working for the boss

there speeds the running one
muscular aggressive flying edge
fluid defense fast break football
driving colts away to bachelor bands
half-ton thundering heroes wheel and chase
pure and mighty
before dayafter battle scavengers caw and play

uprights at sunrise
(the stallions, our city’s most successful football team ever, won the grey cup championship in 1995)

pando human

walk into a forest trembling gold silver yellow
see six thousand tons ringing breathing as one grain
taste pollen blooming ten thousand springs
walk forty thousand feet of dispersed light with each step
hear forty thousand engines working in whisper
smell eighty thousand sun orbits as one second
meaning has found you

cosmic galaxy egg at sunrise
(the american visionary opened at 800 key highway in 1995 with the tree of life—andrew logan sculpted cosmic galaxy egg in 2004)

crane buddha and toad

an august early morning
in city brick asphalt soil grass and trees julyabsorbed
a red brown black toad poised unglazed as clay
on a knee of buddha turned away from his gaze
from high unseen rare untimely
a grey crane alights on buddhas head
a glorious globe unfolding in the sun
ball of medicine paper burning with color and flowering stigma
crane folds its wings in predatory prayer
toads beautiful heart beats faster and broken
buddha smiles
after eating an ant and lichen toad hops to arbor vitae
crane loosens and swallows a stone of clay and spirals away
buddha remains serene eroding
cast toad into the city and crane into the world
to share hunger
for wet muddy reeds and rice in unsplit unfused atoms of drenching rain

buddha at sunrise
(in 1994 artist, teacher, and peace activist noriko ikaga formed the statue of buddha near dickson and lafayette streets—act for peace http://www.icanw.org/)

oceanwell

waves crashing on a shore
ears dissolving
reach far into a universe of sound
where we live by the sea
deep low base pulses slowly
underwater
one day the sun will swallow you
soon enough in ecstasy
now is our one time together
swim with me

penn north at sunrise
(penn north, maryland community health initiatives, opened on pennsylvania avenue, just south of north avenue, in 1993)

warehousing them

dicktracy: when will you fix the faulty wiring
herniahernia: we might use some of the wiring to electrocute the roaches
dicktracy: the leaking pipes
herniahernia: they are imbedded in the concrete, as are the leaky gas pipes which poses slightly less danger
dicktracy: the rats come through the holes in the walls and ceilings
herniahernia: we are studying that, if convenient direct them out the broken windows
dicktracy: you could change the lightbulbs and keep the grounds clean
herniahernia: when we fix things they break, we’re saving money in hopes of destroying everything
dicktracy: it’s always cold in the winter
herniahernia: we’ve arranged to have milk delivered
dicktracy: can’t you just maintain working order, i don’t want to be in this war anymore
herniahernia: i won’t say there is nothing i can do

lexington terrace at sunrise
(lexington terrace residents protested unacceptable living conditions with a rent strike in 1993)