61. PORTRAIT 8/2
Poor old man
held together by crust and
matted clothes
can't remember a damn thing
like "don't click on
the spam links"
and as a result
his computer is infected
again
and I get to spend an hour
reviving the sleeping
antivirus
purging the dubious emails
throwing away the dirty
Kleenex
shaking the molding crumbs
and fingernails
from his keyboard
wiping the unidentifiable
stickiness
from his erstwhile new mouse
and answering the same
questions
for the 17th time
this month.
62. GARDEN PARTY 8/3
On the patio
expensive chard in hand
I meet the wives first
they're all blond
even the ones who aren't.
We talk of suspicious cars
skulking about the
neighborhood
of raccoons in the yard
and of dogs we walk daily
and suddenly it feels
like I'm in some Chevy Chase
movie
where some kid is about to
get busted
for an ounce of pot
that really belongs to Dad
or Michael Moore will voice
over
what a bunch of NIMBYs we
are
And how we'd never make it
in Canada.
63. PARTNER 8/4/17
When he was twenty four,
he came back to this company to fill in for the position of a turncoat who abandoned our parents to the wolves, and miraculously he was able to keep
things afloat and then even get them moving even better--one of the things he did
was recognize Dad's tendency to underbid, and allow for that, but in addition
he always seemed to know how to talk to Mom and Dad in a calm
non-confrontational way even when they were being completely irrational, and
not only that but he'd figure out what it was they really needed and then he'd
do that for them, an enviable skill that I needed many more years to attain,
distracted as I was by the melodrama, and in a not unrelated area, he learned
when it was time to stop letting Dad do any work long before I did, because
Dad's increasing dementia meant that any work he did was not reliable unless
someone were to watch over his shoulder, which at first tried to do as I pitied Dad, but there problem was that everytime I
tried to correct a mistake, Dad would fly into a rage, and so it turned out
that the humane thing to do was to tell him there wasn't any work, just go play on a
computer, answer spam emails, or edit those family photos, leaving Larry free
to develop entirely new areas of business and bring in new customers; in his most
canny move he got us to buy a new building which not only doubled our capacity but saved future millions from our sleazebag landlord, and it doesn't hurt that we're near the future BART station so he doubled our investment in five years, all the while remaining a wonderfully devoted family man.
64. HEADS OF STATE 8/5/17
Different heads of state
in the countries they
represent:
Angela Merkel in Germany
a country where people do
things properly
obey the rules and guard the
earth
with equal rights for women
and gays
and a generous immigration
policy.
And then there is Macron of France
a country divided about
immigration
but united by a joie de
vivre
that celebrates food drink
and family.
Justin Trudeau is the head
of Canada,
where there are lots of
immigrants
who are all happily put to
work
using new things and
building a beautiful shiny country
that protects the
environment,
guards the rights of first
peoples,
and guarantees everyone health care.
And then there's our country
which has Trump
And in our bad days, it
feels like
we have nothing else but.
65. EMAIL 8/5/17
Oh don't you need Viagra
to make your life complete?
And don't turn your back on
Obama--
the revenge he's plotting will
be sweet.
Before they ban this
flashlight,
you'd better buy a bunch!
Stock up on the juice of
acai
for your purgative lunch
You missed your IRS refund--
it's going, going, gone!
Isn't woodworking grand?
Carve your own statue fawn!
There's offenders next door
to your family
better download our map!
Are you drowning in emails
too spamly?
Then boy have we got your
app!
66. NADA 8/7
It was one of those days
Where nothing gets done;-
In late because of some
childcare crap,
Long meeting that wandered
around hopelessly,
Solitaire when no one
looking,
Chatting around the
lunchroom,
A call into tech support
Who only confirmed that I
was screwed
And then leave early to get
home
And eat dinner with the
crabby boys
Before driving kids home
And then watching a vapid
sitcom
67. PORTRAIT 8/8
Sometimes I wonder if the
burden
of being the youngest
wreaks more emotional
damage
then we could know.
There must be something to
the fact
of always being wrong,
always needing correction
and probably confounded
in a family of a know-it-alls
who enjoy a good laugh
at others' expense
For, yesterday,
everything I said,
he dismissed out of hand
and once I noticed that
he never responded with a
"yes"
until it became a game to me
to see if I could trick him.
"That might cost more money,"
he said, so I repeated,
"That might cost more money?"
"Well, maybe not,"
he was forced to demure,
and I marveled at the power
of my mere presence
apparently enough to negate
his very idea.
69. SDF 8/9
I sent a letter to the mayor
today
asking him to do something
about the homeless
and not so much because I'm
Albert Schweitzer
but more like Mr Potter, the
frustrated spider
in Its a Wonderful Life
They steal and litter. They pester
honest drivers at
intersections
with their cardboard signs
of
handscrawled pathos
and they occupy all the
parks
with their unsanitary
Hoovervilles
But yes, I also think this
is no way for a society
to take care of its sick and
its crazy:
letting them sleep on
highway shoulders
and training them on how to beg.
And us, the richest country
on earth!
70. CAPITAL ISM'T 8/10
Went to Alphabet today
to collect their precious
metals scrap
and bid on a furnace.
The company is shutting down
even though they have
millions
in deliverables waiting
state of the art lab
equipment
and a world-class staff
The COO told me
the reason that they folded
is a big VC pulled funding.
They don't know for sure
but think some partner
changed his mind
They had the product.
They had the staff.
They had the customers.
They had everything except
the imaginary efficiency
of a market-based economy.
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