Sunday, March 16, 2025

Greenland poem

Tasermiut Fjord Kayaking Exploration

 

Nordic Aspirations


Great Leader wants [us] to own more fjords

[us] is sorely lacking in fjords

but with this acquisition [us] would be fjord rich

would become number one owner of fjords

By every measure of greatness

[us] would be fjord historic

fjord fantastic

fjord fabulous

fjord famous

fjord fulsome

fjord flourishing

fjord fancy

fjord fairest

fjord flawless

fjord finest

fjord   fundamental

Sunday, March 2, 2025

One of the protest poems I shared at today's open mic

 Bathroom Signs Funny All Gender Restroom Sign - "Buro" Design


 

He Shall Separate The MENS From The WOMENS


here, only GIRLS hands shall rub together

twist faucet OFF

rip paper towel from holder


in bathroom mirrored to be one dimensional

stocked with the obviously definable

teeter-tottering between IDs leveled


and lo, it shall come to pass

the creeks shall flow clear

the fish shall shimmer


the animals shall skip

the meadows shall flower

and the loyal shall inherit Everything

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Losing It

 

A collage of logos of Federal Communications Commissions, the EPA, Homeland Security and Department of State 

Agency


Discovering our lives were made up

interwoven, fragile filaments ❘ networks of:


Good Morning / Good Evening

You Got Here First

You’re Welcome / You Betcha

I’m In No Rush

Excuse Me / How Are You? 

Don’t Mention It  / How Nice

Thank You Kind Stranger 

I’m Glad I Could Help

I Appreciate the Gesture

Please, After You

You’re buying chips and a soda

while my cart is full

Monday, January 27, 2025

The Gulp of America

 The podcast Rumble Strip has put out a call for audio clips that reflect the "sound of now."  The call inspired this poem about what's on my mind after last week's blackout at the National Institutes of Health.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Turning Discovery into Health

 

The Gulp of America


thermostat set at lukewarm 65

raise it two degrees in case of showers

usually remember to reset it

furnace’s roar a grind against his mind


try to soften the door’s click as it shuts

maybe today he’ll get three hours sleep

walk to work is thirty-minute trudging

icy sidewalks broken by boot imprints


supervisor appreciates efforts

wishes paycheck could be commensurate

grant given by agency bankrupted

funding shortfalls are an unforeseen shame

Monday, November 11, 2024

Not Me is the god who shows up when I pray

 

Not Me Bolsters


I    am    a    stress    fractured

tibia

unable    to    support    body

weight

forward    momentum

terminated


Not Me is an air cast

compressing broken bits

cushioning each new step

Friday, October 11, 2024

Not Me is the god who shows up when I pray

 

Not Me Swells like Mahler’s Symphony Number Two, the Fifth Movement


I am a flat line⎹ precise graphite⎹ mark on page


Not Me begins as nightingale flute call

to which a mourning dove sighs a reply

first solo, then duet of grief, then the full choir is mummering

now the strings are shedding tears, now the horns are wailing

now the whole orchestra interludes in ascending scales

climbing from whip-poor-will weeping to meadow lark’s trill

next organ interjects, holding onto a clarion hawk cry

finally, the cathedral bells chime their dawn greeting song




―――――

Informed by “Mahler Listening Guide Symphony no. 2 in C Minor (“Resurrection”)”

Bettie Jo Basinger  https://utahsymphony.org/explore/2014/11/mahler-2-listening-guide/