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Phil's Previous Poetry

December, 2001




12/30/01-Motel room breakfast blues stains on the sheets before the cock crows twice you will argue with your wife three times but last night it was cameron diaz and the marlboro man enraptured in embrace while beyond the thin wall for a couple aging tenderloin queens bernstein leonard and hudson rocked stale breath someone must have died the mutt eager for dawn's early walk licked me on the lips we tasted three coasts this year how many more times have I 'round the sun to get the circulation going on a wintry morning a mug of thick java and a nearly scalding hot shower are a religious experience frost on the grass pepper sniffing at a thousand earlier scents and fresh deposits an artificial meteor above reentry heat tiles rosy red thoughts not yet agile in the mirror staring back the picture of dorian gray parchment and leather skin that once was soft smooth as a ripe peach a baby's bottom minute by minute arcs a great circle ever westward across almost a score of miles or knots at once bringing within its circumference dusk's descent into night and for trillions of creatures fauna molds flora and microbes all things timid and brave of the rich or poor earth the waters salty or sweet the lofty and low airs to the tiniest little eddy first light's ascent a new day...




12/20/01-The land undulates in slow motion like a dense sea yet the storms and tides that move it are not from heavenly vapors and celestial spheres but the heaving molten nether regions of hell and we living on the medium betwixt these two are torn pushed and pulled by competing forces above and below the wind ravaged yet tectonic tortured formations their stones bent and withered by geologic time are mirrored in our swiftly shriveled so hope- and care-worn visages and frames as forests sprout like whiskers on the hoary ancient face of earth their leaves fall and form a rich resilient humus for burying our bones...




12/12/01-This nose has grown strange new contours like white bubbles or weirdly shaped blisters under the skin my chest has unusual aches and burning pains is this the time when I confirm my mortality all my life have I thought that one must justify existence with productive efforts of practical use to others yet now retiring am feeling a little at sea in limbo adrift wondering how time in this world is worthwhile a tone in my ears from too much antihistamine poison my sinuses flowing nostrils for blowing throat raw and tissues swollen but a set of randomly heard thoughts expressed on the radio caused me to reflect my prostate squeezing down the urethra to a pinhole canal of liquid excreta maybe to live an artistic life creates its own sufficiency or perhaps it is enough to chat and hang out with others to be and have a close friend maybe to share our true stories in supportive ways for what time remains is a completely legitimate end in itself my feet with arthritis altering my gait I went to a party for young children the other day nothing special accomplished though so much occurred...

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