A chalkline around me on the sidewalk.

lightning strikes

and the oak gives up a limb 

like a soldier wounded in battle 

sure the tree lives on 

but now the other trees look away 

and never say good morning 

anymore 

-james lee jobe 

us girls - a poem by S*an D. Henry Smith

a priest that sweats holy water 

a drunk that sweats whiskey 

sweat wicking fabric 

a farmer watering the crops 

        with his sweat 

using sweat and ham bones 

        to make broth 

a cop sweating a confession 

        from a crook 

the plumber sweating the pipe joints 

honest sweat from honest work 

nervous sweat 

sweat pants 

by the sweat of your brow 

sweat condensation forming 

        on your glass of iced dr pepper

-james lee jobe 

Start seeing everything as god, but keep it a secret.

-Hāfez

when it comes down 

        to a chalkline around me on the sidewalk 

then you ask the coroner 

        what kind of man I was 

but until then 

        just step off 

-james lee jobe 

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull 

of what you really love. 

It will not lead you astray.

-Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

I was sleeping in the recliner chair like my Uncle Richard used to do. I slept heavily and dreamed of words that were made from solid objects of various shapes and sizes, and of many different materials. Words built from metal, wood, concrete, plastic, and so on. I was using tools to assemble these words into poems; a hammer and nails, a handsaw, a drill, nuts and bolts, a sander, and wrenches. The poems I built were as large as a man and crazy looking, but they read beautifully. The poems I built were better than any I ever wrote, but that isn't saying much.

-james lee jobe 

That's my sake cup!

Don't come dropping mud in there,

nesting swallows!

-Basho

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Thanks, 

james