Daze of the
Dead
a poetic libretto
1 > A Slice of Dead Tree (1997)
2 > Room
for the Dead (1997)
3 > Dead
Still (1997)
4 > 2,000
Dead (2006)
5 > Semi-automatic
Suicide (07 05 2015)
6 > Little
Boy at the Beach (09 03 2015)
7 > Dew
drops on a dead leaf (08 25 2022)
8 >
Morning for the Dead (10 18 2023)
9 > the
sun is burning (11 09 2024)
1 > A Slice of Dead Tree
I am alone
in this
mourning
making
progress
with my arms
I want to
hang
myself from
a tree
--not like
somebody's
wet clothes
I could try
to find
the deepest
part
of the
stream and
become a
rock
For I long
to
blend with
landscape
because
infestation
molests what
I see
Makes me
desire to
tear off my
clothes
eat them
remove
culture
Let my hair
grow
in the
movement of air
let the sun
take
what it
wants
I'll stand
until I
can't
I'll sit
until I
sleep
I'll lie
sacrificing
my time
to the
forces
--shape me!
Help me
understand
what I have
to do
to be leaf
I've come
here
to view
grains
my fingers
trace
the sand
for a direct
line
I'm not just
a visitor
composing
'cause
you've
given me the
ability
Someday I'll
return
again to try
to
merge into
your
simple beautiful colors
2 > Room for the Dead
All these
dead bodies in our room.
Books by the
dead,
the
soon-to-be dead,
or the
someday-will-be dead.
Figurines.
Shoes and
pants strewn on the carpet.
Marilyn
Monroe hangs on the wall.
Stereo makes
the dead sound alive.
TV, the dead
look....
Shirt and
blouse crumpled atop the dresser.
Life Fitness
exercycle unused
in the
night.
My wife and
I in the living room
fucking.
3 > Dead Still
I'm a small
gray rock
lying on the
dirt
beside a
twisted tree
on the edge
of a library
parking lot.
I've been
here seven years now.
Little
excitement.
Occasional
pelting of rain.
Weekly
gardener with a blower.
Lots of car
exhaust.
I hear
footsteps every day.
The babbling
of humans
calms me.
Reminds me
everything
is temporary.
I lie and
wait for change.
4 > 2,000 Dead
(a
found poem in section A of the 10/26/2005 Los Angeles Times)
in the 2 1/2
year conflict. There are now 140,000 troops stationed in Iraq.
Diamond
engagement rings in platinum available from $3,960 to $1,000,000
Roadside
bombs are responsible for more than half of US combat deaths.
Shutters
as low as $15.95 per square foot installed with free sandblasting
National
Guard and Reserve units account for one third of the deaths.
Dinnerware
originally created for the Czars in Russia, 5 pieces $1,000
Exxon/Mobil
reports record quarterly profit of 8.7 billion dollars.
Savings
of 50% and more from Dicker and Dicker Furs of Beverly Hills
International
pressure on Syria: Bush says force may be necessary.
A
simply beautiful bench designed by Gustav Stickley Sale $599 Retail $1,285
The Roman
Catholic Church covered up sexual abuse of young by priests.
$200
off and free installation Home Closets Most credit cards accepted
Alleged
slumlords donated to L.A. city attorney Rocky Delgadillo.
Halloween
Special...no sales tax on most digital compacts
In Latin
America the battle over legalizing abortion is heating up.
Building
nest eggs since 1937, Fremont Investment and Loan
5 > Semi-automatic Suicide
When my best
friend lived
Next to
Lancaster we would ride
To the
Walmart so we could go
Order a bag
of dollar
Cheeseburgers
from McDonald’s
Eat them at
a table
Talk about
the economy
We never got
pulled over
On the way
maybe
Because I
was the driver
Friday night
two men
Walk down
Avenue K-4
To 30th St.
W a residential area
With a
Hellenic Center
On the
corner a great place
To celebrate
your day
They get
stopped by gang
Unit plain
clothes
Words are
exchanged
One of them
whips
Out an
assault
Pistol from
his jacket
That was all
it took to start
A firing
squad of detectives
His buddy
ran away
In the
hubbub
Deputies
pick up the gun
From the
lying body
Establish a
perimeter
To catch a
friend
Scared for
his life
I made a
phone call to Marvin
To give him
the news
Heard him
say he’s staying
Inside tonight
6 > Little
Boy at the Beach
He looks
like he's sleeping
Wet hair
seemingly combed back
Soaked red
tee shirt and blue shorts
Shoes still
on
He must have
been tired
Face down on
the sand
Gentle waves
pushed him
To the
Turkish shore
The only
tell-tale sign
Is the
swelling of his ear
Whispering
sweet dreams
Of a better
world for everyone
7 > Dew
drops on a dead leaf
The giant
goes for a walk
under the
blazing sun
The behemoth
steps and steps
on long
concrete sidewalk
A small
insect traverses the
width of a
rectangle just ahead
One
gargantuan sandal darkens
the sky
above the bug only briefly
It was the
last thing it ever felt,
a mindless
accident of location
8 > Morning for the Dead
A procession
of black umbrellas across a grassy valley
To the
peaked memorial mountain where a gold cross
Shines in
fiery light as birds file over corpsed graves
Extended to
silently reach for remembrance of illusory
Mourning in
which some still believe geography divides
When we are
all the same detritus feeding the ground
Only one
red-covered mourner acknowledges he follows
This sad
pack, observes their breathing for passing hours
The dynamic
daily destruction that doesn’t need our help
We are
decorated finite presences on bountiful rich land
Today he
will tell them time is just a perceived measure
For a flock
who forgets they merely move moments since
Nothing else
waits but lives on for perpetuated endings
Filled
fallow minds finally comprehending the merger
9 > the
sun is beaming
red flowered
bushes
open and
receiving
me too I
love to be
warmed as a
flower
makes my
skin forget
everything
else going
on round
this big globe
taking in
the solar
seemingly
invisible rays
yet I can
see no matter
what we do
on earth
the system
will continue
long after
I'm dead and
you, kinda
makes me
want to hug
your body
before we
dissolve
back into
space dust
which to
think of it
we've been
all along
maybe we can
float
together
proximate
forever past
eons
