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13 Spring 13 Moon 1 April 2004
48th year of the Space Age
Tijuana, Baja California

A stink of urine on the street
reminds me of when I lived the mid-1990s
in downtown San Diego near gaslamp east village
with the homeless sleeping on sidewalks where
the powers-that-be now built a new
boondoggle baseball ballpark

IT'S MORE THAN A BALLPARK - IT'S A BOONDOGGLE !!

or further back in time 1975 when I used to prowl
the back alleys of old Washingtown D.C @ midnight
looking for castoff food or furniture at restaurant back doors

that's where I saw my first real rats
hidden behind brownstone and brick
in the feral bowels of federal city

aya this northamerican poet has always
flirted with poverty and itinerance

then, always, gone back to work

to survive                                office drudge

oh I moan and complain and rebel
but I am still only another wage slave

to reality
                     and to this word
                                                               a r t  .

The one thing I have never done - except once -
is to teach. As I get older I know that that
is exactly what I must do & so that's about to change.

Tomorrow I have my first classes in English for beginners and advanced
and my landlord is totallyyyyyy piiiiissssssssed that someone has
given me the chance to do this, because, as he says, I am
no one and nothing without a teaching degree....

This is no April Fool.

               no apo strophe remember

This is no April Fool.  No, this is Tarot fool
the hanged man, the magus, emperor, high
priestess and empress, am all and none

more             and              less

t h i s                 i  s

the very dust from some core of exploded star
risen up to live and speak and read

like you are, my stardust brother, sister .

Yes.

Like you are, or you wouldn't have bothered
to read all the way through this
swamp of babel

yes, you too are bitten by this bug
to see, to feel, and then

                                            to reflect .

Most people are too busy to stop and smell the roses
even for a few moments to savor the taste of life
before returning to making hay and grinding
the dull blades sharp again for a gain

they will not stop or stay
only glance and CLICK

                                A W A Y
                                        g o n e

             but you, by now

     my dear curious cousin reader             have perhaps even

         balanced your hunger long enough to pause and wonder

             What The Hell Is This Fool Saying Here ?

with:

hello my beloved

                      wrap taur

there

I try to make it short, to help your time
but always end up ramble rumble romp

I try to make it sweet to please your tongue
but always end up bitter at our own

stupidity and destruction of the Earth and
loss of our soul to conquer the world
aye

     I try to walk on the sidewalk
     but that stink of urine
     in the alley

makes me turn away, across the street
to another word
               and another line
                                and another page

       yet even that word, "page" , is

              d i f f e r e n t

                                         n o w
   in cyber
 cypher this page
                         is  certainly
                                             N O T

     8.5 X 11
                     inch
                                   n o .

We are something else entirely

We began at the top
We begin on the left

                                 and
                                   go
                                    on
                                     from



                                              t h e r e

Not to mention

                     the  hyper text
                         cyber space

                                          C L I C K

or the flickering images

                   PASS   YOUR   MOUSE  OVER
                   it becomes something else

from terror lust
to bestial lunch





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