iris

iris

Alone
Needing no crown
No Adornments, but her
Regal blue surrounds majestic
Yellow.

Named
For favorite
Part of body, quickly
besting other blossoms to top
my list.

Two most
Loved colors,
Entwined in stem to
Emerge: separate. Together.
Bloom.

Red, white
Roses, lilies,
Sunflowers and daisies.
All should raise petals in tribute
To you.

apologes, again

dear readers,

another great weekend away without email/internet. will post some of it post haste.

much love,
mgt.

anniversary

anniversary

there are some days
who's passing you mark,
not because you want to,

but because they've
burned themselves
permanently
into the calender
of your life.

because they've
picked up brands
and seared themselves
into your flesh
for you to see

and while the afterburn
of those days
still lingers,

while i still
live in a world
constantly shaped
renamed
transformed,
i pray for the day
when this day
will only stir
slowly
scabbing-over memories,

not the bombs
of last week,
or
the deaths of yesterday.


(dedicated in part to all who have lost their lives, in whole or in part, in Iraq)

st. michael's day

Ides
forever changed
Janus would be proud,
the way you smile back
and look ahead.

earnestly plotting course
across deserts
and dinner tables
through mountains frosted
with the ghosts
of bb gun fights passed,
and yards guarded
by rattlesnakes,
home games on East 161st
and family beamed by satelite.

earnest,
like the six inch deep river
still somehow
winding its way through
land so thirsty
it would grab a straw
and slurp it dry.

earnest,
like a
moviewildwest
lawman
honestly going about
the business
of doing right.

earnest,
like a cactus
defying odds and saying,
yeah, i'll grow here.
what's it to ya?

painstakingly
cutting a path,
laying roots,
making your play
and seeing it through.

you're the one, Mike.

sunday's poem: straight to video

straight to video

Different trip home
On a different airline
Same shitty movie.

saturday's poem: desolation

desolation

yowling, broken wolf.
my eardrums shattered by cry,
alone in desert.

friday's poem: understanding you

understanding you

the wind runs gentle
fingers through my wet hair.
hills roll into
horizon crowning mountains.
No car horns. No yelling, save for
birds animatedly discussing the day
like afterschool teens
gossiping on the subway.

so this is why you moved here.

thursday's poem: tucson bound

(note from mgt: was in Arizona for my brother's wedding. did a ton of writing, but not so much posting. time to catch up)

Tuscon Bound

longing to land as we
approach desert night.
only launched moments ago.
my legs already
very sore, feels like
years before they’ll
escape to sandy pastures.

nycrostic 4

nycrostic 4

bathed in an
already set sun's
teasing exit,
traversing the
edge of ms liberty's
regally outstreched
youthful arm with well

placed pink fingers,
arranging her curls,
rubbing her shoulders,
kissing her goodnight.

Flashback! Young and Depressionable

hey all,

since the General made me think of an old favorite of mine, Young and Depressionable, I've posted it to the Riot Act. Take a peek. One of my favorites, and one of my favorite performance pieces.

Enjoy!
-mgt.

nycrostic 3

nycrostic 3

calling all
old school,
real, down home
new yorkers, the
earlier you
revisit is

better for all;
insist on
sauteed onions,
try extra pickles, and
oh, the jukebox!

back on the horse

back on the horse

before I used words like blankets
and bullets, i heard trumpets
cracking fragile walls i had
erected hastily, truly bad
excuses for protection crumble
with every whisper, shout, mumble,
laugh, snappy comebacks stumble
between synapses and vocal chords
not yet my friends, these words.
before i carried a second person
on my back, my position worsened
beneath the weight of my own
appetite for destruction sown
in the seeds of my guts.

now i fight to open doors nailed shut,
making good on promises made
during the pain of fifth grade.

earth drums

earth drums

the earth drums upon the wood
rhythms that I won't forget,
i wouldn't choose to if i could,
the earth drums upon the wood
it matters that I fought and stood
and saw my favorite sunset.
the earth drums upon the wood
rhythms that I won't forget.

the day after

the day after

you are the reason
i get up each morning, how
i got up today.


(thanks for all the love, y'all. this haiku's for you)

untitled

untitled

still numb, I
hang receiver on cradle
myself in oversized arms
still not big enough
to catch the enormity,
not small enough
to keep sand
from slipping away
from me.

it happens, you say,
it could have happened
when she was 25,
but it didn't.

i see her,
fighting her way
through transliteration,
i hear her voice,
shushing my shock
at her kindness
as if to say
everyone deserves this,
but you get it
because i love you.

as i clutch at roots,
the tree reminds me
that someday,
i'll be those roots,
and I need to build
a strong trunk, good
branches,
and be prepared
for the fact that,

no matter how hard
I want to stop it,
leaves still fall.

a health plan i could live with.

a health plan i could live with.

rip shirt,
dip in gas tank.
use as fuse. blow up car.
take meds from store. self surgery,
friendo.