Walking around the park

 Walking for health

And for vanity

Not to escape aging 

But maybe to slow it down

Geese are napping

all around the path

One hisses at me

I call him a gangster

The geese and their goslings

The humans and their littles

Watching each other

And being watched

I pass an old man

Older than me

He says hello

I make an odd hiss sound 

I leave the path

To walk around the garden center

Back onto the path

Reversing direction

I make this same move

Around the rose garden 

Then switching directions

Avoiding walking by my car

I pass the old man he smiles

I smile

His path is erratic like mine

Is he also avoiding temptation

"He says I'm not being tortured

The HEALING process

What if someone cut your fucking head off

The healing process is a sin"

A man pushing a shopping cart is yelling

"He helps me to be electric

In sinc so I can be

NOT PSYCHOTIC"

The old man approaches again

I'm determined to say hi

A loud motorcycle passes

I walk to my car

Soft

I’m soft.
My father wanted it that way.
Wanted me not to be hardened by war or poverty

I’m soft
and there are those who believe this is a bad thing
soft boys are the ruin of society

I’m soft
to the chagrin of uncles wearing scar tissue armor
who fought to earn me this privilege

We are soft
and we are resilient, and ready should we need to rise with the need
to take on that which would harden us

I’m soft
and will not waste that privilege
to love and celebrate and cry and care and dance

I’m soft
and what I want more than anything
Is that my daughter can be softer still

Gone

"Where are you?" 
Christians mom wrote so many months ago
on his facebook page
Where Happy Birthday greetings from one year
bump against those from another

Where've you gone this time Christian
If you get locked up again
or buried
I imagine your folks will be contacted
so we assume you're still out there, somewhere, alive

You and I used to drink with Holy Rock
and his brother Billy
in the courtyard by the church
I imagine they had people somewhere also
wondering where they'd gone
gone
how can drowning take so god damn long

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year
"Where are you?"
Where are you? 
I've waited to hear that you were gone
really gone
For 30 years now

VFW ABC

Walking while we were still able

table to table at The VFW Post

Grabbing  discarded glasses, beer roaches

and emptying them down our throats

Some fools had been dropping valiums

into the drinks they then abandoned

the beers Billy and I came to rescue

and later puked back up all over my spinning house

Steve was proud and boastful

of his talent at not giving a fuck

And truly he didn't

even when the Nazis showed up

As long as they were paying

He was happy to drink with them

I quit the alcoholic boys club in a huff

Steve smiled, poured another glass as he waved 'Goodbye'

Manny's skin was brown

and a few week later he face was kicked in

Steve eventually did time behind bars

He and Manny are both now in the ground

James got married

his bachelor party almost cancelled the wedding

and his new bride insisted

he find a better class of friend

Billy just up and disappeared

I don't remember the last time I saw him

But I ran into his jacket all the way up in Canada

being worn by a tough who must've rolled him for it

My girl named us the alcoholic boys club

We were living in the moment

outside of time or space or class

a thing not meant to last

For a season we held court

Ruling our corner of the VFW

Our throne the largest booth

where the booze flowed fast and sometimes free