Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Currency of Time Well Spent



Wavering in want
is wallowing in wait
for something to happen
while the world goes on.

Toiling the time
is the devils presence
when you are wishing
you were
some
one
else
some
where
else
who
saw
You
As
who
you
are
Now
and said,
I've been looking for
You
I've finally found
You
-they'd say.
And I'd see,
no time was wasted,
no time like the present,
when the devil may care. 




Image of painting by Joseph-Désiré Court, 1844 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

To: November Re: Remember

File:November (copy after Sandrart).jpg

Looking back cruelly on the carnage of the calendar-
First, on the day of the dead, let us give birth to new slates traced with prehistoric calcite...erasure.
Secondly, “writing is aid to memory-the sentence…” He said.
Third, Robots writing literature? No twitter bots. Love Letters from Eliza make me grumpy today.
Fourth, Truck didn’t start, need a new starter, makes sense, costs bucks (I don’t have).
Fifth, Close Doors. Open windows. Filtering the light. Breathe the sunshine.
Sixth. Days bleed, the trees drip, my well is going to dry up.
Seventhly- It’s a UFO! A meteor! We are not in control of this universe?! Nope, just the Navy.
Eighth. Washer thrown off kilter (by extra ‘h’), Alex, my repairman, is Russian!
Ninth. Rain. Slow drip. Watch sky, blame clouds for dimming prospects. Real is a cumulus. 
Tenth. Parents 30th Anniversary… all there is, never after. Under Happily.
Eleventhly, missing grandpa, working with his words, at least we can talk there.
Twelfth, “By denying me the seas”, “By denying me the seas”, “By denying me the seas”
Thirteenth of Friday: City of Love Lost and Lights Out. Oh Paris! You have taught the world of love and heartbreak, you are all made stronger. Love trumps terror over time.
Fourteenth, yardwork, laundry, cooking, cleaning, redundancies, monotonies, shuffle the deck and pick a spade.
Fifteenth. Sunday comes with a warning- of a storm-that never comes. Nap, read await.
Sixteenth, hollow menace in heavy heaps of leaves, branches broken, dunes of needles roll with it.
Seventeenth. Synapses firing bullet points of philosophy and poetry. The dentist drills my daughter.
Eighteenth, Mom’s birthday, ecard, thanks. Unproductive avoidance, errands and cleaning.
Nineteenth, nose in book. Reading. Anything but writing.
Twenty ways of being Social. Sharing is caring and blaring about “selfie”, tasks of wearing masks, wearing the day away.
Twenty-one, Push, fold, draw, brush, sweep, stay; filling the green waste on  (re) cycle.
Twenty-second(s) of rest.
Twenty-third. Mundane Monday, a myriad of myopia.
Twenty-fourth-Army to feed, fill shopping cart for one meal? Making mess.
Twenty-fifth. Appointments, Turkey and Doctor, I get them confused.
Twenty six steps lead to couch, thankfully.
Twenty-seventh. Not working. Nothing’s working. Nobody’s at work.
Twenty-eight days in, November is losing nerve, no more noshing necessary.
Twenty-ninth. Frigidly forgetting. Left frozen and unchosen.
Thirty ways to say this was a November I will now remember, bite by bitter bite.



Image By copy (18th or 19th century) after Joachim von Sandrart (orig. 17th century) (http://www.hampel-auctions.com) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, Der November.

2 Eyes 4 Beginners

File:Philip Hermogenes Calderon - Her eyes are with her heart and that is far away.jpg
I have known for a while
but feared looking
at the solid words
etched already,
I feel with my fingers,
it has already been years
since we lived
looking
together.




Image by Philip Hermogenes Calderon (1881) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Stuffed Turkeys


Our tradition, silly, yummy and lame-
we perform annually just the same.
Our ears and bellies full,
our cups all overflowing,
spilling out as it were,
endless, lest we forget-
we will eat again.
Forgive us for our acceptance 
of more, when we need less.
We will answer the temptations
with cranberry jubilee, 
high on sparkly, 
giddy in our gluttony.
For ours is a land of adopted fables
and on this one we fill our dining tables. 

With dopey peopled sated smiles,
a quiet table with mouths stuffed,
 corked and gorging, all thankfully mute
knowing nothing more need be said
except perhaps, Please pass the bread.



Image By Steffano Francis Webb [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, circa 1915.

What Nots and What Have Yous


A-lone
which is not by It-self
we are not
hungry for hollow bread
Satisfied
we are not
as they are.

Ex-posed
to the elements,
sheltered from the cold-
blooded nature of time,
we are not
afraid to gather together.

No-body
taking a place
at an empty table
we are not
waiting any-more
for second(s),
when years will only do.

Rich with excess
Starved to impress
reminiscing to regress
we are not
In-stead of wishing and wanting
we are blessing and yawning
making new batches of Progress
and wiping up spilt regrets.

With indebtedness to our grand Hostess
Here, we take the left-overs
for tomorrows
grand children.
Today
we whet
our appetites
craving nothing more
than what we are not
indulging all the more.



Image of painting by Cornelis Bisschop, circa 1664 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

A soul on a stroll


Along the Path
we must go alone.
Yet things catch our eye,
glisten just so in the sun.
Sometimes we stop to linger
a little, thinking about beauty...
But we move on
when the light changes.

Along the path,
we must go alone.
We meet many others, new faces
walking and join company
for some paces, for a time-
until their path goes another way,
to a place that is not our own
destination.

Along the path
we must go alone.
Milestones remind us to push
ahead, rest before it gets steep,
and don't chance a glance back.
Footprints fall behind,
markers of the past,
so we don't go in circles
if we are aware
of our surroundings.

Along the path,
monsters lurk in the dark shoulders,
watching the moon guide your steps,
unable to penetrate your light.
You may have to change direction,
many times, but you will know
where you are,
you have seen-This before.
When you arrive There
remember, you will know
Why, Then
we must go alone.




Image by Allen Butler Talcott [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, Path through the woods.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

4:14 (am James)


The darkness amplifies
any tiny tears in the thick screen
It is only i
that stirs the silence,
shuffle and peck.

A chime moves to hear itself,
setting a key
for Saint Ana to use today.

Behind the black, wind which is not,
the freeway tunnel blows and gasps,
cats eyes and downshifts, wind it is not
drops in the back, picks up strings.

The cats purr follows the rhythm
of his breath, reviving vigor on exhale.

The fountain trickles for effect
gurgling fools gold in the desert garden.

The birds all still abed in boughs,
have yet to set the tone.

The stars sparkle and wink wearily
in bursts that were sent
long away and far ago,

For this day-
whose silence
sounds
promising.


“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while then vanishes away.” -James 4:14




1st Image of painting By Wilmer Dewing, Before Sunrise c. 1895 (http://elle-belle10.livejournal.com/1795371.html) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Cat Sunrise Image By edited by Mary Mapes Dodge [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, c. 1884.

Tres (trace)

Water Today, warm raindrops glass blurs, the blurry glassy, sharp sparkles sugar. Behind Evening, it was good. Leaves all turned into shadow...