A poem

I don't understand you, Oppie
said Paul in Solvay,
Science tries to explain things we've never understood before
in ways that everyone can understand
And poetry tries to explain things everyone has understood
in ways that no one can understand..?

Ok. I can buy that. So. Lets see ...
First, a little bit about me.

I have a pretty multithreaded multitasking way of checking mail
I fire off a browser
and hit webmail as while I background the client
Free to send and receive

The disembodied voice
of Andrei Codrescu
keeping me company
as thousands of mail come in
reading and non-reading
words meant to convey
I will never open them.
my inbox
becomes
an exquisite corpse


Over here on my desk 2010 Calendar
of some money shots of great Pussy
by Rachael Hale
Aye, Soft and helpless. They are.
Their mother kept them alive
just long enough for their photo to be taken
I guess when they get older, and more fleabitten
I can put them in my attic occasionally to kill all the squirrels
Sometimes I wonder if we were born with our eyes closed
Would my mother have licked them open

Canto II: Changing a spare tire before school

How did this tire shred itself ?
and my kids homework is due
what a morning

Fortunately.. or unfortunately
A home that been foreclosed upon
had a spare tire left in their backyard
and about a month ago I declared eminent domain
I will be ok
On this for a while

And while all of this is going on
my hands black with brake dust
My son recites his homework
Holding up a poster - looking suspiciously like a venn diagram
A before and after, two circles - this weeks homework game
His year in school
soon coming to a close
and a teacher obviously looking for closure

He started it off by saying
Hi.
This is about me.

Good way to begin
I said.

And took the time to listen to him
stubborn lug nuts coming off in my hands while we talked
I noticed he stopped
when I spun the wrench
he's curious how it works.

I took the time to do it slowly
he will do it next time

Yeah
We'll be late to school today, if just -
And we will take
the same road , slow

The one that everyone understands
In a way that nobody really understands

I'm pretty sure he'll get an A.
But.
We shall see
.. said the blind man