Tuesday, December 31, 2013

POEM - Nothing Changes on New Years Eve

Destruction of property
Occurred early in the day
Without benefit
Or assistance
Of any illicit substances
Of all the homes
In all of this neighborhood
Where large amounts of alcohol
Would be ingested
And many idiotic things would be done
The initiator was this guy

I shook it off just in time
To walk into the kitchen
And nearly slip
On a unfortunately placed
Banana peel
A cliché just waiting
Hoping beyond hope
That the guy
Who put his head
Right through the porch
Would make it a twofer
Of pratfall hilarity

In the evening
It was time to cart kids
To parties and fun
Whilst I was destined to sit and wait
Count the time
To drag my weary, wounded carcass
Out into the dawn of a new year

My oldest only lasted thirty minutes
At the party the rednecks threw
I waited, anticipating his departure
Watched as the aerial rockets
Went lateral more often than was reasonable
All of them getting in as many as they could
“Before Obama takes ‘em away”
Oh brother!
But after what I’ve seen tonight
He probably should take them away

At least from you



Monday, December 30, 2013

POEM - Tempe or Bust in 1987

I was ready to go
When the news came
Dad was getting transferred
Back to the land from which
We had been exiled
Just four years previous

I was insensitive to some
Too excited for another change
To care which bridges were burning
Which hearts I was breaking
But the climate had become harsh
On a purely metaphysical level
And my Gypsy blood
Had been percolating of late
Seeking the change of scenery
The breaking of bonds
Loosening of well tied knots
That would free me from Tucson
And my longest home town to date

Besides the fates demanded
That I arrive back in Tempe
That particular summer
With that particular outlook
Breaking free of the past
Looking for a future

I was early to the dance
Like I always was
She was early too
Like she never was
And I caught her eye
And when we danced
It was exciting and new
Pure and drama free
No context
Simple

We returned to the same street
Just a block over
And we had a pool
For the first time
Since moving to Hell’s Doorstep
And when I invited her over
Oblivious of the burden
That a pool party implied
She came any way

Stayed and talked
Watch me skateboard
Displaying tricks
And self-absorption
She saw through it and stayed

A little longer still



Sunday, December 29, 2013

POEM - 1986 Was That Year That

It was that year
Where we finished the house
We had been building
And finally moved in
To our third and final
Tucson residence

The year I took the challenge
To strip all of the paint
Off the old kitchen table
Each and every nook and cranny

When I settled into the routine
Of playing Frisbee with Joe
On the deserted backside
Of the old main building
Talking philosophy
And laughing at the stoner couple
That invaded our solitude for a time
To spend their lunch hour
With their lips suctioned together

It was learning
Never to fall asleep
In study hall
            Not ever
And then learning how to relate
To all the future felons
In the class with me

Finding new ways
To get in and out of school
Without the benefit of permission
For those days
When being in school
Didn’t really make sense
And all of Tucson was waiting
Just outside the chain link fence
Begging to be explored
Waiting to teach me
That the smell of punk
Is clove cigarettes
And Nag Champa
While Bookman’s stocked rebellion
In musty print and discount vinyl

If you were just willing to look



Saturday, December 28, 2013

POEM - I Soar, Distracted, and then Descend: 1985

I.
I was on top
Skating through school
From the computer lab
To the Journalism class
Doing very little
Getting credit for much more
Being courted by the best schools
That the Tucson valley had to offer
I chose the easy way
Because I really couldn’t see
That I would ever do homework
I hadn’t so far
I didn’t see the trend ending
If I could help it

II.
Summer had more to offer
Including a delay
In the onset of reality
As I jetted to Cali with Burg
Living the beach life in SoCal
Then off to camp to run wild
Interrupted gladly by fireworks
This year featuring the incineration
Of ‘A’ Mountain for a finale
Then off to Flaming Gorge
With Uncle Kim in Peugeot
To run wild and free again
Through the outdoor wonderland
Surrounding my grandparent’s cabin
Never a thought spared
For the trials around the corner

III.
Ah, this is high school
Was not ready for this
At all and in no way
Whatsoever
I think these teachers
Might not succumb to my charm
And might make me do actual work
Don’t they know who I am?
I’m the one the teachers like
That gets to roam free
Flash a smile
And get away with doing almost nothing
By the way
It also doesn’t help
That my desk mate in Earth Science
Is smoking pot
Right in the middle of class
And blowing it out a window
Like it is no big deal
And the teacher never notices
And I am awkward and distracted
And I’m not quite sure
How I’m going to explain
That there are 2 A’s and 4 D’s
On my first report card
Let’s look at the positive

