American Haiku

I have a new technique
it's called
waiting for the end

A still ship
You've got to
pay the price
if you sneak in
he believes
you just get the
same movie
they're not
satisfied

Don't weep
Don't switch tactics
I am not some
kind of
bad puzzle
although I seek
solace there
occasionally
what is that time, anyway
that puzzle time
One Shudders
To Think

talking talking
denying death
said some
expert
in this case
yes
pushing death away
I had a fine day
one fella got a red line on a double
day, he used to work on a garbage
truck as a sideline, sell me a stack of
Playboys, for $5
I'd supply everybody at work
I should have been learning something all those years

He packed it in
you'll be
pushing up daisies

Girl fussing over a man
he left
new man same seat
she's ruffling his
bangs
addicted

stuck
grayish black
once played
poor
smart
proud
stuck

Hell's Kitchen
I dunno
These stubborn
Italians
Rooted
Those Africans
they can talk
night queens
stroll in
the bright gray
there is very
little trust
I can sit here
dripping

Oh the
water
the
toilet
the
walls
impossible luxury

Mami
what does it mean
dark man
Am I big
like a matron
am I sex
too much to hide
Do you know
I am human
to be invaded
and hurt
Ah, sweet life
how it does go on
My son in uniform
dark blue
poly blend
'95

I am a failure
it feels good
definite
So true, but such
a joke

The Old thief
is retired,
doesn't know what
to make of life
it's just life, now
still, I can loiter
like a pro
me too, he says
We are relieved at this
brought back

that smile
we are high together
in the world
you're a doll of
a tax burden
Your intelligence is a
trinket
that brain is so off
Throbbing Gristle
plays like a lullaby

Lately the women
the honest ones
talk of suicide at
42, 45 -
No - we say they say
Well, just listen
for a second
your smile might be
a scream
carry on, like the British -
What do they know?

Cheap tattoo
but careful
opening the door
up straight
yeah, queer
that's nice

So fragile,
the balance of a
loss fueled melting
exquisite isn't needed
it's boredom - like the
old man says. It's Oh Brother,
it's look at the baby, it's small
fights, discomforts,
little unexpecteds
None of us chose this
hell no
I'm tired you're angry
what a luxury

enchantment can be
anything but
permanency is nowhere
at least we behave,
somewhat

that delirium
what difference will
it make in your
agency lifestyle
we breed our men
crazy but solid

Yeah I washed up
too
like you
where's the shame
in that

Howie you is lying again
but you don't bother me
happy lies, big lies
says he has no
time for educated idiocy
He's grand, this distributor's loss of a being

Clubhouse for the guys
style of their time
but they move
for each other
for me even
They're a little
bit free

Fernando I'm
putting you in
charge of the
Video
Leadership qualities

Brains on fire
I hurt
Where do you hurt
In the arms and
the side

All the things I
should do
We
should do
This failed
experiment
of a species

Get out Get out
None of you
can write
Get Out Get Out
I can't smile
anymore
it is breaking
me

It's the year of the
stylist
thin sharp faced
beauties
Just look at the prom
decorations
says one after a water
pipe bursts
Now face this way
says another
C'mon smile
She instructs an edgy
pretty boy
Hands reach out quickly
Let me do your lips

Butter smooth
skin sewn around
the body
Jewels for a
certain type of wealthy
the woman who makes
them doesn't quite feel
the edges of time
to lose her
wouldn't be good

That little
woman
so stiff years ago
is mad now
quite completely mad

They're bums,
really
my acquaintances
What can I teach

Your loneliness
has driven you
a bit crazy
old man - old men
smiling ceaselessly
dragging it out

That girl
drops some trash
makes little invoices
on welfare
drinks rot gut coffee
makes bright comments
but gets in the way
a little - that girl can't help

Your smiles pretty big
Navy drop out
You spout philosophers
you can't pronounce
boy
You bullshit about freedom
but You want me

My hero has
a little hole in his
sweater
I love you
we both look away
Gun shy - not even
it's the truths
We could take a
little gun

Sid grunts
shuffles
Yep Yep
Uh huh
silence
strong,
She has been
slowed down
for some time now
a tool in hiding
learning of all
things
Geography
You are peace, butch
We are
of all things
here
Our friends are very young

I could tell you a story
that'd hush a bodega
Darling
But I know you
have to do
some things for yourself.
"Harold" that voice so
strained and sweet
"I'm not going to shake
hands with you
because you haven't
been washing them."
What is it that sets
people apart

I wanted greetings
so bad
not those, though
You hotel room burning
idiot
from another time
allowed to exist
through charity
swagger nowhere,
champ
tarry not

