Four Mood Swings

1.

It's just like me to plant bulbs
at the bottom of the condo's steps
in sandy soil where workmen
have been digging
for these last six months

how can we live without flowers
we need flowers not just boxy shrubs
I see stalks
rise up from between
clumps of ivy don't
remember if I planted daffodils
or hyacinth think I should
be able to tell the difference.

Each morning at the bottom
of the stairs I worship them.

2.

I've got a job
after the first few
hours at the office
post appointments in Outlook
everyone knows I'm busy

park my car in the Chicago Title Mortgage lot
get the picture?
don't pay for parking most of the time

sometimes there's a good lecture
at UC Berkeley even though
I have to pay for parking there.

3.

The speaker was from Jerusalem
a professor talking about religion
and politics
how Palestinians and Israelis
after too much of a good thing
history hate each other.

When the speaker finished,
a thin man who'd been dehydrated
to gesture,

I asked if
women in both societies
have been involved in talks
he nodded
explained
to each other, yes, they've talked
but so many Arab men are
ultra-conservative Israeli men
security-crazed
and women
across the border
protectors of life
who can, he nodded, he said,
may be the only ones
to allow that concession.

4.

No matter how good
my weekend I wonder
when it's going to include
love a memorial for Tillie Olsen
a performance at The Beat Museum
with naked pictures of Allen Ginsberg
and Gregory Corso strewn
across the walls.

Then there's Monday.

I hear more people in the United States
are addicted to Valium than to any other drug.