sometimes you just want to be
without the worry of having to "be yourself"

I don't think I'd much enjoy being famous

but I wouldn't mind being well known 

anyone can plant some seeds
but water doesn't fall from the sky
(if the sky is your roof)

of course, you could always tear apart your empty cereal box and have part of your shopping list pre-filled

if you need more room, peel apart the layers of paperboard and there's a fresh, clean backside!

Miss Under
stood low
in the ranks of academia

backyard mountains stretch slantways
leaking afternoon fire on the desert road
heat whispers and magic dust swim into our hands

water droplets stand
shiver, tremble, and shake off
I exit the bath

why settle
for the dry gray fuzz of dreams
when you can have the
brightest
purplest
most rotund grape
you've ever seen
on a screen 

studying history gives
proven methods and
tested ideas to
cheat friends
stir hate
wage wars (and
occasionally
save lives)

it's time we forget

we're afraid aliens would kill us all because we know for damn sure we'd slaughter them

some people just can't have nice things

(because no matter what you give them, it will never be quite good enough)

if you're a fan of minimalism, I suggest you avoid an advanced scientific degree.

(e.g. neuroscience(behavioural) . see also: psychology)

making up new words is, fortunately, sometimes tolerated

If society ever actually fixed any of its problems, then we'd have the burden of unemployed social workers.

Maintaining a healthy economy too often trumps the need for a functional society.

why can't turning and
tossing and
pushing the covers around
and collecting the words that bounce in your head
and writing by light from the alarm clock you'll ignore next morning
be a full time job?

a famous singer once said

la la la la la la la la 

e.e. cummings once said

I care not greatly
should the world remember me
in some tomorrow

(but somewhere deep inside, I still wait for poetry (mine and others') to save the world. I would settle for sleeping, walking, playing in the park, watching the rippled glow of the sun on the horizon from the inside of the rattling Geo Metro as two friends bring you back to your home far away from them, fluffy kittens, or pretty much anything else saving the world)

you can either stir up change or warm fuzzy feelings
some dreamers accept that they must use the system themselves, others fight it to their death

historical glory can come from either

(and anybody who wholly accepts such stark divisions will never be a Kurt Vonnegut or Abraham Lincoln -- try maybe Martin Van Buren or someone (good luck trying to get anything done with mutton chops like that!))

even after you turn
part, half, all the way around
you're still facing forward

a leaf does not lament its position
number 31844
on branch 86

it waves

green
and lush

------------------------

stop trying to carry yourself
open your eyes as your foot takes another step

------------------------

you'll never find a better plan
than the course the world has turned you to 

would you rather have government corruption, or privatized corruption?

(you're not going to solve the problem of corruption by giving the powerful a different name) 

perhaps checks and balances should include corporate America...