Hit or Miss

watch the weather report
on the television in color
it’s useful
sun sun sun
then a cloud
with a
thunderbolt
watch out for that
duck and cover
fight the war
you don’t want to fight do you
grab your weapon
and heal the sick
while you’re at it
pull the tourniquet tight
pack the wounds bleeding
then plant a tree
after you grind out the stump
of the old oak
hit by lightening
shivered to bits
burned out of sight
you can buy all the tools
you need
in a garden store
while you hum hum hum
under the sun sun sun

The New Economy

the store clerk demands
cash for the clothes
because of the credit crisis
a new policy

there were too many clothes
in the store in the first
second and third place
decisions impossible
after hours of choosing one thing
and another and so on for hours of
catastrophic shopping
I toss the heap on the counter
and pet the nap of the sweater I like best
like a favorite dog
toying with what must
soon be a parting

I open my wallet
empty of the tens and twenties
that sustain the economy
once released to swim the rivers and streams
of our trade
and even if I had those fishy greenbacks from the Fed
I don’t know if I could I free them
from the hooks of
my new economy
after so many years of casting invisible money to the wind

well, the jeans I’m wearing
will suffice for now
they have endured
they will endure
patches spots dog hair and all
through this crisis
this belt-tightening

Fanfare

robust and giddy with music
strumming air guitar beating
the table prancing
reeling through the kitchen
skipping between the audience
seated with forks dabbing at dinner
rock hopping grabbing
the dusty broom your
microphone belting notes lusty
to the pulse of the chorus
you always loved the Beatles
best seeing it your way
before we all fall apart
to wash the dishes
and go our separate ways
you try to work it out
this musical frenzy
and ruckus
and blare the trumpet
to sound the final flourish
your fanfare
your call to home