belz

REM, OMD, CCR and ELO
met, by chance, at REI
one day. “OMG”
said Stipe, bemused.
“WTF?” queried Fogarty.
“Let’s go to TGI Fridays”
suggested Lynne,
so that is what they did—
and created quite a din!

• • •
 

You are the very picture of Venus.
A classical beauty you are.
Unlike my last girlfriend, who
looked more like Venus’s killer—

petite, swarthy, untrustworthy,
and need I say altogether desirable—
side-slit duster cardigan and shorts,
infinity scarf, angry earrings

here and there, and lipstick
hastily applied. But you are an apple
standing, oversized creature.
Boring brown hair intertangled

with seaweed, a lock of hair
twisted around your forefinger.
You, standing in an enormous shell,
singing: You, my heavenly hell

as, all around you, Cupid’s winging,
as, all below you, ocean’s roiling,
and above, clouds are boiling,
palms bending to left and right,

fishes jumping into sight
and out again. Large lady,
now I know why Jupiter’s pissed.
The least you could do is not exist.

• • •

“Dinner and dessert
are in sync:

The dirty dishes
are in the sink.

But when the Titanic
decided to sink

engineering
and ambition were

out of sync,
I think.” –Ed Fink

• • •

One of my children
flew to Korea.

One started building a picnic table
and then collapsed in a Grand Mal seizure—
and then finished building
the picnic table.

One collected blackberries
and wrote a poem
(she mostly
stays at home).

I’m just saying, you can’t parent
these people. I mean,
you can try.

But they will do as they do,
and that will be
okay with you.

I’ll say this, too.
I love all three so much
I would gladly give my life
so that they could continue theirs,
however unpredictably
they’ll go.

May I diminish
while they grow.

• • •
 

One thing that no longer appeals to me—
at all—is hedonism. I have washed it
from my life like inexpensive shampoo.
I have rinsed it from my smooth body
like the green apple body wash.
Hedonism not only no longer appeals
to me, it no longer applies to me.
Like the banks of fluorescent lights
buzzing over the high school gym,
so cold and remote yet still luminous
pure pleasure has become. The lights
that strobe sporadically as high tops squeak
and coaches’ whistles chirp, echoing
and answering, during the big game of big
boy bodies! From the game of pleasure
have I now fouled out. See me
on the bench with a white towel
around my neck. See how I dry my face
with one end of the towel. How
disappointed my parents and sister must be.
Ready for a more necessary shower
I now am, and then to A&W for a cone,
and then to home and homework
and then, before brushing teeth:
Hedonism’s promise descended
into the hotter buzz of the bug zapper
hanging outside over our back deck,
near a resin chair where I now sit
smoking one of Dad’s Marlboros before bed.
One cigarette I snuck is now my night’s
last light, a lighted cherry dwindling:
a stubbed theme, no vision,
starless night—brush teeth and go to bed.

• • •
 

One thing I like to do
is make informed decisions.
Or rather, one thing
I like to make
is informed decisions.
I also like to achieve goals
with metrics and KPIs.
Imagine my delight,
therefore, when I received
an invitation titled,
“Make Informed Decisions:
Achieve Goals with Metrics
and KPIs.” What are KPIs,
you ask? Well, let me
tell you. And not only that,
will you go with me?
To the above-captioned
event? It promises
to be delicious!
And informative.

• • •
 

Just met a super nice guy
with a close-cropped beard
and really chill glasses
and a slightly rumpled shirt.

He was kind of smiling
or at least grinning
knowingly, making
everyone feel at ease

or at least included
in something more chill
than they would be able
to be included in on their own.

And that was enough,
that and his frayed jeans
and suede chukkas,
to make him not the center

of the social scene,
not permanently, but one
gravitational point
in the social scene—for now.

• • •