If all goes to plan,
The victim will get
Poisoned, then
Stabbed, then
Shot by a ray-gun. 

Sickness is just a thing
Worry is just a thing
Support is just a thing
Love is just a thing

There will be things
Until there are no things
I take joy
In having things

They were considering
A Mexican vacation
Before her diagnosis.
Now they wonder…

Can her
Cancer
Cancel
Cancun?

While obtaining his degree in statistics at a world-renowned mathematics university, Carl’s inauthentic dalliances with punk rock, gothic clothing, and anarchism fooled no-one, including himself.

At best, he was one sub-standard deviation from the norm.

One does not drive the ocean
Nor cage the seas
Nor calm the waters

Waterways open today
Are closed tomorrow
As forces beyond control
Remake the world 

That does not mean
One sits in irons
Awaiting the tsunami

Break out the sextants
Look to the stars
Put fingers in the air
Hoist, hoist, hoist

I have nothing to fear
Nothing wakes me from my sleep
Nothing haunts my waking moments
Nothing awaits me on judgement day

Yet as I run towards nothing
To escape nothing
You reach to stop me
And your touch is better than nothing

There is here
There is there

Do not spend
So much time
There

You miss
What’s happened
Here

The pious elephants
And atheist pelicans
Respectfully attended
The eloquent celebrant

And as the elephants
Trumpeted reverence
The heretical pelicans
Felt out of their element

Work-life balance implies static harmony — stacked stones upon the sea shore. Yet a strong wind, or a dogs leg, can cause a tumble.

Work-life dancing is more my ideal: graceful gliding across the floor, neither too much stillness nor stumbling; smooth transitions reacting to the world’s music.

So I seek to dance with grace, and recognizing a child’s dance (as it discovers its body) has its own grace, I acknowledge I am still but a babe.

I look forward to my death
For wallowing in the past
Means I miss the opportunity
To see her coming
And (perhaps) prolong the time
Before our inevitable date