POEM a DAY

A POEM a DAY for APRIL
 
1 april
DAY ONE.

FOOLS DAY

OH April one
You are here,
finally, after 363days.

April one a day for fools.
Does that include me? I am a fool.
A jester.
A fool indeed. Oh, A fool.

2 april
DAY TWO.

LEAD ON

Excited, where I hide.
I do not care, what they say.

Day two is one more day on this journey.
I'll see where this leads.
But I do not care,
as this is fun.

3 april
DAY THREE.
Ah, today dawned bright
and easy to get out of bed.

A good morning for searching what is true.
I didn't find truth,
Doubt is better.

4 april
DAY FOUR.

FIVE

Four is on time,
Four is 3 more than yesterday.
Four is a square.
Four horsemen rode into the dusk.
Four is before
Four days gone.
Tomorrow is five.

5 april
DAY FIVE.

NO MORE CAR

I liked to drive.
Then poverty struck.
I sold my car, a nice car a
Honda, Pilot.
Black, with gray interior.

Bought used.
Sold.
One plus, no insurance payments.
Damn POVERTY.
 
6 april
DAY SIX

FUNGI

Pick up sticks.
Fire needs to be started.
Breakfast for the family.
Yogurt, granola, oatmeal and toast.

Day dawned gray.
Drizzle, mist,
Mushrooms season is coming.
Do you like mushrooms?
I do.

Raw, yellow, blue.
Fly high.
See the wilderness.
Promise.

I'll love you,
The sky rains
The stars fall.
 
april7
DAY SEVEN

DOGS OR CATS

I awoke to the cry of a dog,
Woof woof it cried.

My window shook.
Two dogs now wanting love
or was it, is it food.
Dogs' street dogs roam freely,
Here in San Cristobal.

Cats rarely seen on the street,
Dogs eat em.
Rats are found
Usually flattened.

A butterfly, drifted by, blue wings
Opened to carry on the morning breeze.
A hummingbird buzzed by, invisible, only
Sound calling out.

A ray of sunlight,
Crossed the sidewalk as I jumped away
From the screaming TAXI.
Water on the hood.
 
april 8
DAY EIGHT

TODAY

They say never late, but I am
Better late than never I say
Today was yesterday
But now it’s two days late.
I’ll try to be better, I will.
 
Now time to write.
I love writing,
Poems, letters,
Stories or graffiti.
 
Writing from the heart or from the soul.
Writing to share the inside.
Fantasies or just
Nonsense.
Like today.

april 9
DAY NINE

HESPERIA

I shoot a straight line,
Never anything else.
Always a straight shooter,
Except with a rifle.
 
When I was a kid, my pop
Bought me
A rifle.
We’d shot in the desert.
In a canyon near
Hesperia,
Hesperia refers to one of the Hesperides, the nymphs of evening
who guarded Hera's
golden apples. 
 
Little did I know, when I shot the rusty
tin cans.
Hesperia, I should have found an apple
And painted it gold.
 
Only my nuts were golden.
Golden
Sometimes silver
Shoot, shoot that rifle.

april 10

DAY TEN.

10

Made it day 10.

Feeling fine and fulfilled.

Made it, 20 more to go.

I can do it. I can.

I don't have troubles or worries.  

But I do have feeling way down in my socks. 

Feeling of fulfillment and nothing on my mind.

But you. You were on my mind.

It's time to go.

Feelings of freedom.

Feeling so fine.

Feelings.

april 11

DAY 11

PROMPT SATURDAY

And now prompt!
Erasure poetry.
Blackout poetry.
Written taking an existing text, erasing blacking out words,
that you do not want.
Explainer examples and maybe find another.
Folks have written books of erasures/blackouts,
Berggrun’s R E D (based on Dracula),
Bervin’s Nets (based on Shakespeare’s sonnets),
grand-daddies of erasures,
Ronald Johnson’s Radi Os (Paradise Lost).
Today, non-challenge
write your erasure/blackout.
Use pages favorite book,
a magazine.
Or have fun, a book you don’t know, particularly with an unfamiliar topic.
Go that route, maybe find interest in the Internet Archive?
Maintain the whitespace of the original text OR NOT.
Anything can be called traditional about them,
pluck words/phrases from your chosen source material
and rearrange them.