Man! I wasn’t ready for this



Friday, December 27, 2013

POEM - In Search of Big Brother, 1984

We didn’t even have the technology
To make Orwell a prophet
Just barely arriving into homes
Were devices years behind
Predictions from all trusted sources
Computers had begun to shrink
But they were mild devices
With limited abilities
Which I found out
Firsthand
As I sat starring at the screen
Watching my Commodore Vic 20
Come to life
With 20K of awesome computing power
Less than my wristwatch has today
And a clunky cassette drive
And programming in BASIC

I think the new microwave
Was a bigger threat
Than any new home computer
So I used the Commodore for games
And the microwave for popcorn
And frozen corn dogs
As I waited to watch movies
On the brand new VHS player
That we rented from the video store
Along with a couple of movies

The world was changing fast
But not that fast
And it still seems like the good old days
Before cell phones and internet
When most of the TV stations
Would still shut off at night
And you answered the phone
With no idea who was calling
And technology was a novelty
And Big Brother was still waiting

For the world to speed up




Thursday, December 26, 2013

POEM - 1983 Old Pueblo Style

Too soon
On the move
Dad got transferred
To the Old Pueblo
I was reticent
My previous experience
Had included a long drive
At night to some old college friends
They lived on or close to the airbase
And had ended in a trip to the movies
To see Xanadu
Not my favorite road trip

In day light it was different
And the lazy summer days
Poolside at the La Quinta
While we looked for a home
Were almost exotic

And Tucson was charming
Which is a nice talk for old
Tucson is an old place
My dad’s new office
Was in an historic home
In an historic neighborhood

We ended up in the foothills
On the West side of the city
Where the roads were built
To replicate a rollercoaster ride
Whenever and wherever possible
Which made the drive
Always a little interesting

But the new house was cool
A custom built number
We were living a new life
A little further up in the world
Almost upper-middle middle class

That didn’t change the fact
I was starting another new school
And I was self-conscious and nerdy
And my whole life was about to change
Because teenage years are relentless
And Tucson has its lessons to teach
And its ghosts to set free
From the barrio to the desert
4th Avenue to Mount Lemon

And each bumpy twisting road between



Wednesday, December 25, 2013

POEM - New School Politics of 1982

When my dad quit
Being the cartographer
For the aerial survey company
And got the State job
Doing water resource management
We moved to Tempe as well
To make the commute into Phoenix
A little easier
            And to finally get out of Mesa

I landed in a new school
A new church
And a gang of new friends
It just so happened
There was a massive quantity
Of eleven year old boys
And I was just one more in the crew
Which meant no special treatment
Either negative or positive

By the time sixth grade came up
I was in with the smart kids
Got bused to the gifted program
Every week or so
But we had fun everywhere
Writing stories in creative writing
Trying to outdo each other
One more outlandish than the other
Would I write about Horace
The headless hot dog
That my dad use to spin tells of?
No, I would forge my own path
It was “The Toenail that Ate Chicago”
That was my opus of the era

Recess was more of the same
Coming up with variations
On a theme of tag
From line to robot to swarm
Each with a complex set
Of rules and expectations
Perfectly understood
And justly self-governed
By all the eager participants

Each day began
Precisely where the other ended
Games changed at correct intervals
We the game masters
Responsible to keep things fresh
Took our role seriously
Never let the game run stale
Boredom assaulted
With the intensity of war

The passion of religion




Tuesday, December 24, 2013

POEM - They’re Here!

Last year there weren’t any deer,
And then I said, “Oh dear, dear, dear!”
I had a fear
The deer would not come next year.

I sat down near here
The night was clear.
While we were trimming the tree,
And dimming the lights,

I saw the deer, they came into sight!



Monday, December 23, 2013

POEM - Life in Mesa: 1981

The life in Mesa was different
I had never considered
That a desert was a place
That people would think of
As a place they would live

But there was plenty of evidence
From the large swaths of cleared land
To the half constructed houses
Dotting the empty dirt fields
On every side of our neighborhood

I liked it because it was fun
To run through the stark hills
And play on the bulldozers
Earth movers and backhoes
The smell of grease and diesel
Like an inviting and alluring sent

That year I watched intently
As the space shuttle shot up
Straight into space
Only to miraculously return
Three days latter
Knowing that interstellar flight
Must be just around the corner

But I didn’t waste a lot of time on that
Mostly I beg for a quarter
So I could go to the public pool
Or a dollar on special days
So I could ride up to the Circle K
Get a slushy drink or two
Then casually ride home
Sipping the frozen confection
As a protection
From the warm breezes of summer





