wants to wait out in the cold
driving around to find a single
space, when no one's gonna
drop the ball on the surveillance
gig, got it?

It's a two mile walk, dig?

below zero, cloud cover
straight line jig,

gotta prep yourself for the cold
and eat it,

there ain't no other option.

Good Night Who

Next episode, eventhough
I knew I wasn't going to make it,

a familiar theme replays,
so I rest my eyes,

your leg stretched across my chest,
bedside light turned down, cooling,

tucked my face away under your warm thigh,
the heater droned on and on, as always

you're silently typing on ipad screens
I'm drifting off to dreams.

untitled

Away from me you'll fly,
like this title,
like my life, into the void,
I have seen it happen,
watch it happen now
as snow sluggish, marches on
white city from white distances
in the west, I have carried a candle
for you, burning wax off my fingertips,
dry, I have seen how this ends,
and it's so silly, it's so inevitable,
away from me, I'll die.

Christmas Card

Parked up next to
empty lot snowy mix
falling, gray sky spinning
halos of white about our heads,
seems like winter now,
or Christmas or both,
if I had time to consider
it, but december is here,
I missed the last few months
the last few years,
all washed out in white.

This was going somewhere but it left early

wind outside is picking up
heard in prison Friday it's gonna
be cold on Sunday, sure feels like
it, most time guards don't lie,
so I trust the intel just so I won't have
to open and window or door,
face the cruel natural world--luckily
there's four walls of radioactive concrete
surrounding me, playing the perfect defense,

I think maybe I'll read some
whitman and drink a glass of milk in
the droning light of the apartment space,
or I'll end up staring at numb letters on numb screens,
eh, either way milk'll go down smooth,
non-homogenized constant of my nightly
deliberations, they won't let me change
the spelling tho, they won't let me in on
what's really going on, what's wrong--
I don't have clearance for that,
it's made clear,

I listen to the leaves touching the balcony
giving themselves to the wind, there's no car
sounds, it's all drowned out, fuck--

I forgot what the last line was going to be,

I'll just fit it with a period and
call it a day.

Crossing Streets in Winter Time I Caught a Glimpse

Cheap months october-november-december
uncapitalized diagonal streets dirty pavement
and blinking white frozen in-stride man, he's bald
I guess, without future but--
like everyone of us crossing the street
to our ululating white-washed horror destinations
holding our ears; the truth on the crisp lines shouting,
We've all had enough, since that first squelched cry
that immortal cry reaching back into super-nova-blitzkrieg-time
the first lament--
life leads everywhere leads everything hands everyone- pretty faced girls
and sober boys summer lushed by midnight fragrant airs-
silent oblivion...ob- obliv- oblivions-

I write it all the same

The Last

Gotta high cough
you should see this piece of shit
mistake for a hellhole
400 dollars sunken into a heater
that cannot fabricate heat
leaves me shirtless sweating freezing
sad ache binging for the
crystal night/day or any lost thing,
green pastel paper shreds the light
my out of date cellphone (buried in blankets)
serenade me twice; morning morning mourning sad
already dressed and out, layered
for what? A pittance a glance
where were we? You? Sadness lights flies fires
forgotten tundra cool.
I'm cool, real cool.
In your cold.

Calling home

She leaves us on the porch
empty lapis sky, underneath
smell of folded flowers drying,
tastes soft pink, raspberry, sorbet,
Its cold, cold wind, the winter
nudging fall, forgetting summer,
loving spring, from the window
call her, across the step,
cloudless, unkept
the gate rests on its hinges, rusts