Happy erasing!

april 12
DAY 12

SHUT EYES OPEN

Eyes, bright and aware, eyes wide shut.
Shut to the new.
Open to the old.
Eyes wide.

Walking to the park, a frog jumped from one
Lily pad to the shore, eyes saw.
Eyes wide shut,
To the obvious, eyes red. Read.

The sun moved slowly from the mid-day high to the night down
Shut Eyes open to the nights fall,
Night, dark, shut eyes open,
Though seeing black.

Black of night,
Black of the new
Black of the light around the corner.

Open eyes shut. 

april 13
DAY13

HOMIE

I knew a HOMIE.
He was my best friend,
Had fun with my HOMIE.
He rocked to a different drummer.

That was a long time ago,
A NEW DAWN.
The sun rolled and spun and landed
Spring again.

The SUN rolled on. My Homie was looking for
Tomorrow.
The sky illuminating the morning,
Like a caterpillar looking for a twig.

Tomorrow, will it come?
Will spring?
Will I.
Will she?

Spring, time for life, for renewal, for
Us.
For you
For…..

april 14
DAY 14

So, what's the big deal,
poem is a poem is a new cellular.
or is it.
true or not

A poem is a string of words,
a cellphone strings blips and dots.
both communicate
both bring joy and sadness.

New old
Joy Sad.
Poem
Phone

april 15
DAY 15

TAX DAY

Oh how I love TAX DAY,
time to share, my worth
with the government of love and friendship.

love love me do,
you know i love thee,
the government,

TAX MAN oh oh
I am the TAXMAN.
Taxes of love.

Can one be in love with taxes and not pay?
Can one be a lover of nonpayment?
Can one love love till there is no love?

Taxman.

Taxman.

april 16
DAY 16

SHUT EYES OPEN
Eyes, bright and aware, eyes wide shut.
Shut to the new.
Open to the old.
Eyes wide.

Walking to the park, a frog jumped from one
Lily pad to the shore, eyes saw.
Eyes wide shut,
To the obvious, eyes red. Read.

The sun moved slowly from the mid-day high to the night down
Shut Eyes open to the nights fall,
Night, dark, shut eyes open,
Though seeing black.

Black of night,
Black of the new
Black of the light around the corner.
Open eyes shut.

april 17 
Day 17

HAIKU 

Hi KU. How ya doing?

I am fine, happy, it's a lovely day, HiKU.

Yesterday went

Today came.

The night was dark, so dark,

No moon.

HiKu, 

bye to you.

april 18

Day 18

JULES

Jules,

Jules

that damn motorcycle.

Jules

That morning when the phone rang,

and rang,

and then i answered.

Jules. oh Jules

The phone, 

I just dropped it by my bedside, Jules

The phone buzzed.

I cried.

Jules. Today I was in the kitchen, and you entered,

along with a little bird. 

I remembered so many moments,

Talks. Smokes. Photos. Music. Shrooms.

The other time the phone rang, at night,

It was you, with a voice, that 

needed support.

You asked, "when will I come down?"

Jules, oh Jules.

I listened this morning,

Dead Kennedys,

Germs,

Minutes Men.

Jules. Jules.

Your memory lives on and on,

Photos, In my heart.

Jules float like that little bird.

april 19

Day 19

FLOWERGUMIUM

Trichocereus pachinoi is budding,

Four weeks plate size white, await.

Aromatic flowers will bedazzle all

Then, time to fly, via green peel.

Float, above and beyond.

Orchids are everywhere,

This time of the year, mid-spring.

All rescued from forests and plains and

Savanna of Chiapas, Mexico. 

