Lorem Ipsum

Lorem Ipsum

I just noticed

how the  lighted screen

looks ripped across the top

like the mini yellow pads

that clutter and stack a desk --

to dos and dones, calls recorded

calls returned, hand-drawn charts,

the stuff of later talks,

pages ripped,  discarded

starts and stops.

The keys along the bottom

click away as if something really

is depressed and strikes.

How like a life this screen,

bright as the eyes can take,

yet cold and flat and final

as the hand that hits delete 

but does not think to save.

When the lights went out

When the lights went out

And the winds blew hard, harder

Than Appalachian summer ever sees,

And the children ran dripping to the house

While Poppy held then gave the umbrella

To the yard, family and guests --

Fourteen in all, gathered beneath the stairs,

Children up and down like popping corn,

The littlest one cried mommy, mommy, mommy,

Who was somewhere, later learned,

Moving trees that blocked the road,

Unable to go forward or go back.

When the  winds died down

And the sky cleared off as if it never raged,

And the damage was surveyed,

And neighbors came together for a change

To tell their various stories (all the same),

The children gathered pool toys from the yard,

The men, the bent umbrella from the tree,

And the eerie sound of no electricity --

The lack of sound, gave life a different sound,

Pure and clear, the sound of feet and breath,

The sound of living on and living through,

The littlest gathered candles for the dark

And built a tale to tell again, again, again

As the power hums, of the fun we had 

when the winds blew hard on the day the lights went out.

Still, the clock

Still, the  clock:

Back and forth

Settled, regular, like the heart.

Staccato notes

Dum dee, dum dee, dum dee

Patterned background chatter

Morning song that fades

With the scrape of shoes

Night Blind

Night Blind

It always  was your sight

That banished darkest night,

But now my Light is spent,

For while I dozed, it went

The way of leaving things:

Bags packed, a cab, the rings

Bereft beside the bed

Atop a note that said:

When darkness turns to day

And chases dreams away,

Yet you remain in night,

Long longing for the light,

Think on me and know

I didn't wish to go.

A strange glow calls me from my book

Come away. Look about:

Orangish yellow light behind

The lowering clouds --

Even the grass is burnished.

Poplars glow before mountains,

Heavy in dark relief--

The whole world is written in

Gold leaf, every branch and sheaf 

Illuminated, testament to glory.

Weeding

Your burrs rub me,

Hitchhike for the ride.

Your nettles pierce

Until I bleed.

Your juice gets under my skin,

and so, I itch.

The  difference, I find,

Between a weed and a flower

Is desire.

Rite

Rite

This is no mistake --

And cheaper than butchering 

A beast.

The river reels;

Wheels stick in the mire,

The ox's tail gets wet.

Be still.

This offering is equal 

To your neighbor's.

Listen: 

Pipers pipe the feast.

Memorial Day

Feeling somewhat righteous
On my knees, suddenly, it came to me --
Who will clean my grave
When I am gone
Beneath the dusty stone?
Who will find the time?
I know: none. Not one.
For all my young, it's not in you
To brood on what is gone.
Don't get me wrong.
You remember, you do,
Then let it pass on by.
My mountain grave --
Grow high with rose (with hope)
To overtake the rue.

So Dear

So Dear

Everywhere, next day, I looked 

For that helpless speckled thing,

Patient forest babe, all ears and eyes, 

Watching, waiting, staying.

Gone, as I had hoped, gone 

From underneath the tree

To walk beside her mother. 

Before long, she will walk alone, 

Gambol, jump and play.

I hope she sees another day. 

I hope she comes to stay

Where she was born, 

Where she lay beneath 

The Blue Spruce tree with me.

Deep

El Yunque National Park

Deep

How breach the invitation
Of the blackgreen dark?
How stay the shade around me?
Green-gold light above,
Surf-green blue below,
Viridian that wraps me like a gift.
I dive between the leaves,
Swim along the trees, agile as a fish.
My ultimate desire, my most fervent wish:
Deep. Green.