Openness
	      --------
	  Colors of leaves,
	  Blending together,
	  In shadows of clouds,
	  On the mountainside.




(1989)
____________________________________________


____________________________________________


[This poem was inspired in part by a newspaper
story about a convenience store clerk who was savagely beaten in
front of a group of customers.  None of them bothered to help her
or even call 911 after the attacker fled.]



	      Strangers
	      ---------

	I smell something sordid
	want every detail;
	I don't care who's hurt,
	or whose life is derailed;

	The word accomplice
	doesn't enter my brain;
	this tragedy happened,
	now I'm entertained;

		We all want the dirt,
		never mind the propriety --
		we live in a sick,
		sick society.

	A plain cry for help
	and I turn away;
	I won't get involved,
	at least not today;

	Cause there's only me
	here inside my skin;
	I'm not like those beasts;
	hey I play to win;

		Look after myself,
		now that's just reality --
		we live in a sick,
		sick society.


(1995)
____________________________________________


____________________________________________



	   Relapocricy
	   -----------

	It's all so easy
	when it happens overseas
	so easy so easy

	Everybody knows
	who's right in their pleas
	who's right who's right

	Then you decide
	just matters of degrees
	at home
	matters of degrees
	matters of degrees



(Nov 95)
---------------------------------------------------------




	   Ugly Means and Ends
	   -------------------

	Danger in verse
	Perks up the ears --
	Vigilante do-gooders

	Let's silence the poets
	For the children
	For the kids
	For the common good

	Righteous violence
	Justified in twisted minds
	Let's silence the poets.




(Nov 95)