Bread

You should be moldy by now,
but you are full of preservatives,
and after three weeks
you remind me of Joan Rivers.

Chasing Ambulances

The alarm sounds each morning
like a siren from an emergency vehicle
whose lights flash between the window blinds,
and the drive to work is like chasing
an ambulance to your own grave.

Working towards what appears to be retirement,
stuffing a mattress full of dollar bills to curl up on
to get a better night's sleep,
a little more cushion,
financial security.

But a bed that is too soft can make the back
hurt when you get up there in age,
so take the experience as a misunderstanding,
a rehearsal played out on the wrong stage.

I Mean...

(for Czeslaw Milosz "Adam and Eve")

Billions of years ago (I mean six thousand years ago),
when the universe was being made,
God must have anticipated Man's
future need for unleaded gasoline.

So on the third day of creation,
He made the seas and the lands
with large pools of petroleum
conveniently placed inside.
He looked at the work of his hands, paused
and said, "This was the worst idea ever."

As cars evolved (I mean developed)
from the Ford Model T to huge SUV's,
Man's dependence grew and grew
on this precious natural resource.

Hummers! Four Car Garages!
Seven Lane Highways! Traffic Jams!
But as the barrel prices rose,
so did his ego, so he started famines
and wars to maintain control
of this black gold.

Soon God's greatest gift to mankind
began to dry up across the lands.
We shrieked loudly and beat our chests
at all the oil companies as they
raised the price of gasoline.

Then something happened
that no one could have foreseen,
we all turned back into monkeys
(I mean...).

Two Lovers vs. A Forest Fire vs. A Book Burning

(for Richard Brautigan and Ray Bradbury)

Long, skinny legs
like twigs get tangled,
set fire to the U.S.
like a book burned
for its controversial words.

A country's pride and greed
swept clean by an act of love
that would cleanse
the many marks
of the Western man's sin.

And in each new Spring came
all things green
"and the leaves of the tree[s]
were for the healing
of the nations."

If God shall ever grant me sight

If God shall ever grant me sight

From each dark alley will appear a light
where the least of these are laid to sleep
upon a bed of cardboard sheets

I'll fill their bellies with food and wine
born from the branch of the Master's vine.

But when you grant this gift to see
and I choose blindness instead of Thee
hang me from your heavenly gates
to die from my own sinful flesh and weight.
And I'll watch as widows and orphans pass through
to live in your kingdom and remain in You.

ABCs of the Farm Bill

A americans love money and B by god at whatever price.
C courage comes from caring? or the other way around,
i D don't remember. E ever wonder what Jesus
meant by "love your neighbor"? the F farm bill gives subsidies
to large corporate farmers who in return overproduce crops.
H how might this affect others? nobody asks because
I ignorance is bliss. J just consider africa where K kids play in the dust.
L lay in the dust. M malnourished.
N no farming here, O only starving. with crop P prices so low,
africans can't compete. americans stay Q quiet.
R reacting would require caring,
and we would rather not listen to their S screams.

Breakfast Along the Missouri River

The smell of scrabbled eggs seeps from the vents in my car
when I cross the Paseo bridge on my daily commute,
while trains pass by like sausage links
and plumes of smoke from factories
fill the air with hot biscuits
as the sun melts like butter across the sky.

Allegory of the Cave

(for Ryan Adams "I boycott today...")

I refuse to accept the world
with its wars
and its surges
and its weapons
and its dead soldiers.
I refuse to accept the world
and its money
and its greed
and its possessions
and its celebrities
in exchange
for your truth
for your justice
for your mind
for your love
for your map
to leave this place
to know awareness
to find your kingdom
where there are
no chains
no inequalities
no oppression
no labels
no darkness
no projected images
because this world is a cave
built after the fall
and the things we believe
are just shadows on a wall.
I want to be
free
free
free
free.

Yellow Sweaters in January

(Sterling Jerry Halley is a forgotten Vietnam veteran who lives on the Kansas City streets near the River Market. I will remember you and I hope you enjoyed the sandwich.)

He stays warm with an alcohol addiction
and a year's worth of clothing.
When he smiles even his teeth
are wearing sweaters.

Sometimes You Can Fool Yourself

Sometimes you can fool yourself into liking someone, but then you just want to kick them out of bed. This is how it has always been, how I judge my feelings for him. Ray was sweet, but he had small feet, and at a mere 5’5 you must stand taller in character and personality of which he had none. He was boring and insecure, so the fact that he was handsome, with perfect hair was not enough, and it showed up when we were laying in bed.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but unless you remove your arm from around my waist, I won’t be able to sleep.” He took it well.

Then there was Joe with unfortunately no where to go when I kicked him out of bed. Joe was smart and he loved the Lord. He was a romantic and a true missionary, but he was the one who would need saving on this particular morning. As he lifted the sheet, I rolled over to see what was disrupting my sleep.

“What are you doing?” I said. “I guess I’m going back to sleep in another bed.” He didn’t take it as well.

I wanted to like these gentlemen and I tried real hard, but no one ever loved someone that they also did not love in bed.