Rescued.

Aromas of decayed meat, vanilla, cinnamon

and excrement.

Whatever the pollinator seeks.

Yellow, red, spotted and wavy the colors move.

Delicate all.

Walk.

Look.

Touch.

Pollinate the open and wanting.

Anther cap, remove, touch polinia to stigmata cavity.

Pollination, feels.

Fruit soon,

100,000 seeds, dust size.

No endosperm,

DNA.

april 20

DAY 20

WHALE

A whale of a tale, it was indeed.

And the tail too.

Found a silver dollar as I walked,

On the deserted beach.

The spout was visible far out to sea, hard to see

the coin easier to see, what a tale.

There it was, as a wave receded,

A silver glitter amongst the beige grains of fine sand.

Into my pocket that silver coin went,

The whale was way too much of a whale to fit,

Bo Diddly was singing today, about the object in his,

Pocket. 

Wonder if it was the same?

Whale tale tail.

On the beach

Bo didn't make it to the beach,

With me.

april21

DAY 21

Blind Boy on the Street

I was walking to the Post Office when I encountered a blind boy,
12, sitting on the ground with a stick a wooden bowl and an incredible Karma,
persona
something was leaping out of him. 
 
He was new,
I had never seen him
or noticed him, before.
 
My idea was the Mexican little Steve Wonder,
does he play the guitar,
sing, write poetry
he must have a passion.
 
Then I was thinking,
that here is a person who probably,
has so much to offer,
but no one takes him seriously.

april22
DAY 22

HEY YOU

I'm talking to you,

Yes, YOU.

ME. HIM. HE.

Are you listening?

Yeah, I am here, just for you,

Not him,

You.

Got it?

I was wondering, if you are not

Him are you HE? Yeah I am HE.

There we go,

We are on the same page.

Time to talk a walk.

OK?

Will you walk with me 

To the corner store,

so that we can buy some tortillas?

Time to go,

Let's go. Now,

Before the sun drops,

and it gets cold.

 

april23

DAY 23

Walking today in a forest 

I accidentally stepped on a bear

A big bear.

A very big bear.

He killed me.

Ate some of me

Left most to rot.

Why did the bear not eat all of me?

april24

DAY 24

Sleep came after 4 beers,

Drinking with friends,

Then alone.

Sleep came before I was in bed.

A fern fell in the deep dark of the night,

A Tillandsia too fell from a tree.

How did that happen?

A cat, a rat, the rain during the day!

Body moved in fits,

As the beer continued to flow,

In my blood.

Flow though my addled brain.

The night was short as I didn't awake to,

Pee.

Odd, oh so odd.

No pee trips.

Morning arrived. I was foggy.

Dreams aplenty of soaring,

Fog shrouded hills where hills were not,

Horses riding their riders over the hills.

Fog.

april25 

DAY 25

ZAPS 

They came at night, their friend,

Men, women, children, ragtag and frightened and frightening, they came.

January one, NAFTA too, they came in the night.

Arms, rifles and pistols of wood a few of metal, machetes the ZAPS came to conquer.

 

Marcos at the helm, waiting in

his hideaway in the selva,

Internet at his side, a cell phone too, Marcos and his pipe the great leader.

 

The battle for San Cristobal, Ocosingo, Las Margaritas

Chenalo and Altimarno is legend, is history, is now destiny for the land of Mundo Maya.

Today the same as yesterday the same as today.

Poor, nada, a desolation of spirit, a seething anger, despair.

 

Marcos his pipe and horse too, 

Stone has visited and Mitterrand too, 

the appearance of support, a photo op,

Ego needs the time too.

 

Marcos has his pipe and horse too.

 

Ya Basta, on the Internet

promote Zap teaching and books and news articles, 

the Zaps have won the media, 

the hearts of renegade revolutionaries in Italy, France and Austin, Texas too.

