Scrabbling

This one is obsessive
like the green beans of star dollars
charred so badly that its ashes
pioneer through mounds of cream and sugar
that would, quite dogmatically
never be added to any mug

Others are compulsive
so we're told, yet this one's a broken record 
of twanging strings and acts of reading
over and over and over
with words like bees hovering around my lobes
and forty messages a day to chug

The mantra of everyone else's disorder
is repeated again and again and again
and the leitmotif of calling, leading, and Jesus praying
blessing us with a loud voice rising early in the morning
refreshing each like continually dripping water
nipping every intrigued pant leg as a puppy dog

Tell me what you really think

There goes one more

. . . Who knows what they're thinking . . .

Drifting down the road

spokes twirling

pedals rotating

fifteen miles per hour

while wearing a stupid mask





Did you hear that?

. . . There goes another . . .

making a left turn

after a stop sign

blasting music so loud

that they can't hear a hole in their muffler

and the driver is wearing a stupid mask





And did you see that lady

on Instagram

selling crochet'd masks?

She might as well be wearing a sock

with holes and a coffee filter

over her stupid face





Oh, there goes another 

and another

and another

jogging, driving, biking

while wearing stupid masks





Wow, another blissful wanderer

walking their dog

down the sidewalk

pausing and veering 

to keep two yards away

from another idiot wearing a stupid mask

who also is walking their dog

which is wearing its own custom-made stupid mask

The Theorist

                      Who can be trusted?
                                                                 And who exactly are "they"
                                                 behind the scenes,
                                                    planning and attending meetings,
                                                                                        writing the script?
                       
                                      Why should I trust what "they" say,
                                                                                   whoever they were on Thursday?
                                                   
                                    And what's the difference between what "they" say
                                                                                              and what "they" determine?

                             How does anyone know if such reported hearsay is true?
     
                                 And so what if they made one determination,
                                                                but are still investigating another?
                                         
             How can people not see this smoke over here and those mirrors over there?
                                               
                               And why are they using the generic term, "coronavirus," at this time?
                                   
                                    Isn't that the most unspecific and slippery description available?
                                     
                                          And isn't the flu, by classification, also the coronavirus?
                                     
                                                                                   How is that even meaningful?
     
                                                    And why should anyone trust
                                 a report about how it was not made or modified?

                                                Are these journalists so inept that they have overlooked
                                                                        who owns its patents?

                                                                    And what about all of the medical research,
                                                                                and the data about its modifications?
                           
                                   Why does it matter if it came into contact with people
            through an accident at a Chinese lab?
                                                   
                                 And why all that specific verbiage used to describe it?
                                                                                               
Why report it as an accident?
                                                                                       And why is it, all of a sudden,
                                                             politically correct to shift public attention
                             and potential blame to the "Chinese lab"?
                           
                     Why frame such speculation as though Trump was its primary source?
                           
                 And who are the alleged "aides" of his, who are also culpable?
         
            Why should anyone trust assertions by mainstream media,
                                                                        their Hollywoodesque accusers?
     
And doesn't this shifty rhetoric look strategically planted
                       
              to discuss and coordinate

                what will be reported nationwide

                                     for all to see and for how it will likely be viewed
     
                                                so the public knows exactly who they can trust?

Hourglass

This great mystery
I have been allowed to know 

this sublimely incalculable figure
                                               

Its stability

its practicality
it's inviting me

It's attentive
to detail

to simplicity 

to order

This glass
is stunning

in time

in motion

every minute of every hour

Once molten
and now cool
its pair of bulbs
connected vertically
by a slender, toned neck
teasing with perfection

Everything has its place

with it

no batteries are needed

all it asks for

is a little guidance

a turn over here 

a turn over there

Its gentle, steady, reliable flow

from top to bottom

is beyond understanding
and most glorious

every grain
every mark
every freckle is gold

an inner alchemy of divinity

Conversational Jonah

          Imagine
Jesus standing
beside your shoulder
beside your furtive glance
God is with you
like a toothache

          life
without what
would make you feel
vulnerable, exposed
testing and training your let go muscles

          without
what in your life
would you feel
humbled, silenced
Test and train
your let go muscles

          unrestrained
I wish my voice was better
I never smoked
I was a better father of my first two
I wasn't pale and freckled
I could be more generous

          and
I cared more about the gospel I used to believe
I didn't have such a predictably aloof and self aggrandizing father
the coffee here was tasty
people could and would not work for money
smart phones did not emit ionizing radiation

          indiscriminate
habituated behaviors
and responses to
living on auto-pilot
characterizing the overwhelming
proportion of self

          babble
if you really know me
then you wouldn't really love me
I want you to love me
therefore I won't let you
know the real me

          Throw this guy overboard so we can enjoy conversing again.

