Humility

"Say it plainly, the human name doesn't mean shit to a tree." - G.S.

Stumbling the rocky falls path,
two large trees,
hickory and sycamore,
fallen to the last thunderstorm.

Soil and stones
festoon their naked roots;
leaves still fresh,
green, not wilted.

I clamber over and continue.

Now an obstacle,
in the cool of autumn
we will return
with chain saws, axes,
cut and carry this wood,
transform it into heat
for winter.

Walking, falling, cutting, burning:
all magical steps
in the inescapable process
of age, death, decay and rebirth.

The earth provides
and points the way.

We do what must be done,
following her lead,
taking our place,
in the process,
not so different
from grubs or termites
as we might like
to imagine.
- mce

Near Life Experience

On Tuesday I drove near
my ex-wife's house
for the first time
in almost three years.
At just that moment,
in just that place,
my car's clutch blew up.
Curse or coincidence?
Spooky to think about.
Hard to say.
- mce

Caveat Emptor

Do not mistake
the poems for the poet.

The exquisite grace
of a panther
stalking the jungle
in blackest night
renders it
not one iota
less dangerous.

Enjoy my words
at a safe distance.

Never, dear reader,
confuse the words
with the man.
- mce

Hejira

Interstate or airport,
every journey leads home.

Odysseus sailed to Troy
and discovered Ithaca.
Ahab found domicile
in the mouth of a whale.

All roads lead back
to the self;
no other destination exists.

Arm yourself, pack, go;
you cannot get further
than who you are.

Welcome home.
- mce

The View From LZ Serenity's Rear Deck

Looking Forward

What is the smell
of yesterday,
the color of pain,
the taste of love?
How many blueberries
in a second?
Are women
really human?
Does death
make a sound?
Are cats truly smart
or just pretending?
Will those I've
loved and hurt
ever forgive me?
So many questions
to answer
before I can depart.
- mce

Aphorism

The ultimate arrogance:
believing you can live a life
without consequences.
- mce

A Short Comment On Patriotic Holidays

At once
the great strength
and likely tragedy
of America:
stubbornly
and sincerely
believing,
against
so much evidence
to the contrary,
in the home
of the brave
and the land
of the free.
- mce

A Pickle Poem

The threat of death
makes a wondrous
condiment.

Eighteen months ago
my dolorous doctor
announced that my liver
might have
but three to five years
left on it.

Time passes.

Now I notice that
birds sing louder,
trees grow greener,
and strangers
smile more.

Every day,
a present
to unwrap.

Thank you, Doc,
for shaking that
unexpected spice
onto my life.

The closer
to the end,
the more alive
I feel.

- mce

Ode to Chiggers

Chiggers: a truly
southern-fried
pain in the ass.
Invisible;
inescapable;
inevitable.
Still,
the torment
of this
constant itching
reminds me
that beauty
always comes
at a price.

- mce

Picking The Patch On A Grey Day

Blueberries:
a double whammy
of delight.

Lovely
to look upon;
delicious
to taste.

How these little,
indigo globules
manage not
to explode
from goodness
astounds me.

One more
curious mystery
to ponder.

- mce

A Sunday Prayer

Another new day, God.

Make me large enough
-like Buddha, like Jesus -
to accept and overcome
the wrongs done me,
the wrongs I have done.

Help me to rise above
the shallow selfishness
of my mortal concerns.

Grant me the courage
and the compassion
to be a better man.

The time is short, God,
but the road is long.

Directions are welcome.

- mce

Preparing For A Journey

I have forgotten
what it is like
not to travel alone.

No big deal,
just another
lonesome highway
leading back to myself;
just another reminder
of how long
and inevitable
and solitary
our journey must be.

Get gas. Add some oil.
Check the tires.

Life is an Interstate;
death, the only exit.

Keep your foot
on the gas.

Pay attention.

Drive.

- mce

Why It Is A Wonderful Or Terrible Thing To Be A Poet

When you write it down,
you relive it.
- mce

Mykonos - for H.M.

"Memory is a kind of accomplishment." - William Carlos Williams

Forty years later
I still see you
standing on that
dazzling Greek beach
wearing nothing
but your bikini bottoms
and an innocent grin.
A vision like that
can last a man
a lifetime.
Where are you now
smiling Venus?
- mce

A Question Of Risk

If every door
was a portal
leading
not to a room,
but a new world,
would you
hold my hand
and cross over
with me?
- mce

A Kind Of Immortality

If death should
turn out to be
complete unto itself,
it is enough
that my mortal body
rot to humus
and nourish the fruit
that are yet to come.
- mce

Blueberry Madness!

