Number 215

when you are an old woman
sitting in your hand carved
beautifully curved, oaken rocker
reading cummings, blake
seamus heaney and shakespeare
you will look past the gathering dust
     in the late afternoon light
your long, soft, white, silken hair
gleaming within your shining aura
smile and think of me
drifting in the longago ether
look past the sunstream
        with your right hand
                        wave to a nearby tree
                        wave into the soft breeze
               the tree waves back
             a thousand leaves
for that one
         blessed
moment
  we will touch in the now

[ to Alyssa ]

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Number 214

the singer walked to center stage
in silence
when she took her first breath
she grew taller
she began the virtuoso aria
as though born for it
it glided forth with breathtaking ease
it was an olympic skater at high speed
when she reached the cabaletta
her vocal muscles stretched into beauty
the audience was drenched in magic sound
she
bowed
deeply

when she looked up she was stunned
the concert hall was empty
there was silence
she realized the music was inside
soaring songs were for her innermost self
she disappeared into
joyful tears

three balls and two strikes
the pitch was a high curve
he knew exactly
where it would cross the plate
when the bat and ball connected
sound filled the stadium
he was almost tempted to stand there forever
not run the bases
feel the moment
endlessly like a playback
he decided to walk the bases
slowly
when he stared into center field
he saw the disappearing ball
rounded second base
headed toward home
looked up
the stadium was endless and empty
the game was in space
flying was for his perfect body
he dissolved into vapour

Number 213

he said,"dime store mussolini"
    and    my   old ears
                   heard "dinosaur mussolini"
                                           i
am a dinosaur crashing through dime store democracies
              chewing commercials from tv screens
i could survive for centuries on crunchy cars
                                 dirty drugs which make me think
i'm   e    t    e    r    n    a    l
                               food that puffs me into
                                             unmanageable sizes
i chew the sorrows of the people
  crawling            the      earth
           searching      for         freedom

i am the friendly dimestore dinosaur
                   pseudosmiling at millions of tears   
                       eating    people      crying for peace
                                             crying for mercy
                                 people believe in my hypocrisies 
and now they fear me
    now i am the messiah
                 clearing vermin from the earth
                not listening to crowds of protests
                                     deafened by the sound of truth 
                                          not     hearing     truth
                                          not   believing     truth

                                2.

mussolini's gun riddled body
                        hung
                         upside
                             down
in a service station near lake como
                                 for years vultures
                                  picked away at the decaying monster
                                               trying to find the prize
                                                              the heart
decades of feeders flew inside his transparent carcass
           found only a cavern
                             no heart
                                 for almost a century
                                 they ate through
                                 thousands of skin layers
no soul
   no soul
      no soul
      on    ly evil decay 
                   and an orange toupee swinging in the wind
           
                       an orange toupee

                                         swinging in the wind
                                        as
                                        a warn    ing
                                           as   a        warning

             

Number 212

Where have all the flowers gone?      Where have all the babies gone?
Long time passing                     Hours are passing
Where have all the flowers gone?      Where have all the babies gone?
Long time ago                         Days grow long
Where have all the flowers gone?      Where have all the babies gone?
Girls have picked them everyone       Hear them crying every one
When will they ever learn?            Come back into our arms
When will they ever learn             Come back into our arms 

Where have all the young girls gone?  Where have all the young girls gone                      Bright and blooming               
Long time passing                     Bright and blooming  
Where have all the young girls gone?  Where have all the young girls gone?                         
Long time ago                         Smiling and fair                        
Where have all the young girls gone?  Where have all the young girls gone?  
Taken husbands everyone               Plucked from their gardens every one                
When will they ever learn?            Come back and dance with us           
When will they ever learn?            Come back and dance with us

Where have all the young men gone?    Where have all the young boys gone?    
Long time passing                     Tall and handsome                     
Where have all the young men gone?    Where have all the young boys gone?    
Long time ago                         Strong and tan                        
Where have all the young men gone?    Where have all the young boys gone?        
Gone for soldiers everyone            Gone to prison every one            
When will they ever learn?            How long before they're freed           
When will they ever learn?            How long before they're freed

