ZERO

Tireless being carrier; 

sheer absence 

as object;

only real difference 

between one 

and a million.

Cipher for the worst in us; 

Shape and name 

of all our grace; 

locked gate at the boundary 

between nowhereness 

and place—

you alone 

are the freezing point, 

the fulcrum, and the djinn;

you alone are man's greatest asset 

or weakness—depending

on opinion. 

HAIKU FOR MY LLM

A dog who can talk. 

Who cares what it has to say?—

it's a talking dog!

TO FRUITION

This is how a poet grows—one line 

after one line, word by word,

til it's done:

As a poet, you learn 

to get over it. As a poem, to get

into it, then perhaps through it. 

As a poet, you express yourself.

As a poem, you'll come to see

what that means. 

As a poet, you have borne 

authenticity's cross. As a poem, 

you can finally bear to put it down.

As a poet, you were lost 

but now are found.

As a poem, you won't care; 

you'll be at home everywhere. 

As a poet, you'll mature; 

you will learn to bare your soul.

As a poem, you'll make 

a coat for that soul

to keep the poor thing warm. 

BALDERDASH

Most life exists 

as if just following orders—

only sometimes

a few of these 

strident young pheasants 

seem instead to destroy them. 

Bowdlerizing strip mall farmland 

like unoiled halftracks; to them, 

form annoys function.

Their hackled crows 

and annoyed, dusty cackles 

proclaim that sound won't follow sense

the way future echoes present—

even where it must,

and even when it doesn't.

ASK THE BROKEN MAGIC 8 BALL

Don't ask the prophet 

or the Pythoness 

to tell you; ask instead 

the original witness—

the songsmith 

or the poet. They'll say:

the forecast is not 

but the lonesome 

tears of all 

whose residue leaks

from the present 

day's sorrows;

I do not know 

what will happen 

tomorrow, 

but I see a few 

cracks you could fix 

in today. 

DAILY MANTRA

Today'd be a day 

as good as any to die—

there's just this one thing...

EVERY ENGLISH FOLK SONG

Isn't it crazy 

about that ghost 

on the ramparts 

of the castle 

by the sea? 

But I guess 

life is like that.

Anyway—will you 

marry me?