I wrote this poem for my wife for Valentine's Day

Natural Love

For L.

I feel wild with you.

Like an animal.

And wild animals prefer not to be seen.

So we live in the heart of a glacier 

With eyes like doves

Looking out to the world of rushed hours and lifeless balconies wondering

How many thighs and lips go unkissed,

Or if the early Moon in the afternoon is true.

I used to think that all roads led everywhere;

That my street eventually became your street,

That our connections were only a matter of distance,

But we're two fiery comets in the same dark matter aching to collide,

Happily navigating the same sticky system of intricate decisions,

Careful not to wreck the delicate web with our timid feet,

Determined to stay hidden 

From the naked eye.

Class Warfare

I dropped my bag as I walked into work this morning heard something shatter. When I got to my desk I discovered my sad, broken Thermos draining its contents into my new leather bag, which most likely will not pull through. Now I'm the guy with a lake of coffee in his cubicle and probably this week's ridicule among the cleaning crew.

Just because I tuck my shirt in doesn't mean I don't deal in shit (literally) at home. I may have the luxury of sitting in a chair will I work, but I've also had the runny contents of a diaper squirt out all over my hand as I attempted to squeeze it into a too-full diaper Genie.

Out to Lunch

We now live in a time of a Pope resignation. (Also, good luck finding a Twinkie.)  I wonder What God thinks of all this. ...Does God think...?  ("What were you thinking?")

So, how do we react when things we thought were, actually weren't. Secrets die. Knowledge is everything. And magic evaporates back into comic books and orgasms. I suppose we're okay with it. We kind of have to be. Or go crazy lamenting.

Don't get your hopes up, and celebrate everything.

Ni No Kuni

I've been sucked into a beautiful world. An electronic, fictional, Japanese world called Ni No Kuni. It's a video game I bought for Lynette on her birthday (even though I showed interest in playing it before she did). It falls into the genre of JRPG, Japanese Role Playing Game. Typical JRPG's tend to be quite fantastical and very technical (aka difficult). But what makes this one so special is the animation/art direction which was created by the artists at Studio Ghibli; hence, Lynette's interest. Studio Ghibli are the people responsible for the wonderful films Spirited Away, Ponyo, and Howl's Moving Castle. (I highly recommend you watch these artistic masterpieces.)

So now I'm spending my limited free time on Ni No Kuni while my banjo and half-built Lego Space Shuttle collect dust. Which got me to thinkin'... What is a 40 year old man doing with these seemingly childish hobbies? I won't lie, part of me wonders if I should be doing more grown-up things like changing the oil on the car, or building a deck, or bow-hunting for deer, or anything else we see those guys doing in the Viagra commercials.

(For the record, I do like to fish, and have been known to catch a few good sized Northern Pike in northern Minnesota.)

I don't own a table saw. I don't drink Bud Light. I don't drive a pick up truck. I know these are trivialities, but I'm a little worried about not teaching James some of the things I was taught as a youngster. Or the things I think a child should learn. When my age was still in single digits, I liked to hunt for frogs and toads after a rainstorm. What is James going to hunt for?

Anyway, Ni No Kuni is a great game. In front of the TV playing it is where you'll find me this weekend.

The Ad World Turns to Poetry

This commercial from last night's Super Bowl broadcast might've been disguised as a Ram truck commercial, but it most definitely is poetry.  It was the perfect example of what good poems do - They make you stop what you're doing, shut the fuck up for a minute, and allow yourself to be transported. Paul Harvey was always a good speaker anyway, but this commercial was a gem amidst the pile of junky bacchanalia and gobby halftime shows. 

Squatchin' Through Dreamland

I don't sleep much these days. Mostly because James wakes up every hour or two and I'm such a light sleeper I can hear a mosquito fart outside the window. But during one of the chunks of time I did sleep last night I had another one of those vivid dreams. You know the kind: Upon waking it takes you a few minutes to realize it wasn't real.

In the dream, my dad and I were driving through a heavily wooded forest at night. It might have been Shenandoah National Park. We were twisting and turning on a narrow dirt road, only able to see a few feet ahead. Suddenly we curved through the trees and came upon a group of Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) And it scared the shit out of me. There were three or four of them and they were staring at us as we drove past. One of them was wearing a yellow dress.