The Secret Weapon

There's a secret weapon
I keep stored in a special
playlist.

The launch code is 4 patterned numbers
followed by accessing a few colored icons.

When it takes off
through the headphone's wires
and bounces on my ear drums,
it's as
Popeye's spinach
or
Hulk's anger,
giving me the strength
to push through almost any task,
even grading 163 research papers
or
draining two flooded email inboxes.

The enemy in this not-so-cold arms race
gets a leg up,
though,
whenever my boredom and distractedness
form alliances
with the internet or bits of string
to make one frighteningly formidable foe.

The only flaw in this daily face-off
emerges when I become
so enamored by the riffs and lyrics
of every Weezer album*
played in discographical order
that I drift
into a fascination that plummets
my work ethic down via the vehicle
that was supposed to lift it up.

A strange love** this is
in which my unbridled love
for an otherwise savior
destroys me.

*To experience a smattering of Weezer's deliciousness, check out these and other tunes:

**To experience a bit of this reference to the 1964 film "Dr. Strangelove," check out this clip of the major riding the bomb in an attempt to save the world, ultimately leading to mass destruction. (I'd also highly recommend the entire movie.)

The Sound of (Wind in the) Music

Whenever I play certain songs

on the piano,

I hear wind
moving through trees

and feel it moving through
lungs,
blowing always from the right,
leaning me left.

This phenomenon does not occur
because the piano is 

next to the front bay window that
looks out on three 80-foot silver maples.

And, no, the rustling of those
imagined leaves
does not coincide with the
music's crescendos and decrescendos.

It just

comes,
as if I were a limb
of some larger thing
being moved. 

Dinner At Denny's

You'll say that we are indecisive
Cognitively divided
and our dates are really lame.

You'll say that we're stuck in a rut
Like a hazard in putt-putt
Cuz all we do is just the same.

And I said what about Dinner at Denny's

She said I think we did that last Wednesday

And as I recall I think we both disliked it

And I said well than what do you think?

I see you refusing to clue me

Into what you want to be doing

But are choosing not to share.

So what now, it's plain to see I'm lost,

A coin's about to be tossed,

Cuz I don't even care.

Then I said what about that dinner at Denny's

She said I think I'd prefer JC Penny's
And as I recall I think we have 2 coupons
And I said well then let's do that.

You'll say we need to pick a wedding date,

A house, some colors, and baby names,

And that I need to settle on a career.

You'll say the futures coming on fast

Even more so than in the past

And we need a plan for coming years.

And I said what about dinner at Denny's

You smiled and said you thought 1 course would be plenty

And I said as I recall I thought you disliked it

And you said actually maybe you lied.

So we said we'll take two burgers at Denny's 

The waitress eyed us cuz we're in our twenties

And everyone else was a geriatric patient

And I said well that's one thing we've got.