LATE NOVEMBER

FOR BOBBY LESSER

Remember that two dollar bill you gave me

with the dime taped to it?

I’ve been wondering for awhile

how to pass it along.

Joey almost got it a couple times

as a love gift – the way I got it.

Tonight, a young guy tossed a two dollar bill

into the basket.  Said it was the last of his money.

I grabbed him after, and gave him our  two bucks with the dime

taped to it.  Said, see that, you came out ahead.

I knew that bill wasn’t going to stay

in my wallet

forever.

***

My neighbor drove by

and waved out the window.

There was a gray smudge over

what I was seeing.

I didn’t think about it

but it got filed.

I waved back.

The next day he dropped over dead.

He was marked, I saw it.

What do I do with that?

***

Kerouac on Desolation:

Hot coffee
and a cigarette -
why zazen?

Remembering my own mountains:

Kick back cigarette
not a care in the world
sweet coffee chaser.

                                                   

***

WINTER

  

Feeling the melt

of that fatty piece of brisket

in my morning pho.

***

FALSE TEETH

on the shelf

grinning like false teeth

My skull

momentarily unfleshed

What an embarrassment.

RW

Seattle

11.24-11.29.2018

(photo:  Judkins Park, Seattle)

CALIFORNIA BURNING

CALIFORNIA BURNING

(on such a winter’s day)

Coyote farts

and the world

is born

along

with

dip-shit politicians

deep pockets

&

special interests

Get on with it

wade

through

the mud

and blood

No one’s

going to save you

now

or

ever

Once you wave the smoke away

smoke will take its place

I suggest

you and the dog

just start walking

You might get lucky –

over there

Don’t bet on it

though

‘cause really

it’s the same

as

here.

RW

Seattle

11.18.2018

(photo:  Brian Bland)

"It's not just "smoke."  It's plastic, rubber, asbestos, paint, lead, hydrogen cyanide, fats, resins, starches, benzene, formaldehyde, heavy metals, PCB's, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, chlorine, arsenic, aldehydes, toluene...and thousands and thousands of other compounds."  Brian Bland

QUICK SKETCH CAP HILL

Wrapped around each other
in November doorway concrete cold
two heat-seeking mammals

Dead soldiers secure the perimeter

Bless us for we have sinned
it's been over two-hundred years since our last revolution
and even then we made a botch of it

For beautiful for spacious skies
for never ending war

Opiates are the opiates of the people -
to each according to their needs.

RW
Seattle
11.05.2018

COMPLINE

The final bell

calls the monks

to prayer

“For Satan prowls like a hungry lion seeking whom he may devour”

and no better hunting ground

than among

men

who have

denied themselves

touch

who may

embrace

but not caress

and

who enter

The Great Silence

in darkness.

The monks pray

for

a restful night

and.

a peaceful death

while

the lion

pads

beneath

the cross

that savage absolute

hovering

in

every

cell

and

listens

for a

signal

of

flesh

so it may

cull

the herd.

RW

Santa Fe/Seattle

10.17 – 11.04.2018

(photo:  christdesert.org)

FUTURE TRIPPING

AT THE OPENING OF THE TRUMP (p)RESIDENTIAL LIBRARY™ (at Mar-a-Lago)

(Thanks to my friend and neighbor Chuck for suggesting that such a place may someday exist.)

At the inauguration of the Trump (p)Residential Library™ (at Mar-a-Lago,) I am led past the largest crowd to ever gather for such an event, into a luxurious and chandeliered foyer, and up a golden escalator to the doors of the Trump Grand Ballroom™.  Above the doors of the ballroom is an oversized, black velvet portrait of the great man, himself, surrounded by rococo cherubs who look oddly like flying hairpieces.

My invitation is scanned (for the third time) by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, and upon clearance the ballroom doors, triggered by an electronic eye, open inward to a pitch black, cavernous space.

I enter, and he doors close behind me. I am enveloped by darkness and silence for one moment before a voice rises from a surround sound system.  It is the voice we have all come to recognize as the 45^th President of the United States™.  The text is of his remarks at a rally in Illinois, on Oct. 27, 2018, as arranged by students of the ghost of Wm S. Burroughs.

The recording is staggered between speakers to give the effect of many voices reciting an eternal text.

After a minute, a single spotlight illuminates two women in the center of the ballroom, poised to begin a couple’s dance.

The figures are animatronics models of Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway.  They sway in close embrace, and over the course of their performance move through various forms of social dance:  foxtrot, waltz, tango, lindy-hop, and a few I don’t recognize.  Neither the rhythm of the soundtrack, nor the rhythm of the dance change.

It’s hard to tell how much time passes in excruciating surreality when the soundtrack, the dance, and the lights end simultaneously. 

As the doors open behind me and light slides to my feet, I hear the sound of one person applauding from the deep.

An ICE agent enters, takes me by the arm, and escorts me from the room.

TBC…

RW

Seattle, WA

Halloween, 2018