The Art of Being Neighbors

My neighbor from upstairs
stepped out onto his balcony
at six-fifteen on Wednesday
evening
looking
like he never got up
for Wednesday-he was
up-stairs, as I said
while I, in the garden
down bellow dirt level
watering and weeding
while he, squints
in critique at his canvas
tilting it and his head-
waved with two fingers
disheveled hair
and a puffy face
at me squatting
I may (as well) be making
mud-pies-
I told him
Happy (late) Birthday!
he shrugged it off and
stammered about-
surprises, bottles and friends,
his cheeks match my
roses.
May I see-asked I,
knowing he needed an eye.
He obliged-
and it was
*magnificent*
and so-the guilty party
was forgiven.




Image of painting By Carl Geist, 1906 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

When you said When

I thought when you said tomorrow
                          you meant today
when today you said yesterday and
                          yesterday it was tomorrow-
tomorrow will it be today
                          or yesterday-
Either way-
Yesterday's tomorrow
of course meant Today-
So, tomorrow then.
I will plan yesterday
as though it led to-
to-day-too-
late,
there's always
more tomorrow(s)
if we count
today
anyway.
Someday I will
have to say some-thing,
have some-thing
to say-
tomorrow, only
a today away.




Image of painting by Jan Matsys, At the Tax Collector (1539), [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

If then (Hi-Q)

If everything were
of atoms-would re-action
make art of fingers?




Photo By Mcwesty at en.wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia by Ronhjones) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

The Adam-Ant (species by gross weight)

Same as, We are to

the ants in the poem, yes

our weight is the Same. 

Image By Luo Ping [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

(S)he

She has not looked at her nails
in over a month
except in rude irritation
for snags.
Out of the corner
of her eye-
She is spooked
by a haggard figure
staring at her
in the mirror
on the far wall.
She can taste her own breath
and wonders briefly-
what or when was the last thing
she ate?
She scavenges frantically
for anything
quick and small
in the kitchen-
but first does the dishes
and takes the trash-
and gets the phone-
She makes promises
and hurries about.
She feels a draft-and then-
wraps her robe tight.
She makes sure-
She makes good-
She hopes she makes it-
She is needed
to make sure-
She is not wrapped
too tight-
She forgot to check
if she was still breathing,
since swaddling
now causes SIDS-
and the mirror is
opaque and dusty.



Image of painting by Joaquín Sorolla c. 1895[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. 

S. Cape

Up Back
C    &  m          a          a
o        see          l o n g w a y
m          a        l o n g               out
e           n          n                        h
            d e r i n g                        r      c
                                                y o      o
                                                   u & me
                                                   g
                                        any w h e r e (but).

Image of painting by Juan Gris, 'Still Life with checkered tablecloth' (1915), [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. 

What's your number

Can a collection of identities

be identified by numbers

not by masses

or mass-

but by oneness-

or twenty-three-ness-I guess-
or like five and look alive!

It conjures an image

somewhere in time, in our mind
space in our head-

A good positive number-

a negative angle-and no this isn’t acute-

it is chronic-al-always, regardless if I count

or you count or none of us counts...

Who’s counting down while looking up?

We should pick a numerical value besides our bank.

-Personal account-and equate each other thusly,

not rank or rate but separate-and separate

so our Nows don’t collide, or near misses and almosts

are guarantees-please!

sheer masses

like tiny tomes and Moronic Oxen-

Did you just say eleven?

Most just say seven-ness is blessedness,
everyone knows this rule-

I could be wrong, that'd be
a real word problem.

An error in calculating
-mind you-

Not in reasoning.



Image credit: By Related names:  Morgan, Walls and Clements Atlantic Richfield Company Patigian, Haig [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.