Au Printemps

 

 

 

 

 

For the divine Perdition
of Idleness in Spring 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Au Printemps

 

 

 

 

 

In The Outback

 

A woodpecker and his allies

Storm the woods where I lay sleeping

Crows exchanged themselves with shadows

Three kingfishers from the East

Bearing acorns and fur

A worm for your delectation

A rose to a dog is undistinguished unless

It has been urinated on by another dog

Carpenter ants redo my deck

Trees provide ladders and clocks

The world of birds goes off at once

At dusk and at dawn

A street light in a deep forest

Invites a galactic blizzard of moths

In Spring the wilderness awakens

Males pursue arborial females

Frogs constitute a wall of sound

Thrumming

Thrumming the stubborn heart

That insists on beating

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gulls so high and free

encircle and encircle

downtown high-rise jail

 

 

 

 

 

 We never know how high we are
Till we are asked to rise

 

 

 

For a long time I thought

I was going crazy

Madness now no longer

much of a threat

More like arthritis but less so

more like a common cold

contagious unremarkable

ubiquitous at the last

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I cross the street

a crow finds a playing card

flies onto a roof

 

 

 

I extinguished my joint
with whiskey and water
a trace a trace
I've had my fill 

 

 

 

Train Tracks by Emily's Place


The amative Bonobo prefers
food offered by a bully
The frightened mistake
the ruthless for a champion

Arrogance never sees the silent train
of comeuppance and pain








Gone Medieval Posterior


In a tourist cottage
in the Bavarian Alps
three found murdered
with crossbow bolts
The crossbows were left
at the scene of the crime
As if asleep
encircled in
a forest of thorns






The earth is divided
into that which is predominantly water
and that which is not water
and of course a third
air made of gases
water and
particulate matter









And the Sea should part
And show a further Sea--



I sailed beyond the pale
entered a new envelope

I saw beyond the veil
leapt to it as an antelope

I sailed beyond the pale
 it was all all to no avail






Downpour
behind the railroad tacks
and the wind
behind the traffic rumble
the commonplace gunshots
Chinatown firecrackers
I thought I heard
thunder






The rain taps relentlessly
what does it want?
what do you want?






The perfection
the finality
My Savior in my heart
and my perception of reality






With a face on it
translucent plastic bag floats
the estuary

 

late evening sunlight
the gulls fly purposefully
and inscrutably






My kettle whistles
I'm a little teacup song
come back as a ghost






The survival lust
of the multitude
disgusts
me

manifest destiny

I trusted that the epiphany I felt
couldn't help but transform itself
into literature

I sued the future
based on the past


All that was promised
will arrive at last






A cold day in May
on the Blessed Mother's lawn
Mom changes nappy






I do believe
and it do behoove
whenever I see
life is a groove

   



Valley of the Waterfalls

Great waters flow
across a plateau
no where to go
but down


Circular crater valley
waterfalls surround a lost society
myths and songs unaltered
No longer a way to get out
unnavigable river high cliffs
to an impassable wilderness
When it rains not enough air
Inhabitants get pleurisy die young
Icy rain freezes the temple
Salt corrodes the ancient pillars
 isolated civilization
farms fishing small game
Sugar skulls dissolve in the rain
White noise of the waterfall
at the foot of the bed










Shadow play of leaves
new light on the window frame
the trees they grow tall








Everyday the radio says
it's a mild day
I go out and it's
variations on windy and cold
even when the sun is out
The radio says it's warm
and I go out I go out
dressed in summer clothes
and it's can I make it home
before I fall asleep
in the figurative snow
that desperate
Wind clouds even rain
wind off the bay
the sea beyond
skeletons in the fog
cold that moves through you








Lighting Spring-green trees
late sunlight down seventh
everybody sees







 

 May 2019

 

(lines from Emily Dickenson)