Sunday, December 22, 2013

POEM - When the Mountain Explodes It’s Time to Leave: 1980

We lived in the right direction
The cloud of ash went east
Eventually circling the globe
We were watching
From the Southern side
Only a dusting
Of mineral rich volcanic dust
Instead of getting choked out
The dusting made our crops grow
Much larger than the year before

I would sit out in the front yard
Watch the plume shooting up
 Filling the sky above
Over the belching wreckage
Of Mount St. Helens
The perfect vantage point

And as cool as that was
It couldn't keep us in Oregon
Summer found us on the move
I got to ride alone with dad
In the big yellow Ryder truck
Over the rolling hills
Of Interstate 84
We skirted dangerously close
To the wilds of Walla Walla
Before diving Southward
To cut through Idaho
On our way to Utah

Dad had a line on a job
A teaching gig in Salt Lake
So we hung around
Just long enough
To start fourth grade
Before deciding to pick up again
High tail it to greener pastures
Which was more figurative
Than actual
As we ended up in the desert
Surrounding Phoenix Arizona
That people foolish called a city
And despite the oppressive heat
We stuck around finally
Made the wasteland our home
Started slowly laying down roots

In the impenetrable caliche’ 






Saturday, December 21, 2013

POEM - The New House: 1979

It was a new house
On the cul-de-sac
And I was getting my own room
I even got to make choices
Got to pick my own wallpaper
The one that looked like an old map
It seemed adventurous

I was fascinated watching my dad
Pour the concrete for the front walk
He’d let it set for a little bit
Then wash away a top layer
So the walkway was all bumpy
Exposed little pebbles and such
Bane of bare summer feet
But it was cool to look at

My culinary experimentation began
In our new kitchen
It was the first appearance
Of my trademark sandwich
Peanut butter and jelly and mustard and mayonnaise
It was better than you’d think
Probably also the start of a few other things
Like my iron stomach
            My all-flavors-play-lead cooking style
                        My desire to gross out people
Did I mention the time that summer
I tore off my big toenail
With the front door jam
And I saved it for my grandma
In a little ring box
Like some psychotic engagement ring?
Classic!

The house was excitement and adventure
One day after another
Shortly after moving in
We were welcomed by a total eclipse
I think it meant we were to remember
And to make memories
And I collected as many as I could
From Doberman pinschers
To six foot tall model rockets
To sleeping in the back of a pick-up
Watching the glow of the big city lights

On the ever present clouds over Portland



Friday, December 20, 2013

POEM - First Grade Frenzy of 1977-78

It was a beautiful summer day
In sunny Southern California
Only tainted by one small thing
I was in year round school
At the grade school
My mother had gone to

We’d just arrived from Oregon
Hanging out until my dad got a permanent job
Working at the docks in LA
For his parent’s trucking company

The best mornings were fog mornings
So thick we played hide and seek
Right on the open field

Excuse me, I must correct that
I went to first grade in Corvallis
Bundled up in coat and goulashes
Shoving my gear into the coat room
With all the other gear
Then dressing again
For the walk home

Wait, I mean I lived in Philomath
And I was bussed to school
To be bussed to another school

Now just a second
I was in Philomath
But I stopped being double bussed
And made it a few months
But Philomath was a temporary deal

OK, Gresham, yes this is it
And I am getting bussed
Out to the brand new school
With the nice new classrooms
Past the school in my neighborhood

Then one day we heard  on the news
A girl had been kidnapped
That lived in our area
The next day the closer school called
They had an opening
At my sixth and final

First grade school   



Thursday, December 19, 2013

POEM - The Star Wars Generation: 1977

The big theatre in Salt Lake
With the huge speakers
Lining the walls
Was worth the trek
All the way up from Provo

It was worth a quick remedy
My first taste of Coke
To settle my stomach
Stop me from having the pukes
Whatever it took to get there
We were on a mission

When we settled into the ornate hall
With the plush red velvet seats
There was a sense of awe
That it had all been worth it
My dad had told me what was coming
It was better than the hype

The space ship stormed in
Almost making me duck
Only to be dwarfed
By the massive star cruiser
In hot pursuit
That really made you duck

I instantly became a nerd
My world became Star Wars
You have to understand
There was nothing like it
It shaped my generation
It some theaters it even ran
For a whole year
It wasn’t replaced
There was no competition

So complain about the script
Bag on the special effects
Comment on the costumes
And the proliferation of feathered hair
I am deaf to all critics
A devotee of the Force
A trading-card-carrying member
Of the geek generation
One of the wide-eyed devotees

Of the venerable George Lucas