how to make guacamole (20161224)

mash the avocado with a fork
leave some chunks
add lemon juice, salt, garlic
chili to your tolerance

slice an onion in half
while it still lives
in its skin

press your thumb
into a layer below
the dried outer paper

feel the layers separate
your thumb a medium
a wedge dividing
the outside from the inside
you don’t have to remove the skin
yet
just feel that moment
caught between together
and apart

every word
a wedge finding its way
between my layers
each word a manicured thumb
breaking me apart
but leaving me intact

mince well
serve with homemade
chips

past past present (20161222)

these ghosts hover
like the shimmer
of christmas booze
over a dickensian pudding

[so many dead
–the poet said]

no one waited until spring
no thaw
and frost flowers
blossomed from gravesite earth

poinsettia and holly berry
heart color bright for the season
pleasing to view
poison to taste
divided by a pair of aces and nines
yet in my dreams
always together
striving

carols (20161220)

christmas carols play on the radio
a classical station
so i don’t get to
hear any bing, frank, mel, or elvis

one wall separates my office
from the garage
allowing me to hear
the washing machine draining
the dryer spinning
tossing clothes on the eco-cycle

i lower my head
to the desk
and strain to hear
domestic music
but it’s all horns
and violins
and the dog obsessively
cleaning his paw