Another Princess Poem

Only what is worth losing
is worth reaching for.
- mce

One Small Step For A Man

Sunlight, rain,
mist or rainbows;
walking out
on my deck
each morning
opens up
a fresh glimpse
of Eden,
the possibility
of a world reborn.
- mce

Optimism

Place your hand
inside my chest
and touch my heart.
It beats
for the possibility
of you alone.
- mce

Olfactory Orgasm

The simple smell
of new mown hay
on a cool, dry morning:
ambrosia for the nose!
- mce

The "Show Up For Life" Poem

Remember:
the chance
you won't take
is the life
you won't live.

Pull on your boots.
Be open
to possibility.
Saunter forth.

Trust God
and curiosity
to manage the rest.
- mce

The Geology of Life

Walking the dry creek bed
this cool morning,
my boots stumble
upon millions of years
of geological debris.

These countless rocks
washed how far
by current and storm?

Born of fire and water,
broken by time and motion,
shale and limestone splinters
testify mutely
to the potent
anonymous forces
that shape and deposit us
on this ground
where we stand,
unsure how we arrived.

We are rocks in this stream,
our lives shaped by powers
We cannot know,
do not understand.

Creek bed, debris,
fragments, shards
and morning chill:
the ineluctable,
unknowable reality
of what is now.
- mce

A Mystery

Heroin, war,
marriage, divorce,
madness, freedom:
who knew the last
would be hardest
to survive?
- mce

The Cookie Question

When your heart
is broken repeatedly
does it become stronger
or does it just become
another crumbled cookie?
- mce

The Road Does Not Take Questions

At sixteen
I said fuck it
and ran away
from home.
Forty-one
years later,
I'm still running.
Forty-one years
still seeking
the answers
to that
wayward kid's
questions
and not
one step closer:
from what,
to what?
- mce

But This Is Hard V 2.0

"The poem reveals itself only to the ignorant man." - Wallace Stevens

Become a child again;
indulge yourself
in ignorance and wonder;
be open to paradox,
uncertainty and amazement.
Recall the very first time
you noticed fireflies
blinking out rapturous glory,
the mystery and grandeur
of that innocent instant.
Return your heart to that state
of spontaneous marvel.
The world will reveal itself,
transformed and articulate,
into small, exquisite fragments
manifested as poems,
a wholly fresh vision
of the same old universe
experienced through
the welcoming eyes
of an idiot.
- mce

Dusk on Spring Creek

Ed Abbey said
that freedom begins
between the ears.
He was right,
but the questions remain,
where does it lead,
how does it end
and can we endure
the journey?
- mce

A Simple Question

What happens
when every road
is a detour
and you are
too tired
to keep driving?
- mce

A Morning Meditation on Fire and Loons

The loonier you get,
the more you write.

The popping flames flare
in your wobbly, burning head
igniting each random word.

Your brain catches fire
and becomes a furnace.

Into it, you heap more words,
make it blaze
ever brighter, ever hotter.

Then you reach
into its glowing coals,
snatch out some
untempered syllables
and beat them
with the hammer
of your imagination.

From this raw molten stuff,
you forge the shape and form
of these poems that tell you:

you are still alive,
you are still here,
you are still you.

It is a process
as simple and complicated
as madness.
- mce

The Old Trees Preach A Sermon On The Curious Notion of Posterity

Just at dusk, when the birds settle
and the light has nearly fled,
gnarled and broken fruit trees,
weeds reaching to their hips,
covered with phosphorescent lichen,
loom in the overgrown, abandoned orchard
glowing faintly in the gathering darkness
like forgotten, malnourished ghosts.
- mce

Unexpected Blessing

It is good
to be a curmudgeon,
even better
to have been committed
at least once;
nonplussed,
the hooples
giggle nervously
and leave you
in peace.
- mce

Coming Suddenly Upon A Wal-Mart In Rural Tennessee

The real America
died at Wounded Knee
where this plastic,
shit-coated monstrosity
we now call home
was born,
appropriately,
in a hail of bullets.
- mce

An Incomplete Set Of Simple Rules For Living

Avoid interstates and airplanes
whenever possible.
Never clean your shotgun
while listening to George Jones
and drinking whiskey.
Visit between the thighs of women,
but do not become stuck there.
Remember that gold is only a color.
Consider that while drunk
is sometimes absolutely necessary,
sober has its virtues, too.
Assume that you are wrong
and you will probably be right.
Believe in birdsong and blueberries.
Know that when the chips are down
water is usually thicker than blood.
Doubt the lulling attractions
of usury and power.
If there is any way to stay clear
of marriage and war, do so.
Make your own list, take it to heart,
and never consider it finished.
- mce

Brautigan Was A Drunk, But He Got This Right...

