This week’s selection.

5893.
the buffer expands to protect them
these lies
they are guaranteed safe inside the closed mind

5894.
the piano is tuned
a dishonest continuum of sound
returned to truthful melody

5895.
a brilliant spring day
and
a swarm of gnats up your nose

 
5896.
Surely, I hope,
there is a marvelous year
underneath all this mud

5897.
our small one-eyed dark tabby cat
you are
just a great big sample of pure gold

5898.
I so envy you
that pale blue pair
of custom-fit oven mitts

5899.
The beer gladdens the tired crowd
of ill-matched coworkers
gamely socializing at the mandated after-work activity

5900.
The stomach gasps.
And then a greenish sludgy liquid
lies languid on the linoleum

 
5901.
If you think about it
it is possible to drink coffee
made by a dead man:
it’s all in the timing

5902.
one quick paper cut
one long day
of agony

5903.
the clouds are promising rain
but with no signature on the papers
I don’t consider it a done deal

5904.
on my calendar for the rest of this year:
forget everything that happened
after last Tuesday

5905.
the newborns emerge, squeaking –
and you know the story:
they will grow up fly away and return
when they run out of money

 
5906.
a waffle a sick man
a nurse in white
a burned-out light
and in this heat?

5907.
a pair of pale blue eyes
just visible through the dense foliage –
and the two now-empty chairs

5908.
I’ve always thought that
for a lot of reasons
a really nice set of teeth
is all you need in life

5909.
coy and vain
that’s the orchestra’s opinion
of every simpering note in this limping gavotte

5910.
that black sweatshirt
such a tight squeeze
no way he’s ever gonna squish all his atoms into it

 
5911.
The road is straight the scenery a snore and
just now you’ve realized you missed your turn
one humdrum miles ago

5912.
I saw him in the used car parking lot
Embarrassed for him, I was.
Who? Oh, George, our old Toyota.
I hope he didn’t see me.

5913.
the skull that conceals
the brain that reveals
the word that unreels
the whole string of squeals

5914.
there is something about
a steaming hot bucket of soapy water
that really cheers me up