This time I wrote it down
so I wouldn’t forget
what I thought about while sleeping,
for safe-keeping,
on an envelope beside the bed,
a handy pen next to my head
so I could empty out my brain
and catch the drops and not complain,
that there’s another thought
I haven’t lost.

I’ve done all this before
but not so frequently enough
to abhor
my write stuff.

Reading what I wrote
with my pen
I take note
again and yet again
and yell,
“What the hell?!”

In no particular order
I cross the border
from sleeping thought to word to print.
So here’s the stint.


Waking up early,
the brain is still squirrely.

I don’t disrespect rhyme,
and won’t every time.

I know how you collar a thief,
But how do you collar a green?
[I love collard greens as a side to my ribs]

I know that somewhere with belief
someone has seen
a Big Dairy Queen
I imagine in udder relief.

Palm trees make you think oasis.

The drop of a flag on the pole
is aghast
at half-mast.

The letter to me
from R of UC
thanks me on the roster
of every imposter
those generous givers
who donate their livers
and solicitously
hope my history
accumulates me
financially
chanting like Kirk in the Chapel,
“Live Long and Prosper!”
[That’s a long way to go for a rhyme]

Please tell me I’m not crazy,
just intellectually lazy.