you gotta fight
for your right
to parrrrtay
8:50 am impromptu kitchen-sing
before clasping clipboards
on garden walk
wherein we compile a list
of all the to-dos in
south garden, north garden,
greenhouse, hoophouse, herb garden,
look far and look farther
your pop caught you smokin
and he says no way
that hypocrite smokes three packs a day
livin at home is such a drag
yeah your mom threw away your.. best… pee rag
you gotta fight
for your right
to parrrrtay
_______
rounding final bend on pre-dinner run
where the sound of the freight hurtling
is carried on wind towards us
so that it seems my two-dog entourage
and i expect that machine to come
roaring at us over the hill
even though the tracks
splay at least a mile away
_______
five turkey vultures
wide-winged drifting
over us against cloudless
blue backdrop riding wind
coming in from the north
_______
we toast to life
before taking our
first sips of cistern water
cool and clear from jam jars
we’re gonna drink the storm
we’re gonna drink the storm
we’re gonna drink the storm
_______
after a steady winged parade
at the cat perch
(red-headed woodpecker
red-bellied woodpecker
blue jay)
i bring the cat food bowl in saying
the bird buffet is shutting down
_______
baigz and i standing around
the woodshed and bike shed
inspecting heights and angles and later
exchange glances at dinner when
someone uses the words
girders, purlins and joists
which remind me of
norteño new mexico’s
lintels and vigas
_______
lia and i laughing about her
post-cold teenage boy voice
she asks what i’ve been reading
says the airstream is waiting
talks about the really-going-there
kind of commitment
that her front-yard wedding/marriage is
says any body of water will do
but lakes taste funny
in that salt lacking kind of way
_______
mica and i laughing as we
read the serving size
on the tortilla chip bag
whose contents we
methodically crunched
our way through
label revealing we
consumed three servings each
detail collector 