old neighborhood
the gaslight where
teens gathered
on summer nights
still there, still flickering

for 3 months now

1 set of curtains 

UpSide-down 

every day I view the world
through my mistakes

Winds were 60 mph last night. Downed power lines in Cedar Hill.

straight-line winds
knocking trees 
into the pond
a school of fish
check out the new arrivals

burying the embers
of an October campfire
there's no debate
Trump's "locker room" talk
is about sexual assault

alone 
for 30 minutes
in the examining room
I contemplate the stacks
of expired magazines

fall pockets
of decomposing mushrooms
I often find them
sewn into places
I would never think of looking

as if my life
needed more music
the batons of goldenrod
       s w a y i n g
with the windchimes

knowing this book
will end 
"happily ever after"
grandma falls asleep
before she finishes the story

our government cloaked
in its "business as usual" attire
how many fish have to die
before the epa
decides to investigate

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/huge_fish_kill_reported_in_pla.html

on a ping-pong table
with the net askew
it reminds me of a chalkboard
where all the lessons
have been erased

with its short tail
wrapped around seaweed
it's not likely the extinction
of the dwarf seahorse 
will make the front page news

dwarfed by the faded hues
of a vess soda bottle
I drink in
"a billion bubbles" of dust
from the vacant lot

travel brochures
for the caribbean
a splash in the shower
is as close as I'll get
to taking a cruise this year

as though
they were campaigning
for a political office
the dark and disfigured leaves
of an american elm

the repeated flatness
of the interstate
I roll down the windows
and sing anything out of tune
just to stay awake

ready to vent
over a canceled class
I stare at a phone number
on the bulletin board
about kickboxing

a sense of abandonment
in the brooding
water tower
and the patches of rust
going up the conveyor

endless spam opportunties
I throw away a career
stuffing envelopes
and an offer for valium
without a prescription

you can't find
everything on google
or mapquest
my son asking me why
his socks keep disappearing

wending our way through
aisles of department store
we find the deceased founder's
picture in the same hallway
as the restroom