 

 

Africa, Soviet Union, Viet Nam came and went 

and now in the Americas, 

free trade is hard to conjure,

with arms of wood. 

 

Marcos has his pipe.

april26

DAY 26

Touching

Simple words for moments of
tumultuous events caress,

the ears, eyes and mind with softness and caring.

The act of reaching out,
to sooth, is an act of the god in us all, 
yet, 

one that hides when needed most.
 
Touch and be the one who soothes.
Reach out and be the one who is not afraid to be there.
Ask for and be needy, be the one.
The other. The time is now.
A fond embrace, a caress and gentleness of breath.
The time.
 
Caring is wonder.
Wonderful is the smile creeping into the present.
Present is forever,
Forever is caring.
 
Touching the heart of those,
Who need.
Touching me,
Is wonderful.

april27

DAY 26

STREAMS

E L   N I N O.
 
Far out to sea a stream awaits.
A stream called El Nino,
WARM
WET
Gee baby you are so good to me.
El Nino
 
Some complain, some cry, but the land only sighs
El Nino
Are you good to her?
 
Rain and change and cleansing the land,
of age and past and the works of man
OH EL NINO!
Are you good to her?
 
OH EL NINO!
Come on and rain and blow and bring the wet.
Bring the land to life,
Bring the land the breath of the ocean,
Condensed.
 
EL NINO!
 
WELL ACTUALLY SHE IS CALLED
 
LA NINA

28april

DAY 28

MOM

 
28 April, 1919
107 today.
MOM. Emma Anna Baldenwig.
TODAY.
Mom, is with me, always.
There and still here.
Today, I think of her more than usual.
Her birthday.
 
Los Angeles, California,
War over, California, the place to be.
Parents from Switzerland. Railroad called my grandfather, Chu Chu.
Grandma, a home mom.
 
Mom, wanted to be a glamor gal, Hollywood called,
Like her sister, Helen, a stand-in for Gloria Swanson.
It didn’t work out.
She became a model.
 
Then a mom.
My pop, Bob, Minnesota.
Parents German.
He was rigid. German.
 
German to the core,
Ruled with an IRON HAND.
No hitting,
But words did the damage. Better.
 
Mom raised my sister and I, well.
We had food and gifts,
Her smile and laughter, daily.
Downey, California was our home.
 
MOM.
She found a few men to keep her,
Company.
Only one ,was not asked to leave,
Wes.
 

Palm Springs became their home.
Golf course, their passion.
Mom, she was good.
I too played golf, though I was not, good.

 

Mom. I miss you. I think of your blood in me,
Your heart mine,
Your love guides me.
Happy birthday.

29april

DAY 29

MONEY

Paid a bill,

Where does it all go?

Paid another bill,

Where it goes, is to another.

Money, oh money,

Money is not honey,

Honey, I can lick off the, 

Spoon.

Where does it all go?

Family, government, waste,

Food, water and a little, just a little

Fun.

Money, funny money, 

No longer.

Only serious.

Only the last pesos.

Money.

april30

DAY 30

First off, thanks for this project. it's been a fun, refreshing experience, hopefully i will continue.

Now for todays magic.

 

INTUITION IT IS NOT

What is it you are doing,

what is it?

Intuition, is it telling you to leave

Intuition is it?

 

I fell and fell hard I am still falling.

Intuition is not,

Intuition.

 

Come on now let us dream down that river,

that river of the rocks and funny forms.

Intuition told us to not make the first step, now does it tell you to stay,

AWAY?

 

We believed in the force that drove us, now you don’t even remember my name.

My face is a cloud, ever changing, no form, vapor,

I am lost; you lost me.

 

Intuition was my friend; you followed it to the end and now I am just a ghost you do not even see. 

 

Remember the

Remember the

Words?

I'll do anything for you,

 Intuition told you those words were right,

Now now now is when I need to call that card and call that offer,

I need a word, I need to follow that dream, that need.

Do not be afraid, I need that, word, one small

Word.

 

Intuition.