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Collected Poetry
(rd king dot net)poetry and digital art
The Big Picture
Groups of short poems.
Deception, Self-Deception, Inarticulate Wonder
1: Indian Summer Something is wrong with me. I don't know what it is. I hear birds in the trees. I feel the breeze vibrating the window blinds. Sunshine on the wall. I don't care. 2: After Gyozan I reached my 66th year without much pain or hardship—my life runs smoothly. I have money. Yet a sadness seems to border everything. 3: Deception My daughter has been fooled by a man—a man she loves. His deception now revealed. Everything comes to a halt, reassembles, fills with hurt. 4: Phacoemulsification A man I know—a surgeon—shattered the lens in my eye with a vibrating needle and aspirated the pieces— replaced it with an artificial, multi-focal lens (now I can see like a million bucks!). 5: Self-Deception My mother (85) is visiting, initially for my daughter's wedding. She says one thing, then does something different—everyone says, everyone remarks, I take after my mother. 6: Street Vibrations Herds of bikers roaring through the mountain passes. Leather-clad vista photos—bikes en regalia. Destination: Reno, Nevada. Run, gun, fun—pose—rev and roar off. 7: By the Casino Pool Small screams, merriment, the conspicuous display brings a sense of wonder. Gaudy pageant of gaudy tattoos now brazenly revealed, sunscreened and shining. 8: By the Casino Pool Small screams, merriment, the conspicuous display brings a sense of wonder. Fathers trying to drown their flayling, young sons. Skinny boys splashing screaming, shapely girls. 9: By the Casino Pool Small bikinis on big girls—the inconspicuous display brings another sense of wonder. A single crutch propped against a hotel balcony rail. 10: A Moment of Change I did not know if it had a purpose—it did have an imprint, an effect, and then a history. Gnawing at the raw edges, it was what it is. 11: Liquor and Lotto Squat in a parking space three girls from the trailer park—in the shade, talking, smoking. Idle afternoon at the mini-mart where I begin to consider plutocracy versus oligarchy. 12: Wonder Shit-faced and starry-eyed, elbows on a poker bar in Reno, Nevada, waiting for an attendant to spread several dozen Ben Franklins across my palm. Wondering, is this a problem or not? 13: Nevada Tanka Lingering at the seafood buffet. The evening spent at a poker bar. An immigrant begins vacuming the carpet, brief moment of pseudo- clarity—stumbling off to bed. back | ToC | next
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