Living in the corner
running
You stabbed her then
acted seductive in
her dream but
she works for
Paine Webber
THE IDIOT SENT CANDY
I ATE IT

One goes to Brazil
One built a mud hut
the first in years
in Granada
They can leave
they don't need pills
everyday

Unhinged Workers
Coughing not really
down but pretty out
scrubbing mopping
pausing to disagree
and
Old Arthur's got a
chip on his shoulder
he will not do it
for free
he will not do it for
pay unless asked
properly
in the end
he does not
and
The urban rat
Chesapeake Bay
Third World Mechanic
Ex UPS worker with a mohawk
shows up, grins always,
dreams, plans, stubborn, stares too
much
I can laugh with them all
But they annoy me

A former Minister
Buddhist gay now
A horse riding jew
Now a lesbian being
artificially inseminated
by a loyal queen
A curious man in statistics
his boyfriend is most important
Goals changed, disappeared
a bleached HIV POSITIVE
Transgender and older
now woman, handicapped
and rebuilt, suctioned,
bruised
They've got plans
They are plans
They do not seem to stop

I ran women, transexuals, heroin,
you name it I ran it
I speak 4 languages
Chinese, Korean, Japanese,
That's fluently
I wonder what those hormones are like

Gel hard hair
styling man
I am a boy who comes from
Italy
a little hand reaches out

They called me Super Baby
I could walk when I was one
they're not sure what I
have now

The mentally ill building
is articulate, well painted
Do not fumigate says
a childish scrawl,
it's injurious

one lanky, stepped out
didn't come back
"Sure, we can do that"
he says, gently, firm, tenuous

You beauty
You are living now
We women
Do we win or just wait

Doughy men - evolving slower
is all, says Jane

Small girl skull cap not much
room not much food
Eking it out

Fly away home free agent
take it all in, so amused
my loneliness bleeds

Why be part of a transition
period - it's not the one among
many that gets to me
It's this little beginning little
end hanging thread quality of
the current

Cured, we're cured, two Fey old men
grinning broadly
silly little shopping bag
A gift necklace
Shucks Darwin, Hey Ira

whining shaking you have
no power left
but to communicate
a certain nervousness -
Nakamura flings her
hands at the wall
We don't want it
We don't want it
a heh a hah a hah ha ha

Time Square - - cleaner safer brighter

hairdressers in Algeria

Group decisions take an unnatural time

Patrick flip of hair black
sheet angle gloss - Never just walk
it's all a tool
It Blew my head Damn You

Barfags stagehands Big fat starlet young white girl
wants orphan credentials but the
thing with her dad...

Medication waltzing through
the day sea sick tolerated
and tolerating

African - no white jacket
chilly perhaps taking too long
making the soda. Eyes still
alive - Not for long

I can't unite disdain escape
and happy delirium anymore. I'm at that age now.

Negotiate in sadness always
What natural law is that?

Cozy silence, struggling
through the streets creating a
woman safe loop
Don't throw it away they're
not your own - a tiny panicked thought

What is this damaged ilk -
the ill equipped unarmed with
this automatic push for expression
We can't go back - give me
a quilt to stich and still I'll live
in other moments
Only stop when I prick blood
What a mess!

Manabu is terrified
of course
Please don't let me
happen again
I'll work
for that

who the hell are they
so short so tough
always alert
like me
why

Girl talk at 5am
we have metal
in our body
there are hormones
in the meat
we will settle
old already
what a lovely

Big body
big bones
Big Stupid Swiss
German Wisconsin
family making weirdly intelligent go carts in the basement with their
porn collections
Nice Mom Too
and you
porn collecting
god I love you though
Broken back
crooked pelvis
blunt honesty
confusion
rage
You pretty freak
I still want you,
Dammit.

Old shrink, heavy, glassed, Ginsberg
beard
Sweating - lecturing the Hall
An idiot with courage
turned away looked back
long faced
black man
long coat
holding a rose like
a scepter
there you go
there I go
What's a scepter?

Victor Bruce Godsey
You sly dog
I was gonna
do that
myself

Italy kept going
In Union city
that Sicilian
doesn't weigh
more than
120
King
King of
Everything
flounce
the word doesn't live
anywhere
but in your
spin kick
Command
Loosen Up

Toddlers in the Medwest
disobey the neat freak
what is this shit
about lambs bringing
money to God
ROCK'N'ROLL
he jumped up and down
spastic short body
he's gonning to be a big man one day
jumping is not
mud is not
evil
But your Christmas letters
are insane

Rage is good
but without rutghlessness it is
a loser emotion
get those teeth fixe

Americans, not slick
always a little worried
Glancing around just a
little bit
at McDonalds Today
??