caper

a LARGE magnolia flower
purloin'd from Swan-Levine's sideyard
I had to slide it
Passt Peggy on the street
I must be smooth
She never saw it

Nevada

             down
I came out of the September hills
near Halleck

The road blocked with cattle

I mean brown-eared doggies
           a cattle drive
Complete with cowboys
Splendid in their leather chaps
And kerchiefs under the bright Nevada sun

wide-brimmed hats cocked
    just the kind of traffic delay
        I delight in

Pyramid Lake

I was already vulnerable
When I pulled into a turnout
High above Pyramid Lake
To let a leadfoot go by--
I was already weak
With pink sundown in my eyes
Looking over the sage crest
To soft tracts of light wind
Feathering the last sunlight,
A loose ribbon of black freightbirds
Settling for the night
Offshore

spiro

Spiro Agnew-
Is someone really
Named that?

hot-ku

kids shriek
running through lawn-sprinklers
mid-July

Junkyard Jim

for Lew Toll


Almost inert-
The Raleigh pipe that smokes itself
by the beat quonset shed,
mid-junkyard.
Mr Ruddy in denim overalls
sizes up our randy selection
of rake tines, rusted pulleys, flywheels
and bent occult shapes
already sifting back to earth-
our 'found objects', our makeshift Art-
Pulls out his roll of worn bills
to make change,
shaking his head,
pronounces 'five dollars...'

thursday

An odd creature
In a green vest
Straight from the Monty Halls
Of Darwinism
Stepped out of his recycling truck
On our street today
Took one look at our overfilled bins,
Pointed at his big steel bucket
And shouted at me,
"Load 'em up, Francisco!