Ladder

A man tips his chair, all evening.

Years later, the ladder of small indentations
still marks the floor. Walking across it, then stopping.

Rarely are what is spoken and whit is meant the same.

Mostly the mouth says one thing, the thighs and knees
say another, the floor hears a third.

Yet within us,
objects and longings are not different.
They twist on the stem of the heart, like ripening grapes.

(Jane Hirchfield)

Who Made Sedona?

Rocks are grey or brown
everywhere except here
Arizona stole some red
intended for Mars

The sculptor here
not water or ice but
a lonely arid wind
defying convention

No regard for scale or accessibility
top heavy phallic chimneys
unsupported floors and roofs
overhanging liabilities

Myriad life forms abide
birds take unreachable ledges
plants the soft white seams
scorpions build cities in cracks

Homo sapiens, the valley floor
hiding his complex trappings
with rounded shapes
And rock-red paint

Bright cars, flat black roads
fragrant juniper smoke
and never-ending noise
herald the most arrogant animal.

(WRM)

Willy Wet-leg

I can't stand Willy wet-leg,
can't stand him at any price.
He's resigned, and when you hit him
he lets you hit him twice.

(D H Lawrence)


Cape Horn

Withering finger
leading eyes
to the globe's
southern pivot

Mountains, coffee,
tangos and beef
finally drown in
un-named waters

Atlantic and Pacific
disputing boundaries
Perpetual pugilism oblivious
of collateral damage

No room for future here
overcrowded with history
albatross, petrel
and cormorant

squeeze between
Magellan, Darwin
and six centuries
of shipwrecks.

(wrm)

Diner

The time has come to say goodbye, our plates empty except for
our greasy napkins. Comrades, you on my left, balding,
middle-aged guy with a ponytail, and you, Lefty, there on my right,
though we barely spoke I feel our kinship. You were steadfast in
passing the ketchup, the salt and pepper, no man could ask for better
companions. Lunch is over, the cheese-burgers and fries, the
Denver sandwich, the counter nearly empty. Now we must go our
separate ways. Not a fond embrace, but perhaps a hearty handshake.
No? Well then, farewell. It is unlikely I'll pass this way
again. Unlikely we will all meet again on this earth, to sit together
beneath the neon and fluorescent calmly sipping our coffee, like
the sages sipping their tea underneath the willow, sitting quietly,
saying nothing.

(Louis Jenkins)

Tidewater Glaciers

Floating frozen pre-historic garbage
Collected every second by barely liquid
Pure whiteness polluted black and blue
Ten thousand years fighting mountains
Milky murky blue gray water

A mess of bright destruction
Pan dimensionally immense
Cocktail of effluvium
Regurgitated ice cream
With fake coloring meringue
Might majesty dominion and mess.

(WRM in Alaska)

Autumnal Air

To Autumn


SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness!

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.



Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,

Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers;

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cider-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.



Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—

While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

(Keats)


Fall Tree Ball

Bored with the greens
sported since spring
each chooses a new gown
of yellow and gold
better to reflect the ailing autumn sun

Casting jealous eyes on neighbors
they change outfits daily
ever more daring and revealing
darkening orange red and brown

After wild dancing with the wind
wearing copious frosty make-up
they finally stand naked
bold frozen ballet poses
ankle deep in discarded clothing

(WRM - who's teacher said "avoid the passive voice")

Flock

It has been calculated that teach copy of the
Gutenburg Bible.... required the skins of 300 sheep.
-from and article on printing

I can see them squeezed into the holding pen
behind the stone building
where the printing press is housed.

all of them squirming around
to find a little room
and looking so much alike

it would be nearly impossible
to count them,
and there is no telling

which one will carry the news
that the Lord is a shepherd,
one of the few things they already know.

(Billy Collins)


Arizona Finale

Drowning sun
Behind distant hills
Sends its shadow
Up the red rock
Bedroom stairs

Layer by layer
Extinguishing colors
Inky sky darkens
Not to dazzle
Ascending eyes.

Only crimson tops now
Boast of sunshine
Like expensive Italian cars
Reporting a red-shifted bias
To shadow dwellers below

Featureless grey now
Barely contrasts with
star seasoned sky.
Caves, cracks, trees and birds
Prepare there morning show

(WRM)

Awake!

Awake ye blog
from deepest sleep
and once again
your ritual keep

From limey shores
homeward lately come
for weeks ahead now
travel's done.

(WRM)

Seven Deadly Sins

Behold the systematic GLUTTON
who eats the fat first off his mutton,
and while the blessing says, "we're grateful,"
he's asking for a second plateful.

This man is also AVARICIOUS,
finding the smell of dough delicious,
and takes a fierce, uxorious PRIDE
in one possession, his young bride.

His neighbor just across the fence,
a man of strong CONCUPISCENCE,
ENVYING the husband his fair flower,
would buy her favors by the hour.

ANGER inflames the husband's face,
but AVARICE takes the higher place.
He says, "don't let my ANGER trouble you,
Take her-I'll take your BMW."

The deal is struck, with on car more,
the final sin completes his score.
The sinner says, "I'd shoot them both,
were I not such slave to SLOTH.

(Virginia Hamilton Adair)

Selecting a Reader

First, I would have her be beautiful,
and walking carefully up on my poetry
at the loneliest moment of an afternoon,
her hair still damp at the neck
from washing it. She should be wearing
a raincoat, an old one, dirty
from not having money enough for the cleaners.
She will take out her glasses, and there
in the bookstore, she will thumb
over my poems, then put the book back
up on its shelf. She will say to herself,
"for that kind of money, I can get
my raincoat cleaned". And she will.

(Ted Kooser)

Firsts

When does the first new car
get scratched
begin to rust
go to the junkyard

When does a new house
acquire spiders
witness arguments
conceive children
hear lies
when does the paint crack
when do the weeds grow

when does the new pan
first become stained
burn its first food.

(WRM)

Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
That was the end of
Solomon Grundy.

(19th century nursery rhyme I learned in the 50's)

Hoping for a better end to the week!

Recent readings on Haiku suggest that the equivalent to the 17 syllables of classic Japanese Haiku is around 15 syllables in English - because the entire structure of the character language is different.

Haiku about Human Nature, as opposed to nature are called Senryu
So here are a couple of free form ones

Plough rolls back
Green carpet
From chocolate earth


I am emperor
Of this empty
Starbucks

Scanning for familiar eyes
unlocking smiles
at airport arrivals

Welcome stranger
To put your makeup on
in my motorcycle mirror