YOU GIVE SPARE CHANGE TO A STREET PERSON

two quarters
in a cup

he offers up
a grizzled "thank you"
as you walk briskly on

the economic gulf
between you
is reduced by fifty cents

but the gratitude
teeters for a moment
jerks back to the mean


THE 6.30 WAR

It's always been
about the news

Iraq
Iran
Afghanistan

that's where
the world is going on
and why the people
watching on couches
in kitchens
feel stranded

there's an incurable solitude
to it not being desert
outside the door

no rockets fired
through bedroom windows

no shooting back
and taking out
a passerby or two

the newscaster adjusts his tie
smoothes his hair
says "another soldier dead"

that soldier may not survive
but at least he's a headline story

he'll come home in a box
to those already in one