"I am here
and you are distant."

The essential sadness
of those words
seizes the heart
of loneliness.

Here/distant:
the kernel
of so much despair
and poetry.
- mce

Birds Vs. Bankers

Last night up on the ridge
a whippoorwill sang
its incessant sweet song
in the thick, firefly darkness.
Dante was right to make Hell
a place without birds.
They fill the world with music
and ask nothing in return.
The purity of sweetness
without the demand for profit.
What a lovely notion.
- mce

Supplication

Use me, God,
as you like,
or dispose of me
as you see fit.
Only do not
keep me present
and useless.
That is beyond
my strength,
beyond my capacity
to bear.
- mce

Epistemology

I do not know
what rivers mean,
how buzzards think,
what the sun imagines,
or how snowdrifts feel.
This is sad and puzzling.
You would suppose
that in fifty-seven years
even a crazy man
might learn something
of consequence.
- mce

Mortality

My father has had
a mild stroke.
I sit in the sterile
emergency room
and listen
to the screams
of a child
down the hall
underscoring
the tiny space
between
the pain of birth
and the pain of death.
- mce

Madness V 2.0

It is not a state
of mind,
but a place
in hell
that you
do not wish
to enter,
although
you have no choice;
once you have visited,
nothing will ever
be the same
again.
If others
understood
the finality
of this horror,
they might not be
so quick to judge.
- mce

A Birthday Poem - for Richard

When you were just small,
you and I and Icy D. Bear
would lie in bed at day's end.

We would talk
until your silence told me
that you were slipping off
into your dreams,
but I would remain,
listening to your breath
become even,
until I knew you were
asleep and safe.

That was the warmest place
I have ever been.

Now you are nineteen,
a grown man
whom fate and madness
have taken from me.

I imagine you now,
knocking at life's door,
demanding your due,
as youth and strength require.

How I pray, my little/large son,
against my certain knowledge
of the world's cruelty and caprice,
that every door you touch
opens smoothly before you,
that all your sleep
may be warm and safe,
and that someday
your heart will soften
and admit me
once again into your dreams.
- mce

Whence It All Arises

The mundane world of details
yields only to the imagination.
Facts do not make a life;
events alone cannot explain a human.
A butterfly is just an insect
until the tale teller awakens its potential;
a lover is just a lump of flesh
until a story renders her beautiful.
The fictions we create generate a reality
beyond the dreary limitations of mere truth.
Knowing only the particulars
amounts to knowing nothing.
Lift your brush and paint a scene;
speak your words and create a world.
- mce

Gender Confusion

Women, generally,
desire stability,
and suspect intensity.
The more alive
you become,
the more frightening
you become.
A certain loneliness
adheres to freedom.
The price of being
must often be paid for
by waking up alone.
- mce

Celestial Payola

I vaguely recall whole nights
of deep, refreshing slumber,
waking renewed and ready.
Now, every morning,
I stumble into consciousness
from an exhausting welter
of dreams and demons
wondering how much
must you bribe God
to get a single, decent night of sleep?
- mce

Blueberries Incoming!

Yesterday,
I tasted
the first ripe
blueberry
of the season.
The explosion
of its flavor
on my parched
tongue:
first blast
of the luscious
blue barrage
to come.
- mce

5:30 AM Blues

Heavy rains last night;
thick mist this morning;
tree leaves dip and drip.
Not a glimmer of sun.
Even the birds sound
muted and distant.
Some days are born lonely.
- mce

From Troy to Laos V 2.0

Once on a miserably
hot, humid day
cruising above
a silent jungle,
I watched
a twenty-two year old
Cobra pilot
clear his machine guns
on an ancient,
abandoned,
Buddhist temple.
All the hubris
of western civilization
explicated
in one burst.
Homer, who best
knew the hearts
of men at war,
could not
have sung it better.
- mce

The Innate Physicality of Grief

How much
suffering
is bearable?
How much,
too much?
Only
the finger
caressing
the trigger
knows for sure.
- mce

Morning Mystery

If I am a loser,
so beneath contempt
as to merit
three years of silence
why do you bother
to seek out
my humble musings
on this obscure blog?
What could the words
of a dead man
possibly
have to offer you?
Am I like a train wreck
you can't help
but watch,
or do you remember
better times than these,
and miss them,
as I do?
Questions,
silence,
morning,
mystery.
- mce