For the divine Perdition
of Idleness in Spring
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
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)
