A Flower Child's Garden of Verse

On the last full day of Spring 2017

not so much verse

but haiku-esque
orphan inscriptions

disowned by Tennyson

and by Basho

content northern breeze

long time under some old oaks

at last the heat broke

firecrackers

of unseen origin

nearby in the trees

gulls instantly take to the wing

vast numbers of geese

come walking intently

to the cove

of the estuary

called a lake

different movements

in the top of various trees

today came the marine air

yellow bumble bees

in plush team jackets

work the orange poppies

high fliers frolic

like hyper butterflies

then jet off

utterly agile

air command

are these swifts?

iridescent green

hummy in and out deep pink

then onto yellow-red

one of two bee-birds

original blue angels

only more dazzling

rapid thrusts to pierce

yellow-red bunches relentlessly

 jousting for nectar

hovering here now

a large monarch heraldic

in orange and black

vehicle backs up beeping

squirrels having none of that

dashes past on the footpath

a noisy small plane

red squirrel's not having it

dashes again past my bench

one of the compensations

for losing one's looks

is to see the difference

in people

from when one was young

and at least somewhat

 attractive

the wisdom of it

second dark black man

passes by who perhaps

would enjoy occupying

this last shady seat

slender young

in a white t-shirt

makes a swishy

hand gesture

as he shuffles off

in oh snap

dismissal

when someone

assumes I'm cruising

I think

assume what you may

but please you don't

have to let me know

you're not interested

neither am I

two boys two girls

Mex kids reaching  the fountain

squeals of utter joy

Near the fountain

under a bench

a large dead animal

maybe a roof rat

who lived in the palms

I told myself it was

an opossum

told a garden worker

on the path out,
an affable African-American

he bordered on

incredulity
How big?
he gestured seven inches
I held up fourteen...
motherfucker


Death in the Garden
a film in English
by Luis Bunuel

Prequel

In the after Mass

the cathedral's till buzzing

Christ's after-image

19 June 2017