Have I?

-Jim DuBois

Far-Away Planet

There’s this
     far-away planet
     which I visited
           once

The people who lived
     there

Spoke
     a different language

And in the years
     I spent
           living there

I learned that they had
     no word for
           “enlightenment”

The closest translation
     into their language
     meant
     “The day he began to smile”

“Love” meant nothing
     to them,
     but the phrase
     “The one who feeds you”
     seemed almost Holy

“God”
     translated to
   “A room without walls”

And “War”
     left them
     entirely stumped


-Jim DuBois
circa 2000

From "Sometimes". Get a copy here.

The Golden Age

The Golden Age
     is now

The Golden Age
     is always  now

Me writing this,
     you reading it


-Jim DuBois
April 30, 2017

Quabbin Hike in February

Snow covering ev-
erything. No Place to sit!
Trudge _Trudge Trudge _Trudge Trudge


-Jim DuBois
Feb 19, 2017

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)