Like the Sun #76

I knew a man who ran
a house building business,
and he often said,
“My workers are stupid,
and just don’t think about
what they are doing.”

Later I met someone who worked
for him, who told me the following,
“I have two saws,
a handsaw and an electric saw,
and each serves a different purpose.
When I get paid by the hour,
I use the handsaw.
When I get paid by the job,
I use the electric one.”


-Jim DuBois
2012

Like the Sun #1
Leadership - Like the Sun #17
In the Winter, I saw Ducks - Like the Sun #65
The Great Canyons - Like the Sun #66

Get a copy of Like the Sun!

Noel, I forgot you were dead

"That's where
I met Noel
selling paper ephemera
at the sidewalk sale.

He's this interesting guy...

...well, he was...

I forgot: he died
this past winter.

We would
bump into each other
around town,
play a little magic
or poker,
he would tell me
about being italian,
about his Sicilian hertitage,
and then we wouldn't
see each other
for a while,
six months or a year.

I guess I figured
this was just another
of those
in between times.

Maybe that's
a better way
to think about it
anyway."


-Jim DuBois
Aug, 4, 2016

Working Class Wisdom #5

My maintenance guy,
after repainting
my bathroom ceiling,

"I try to make it
a little better if I can
but not worry about it
too much.

After all,
it ain't the Taj Mahal!"


-Jim DuBois
Aug 9, 2016

Working Class Wisdom #4

infected by old ee

At your house
while you're
away:

porchpieeating
hammockreading
sidewalkchalkdrawing

infected by
old

e
e


-Jim DuBois

Some things from today

Some things from today
(while you're away in England):

Chocolate cake from Woodstar at 9:30 am.
Not as good as before.
Glad I went back
for another piece.
Laundry
(yours and mine)
and cleaning
(sweeping and picking up)
at your house.

Further plans include:
Reading in the hammock,
pulling up seedlings
and raking,
cooking an egg or two
for lunch.

Later I am going
to play Magic
and eat with Jesús,
which I am sure
you want to know about
because you love
me doing what I love.

Love
Love
Love


-Jim DuBois
May 20, 2016

Working Class Wisdom #4

A young woman,
talking to her friends
in the parking lot,
proudly, defiantly,
pointing at herself,
"Stains make a shirt
more unique!"


-Jim DuBois
Aug 9, 2016

Working Class Wisdom #5
Working Class Wisdom #3

The Trees Above

The trees above
the sidewalk outside
Amanouz at night -
protecting me from
the infinite universe beyond.

Aug 30, 2014

O firefly

O firefly
where have you gone?
The world is dark
without you.

Light up, firefly, light up!
Make the world
magical again.


-Jim DuBois
April 5, 2012

Bad Garden Poem

Having a Garden is great fun
The plants grow under the sunny Sun
But it’s not for Everyone,
Because Weeds grow by the ton.

Do you see
What’s happening to me
Because I must judge the contest of poetry?

Now I’m done
Look what I’ve become
I’ve wasted time
With shitty rhymes

I guess there are worse things
… sings
… rings

Etc


-Jim DuBois
June 28, 2016

Late Afternoon Lull

Dropping words on the page,
in no particular order,
rambling, relaxing,
wondering if far from now,
on my deathbed,
I'll confuse real life
with some of the
Minecraft worlds
I spent so many hours in,
saying to people,
my beloved ones
I am departing from,
"Remember that village
we visited and
took care of that one time,
with the great view
at the edge of the swamp?"
and they'll say,
"Yes, yes. I loved
that place."

And that'll be as good as
anything
at that moment.

But now these thoughts
are passing
and I'm going
to read
then make us dinner.


April 27, 2016
-Jim DuBois

Falling in Love is Like...

Falling in love is like
when you first
come in from the cold
and you can't quite
feel your toes and fingers yet.

Falling in love is like
waking up from
a bad dream
when you're still
panicked that
the crazy/scary/sad thing
might be true.

Falling in love
is a huge disaster
for my cherished
sense of unwantability.

Falling in love
is ruining my plan
to bitterly face
middle age on my own.

Falling in love is like
waiting for the sunrise,
that part where you're like,
"C'mon, c'mon, any minute now! When? When?"

Falling in love is like
walking on your foot
when its fallen asleep
- before circulation returns
every step is agony.

Falling in love
is dangerous
to my comfortable loneliness

Falling in love
is devastating
to my lack of
self-esteem.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 25, 2015

Instead of "Passion"

a desire to record
a desire to experiment
a desire to communicate
a desire to learn
a desire to explore
a desire for chaos
a desire for order
a desire for change
a desire to pass time
a desire to preserve
a desire to be generous
a desire to be selfish
a desire to finish
a desire to get started
a desire to create
a desire to destroy
a desire to be distracted
a desire to achieve a goal
a desire for peace of mind


-Jim DuBois
April 2016

What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done, dandelion?
How will you pay your rent on this hillside?
Anton Chekhov was a doctor
and wrote great novels.
What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done, dandelion?
What have you done, little butterfly?
What have you done, grassy hillside?
How will you fulfill your obligation to society?
What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done?
How will you live?
What have you achieved?
What will your legacy be?
What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done, dandelion?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a musical prodigy at age 4.
Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity.
Genghis Khan conquered most of several continents.
What have you done, dandelion?

What have you done for America, Dandelion?
At least get a job selling lottery tickets and cigarettes
instead of absorbing the free sunshine all day.
Please, dandelion, please!
What will you do, dandelion?

What will you do?

