Published: 21 July 2025

Perfection

perfection reaches out to me
although it is always out of reach
perhaps a dream, but more
nightmare masquerading as dream
that’s the nature of perfection
it’s unnatural, a belief system
designed to systematically torture
those who invest in its belief
like religion or superstition,
both of which approach perfection
in their own imperfect way

something that might exist somewhere
other than here, an existence
in another place, but not this place
where everything is normal, or to say,
imperfectly normal, one way or another,
just another fact you have to accept
because not to accept it, the fact
there cannot be perfection anywhere,
might be as close to perfection
as we can get, it’s hard to say

but then I awake this morning
from a dream of hugging my son,
who hugs me back and says,
“daddy, my daddy,”
my son who has been dead
for over twenty years

More Poetry:

gravity mocks me

with flying pies in the face
rakes meant for Sideshow Bob
new frost on concrete stairs
ladders not properly secured

everything is a lie, what is love?

everything is a lie; what is a lie?
what can be excused; what must be forgotten?
when the blood is on your hands
the moment you say you’re innocent

poetry is more than a hole

1
you can go to bed and plan
to get up in the morning and dig a hole
and by noon, you can be done
this is not a good recipe for writing a poem

Confession, for Michael Dennis

I’m reading Raymond Carver and thinking of my friend Michael –
not because he recommended Carver, but because
when he’s in his stride, Michael writes like Carver. I call it ‘me
poetry’. I wrote lots of it. Until I got tired of seeing “me” all the time.
Nonetheless, there’s something in the delicacy of Carver’s/ Michael’s ruminations,

two ways to make friends

there are two ways to make friends
you sing together or
you dance together
the only exception are
children

they do both at once

There’s Nothing Like Banana Bread

You may talk about the beauty of Venice,
or you can visit the glories of Rome, but
for me there is nothing better on Earth,
than banana bread made at home.

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