LOVE CINEMA ~ (TCM)

INADVERTENT ~ (Why I Write)

BLEECKER BOB'S RECORDS ~

R E A D     O N

    

THIS LITTLE ART ~

R E A D      M E

HEAVEN LAKE ( 10 ) ~

The Little Factory

Young women work for two older

women in the little chocolate factory

the young women work on tiny tables

behind the massive glass showcase of

chocolates wrapping chocolates and

smiling when someone comes through

the door, the two older women never

smile, they have hired the young women

for this, the young women will never last

at this job as the older women have done

they smile and wrap chocolate and dream

of fucking some of the customers who have

dreamt of fucking them, there is something

even more important than chocolate

Wedding

                      to JK & MB

Two days before

They were to be wed

He said by phone they

Had been out that day

Near the ocean, the sun

Was glorious, the hills

Were green, the hills

Had horses on them

Greetings

He’s got pizza parlors

Three of them

One is near a mountain we like to climb

But we bypass that one for the one where he works

Closer to where we live

Where he hires autistic kids to give them a leg-up

From a school he founded, all for these kids

And he doesn’t care if they are a little slow sometimes

And a little wired and a little crazed other times

They’re happy and so he’s happy

With his hunchback, stooped walk, little mustache and

Ever cheerful face

He just wants to make sure you like your pizza, and we do

Because years ago he was in the disco life

All sorts of shady businesses and partners

“We made a ton of money and spent twice as much”

He says with the biggest grin

Wearing an apron

Both his hands palms up and open

Like there was no choice

Like meeting the buddha

Kindness

We don't know the kid we shoot baskets with in the park — 

he even chased our ball for us

never to be seen again

—————————

Bob Arnold

Heaven Lake

Longhouse 2018

I'M BACK~ ~

Liveright 2018

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF INTELLECTUALS ~

 R E A D      M E

The New Press

 2017

THE PILGRIM HAWK ~

THE GUARDIAN REVIEW

The New York Review of Books

2001

MICHAEL CASEY ~

pentagon



in country the My Lai tragedy

occurred before my time

and the lesser Seymour Hersh story

on Ky Chanh, Quang Tin Province,

was before my time as well

but my patrol route

on Highway One

was through Ky Chanh

and I remember once near Ky Chanh

seeing children play with a stick and ball

with what looked like a pitcher's mound and a home plate

and then there were four bases

now I wish I had stopped

taught them something about the game

but that would mean time travel

you can't get there from now




———————————

Michael Casey
Check Points
Aastra Press, 2011

Michael Casey was born in 1947 in Lowell, Massachusetts. After graduating from Lowell Technological Institute in 1968, Casey was drafted into the US Army and served as a military policeman in Missouri and Vietnam’s Quang Ngai province. His first collection of poetry, Obscenities, was published in 1972 and chosen for the Yale Younger Poets Award. The poems were largely inspired by his time in Vietnam. 

PETER KROPOTKIN ~

R E A D     T H E     B O O K

AK Press, 2007

HEAVEN LAKE ( 9 ) ~

Amen, Brother

He wasn’t happy

about any part of his

job and I’d wager

even his life knee-

deep in snow

cranking away

on two gas

tanks when

he said with

scorn, “Happiness

isn’t everything

it’s cracked up

to be” — amen

brother, but if I

took away your

wrench and

doubled the

snow depth

up to your neck

I promise you

you’ll miss

this little bit

of happiness

you have

Perfume

The girls around the perfume display

giggle & talk like idiots —

what freedom!

Education

He was visiting a

relative at the nursing

home where off to the side

he went to find a drinking

fountain when a little old

woman in a wheelchair

appeared next to him and

said matter-of-factly

“get. me. out. of. here.”

they didn't even know

one another

in those circumstances

they didn't have to

as quickly asked

and an eye-blink of

recognition between them

she was whisked away by someone

leaving him to

grow old and wise

    for Kim

Redwing (Steel Toe)

When I bought his boots

At the garage sale

He handed them over 

Looking me in the eyes

—————————

Bob Arnold

Heaven Lake

Longhouse 2018

DANIEL BERRIGAN ~

R E A D       M E

Orbis Books

2017

PETER GREEN ~

HILMA AF KLINT 2 ~

R E A D      M E

   Guggenheim 

2018

HILMA AF KLINT ~

R E A D      M E





Christine Burgin
The University of Chicago Press
2018

RAY JOHNSON ~

University of California

2018

WHY WRITE? ~

R E A D      M E

Why Write?

He's going to tell you

Library of America

2017

JEAN GIONO — MELVILLE ~

R E A D       M E

VICTOR JARA ~

W A T C H     M E

(and cry)

HEAVEN LAKE ( 8 ) ~

Watch How It’s Done

Today in a town

back parking lot

where we like

to park I leaned

against the truck

and watched for

a long time a gray

squirrel move a

large enough

brown paper bag

with its mouth

up a tree and out

onto the thinnest

limb where he

waited for the limb

to bow and place

him neatly onto the

three-story roof

and then scramble

across the ridge line

and up an eight foot

chimney and down

into the chimney where

of course he was

building his home

No one said he couldn’t 

I love builders

Presto

You know a rat

When you hear a

Rat in the ceiling

Modern Credo

You have to

Be careful and

Not be too nice

You don’t want

To be looked upon

Suspiciously

Stop Light

With only a few passengers

the bus driver figures

it’s as good a time as any

to comb his hair

—————————

Bob Arnold

Heaven Lake

Longhouse 2018