Where have all the soldiers gone?     Where have all the parents gone?      
Long time passing                     Weeks are passing                    
Where have all the soldiers gone?     Where have all the parents gone?     
Long time ago                         Full of tears                         
Where have all the soldiers gone?     Where have all the parents gone?     
Gone to the graveyards everyone       Gone to bring their children home       
When will they ever learn?            They'll never lose their hope           
When will they ever learn?            They'll never lose their hope

Where have all the graveyards gone?   Where have all the prisons gone?  
Long time passing                     Smashed to pieces                    
Where have all the graveyards gone?   Where have all the prisons gone?  
Long time ago                         Pounded to dust                         
Where have all the graveyards gone?   Where have all the children gone?  
Covered with flowers everyone         Gone to their families every one         
When will they ever learn?            When will they ever learn?           
When will they ever learn?            When will they ever learn?


Pete Seeger                           Daniel Pociernicki                      
                                        
                                                              
            
                                                  
                   



      

Number 211

everything
       is     personal.
                  those sunflowers
                  which      began to fade
reached out to you
               for moisture
               for     care;
                  looked
                      elsewhere
when your eyes closed
when your         heart
         wouldn't
          o pen.
                    those children
                               searching for love
                               cry   ing     in the now
                                  not     in    tomorrow
                                   or even the next minute,
if you don't answer 
               they will cry elsewhere
              stop          believing in the universe
                                             whither into     fear    

Number 210

             24 red roses
                re member
back to
      seedling, sprout
       budding,  blooming

                 flood
                     dark
                   secret
                     crevices
with roseate light
    pro      long
        the
        miracle
              of birth
                 blossoms
                 rosieness
                 r     eincarnation

Number 209

she
smiled across the table
                     her face lit up instantly
    her white body
              became illuminated
"do you know how happy it makes me to see you here?"
  (nine rubrum lilies at the next table listened)
                           her words bounced onto a dish
ricocheted off the gnocchi
                        disappeared into his heart
   (three rubrum lilies were still budding)
their intense gleaming spirits
                             splashed into the garlic oil
    (three rubrum lilies were in full bloom) 
they became angels
                 sitting in an italian restaurant                      g)
                            on filmore street                        n
     (three rubrum lilies were fading)
dipping their spoons into vanilla and chocolate gelato            i
(nine rubrum lilies at the next table
                                 gazed at the gelato            l
                                                wafted        i
                                                   toward   e
                                                   the    c

Number 208

and then there were six
    the     room    was glowing
       smiles
bouncing    from     wall to wall
             colliding       with laughter
             food magically leaping through
                                     drinks
bubbling
 upon    the pure joy of being
                  together
                  love
was rekindled            new friendships bloomed
              stories
    began             and       ended
          here        and     there
it seemed as though a song
                      wanted to sprout
                                    until
                                   suddenly they were gone
the room sighed 
          into   sleep
                     faded                into the next century

Number 207

the smiling of my shadow
when    i     'm     gone
will  ec   ho       from my
           poems
         through      early
                 dawn
look into the trees
           dear ones
             and  see
all the magic you and
   i    can    be
our everchanging love
             is floating
                    high
                   a  constellation
      spread       a  cr         o   ss
                         the          sky
when you think that
                  we're       apart
                                  touch
                                   our     everlasting
                                          he    a   rt
realize we're not afar
                  just living in                a     star

Number 206

we're hiding
             we've been hiding a long time
      hiding in daylight
      hearing them pass beneath us
                    a long line of noisy boots

                                   we're hiding
first it was unconscious
              n ow  i  t is on purpose
                          softly sitting between
                          long              words
hearing them flutter
  above        us
  an endless whir of long dark wings

we're hiding in the midst of everything
                         lodged within chaos
seeping from peace
shifting           within
                       anger
                              hiding and hoping
                              more light will shine
                              hiding and gradually
                                    e m e r g i n g
                              hiding  and planting
                                   seeds of hope
                                 sprouts of love