POEM: Parade of Virtues, 5:45am Thursday

PARADE OF VIRTUES, 5:45am THURSDAY

You wrong us

We let You know how

- is that not love?

You ask how to do better

We believe you can

- is that not faith?

You stumble or fail

You get another chance

- is that not patience?

You obstruct

We continue

- is that not persistence?

You press down

We rise up

- is that not determination?

Though You fail

We believe you'll succeed 

some day

- is that not hope?

You renew the cycle,

still We walk among you

- is that not tolerance?

We've offered You answers

when You have sought them

- is that not charity?

You ignore or dismiss this

and think You're doing fine

- is that not ignorance?

NaPoWriMo: 29 April 2015

Even when doing something you enjoy,

No matter how fulfilling it is,

Or how you're living out your dream,

Sometimes

you still don't want to get out of bed.

NaPoWriMo: 28 April 2015

I saw the coat
and wanted to try it on
I was going to be
that version of a man
that tells his woman what he's going to do.

Instead,
I offered
that I would like to try it on
if she and my friends would please wait.

I was ordered to do it.

I was that version of a man
that did as I was told
as she beamed
and swooned in advance.

NaPoWriMo: 27 April 2015

DEFEND THE STATUS QUO

Ladies and gentlemen,

start your engines!

Sharpen your tongues,

engage your ignorance,

and make sure your privilege is packed up and stowed

for its own protection

and yours.

Batten the hatches

and defend your right

not to be uncomfortable.

Questioning is treason.

Challenge is attack.

Rise and defend the status quo

for it is on the ropes

and needs brave soldiers

like you

to do something —

or better yet, nothing —

to insure long life.

NaPoWriMo: 26 April 2015

Are you kidding me?

Padiddle!

Cyclops!

My car has one light —

A week after it was in the shop.

NaPoWriMo: 25 April 2015

CON: FOUND IT!

My mind was just blown.

I had some help, though:

A broken ankle,

help needed,

and a festival

that put me in the right place

at the right time.

A fast walker's nightmare,

but a geek/nerd dream.

Thank my stars,

at last I have been to a con.

NaPoWriMo: 24 April 2015

UNUSED INTRO

On a chilly Midwestern Friday

very much like today — 

in fact it was today — 

one man rode down to Chicago from the Twin Cities

to face his latest performer challenge: performing his solo improv

at an honest-to-God improv festival.

NaPoWriMo: 23 April 2015

IT'S ALL RELATIVE

I keep amassing this list:

Moving seems like standing still.

Progress seems like regression.
Sticking with it seems like giving up.

Success feels like failure.

The punchline is

that dualism seems to be

the only way.

NaPoWriMo: 22 April 2015

I'm not exactly Imelda Marcos,
but I own four pairs of clown shoes.
That would be even more strange
if I weren't a clown.

I have almost double that amount
in pants.

NaPoWriMo: 21 April 2015

ASK AGAIN LATER

I don't know when or why,
but one day
years ago
I gained the tendency
to occasionally stop
and ask
(into the ether,
the universe,
the wherever)
about my life.
Not in the normal, human way,
but as if it all —
every little thing —
could be unraveled and answered
like a Magic 8-Ball.

It's not real,
so why?
The doubt,
uncertainty,
the questions of
"What will happen if I choose this?"
or "Will this go right?"
are normal,
typical,
unavoidably universal
and human
(and even moreso with an active mind).

It does no good.
There are better ways to create a life,
right?

("All signs point to yes".)

NaPoWriMo: 20 April 2015

DEFERRED REPLACEMENT

I don't think I've procrastinated like this before.
To be clear:
Two week contacts?
I use them for a month,
and even then, only when I'm performing.
If I'm not in a show
a box of six lasts for months.

Shaving cartridges?
I normally change them out
every two to three weeks.

The current cartridge
no longer has the aloe strip.
No more lubricating strip.
And it's been going for about three months.

Just because
I haven't yet done
the Dollar Shave or Henry's thing
and I now refuse to pay
fifteen dollars for a pack.

I'll just use extra gel
and more time with a hot cloth.

NaPoWriMo: 19 April 2015

PUBERTY'S REVENGE

Think you're an adult?
Adore someone, newly met —
Awkwardness returns

NaPoWriMo: 18 April 2015

DON' WANNA

More and more these days I realize
that I don't really want to get out of bed.
Not yet anyway.

My body wants to wake at 7
or 7:30
or any other time
at least ten minutes before the alarm.

Most days I'm busy
doing work I sought out
in a field I love
but I still relish the thought
of days spent
having nothing on a to-do list.

NaPoWriMo: 17 April 2015

THAT DAY SOMETHING CLICKED

Today, something >clicked<.

I don't know what it was
or what it was linked to —

maybe a small part
that touches a big part
or a few not-so-small
but it >clicked<.

I felt it.

I think it's supposed to be good,
(Relief was my first instinct)
but it honestly freaked me out
(Fear was the second).

What was it?
Where was it?

What
the hell
>clicked

NaPoWriMo: 16 April 2015

THE OTHER TWIN IS VELMA

The longer I live in Minneapolis,
the less I like
hearing people
deride Saint Paul.

Minneapolis is flashier.
It is more popular.
It is the sibling to whom all others are compared.
It is Blossom
(from the Powerpuff Girls),
it is Zooey Deschanel,
or maybe Natalie Portman
(in Garden State).

But loving Minneapolis
over Saint Paul
and grinding it under your heel
is no more challenging
than having your favorite X-Man
be Wolverine.

That's work for amateurs.
That doesn't take depth.

Saint Paul is Strong Guy.
It is Shelley (who was
the most interesting one
on all of "Hemlock Grove").

It is perhaps Kaylee Frye,
or more likely Velma:
bookish and curvy,
intelligent and hidden
behind often-lost glasses,
with rewards for those
who to take a look
and stop a while.

NaPoWriMo: 14 April 2015

I'm so scattered right now.
Focus seems difficult
unless it's for sleep
or pixels moving across a screen.

Meanwhile,
words that were written
for people like me to say
in front of many other people
fall to the floor
(and could get stepped on)
because they have a hard time
sticking.

NaPoWriMo: 15 April 2015

At last I have taken my car in.
The recall repairs will finally get done.
I just have to wait four hours
so I'll catch up on writing.
Typing,
thinking,
thinking that life right now
isn't quite what I'd thought.
I would be fine with a smaller car
except that I'm tall
and smaller cars
are so low to the ground
and could get bogged down in the snow.

NaPoWriMo: 5 April 2015

Sometimes I think
I'd rather be the Tin Woodsman,
except soon I remember
that he actually didn't
NOT have a heart.

I think he felt so hollow
because he COULD feel.

NaPoWriMo: 13 April 2015

Sometimes I don't handle mystery well.
I slow my breath,
quiet my mind,
and let errant thoughts pass like falling leaves.
I open myself up
and talk to the universe
like a Magic 8-Ball.

I sigh
and go back to squirming
beneath the weight of mystery.

NaPoWriMo: 12 April 2015

I am stretched thin.

There is so much to do
so much of interest
so much to love.
There are enough hours in the day
and so many days to seize.
There are enough ideas in the ether,

but there is not enough Me.