-Jim DuBois
April 24, 2016

Nachos at Fire & Water

They used to
bake the Nachos
in the oven
at first,
back in the day,
20 years or so ago,
at Fire & Water
and I remember
eating them
on a particular day.

Even though
they took longer
to make,
they came out great,
but then
Fire & Water started
using the microwave,
and they
weren't the same
anymore.

It was
a long time ago
and I never expected
something as ordinary
as that particular
plate of Nachos
to have such resonance
in my memory.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 19 2015

It Began

It began
with the smile on Jake's face.

Someone dropped their keys
Someone else fainted.

Jake kept smiling.

The people on the sidewalk
felt their neck hair stand on end
and their skin tingle.

Many looked to the sky.

Up on the 30th floor,
a woman turned into a sparrow
and flew away into the clouds.


-Jim DuBois
March 30, 2016
(revised some old scraps of writing from the 90s)

No Loitering (photo)

Waking up at 3:21 am on Valentine's Day

Waking up at 3:21 am
on Valentine's Day...
"Do you hear that beeping?"
and it was
the smoke detector downstairs
chirping out its
low battery alarm,
so we took out
its battery
and I was making jokes
about my bitterness,
about missing sleep,
which made you laugh
and when we got back in bed
you kept giggling
and accidentally bumping me
with the hot water bottle
and making me twitch a little
while we were trying to sleep
and I was like,
"Oh, so my misfortune
and bitterness is funny
to you?"
which made you laugh even more
and then the loud heater
came on
and it seemed more and more
like we'd lose the battle for sleep,
like a sitcom
where everything keeps going wrong
and it's funny from the outside,
so I said,
"Happy Valentine's Day!"
and we laughed.

I wanted to end this poem
with something like
"And there was no one else
I'd rather have been with,
or hear giggling about my bitterness
in the middle of the night,"
because that is really true,
even though those words
are a little cliche
and I thought about
other ways to say it
or imply it
but nothing better
occurred to me,
so I decided
that maybe the best way
sometimes
is just to ramble on
and say I love you a lot,
and be a little cliche
anyway,
be a little imperfect,
a little flawed,
just like
that night
which was so wonderful
anyway.


-Jim DuBois
Feb 16, 2016

Everything I did while you were under for surgery

I really
couldn't bear the thought
of you missing out
on even a little half hour
of life,
so I decided
to record
everything I did
while you were under,
as a present for you.

First I mailed out Magic cards
with Dimitri,
then we went to
Veracruzana
to get bean burritos.
I wasn't too hungry
but it was cold
and eating is such a delight
I wanted to include it.

Then I got the idea
for this poem
and snagged a pen and napkin
from the counter
and started writing.

...

Took a break
to eat one of those
delicious chocolate coconut bars
from the Roost
just to indulge.

And in between
and through all these things
I have been loving you,
holding you in my heart,
thinking of you,
waiting for you to return,
eager to see you later today.

Now we're headed out
to get more cards
and play some Magic,
and you should
be waking up
now too.


-Jim DuBois
Feb 12, 2016 1:17pm

Specific Memories of Particular Food

Usually, you can't pinpoint
the time you ate
the best version
of any particular food,
especially everyday food,
so those times
when I can
stick out in my mind.

The first time was
a basket of french fries
I had at Holy Smokes
(now defunct) BBQ
in Hatfield MA.
They were so great that
when the cook
came around
to ask how everything was,
I said they were
the best fries
I'd ever had,
and asked how come.
He said that they
double-fry them,
but it also depends on
the moisture content
of the potatoes
and that depends on
things like the weather
while they were growing,
so they can't control that.

The other time
I was a fruititarian,
so I ate a lot of kinds of fruit
just for variety
in such a restricted diet.
I decided to give
golden delicious apples
another chance
one day at Atkins
(fruit stand - not defunct).
I bought one
and it was amazing,
and for a few days,
all the golden delicious apples
from there were
actually delicious
and then that faded,
for a still undetermined reason,
and I have not
truly enjoyed an apple
of that variety since.


-Jim DuBois
Dec 19, 2015

Even on that piano

Even
on that piano
that
out of tune
piano
that
piano with bad
action,
Even
though you haven't
practiced
lately


-Jim DuBois

something essential

I don't know
if I've got this story
exactly right,
because it didn't happen
to me,
and I heard it
many years ago,
but I am sure
I retained
the essence of it.

My friend Juan,
who I think
was descended from
old Mayan kings,
had disappeared
from society for a while,
by hiding out
down below
those iconic cliffs,
on that beach
in California,
where he met this
Vietnam vet
who lived in a cave
and hunted fish
with a spear launcher
made with an old
bicycle inner tube.

Above them,
atop the cliff,
there was
a Buddhist monastery,
and Juan used to climb up
and pick fruit
from their garden
while they sat there
meditating
among the plants,
and they never
moved or said anything.

And for me,
that image captures
something essential
and beautiful
about life
that is hard to define.


-Jim DuBois
September 2015

Straightforward Titles for Recurring Dreams

Last Day at Camp
Crowded Apartment
Leaving the Party
Down a Long River
Strange Place to Sleep
Dream Roads
Empty Department Store that is Sometimes a Grocery Store
Flying out the Window
Those Extra Rooms I Never Knew Were There
What's Wrong with the Bathroom?
Giant Bathroom with the Running Showers


-Jim DuBois
Dec 26, 2015

And Never Let

I know that we
worry needlessly
about disasters
and about one
or the other
of us dying,
but I decided
just after I woke up
that if you died
unexpectedly,
I would love you
anyway,
keep writing you
poems,
talk out loud
to you,
think about you
all the time
and never let
death win


-Jim DuBois
Jan 3, 2016