dialog group

americans are so strong and self-assured
thought the thinly disguised cynic
attending his first peace dialog

thinking their precious thoughts
about religion and spirituality
make a whit of difference

now after suffering silently through two hours
of the usual self-serving altruism
of such endeavors

i am prompted
by my yahoo group
to "rate the meetup"

and i am pretty sure i will not

________________

hobbling along

i'd arrived simultaneously
with the facilitator
at peace and justice

to encounter three apparently homeless
native folks hanging out inside
on a snowy equinox morning

one of whom asked if we had any extra gloves
to which the facilitator's reply was

who let you in
are you supposed to be here
we're having a meeting

and as the facilitator then wandered off
someone heard the recipient of these not-gloves
mutter something like

what did she mean by all that
we're trying to get warm
maybe she sold the last of her soul

before code-switching into Dine
which apparently offered tools for
a more amusing take on the situation

_________________

someone watched the facilitator return

offer that they could stay
and would see if there was any food
which led to some loaves being found and shared
so i guess that's all good

this from a spacey distance
brought on by the headache-y symptoms
of a fast's second day

brought on by a painful
and slightly embarassing health condition

brought on by the sloppiness
of food intake that had once again devolved into
essentially caffeine and sugar
with supplements of fat and alcohol
and not enough water

the perfect recipe for kidney stones
or in my far more fortunate circumstance
its uric-acid crystal cousin

(and nothing says
its time for a spring cleanse yeh meedel-aged bahsterd
like an attack of)

gout

____

nature boy has already glimpsed
the lightness on the other side
of this process

already the jonesing has gone
and i know i will soon come to the vitality
that a fast reminds me
is underneath all these neurotic addictive compensations

so surprised was the watcher
to find such a return of the cynic

__________________

if i were to rate the meetup
i'd have to give it an A-plus of course

within minutes
ran into the facilitator at the co-op a mile east
while looking up herbal remedies
for relief of gout symptoms

replied to her inquiry about my unhappy countenance
with a quadruple take

bypassing mention of either homelessness
urea or sexual indiscretions

to hear myself ironically say
i didn't find the subject stimulating

then arriving home a mile or two further west
with the movie credits rolling up the screen

three homeless Indians
and a shopping cart with a few more loaves
trudged by

as someone watched