If Prayer is Not the Answer

If prayer is not the answer
what does one do
to ritualize luck
to weight the dice of life

collect upturned pennies
count bluebird glimpses
petition the four winds
wish upon a galaxy…

if prayer is not the answer
what does one do
to focus a beam of hope
into the dark unknown

visualize success
throw back buckets of salt
chant exotic verses
meditate upon a star…

wrestler with this dilemma
upon the horns of a paradox
concocting incantations
to a capricious universe.

Weather Forecast for 2009

Tightening isobars
blustery economic winds
cage the whole country
no escape to balmy breezes

mostly lows, few sunny skies
precipitation solidifies
encasing fiscal landscapes
chilling aspirations

successive financial storms
disrupting investment patterns
pressure fields tightly wound
ripe for uncoiled chaos

tornadic ups and downs
devastation ensues
pyramid edifices
blown to kingdom come

climate change now in play

resetting dollar forecasts

against bad-asset weather

in depression-proof shelters.

In Praise of a Grand Machine

Random stab
of strange pain
on occasion

errant joint
achy somewhat
unreliable

collection of
colds, coughing
lung congestion

wince index
for lower back
tender ankle

dull headache
interrupter
of daily tasks

still...all heal
with patience pills
and magic aspirin.

Night Angel

So many lineal journeys
bring me to this loving place
night angel on my shoulder

nirvana achieved
there can be no sweeter
amidst such quietude

softest, reassuring breaths
harmonizing with my heart
binding all humanity

every possibility
beyond evil, greed, and hate
sleeping roundly in my arms

night angel on my shoulder
emissary from the kingdom of life
as reincarnated love.

When I Fell in Love with France

Long ago once upon a time
when I was twenty-five
I fell in love with France
besotted first with Paris
daily greeted by Mayor Voltaire
tending his garden patch on Rue de Seine
sly gatekeeper to glittering sights
strolling streets, evocative rooftops, catacomb mazes
amalgamated with dazzling surprises
of brilliant cuisine, glorious art, joie de vivre

lured easily into the countryside
for extended treasure hunt
to Chartres’ asymmetric spires
fragments of some celestial place

surreal, fairytale turrets
strung along the River Loire
palaces filled with royal intrigue
Chambord, Amboise, nearby Chenonceau

west to Brittany’s stunning cliffs
beyond fields of hidden menhirs
past relaxing sands at St. Malo
dotted with scarlet bathing tents

rockbound Mont Saint-Michel
mystical, seaside mirage
angular pinnacle with sacred space
reached through gauntlet of relic dealers

blood-washed, Normandy beaches
achingly memorialized
by endless acres of skeletal crosses
whispering ‘please never again’

another war glorified on Bayeux wall
a needlework, medieval saga
when William conquered Saxon Harold
winning for France Britannia’s lands

finale to our French adventure
on limestone hills above the Seine
chased after dark by chivalrous ghosts
through Chateau Gaillard's stony ruins

thrice more I returned to Gaul
an eager pilgrim into the past
through historic turns and twists
among art-filled caves and Roman ways
from Joan of Arc to Charles DeGaulle
seizing ancestral relations
with this antique homeland
where I know millennia ago
some Norman or Gallic others
must have begotten me.