Ode to Zhuang Zhou

Doing my stretching
One rep at a time
When one eye falls
On the reflection
Of my shadow
There at the mirror’s edge
Doing its own stretching too

What my shadow sees
When it stands by the mirror
Is standing next to me
A most peculiar thing
Only a few steps in between
I wonder what it thinks
Looking at me

Friend of my friend
My blurry doppelganger at the gym
The reflection of my shadow
Now giving me attitude
With its own feminine side too

Or is it an even bigger
Cubs’ fan than me
A burly shaggier beast
Prone to dozing intermittently
Falling deeply asleep
Then arousing itself with a shudder
And suddenly scurrying
To catch up with me

As the correspondence
Between waking and dreaming
May feel all the greater
While appearing less distinct
So I find things stand
With me and my shadow's reflection
As each of us keeps stretching
For a part of itself that
Remains out of reach

Small Poem for a Small Planet

If you think it’s time
To kick off the traces
Of history

Just remember
That sleaze is
A hearty perennial
That grows in
Perpetual
Abundance

Whereas potatoes
And eggplant
Like to grow together
Very very much
And strawberries
In short thick clumps

These being just a few
Of the many things
You need to know

If you’re going
To make the most
Of the small difference

Between merely
Letting things go
And learning to grow
Them from seed