My Family Tree

My Father flies kites in the backyard
higher and higher to find his Peter Pan youth
My mother listens to cheap gospel music
and keeps her break on
Jumping! to high speeds
The car reels, suspension,
tuning, off,off, off
My brother the quiet gentleman
sleepless in his dizzy dream
of video games
playing over and over
Solitude for his mind
Worlds away in L.A.
Vamp. clans and busted up cars,
fairies and experience points
And I in the middle
Laugh quietly at the
Kaos of my Family Tree

So much for San Diego

Tango! Tango!
Oscar! With a heavy Spanish accent
Romeo!Romeo! Where for art thou
tow truck man?
I didn't want the last envelope anyways! Toyota SUV!
Couldn't wait until morning, couldn't wait
Nice feather fedora man
didn't anyone ever tell you no one ever wins those games??
As you stroll away, way past your bed time
Your wife won a puppy from the grab machine
Guess you win, you win
with your stereo at midnight
Denny's; defeat
So much for San Diego

Ghetto theaters are the Best!

Kids with candy stained lips
And beer bellies from too much empty food
Reach past me to try and pickpocket
But no good and so the other gives it a go
Followed by a stern hit from a mother who holds no control
The ticket stubs are like raffle tickets
"I've won" says the "B" rated popcorn stand
Only three shows, only the best
the most wanted and the most watched
Cellphone lights to find the way
Followed by no message to turn off your electronics
But the audience is quiet save the hollow crunch of "B" rated popcorn
After the show I press against the graffiti ridden door
No shame or hope of redemption
Only a casual embrace from the movie goer
Going in and out of the small ghetto theater
Outside bikes ride by
with stereos that blast commercials in Spanish
I got a tattoo down here once,
twice, three, four times
I remember now what it is to live the ghetto life
Even just to see a movie
For six dollars instead of twelve...

Laundry

Stayed the night at a laundry mat
It was a hot day and a hot night to follow
Two tumble washes and a dry
Double duty dry was all it took
The suitcase hit the gravel hard in the parking lot
As I rode by looking like I wanted work
An SUV parked snug next to the front door
An Armenian couple sifting through coupons
Looking like mob men come to steal my clothes
But no they roll on, roll on by
Inside is gold
A quarter or two bought you
Screaming Asian words!
Japanese I think, Japanese
From the joystick to the
blue and green buttons
High kick and low punches
From the screaming arcade
I won only once
But I've got two tumble washes
and a dry to show for it

San Diego Bums

Bums line the seashore
An elegant, everwinding path
Pedestrians ride, run and
Skip past
They are lawn ornaments
Nothing more, nothing more
As they lay about, strun
Across greenery
and the breeze floats by
carrying the smoke
from the bum's bummed cigarette
And the sadness and sorrow
of the American Dream
As faded as a thousand years suns
They sit, baking on their claimed lawns
Where True Man dare not venture

Untitled

Look over you shoulder and know that I AM God
Look at the sea and sing hymns of my great work
Those who look on you know the strength in you
is nothing more than all of me
Hold on in the waves and know that my sovereign hand wields those rushing waves
of foam and salt
Scary as they may be
they show me clearly and scream 'hear me hear me if you dare'
I've called you out of the depths and given you the dare
to follow from the breath and the legs
that sprint after me because I have given them to you
use them wisely my child
wisdom not from you but from my breath
and my speech that constantly stirs you out of your battle against a sinful lazy lull
in my living word hide yourself
in it as a cleft in a rock hide yourself in me and know that I AM Lord
Hold onto that breath; that life
Hold onto what I have given you to believe
To live beyond all you have known to be life, live
Hold on and know that I AM God

Where you sit on your shore

Where you sit on your shore
The waves crashing, crashing
I wonder if you think of me
My hair, my eyes
Mad and untamed
Or if to you they are dull and faded
From distant memory where you care not to look
I wonder if you see me in that head of yours and think:
"my love;my life"
Or if that is only me
I wonder if you care for me enough to say out loud
To risk the words held by your breath alone
Right there, right there
On your tongue, never uttered,
never, never real until you've said it
To me, to me and to me alone
I wonder if you love, love, love me
Then say you love me
Write it in the sand
Scream it over the night waves
Then finally, finally
whisper it in my ear and my ear alone