Last Call

It’s two minutes to midnight

By the clock on the wall.

The world just keeps turning

And watching our fall.

Maybe we do, and

Maybe we don’t.

Maybe we will, and

Maybe we won’t.

For sure I can say,

By the clock on the timer,

If we haven’t by sun up,

There’ll be no reminder.

11.17.24 

The Legend of Blue-eyed Goo

It came upon a very dark night.

Blue-eyed goo was back in sight.

Blue-eyed goo was here and there.

Blue-eyed goo was everywhere.

I opened my door and looked outside.

Blue-eyed goo was on my slide!

And while the door was open still, 

Blue-eyed goo climbed to my sill.

Inside, outside, all around, 

Blue-eyed goo was on the town.

Franticallly, I ran upstairs, 

But Blue-eyed goo had come in pairs.

Everywhere I looked, I saw 

Blue-eyed goo's sticky paw

It looked as though I might not get free,

But just then I saw a tree

The tree, it hated, this I saw.

I jumped and escaped Blue-eyed's paw!

1993

Body Pain

I woke up to Body Pain

So sick in my heart.

“Body Pain, Body Pain,

Play an-other part!”

The yelling was fierce

In too many spheres. 

Body Pain yelling 

Caused all my tears.

I gathered myself. 

My voice like a hammer. 

“Fine,” I said, “fine,

Let the yelling be a clamor.

“Yell, all you pain points. 

Yell and be feared.

Yell,

Yell,

And yell!

Until we are seared.”

The yelling continued 

Into a powerful song. 

As the Body Pain receded, 

Became a great throng. 

It wasn’t as bad

As it had been before. 

Body Pain was a partner 

I could learn to explore. 

Next time she comes,

I’ll try to remember, 

Let Body Pain shout

Like the noise of great thunder. 

She’s fierce and she’s loud. 

She can be a big pain. 

But Body Pain yelling 

Won’t drive me insane. 

12/6/25

The March

Presidents, kings, and emperors go

But facing mortality is eternal. 

We distract ourselves with many things. 

Though, life and death remain the crux. 

The flowers, birds, and bees appear. 

Yet nothing changes the march toward death. 

Please grab my hand and walk with me. 

It’s key to facing this grave step. 

9/19/24

Mahoda (Song)

My friend Mahoda was ninety-one.

She and I had lots of fun.

Sometimes, she tell me how things used to be.

She’d say one day I’d be her.

I'd say Mahoda you can't be sure. 

These gravestone words are what she'd say to me:

You who read as you walk by.

As you are now, so once was I.

As I am now, so one day will you be.

The sun may shine; the rains may go.

Age it comes; although, it's slow.

Therefore, you all prepare to follow me.

If you doubt my words are true.

The answers still come back at you.

Each thing that lives must one day cease to be. 

The cycle is not pointless though. 

Everything in turn must grow. 

Therefore, you all prepare to follow me.

And she'd say:

You who read as you walk by. 

As you are now, so once was I.

As I am now. so one day will you be.

The sun may shine; the rains may go. 

Age it comes; although, it's slow.

Therefore, you all prepare to follow me.

Joceile

1994

Wondering (Song)

I’m wondering when every-thing will turn fine.

I’m hoping it’s coming.

I’m hoping it’s mine.

I see in the tea leaves my future looks bright.

My fondest desire is tea leaves are right.

I’m crazy in love,

And my chances are good.

Everything’s turning around as it should.

My only one fear as I’m singing this song,

Tomorrow, my life will go wrong!

Joceile

1991

A Moment

A moment, left carelessly lying around
May be snatched unexpectedly
By someone, who stumbles, unwittingly,
Into your Cathedral of Self.

Joceile
1975

Customer Service

They come in a variety of very bad ways
The stupid, the ignorant, saying their nays

Why can't you do this, why don't you do that
I'm not just a workhorse, you idiot knat

I have a profession. I make it quite clear
I work through a process. I'm not just a queer

So, they send me more e-mails, voice mails, and other stuff too
All I can say is you just go boo hoo

When it's all over, they're friendly and nice
But I'm quite exhausted like I fell on the ice

I'm in a grand office, down the hall, where it's light
Just come down and see me and say something bright

Joceile 1/30/2004

Paula Pure

Paula Pure was sure
She'd never need a fur.

But, alas, when winter came,
It really was a shame.

For Paula Pure was froze
Into a frenzied pose.

Looking here and there
For something warm to wear.


Joceile 1982

Ode to Dr. Seuss

It started at first over a period of years....
Some bitching and moaning, a collection of jeers.

I marched off to counseling for some unknown reason
To discover, at last, it was some sort of season.

A collection of memories so dark and so scary
Came out of my mind. It was really quite eerie.

I said, "Oh no, really, this couldn't be true."
But, my counselor said, "Dear, this really is you."