Noon

The city begins to wake
as cars honk and sirens sound.
From the ninth floor,
it's easy to get lost in the clouds
when you can't see the ground.

The furnace is too loud,
I want to hear you breathe,
so the heat escapes through the window
to warm the homeless in the streets.

We lay in bed,
our bodies fit like a puzzle
that has found its missing pieces.
We should get up soon,
but four more minutes
quickly becomes noon.

Moths

(Richard Brautigan)

My desire to hold your hand is like a marriage
between a moth and a flame.
I think about the many that have already died.

December 28, 2007

I would like to take a journey with you
through America's country music burial ground,
where musicians and their instruments
die together in perfect pitch and harmony.

I would like to take a journey with you
through a countryside filled with trees
that stand as giants on the roadside,
protecting travelers in the shadow
of their leaves.

I would like to take a journey with you
to the water's edge of presence,
where God's light meets his creatures
on the lakes of Louisiana.

Our Relationship was Never Over Easy, Breakfast with Someone New

Eggs, over-easy,
run yellow across my plate.
What’s the point of toast
if not to soak up the yoke?
You would have agreed,
but he's eating his scrambled
with toast and jam.

You Always See It Coming

Go ahead and say it
because I've been left here waiting
like parents that have called a house meeting,
the children walk into the living room
looking for some sort of meaning,
always expecting the worst:
death, separation, or maybe a divorce.

I'm not going to act like I didn't see
it coming like a villain in a scary movie.
The anxiety always increases
with the music, so I just need you
to get on with what you are going to say,

or maybe I'll save myself
from this tragedy and end it for you
because the last week of not calling
speaks for itself and the music
is beginning to crescendo.

A Writer's Lament

For John Updike

The words began to flow
out of his fingers
and out of his toes.

He heard the call
and answered the muse,
letting the words fall

onto the pages,
a story came to form,
one for the ages.

He wrote and he
wrote with each
pound to a key,

his vision blurred
as he punched
to write the last word.

Millions would read
this year's bestseller;
his publisher agreed

and decided to print
the thousands of copies
the bookstores were sent.

The reviews came in
and none were good.
He had written
a masterpiece,
worthy of the discount,
bookstore bin.

For Elaine, your granddaughter misses you and she's keeping it real.

Another Rhyme by Lindsay McCown

I'm just a beat cop, I said
ain't in nobody's way
yeah, KC can be rough
hard to get through a day
but today was like no other day I might know
when I saw a drug deal and found Jen dealing Blow

She was stylish, but under her Gap pleated slacks
was a bottle of X and cash bills by the stacks
in her car was a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc
but the wine? it held none, just a whole lot of Crank
in the silk inner pocket of her winter coat
was some animal tranquilizer and a baggie of Coke
her breath smelled of gin with some hints of green tea
when she coughed, she coughed remnants of cheap LSD

This was it, I said, "Ma'am, you will now come with me"
she just laughed and said, "Fool, I gots places to be"
then she straightened her hair and replaced her headband
and smoothed over a spot on her wool cardigan
then Jen sweetly smiled and gave me the bird
and said, "Son, you remember, this NEVER occurred"
she then showed me her Glock and I prayed once again
that I'd no more encounter the outlaw named Jen

School is in session again.

Jen's Anthem
by Lindsay McCown

Pencils? Them ain't #2's!
Who you be? Get outs my class, foo!
Unless you rockin' College Rule
Dang, girl, I guess you didn't know!
This here class room ain't no joke
I warn you, you best not provoke!
get that apple away
I only want coke
I don't want produce
Miss Lacy wants dope!
I'll teach you science
like dissolving body parts
when a skank get in your face
I'm a punch 'em through the heart
and we know we can't leave no scene behind
check out what can happen when
chloride and acid are combined!
it gets the fluids outta car seats
and I snorts the rest
know this stuff
and then you'll pass JENNY'S test
It's all about the Benjamin's in my salary
No Child Left Behind grants
ain't paying for my Master's degree
3-2-1 Contact ain't got nothin on me
sit yo 'butt back
while I teach you Biology!

31 days in July

If the muse should say goodbye
may I always remember these
31 days in the month of July.

The Ninth Street Book Burning

"Ninth Street Bookstore to close March 31
Dwindling sales and high rent lead owner to close the downtown shop" (headline from the Columbia Missourian newspaper). Many of the books were burned.

Franny and Zooey
and Rabbit and Scout
run from their pages
to scream and to shout.

Gatsby and Holden
are stricken with fear
with Lenny and George
as their pages sear.

The characters run
to escape the flames,
from page to page their
future the same.

Tom and Huck Finn float
to their grave, as Jem
and Scout find safety
in Tom Sawyer's cave.

Hester Prynne weeps as
she offers great thanks
to hide with Anne and
the rest of the Franks.

Nancy finds refuge
in a hidden staircase,
as Sal and Dean drive on
with no time to waste.

Not enough books sold
to pay the high rent
readers these days are
much less frequent.

Stories and ideas
are lost and forgot,
the words disappear
along with the plots.

The shop owner cries
and slides to the floor
as the pages burn in the
the Ninth Street bookstore.