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Just leave it where Jaysus flang it.
No reason to frame or hang it.
Forget who or whatever sprang it,
And leave it where Jaysus flang it.

A Poem from the Taos Summer Writers' Conference

Sabbath

Wednesday night.

You go in, pay your dollar,
take a fishing pole,
and enter the sanctuary
lined with neon sculptures—
each depicting a scene from the scriptures.
Searchlights dance around the stage
where showgirls with swan legs strut, their sequins afire.

Parishioners sit in booths
and order diet cokes and communion wafers
from waitresses in short skirts.

The stage floor opens
and the minister ascends
tied to a post—
the sin of the week
nailed above his head.

He asks the congregation to rise.

Each member clutches a fishing pole
and casts his or her line at the minister
while the pipe organ blasts “Just as I Am.”

Most people miss
but those who hook the minister’s flesh
give it a good yank
and are forgiven the sin of the week.

This goes on for ten minutes or so.

Some say this is hard on the minister—
that we should hire a homeless guy to stand in for him.

But most think that we shouldn’t mess with tradition.

Ukulele Poem

Strumming my ukulele,
I hum your song to the summer moon.

Once in the evening's heart,
We plunked it together on a piano.

Now, each note I pluck
drifts away on a random breeze.

This poem is called a sijo. It's a Korean form: three lines between 14 and 17 syllables apiece, something about nature, plus elements of a narrative. Sometimes English Sijo change each line into a couplet so it won't run off the page. I wrote it after seeing some ukulele haiku at Howlin' Hobbit's site.

I have been playing the ukulele for about two years now. I like to sing, but used to have to depend on someone else for my accompaniment. The uke has freed me to accompany myself.

My current playlist: Brother Can You Spare a Dime, I Wanna Be Like You (from the Jungle Book), Daydream (Lovin' Spoonful), Fisherman's Blues, Bears (Steve Fromholz), Times Like These (Foo Fighters), Someone Like You, Come on up to the House (Tom Waits). I am working on Wild Honey (U2), Train Song (Tom Waits).

I am lately exploring the beauty of the barred chord.