There was a day
Mark Pearce (c) 2009

There was a day
When the sun didn’t sing
And the Earth didn’t turn
And the stars didn’t blink

And the moon didn’t wax

Riches
Mark Pearce (c) 2009

Fifteen shovels
And no dirt.

Thousands of kisses
But none from you.

I have so much.
I have nothing.

A Paper Heart
Mark Pearce (c) 2009

A paper heart
Twice folded
And left on your desk.

It doesn’t appear to be
Anything special.
Just a red piece of paper

Sniffing Einstein’s Brain
Mark Pearce (c) 2009

They say the inferior parietal regions
Of both hemispheres were
More developed than most
And that he had seventy-three percent more

Drip. Drip. Drop.
Mark Pearce (c) 2009

I hope there’s a light
At the end of this funnel
To guide me through
This raging night.

I hope there’s a dog,

Dimples and Hard Rocks
Mark Pearce (c) 2009

Shhhh.

Don’t tell anybody else
Where the treasure is.

It’s a secret.

Take off your tennis shoes.
Socks too.

So what to do with California?
© 2009 Mark Pearce

So what to do with California?

Edgar Cayce said it should have
Slipped off the continental shelf by now

Letters from a Brine Shrimp
Mark Pearce (c) 2009

I saw movement
As I pressed my face against the glass
Of this toilet you call home.

You were
Pulsing through aqua,

Gardeners Are Psychopaths
Mark Pearce (c) 2009

Gardeners are natural psychopaths.

They love the beautiful butterfly
While hating the infantile larvae.

They cherish the out of doors

Apples, strawberries
And pun’kin pie
The question is to whether
As opposed to why

Apples are delicious
To the very core
Strawberries are seedy
I must have more

In the fall of 1963
The Sears-Roebuck Catalog
Was better than sunshine.

The Christmas Wishbook Catalog,
The original October surprise,
Representative of all color

Chilhowee as the
Center of the Universe
© 2009 Mark Pearce

Today I recognize Chilhowee
As the center of the universe.
And that’s all right.

Get on your bike in Pleasant Hill

Damn you
Paper.
Damn you.

White.
Upon white.
Upon white.

Crisp
And pristine.
Fair and
Unblemished.

Go out and
Get yourself dirty,
Will ya’?

Get a tattoo.

The small group sat
in their fold-up chairs,
watching, as the heavy,
clawed bucket was freed to gravity,
and dropped forcefully
onto fresh-mounded earth.

One time.
Thump.

Two times.

We’d lost our over-anxious cat two months previously.
Eddie had gotten too happy to see us.
She couldn’t contain herself.
As the car pulled into the driveway