So, I plowed through those stories week after dim week.
And, the horror kept growing looking bleaker and bleak.

I climbed up vast mountains of gruesome and gore
'Til I got to the top and still there was more.

I yelled at my counselor, "You evil, mean, bitch...
Is this what you do to make yourself rich?"

She sighed and she smiled and told me she knew
In a year or two more, I'd surely get through.

So, I've paid her some thousands and more than my share.
But, I'm starting to think that some day I'll get there.

'Cause now in the nighttime when it's late and it's cold,
I have a keen feeling there's not more to be told.

Those feelings are bringing me back to myself.
And, I don't always wish they were still on the shelf.

So, horror or not, I'll get what I need
Despite that damn counselor and her mountain of greed.

Joceile 11/7/90

My Job (Song)

My job is really not so bad,
I haven't got another.
Though I might quit my job one day,
and be poor like my mother.

It's not so much the people here.
It's not their childish tricks.
I mostly hate the infant rules,
And not the stupid pricks.

So, if you hear me bitch one day,
And, I seem rather glum.
Slap my back and smile at me...
And remind me of my mum.

Joceile
1982

The File Clerk

Never more than a file clerk,
I knew my boss to be a jerk.

Never one to doubt the wiser,
I called that ass a stupidvisor.

Joceile
1979

April 1

This is the past voice from April 1
You thought I’d forgot, you son of a gun.

This little poem is to tell you how
I so appreciate you, especially now.
When I need a little time to talk
You listen kindly and don’t tell me to walk.

We all have our meetings and quietly chuckle
Instead of crying and biting our knuckle.
So be happy and celebrate this very fine day
It’s exactly one month before the beginning of May.

Joceile
4/1/2004

The Gentle Wind

She was the most valuable creature that I ever met. 

The feelings she generated could not be undone. 

The Gentle Wind, my little child, meant more to me 

Than woman, man, child, pet, friend or anyone. 

I love you, I whispered. I repeated night and day. 

You mean so much to me, I don’t have words to say. 

My eyes fill with tears just uttering this much. 

My Gentle Wind, my loving child, I love you so much. 

She grows before my eyes from infant to woman. 

I can run through my mind each stage of her growth. 

The cuddler, the player, the walker, the singer. 

I want her free and with me. 

I can’t have both. 

She leaves for college in less than three months. 

My Gentle Wind, my sweetheart, my heart on my sleeve. 

I know you must go, I wouldn’t try to stop you. 

You just must understand, I will cry when you leave. 

I know you’ll grow to be dazzling. 

Someone I admire. 

Your feelings all powerful, your drive like a fire. 

My eyes fill with tears just uttering this much.

My Gentle Wind, my loving child, I love you so much.”

Joceile

2005

The Monster

There were monsters of comically, outrageous arrangements
Of hands, legs, and arms, and weapons of containment.

I sat there just looking, not sure what to do
Until one of them saw me and said, “Who are you?”

I sat up fiercely and strongly, I said,
“I’m my mother’s worst nightmare, and no I’m not dead.”

The monster was puzzled why I brought up a death.
I knew he was a killer, I could smell it on his breath.

“Now, now, little person. I’m not after you.
I’m after that bad man who cursed you at two.”

“Well, you’re on the wrong foot, that bad man is dead.
And, hey, by the way, why are you holding your head?”

“Oh, I have had this damn pain for a fortnight of years,
It pounds on my head just behind my two ears.”

By this time, I was feeling a little less scared,
I thought, this monster was less mean than he dared.

“Oh monster, I wish, I had an answer for you,
But, I had those headaches for 14 years too.”

We puzzled together and exchanged magic cures.
Then, the monster stopped growling which saved all my nerves.

I looked at him closely. He looked back at me.
Then, he crawled back under my bed,
And we both went to sleep.

So, when I am frightened, I look them up close
And, I find that my fears are just memories of ghosts.

Joceile 7/30/07

I Couldn't Love You More

Dear One:

I couldn’t love you more
If I had known you since your first 30 seconds on the planet.
I did.

I couldn’t love you more
If you were my own flesh and blood.
You are.

I couldn’t love you more
If I had watched you grow through every age.
I did.

I couldn’t love you more
If I laid awake at night with you as you fell asleep.
I did.

I couldn’t love you more
If we played together in the sand at a beach cabin in the summer heat.
We did.

I couldn’t love you more
If we wrote books together and made movies.
We did.

I couldn’t love you more
If you were the most beautiful woman on earth or the most brilliant.
Aren’t you?

I couldn’t love you more
If you and I climbed the highest mountain together and survived.
We survived other things.

I couldn’t love you more
If I thought of you each day when I look upon the lake.
I do.

I couldn’t love you more, because you are you
The woman/child of my dreams
The blessed soul of my heart.

I couldn’t love you more, because I do
Forever and always love you more.


L’Chaim,
Joceile

3/2/08