other voices

Yesterday I spied my lawyer
standing in the courthouse foyer
chatting up my ex to be
I asked
"do you intend to bill her?"

"Well bill and coo and maybe drill her"
he responded with inordinate glee.

"It's not enough she's got the car,
the kids, the house, and all my stuff;
must she have you? She's fairly stripped me bare."

He straightened up his tie
gave me his coolest smile and with a wink said
"Really John, I didn't know you'd care."

Frost line

Every cause
its champions
every argument
its side
as madmen
raise armies
fences raised
make divides
something
there is
that brings
down a wall
something
to learn from
something
to recall
Jericho
Rome
Troy
China
Berlin
No walls
kept war out
No walls
kept peace in

equation for terrorism

take 100 children
teargas 93 by age 5
raid the homes of 85
have 55 witness their fathers being beaten
beat 42 of them
shoot 31
imprison the brother of 28
detain 19
kill a family member of 3
multiply by 10
by 1000
by 100,000

take away
education
sanitation
health care
food
water

hand one a gun

menomorphosis

Each night
my life
hot flashes
before
my eyes

present payment
for past
ridicule
as
radiation
has shriveled
my ovaries
into
little black BB's

now I regret
my harsh words
directed at
Those Women

"can't they take
a little heat?"

"what wimps"

now I know
and I am sorry

I look forward
to winter
( I always hated winter)

I can't live
without a/c
( I always hated a/c)

I am tempted to cut
my waistlength hair
( I always hated short hair)

I am becoming someone
other than myself

just after I thought
I had figured out
who I am

Hate Boat

I came into this relationship
with enough baggage
to fill the cargo hold
of the QE 2

I picture myself
exiting this life
as I cross the River Styx
on that very ship

I will be its cruise director

I shall be in charge
of waiting little bistro tables
where two by two
all my in-laws
out-laws
and ex-in-laws
will be seated
smoke curling around their heads

empty cocktail glasses
full ashtrays
elderly non-relations
will beg my constant attention

drooping loops of crepe paper
dirty confetti
decorate a floor
where scuffed high heels tap
while hems of faded prom dresses sway
as they look for something interesting
to do
before they arrive
in Hades

I will be responsible
for keeping glasses full
ashtrays empty
and the music going

there will be a sort of big band
with odd instruments
that will all be playing
a different tune

no one will be dancing

it will be a vast room
of mysterious perimeter
I will not be able
to see an end
to my misery
as our crowd fades
into blind distance

our crossing will be rough
some folks will be sick
I of course will be in charge
of taking care of them
as they puke

many will be looking out portholes
searching for that final destination

all that they saved for
all of their lives
all the rewards
they had hoped to gain
wait just past their horizons

as sun sets
they will promise themselves
that-yes-tomorrow
when they awaken
they will find themselves
where they want to be

alas each day
will start the same way
party hats atilt
smoke still curling
band playing
no destination in sight
water still rough
ship pitching
from side to side to side

and they will all be asking me
over and over again

Are we there yet?

Why isn't the sky blue??

What is the Meaning of Death?

tears

in school
a girl
would torture me
with unanswerable
personal questions
then giggle
whispering
behind her hand
to other girls

I cried

years later
she was there
where I worked
her mother
my patient
demented
young
dying

no giggling
no whispers

We cried