What time is it

Down the hole
I follow the white rabbit
What time is it?
What time
What time is it?
Everyone is mad
Down here
Down the hole
We sip our cups
Of tea
Mad as hatters
Asleep as dormice
What time is it?
What time is it?
Time for tea
Time for naps
Time to wake up
Time to wake up
Time to wake up

Last bite

I add more
To my plate
I see more
Subtracted
Bite by bite.
Yesterday two books
Went missing
Three references appeared
Today
Who knows?
Like Alice and the mushroom
I bite from one side
Then the other
What about
When I reach the middle?
Will I be stuck
With the caterpillar
Or
The smile?

Small triumph

I wake up in a different emergency room
Every time
Doctors check to see whether I know
Who the president is.
The last time
Was the worst
CPR and breathing tube.
Wretched hamburgers
In the ICU
I survive.

No end of things to share

The world shakes
And shakes
And shakes
It seems
There is no end.
Wildfires
Earthquakes
Drone attacks
Who or what
To blame?
So many things
To share.
There is no end
Of things
To share.
The earth shakes
And shakes
And shakes
So many things
To share
No end of things
To share.

Perched

Perched on the edge
Of an abyss
I do not know
What lies
At the bottom
I just know the rim
My toes grip
Perched
Like some bird
Who would choose to fly
Not leap
Perched
Considering the next
Step
The next
Swoop
The next leap
Into the abyss
I do not know
What lies
At the bottom
I just grip
With my toes.

Alas. Alas. Alas.

Alas.
Alas.
Alas.
I check the news
Every morning to see
Is it safe to get up?
Who won the Golden Globes?
Do I agree?
Does it matter?
From where did this cynic
Arise?
Alas.
Alas.
Alas.
I write nothing
About the Golden Globes.
Except this.
I am amazed it made its way
Into this poem
Alas.
Alas.
Alas.

In my culture

In my culture
We treat people
Like shit
Especially our nearest
And dearest.
He sits on the sofa
Next to his wife.

In my culture
I always win
You lose
You lose
You lose

In my culture
I litter the world
With one child
After another.

In my culture
It ends up
Lonely.
Lonely
Lonely
Until this wife
Cannot
Will not
Thank God realizes
She will not be treated
Like shit.