Loss

Loss

Getting older means

spending more time

looking in the garbage

for things you can’t find.

Disappointment

Disappointment

I thought that
idea was so brilliant
that men from the future
would come to kill me
just for having it.
But they didn't.

Discount

Discount

When I think of my soul

Watching TV

I recall

How funny

The thought

Struck me

That the Indians

Once sold

Their land

For beads.

Prophet

Prophet

He was

particularly good

at leaving room for

interpretation.

Penetrating

          Penetrating

 Words

    are

  worse

   than

weapons. 

Fugitive

    Fugitive

    The truth

     can set

     you free.

   But I don't

 know how far

    you'll get.

Foreboding

            Foreboding

         Don’t die on the

               last day

                  of a

              dead war.

Thoughts O' Day 12/21/11

Happiness is a Ho!

Community: You can't do it yourself.

He confused his shopping list with one of his poems.

They call a good guess a hypothesis.
They call a bad guess a bet.

No matter
how scared
you become;
please keep
your crap
inside you.

Thanks,
Management.

You can't rob me blind if I was already deaf.

Philosophart

Philosophart

What airs

He dispersed

Describing

How his work

Was between

Philosophy

And Art.

Contusion

Contusion

You are the color of bruises:

Black and blue,

Green and red,

Yellow and brown,

As if you are trying to be all the races

Of a war torn world.

Data

DATA

Science wants 

to measure and measure

and measure the measurements

and measure the measuring 

and for good measure

measure the measurer 

who never lives up 

to the measure 

of the other measurers.

The War of Art

The War of Art

You don't need to suffer

to be an artist. 

You're going to suffer anyway. 

What you have to do

is channel that suffering

to open its depth,

to peer into it

instead of turning away.

Needless suffering

is what war is for. 

Legacy

Legacy

The meek

will inherit the earth.

But the assholes

will sue them for it.

Passing

Passing

I like to look at clouds. 

Their shapes,

their forms,

their meanings

might even

be more temporary

than ours.

Relatives

Relatives

Looks like

there’s some

pond scum

in your gene pool.

Retreat

Retreat

When you give ground

to gain ground

you rarely get back

to where you were before.

Query

Query

In the early years

I was a friend

in the late years

I was a foe.

In which years

of service

did I help you

most to grow?

Two Entwined

This is a poem that I wrote  on the occasion of a wedding where I was friends with both the parties getting married.  I gave them this poem as one of my gifts.  I later had it translated into Chinese and then six months later the translator put it back in English from Chinese.  Kind of interesting to see different forms. 

The Two Entwined

Today is a moment of the future

And I wanted to mark time too,

with a unforgettable gift.

But my wallet is empty,

and my mind is wrung,

so I will offer you a wish

which might just be Hope

in its purest form.

To friendship:

it may allow us

to laugh

last.

And I might have tried

to lend you a part

of my heart

but what need those

who have the most.

So I give you a piece

of my eye,

and a spot on my

memory,

Hoping that you

won't

forget

us.

1. 最伟大的探索者是那种海纳百川的人。

2. 即使花费了很多时间去探索正确的途径， 但没有什么事业是在浪费时间， 

有些思想需要更长的孕育时间。

3. 如果背景恰当， 任何东西都可以成为一种艺术品。

4. 人们常常以为艺术家相互摩仿， 

他们并没有意识到两位艺术家可能看到是同样的东西。

5. 要想成为一个艺术家， 你应该去发现那些看似平常的东西。

6. 从根本上来讲， 所有的艺术品都要超越现存的框架和自我的批判。  

大多数艺术都要跨越它自身的东西。

7. 艺术使人变得年轻。

8. 对于一个画家来说， 任何东西都是美丽的。

9. 每个人都应该有一定的诗意。

10. 发现美丽比发现丑陋更难。

11. 诗人的心态是离经叛道。

12. 灵感并不是漫无边际的。

13. 精神苦闷可以成就一个艺术家。

14. 每天你至少有一个值得记录的遐想。   

1. Heart to Heart   By Richard Bargdill

2.   Today is a special moment of the future

3.   I tried to find you a unique gift

4.   To remember this significant moment

5.   But I have nothing and

6.   My heart is crying

7.    I can only present a best wish to you.

8.   Hope is my best wish

9.      Friendship is the most valuable thing for us.

            10. It makes our life fulfilled with vitality

11. I tried to let you be in my heart

12. But now I feel it is no longer necessary

13. A simple look and memories are good enough

14.  I sincerely hope that WE are always in your heart.

Chinese to English [trans. Lening Zhang]

Relativity

Relativity

I could have fallen in love with you in an hour

but I only had a minute with you each of sixty days.

For his age

For his age

Sometimes we grow up in a minute

most of the time it takes years 

I guess it depends

on what types of experiences

you run into

and what ones run over you.

Asymptote

Asymptote

The thing to remember

that is most often forgot

is that what most people see

as your limitations

are most likely your virtues

Self-esteem

Self-esteem

   Believe

       In

     Your

    Beauty

History

History

I stared at that picture

for an hour or so. 

I must have been, I don’t know,

at least six years old.

I had some home made pants,

some five and dime shoes

and my hat sat on my head

like only John Deer hats do.

Discipline

Discipline

Don’t make

so many rules

and you won’t have

so many violations.