Uncials

As the proverb goes

every time I think

of you I churn cream

like wringing your nose

as the proverb goes

just an unpleasant

petty policy

wonk high on ego

30.33

choking the life out

from those bringing gifts

your highs are too high

your lows are too low

but what do you say

to those tenured clowns

with no competence

25.11

cats they are, choking

coughing, meowing

the plagal of tone

nine with our ears plugged

with our eyes blinking

from the burning stench

of their shite bemoans

20.14

but please correct me

instead of pressing

mute on their TV

please excuse me too

I'm the one with no

ability to

regulate volume

17.16

please forgive me

oh gracious master

who cares so much for

the sheep of his flock

who tends to their needs

incoherently

and does not call them

20.27

oh listen kindly

you who think highly

of his innocence

and benevolence

oh good and kind lord

bring some recompense

to this narcissist

21.2

stop being such a

goddamn curmudgeon

senile introvert

incompetent prig

passive aggressive

snob who loathes children

as the proverb goes

17.10

#COVIDIOTS

Thousands of them crowd together

Most are not wearing masks or keeping at least six feet apart

In defiance of the Governor’s orders

Some people are carrying long guns to this “stay at home” protest

We know who’s hoarding all of the toilet paper

Covid-19 overwhelms hospitals

In overwhelmed hospitals, people die

You can save lives too. Please go home

I’m proud that in my state there was such a small turnout

I hope they all get sick and die

It truly feels like a gut punch moment where no matter what we do, there’s a minority

determined to make sure millions of people die

We are in the middle of a pandemic

These people disgust me

Your haircut is not more important than people’s lives

If you’re participating in these protests, you’re part of the problem

Lockdown effects me and my life, so I go to Madison to protest mean bad Evers

I’m a moron who should die

You know how they use helicopters to drop water on forest fires?

Trump said that bleach kills the virus, and this is way deadlier than a forest fire

I wish we could blast each of these fuck faces to the moon

It’s like a where’s waldo for idiots

Lots of MAGA, camo, and guns

Spot the trump impersonator

No social distancing. No masks

These people are absolutely nuts but whateves

ZOOM Carefully

It’s very strange out there

The quarantine is confounding us all

So don’t dwell on conspiracy theories

Watch what is trending

Focus on the facts and data

As they extend each governing ordinance

One more month

One more phase

Before phase two

To reopen

For business

Social distancing is working

Not touching your face will bring relief

Wearing a mask will mitigate the communication of disease

Hand sanitizers are working

Curbside pickup is helping

We can see that the curve is flattening

Begin at the center

ZOOM carefully
Pay attention to the structure
Like a rorschach technique
The Chiasmus unfolds the synchysis
Pay attention to the pattern
ZOOM carefully

Work your way out

Beyond the aetherband

Miracle unicorn juice in the making

While microbreweries are converting

While RT-PCR tests confirm that people in general are fools

And so will each check signed by the POTUS

While normality is live streaming

To maintain the right proportion of serfdom

For monitoring who will stay at home

We all need another extension

And as many more as are needed

And many more are needed

To prepare us all for immunization

From the virus in one host to another

Infecting our minds and futures

Distorting what is reported

To stabilize the strategized reflation

Beyond the fourth wall

Epilogue

In the end was the Death

and the Death was alongside those not seen

and the Death was a god

He was alongside the Most High God in the end

Some things were appointed to him

and without him nothing unseen could be appointed

What was appointed to him was dead

and those dead awaited vindication

Their vindication was in being raised

and being raised

Death and Hades are needed no more

There was a man sent from the Most High God

whose name is Jesus

He came for his martyrs who bore witness for vindication

that all might be loyal to him

He was the judge and he came to witness their judgment

The final judgment that vindicates the dead provides eternal life for the many

He was among the many

and the many were appointed through him

and the many knew him

He descended to his own

and his own gladly received him

But to all who did not receive him

who were not loyal to his name

he declared them to be destroyed

who were born mortal and not of the Most High God

And the Death became perdition

and was thrown into the Lake with Hades

where those not seen are stripped of glory

the one-of-a-kind garments which their father grasped after

full of majesty and authority

Jesus witnessed to the last enemy and cried out

Where is your sting?

Where is your victory?

For the fullness of life his martyrs lived

The rest received one stone upon another

For the curse of the Torah was declared through the dead

But mercy and eternal life through Jesus of Nazareth

No one had ever been raised from the Death to the Most High

Death robbed them of their wedding garments

so they would not enter into glory

Jesus made this known