Kale

Not even kale rich in vitamins
can save us can stave off
the decomposition threatening
our peace of mind our complacency
not gluten free muffins not
supplements not wild salmon
not omega three fatty acids
nothing
will protect the wildcat or
the rain forest the elephant
the economy the homes we
inhabit nothing can defend
us.

Nothing can save us from our
own stupidity our own choice
a leader without clothes without
ideas without compassion void
of understanding of the values
of society a self-absorbed ego
empty of empathy bellicose eager
for war for seizing countries
the way he seizes pussy
always taking faking making
money upon which he has no
perspective.

We eat our television frozen dinner
kale and sweet potato as we watch hero
movies in which actual news anchors
actual members of Congress confer
with mythical bat and supermen in a reality
we have lost altogether as corporations
as oil companies lay their pipe lines
as smog and smoke fog our minds
as the oceans turn to warm plastic
as greed and ignorance trump
all the humanity all love of nature
all love for one another that once
we had.

--Jameson 12/16

Look Away

What do you do when a homeless woman
babe in arms puts out her hand to you
how long do you think about her
that you should or shouldn't have
given 
how much have you done to 
purify your water recycle trash
shared your money with charity
how much do you look away
from unpleasantness from dirt
and decay from disease as you go
about you daily routines enjoy your
dinner sip your wine relax in front
of the television as you solve the
mystery you are reading brush your 
teeth
go to bed snug in clean sheets
do you know that green slime
oozes into rivers of Florida
that fish are dying that the great
Gulf of Mexico is becoming  
a toilet a cesspool of oil and filth
what do you think as you snap
photos of sunsets looking away
from the drains that empty runoff
otherwise called sewage flowing into the 
sea
Are we all looking away now
no longer just Dixie 
as the bees and butterflies
we kill disappear as poison goes
from our environment into our 
minds making us live in a fantasy
that everything is just fine 
absurd as thinking virgins 
long for terrorists in heaven
absurd as the idea of an after-life
Or wouldn't it be wiser friends
to look away from our illusions
better to look death in the eye
see what is happening to the land
and all who live upon it
the lights will out and the stars
shine

Bro Haiku

young brother life-long
self-same flow of blood and bliss
let mirth heal your mind

Slug South

The days end with reluctance
as May Memorials mark us
as citizens honoring our dead
those who died in the World Wars
or defending our Confederacy
we will not forget them
as the sluggish days turn hot
as the crickets the cicadas the frogs
fill our nights with sleeplessness
until we rise covered in sweat
go out and watch the early dawn
hear birds greet the first summer's day

How could we forget the summers
playing on the beach dripping
sandcastles of our imagination
as the ocean waves gave rhythm
to our blinding white thoughts
we loved the mud of the sand basins
we dug into the moats of our castles
we knew none of it would last
the change of tide while we dripped on
we had no idea what our parents
lounge chair slugs drinking beer    
thought of anything we did

Was it the heat heavy in the oaks
the songs of birds the barking dogs
chained in our dirt yards the feral cats
roaches and rats scratching our dreams
that made us slow as slugs in wet grass
those of us who saw the world were
dazzled by the vision of archetypes
the world's cities the wild Pacific crashing
against the blissed out cliffs of Big Sur
the vastness of canyons the Earth's exuberance
until we retreated on our return to our round 
shells of suspicion our mindless intransigence

Sumatra in Eclipse

Tomorrow totality crosses Sumatra
the solar eclipse descends in darkness
over the land a shadow of doom passing
in the blink of your eye questioning me
asking what has it to do with me in Michigan
awaiting my lover thinking of our love-making
doing it doggy style the details of sex eclipse
all other visions as you look at me an old stereo-
type talking about elections pollution greed
eclipsing the natural world corrupting society
you aren't listening because your thought drifts
to television the make believe president or
is it the show about life in England last century
rich with estates rooms glamour clothes dogs
where people are kind no matter their stations in life
entertainment eclipses reality makes my talk sound
distant unimportant like a total eclipse of the sun
on the other side of the Earth like starving refugees
like people being blown up in Syria wherever that is
don't dwell on unhappy thoughts of death and ash
your sad eyes tell me think instead of the delicious
dinner we shall have then the good night's sleep
that will follow as the night the day no less
certain but far more intimate than an eclipse in
the burning polluted skies of Sumatra

Jack 3-7-16

God is not a Tooth

God is not a tooth
uncrowned, unbroken
God is swallowing
process not stagnation
gender-less eating
neither biting nor bitten
a pearl of gathering wisdom
some call panentheism
a totality unsullied by schisms
neither Sunni nor Shia
Neither protestant nor Catholic
Neither Mahayana nor Theravada
Vishnu and Shiva fully embraced
Neither Jew nor Christian
Buddhist or Shinto
in God It's All Food
and we humans are but mite
monads flickering momentarily
maybe a sparkle in God's smile.

-Jameson