she forms by function
her art that challenges lines
she multiverses
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photo by Abhi Verma on Unsplash
a couple of cosmic verses
two nebulae
birthplace of stars
and
were we a nebula before
if so
what shape
and
did someone name us
for a form
maybe matching a myth
from
their own lore
and will they tell us
our own story
for
a reach
we do not have
older than us
sure
and yet extant with penchants for
visits
and conversations
unaware of angels
a favorite story
the older couple who
entertained divinities without
awareness
yet greeting needful
strangers
as it seemed
gave welcome to their shoddy place
and
offered the last food and
drink they had kept for themselves
before they’d
die from their own need and
lack
and yet in that meal
the plate
and pitcher
kept refilling and would
do so
forever
by the way
and after sleeping
the two awoke to find their hovel
changed into a manor
filled with
all signs of prosperity
to own and live
while
the valley town that would not
welcome anyone
or open
anything to strangers
more so those who did not appear
as they
well
that
town with the valley
now was flooded as gods
in judgment
and in brutal mischief
may decree and
do
(it’s a story of Greek gods, cited by Saint Paul as well)
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photo by Kevin Mueller on Unsplash
remembering the ducks
I think about a duck pond
which might be across street from
where
my grandparents lived
a place we were allowed to look at from
afar
or am I thinking of what’s called
the Children’s Lake
in a small
like mine
town
that like
across the street had
ducks
and geese that had better scurry as
folks drive through
and the ducks
and geese there have
in fact
their own speeding limit
I don’t know
the ducks are pretty
and
sometimes seem to me
too fragile
as if God forgot to give them
armor
more than the chemicals that
keep them floating
I don’t know
maybe the chemicals are enough
as are
memories
that come to the surface
and
sometimes have ducks floating
upon them
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photo by Haberdoedas II on Unsplash
simpler green day near
solstice calls the summer start
then shorter green days
orange autumn day
equinox incites the fire
by red longer night
winter silver blue
longer days the promise bear
by solstice we met
spring the ground awake
spring equinox pale-promised
pastel growth begins
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photo by Bozhin Karaivanov on Unsplash
Christmas in July
we say that Christmas is December
and yet
because we need not fixed remember
then
there is no reason why
can be no Christmas in July
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a while ago, a friend was asking why Christmas could not be celebrated in July, not with sales but with services; part of this verse I came up with right away, the rest boiling like plum pudding over years
photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash
central Texas
one death we struggle
getting over
so
so how to comprehend a hundred
deaths and
more
storms and floods
destroying
like Time’s rolling sons in
the old hymn
taken
the material and
lively
debating over quick response
especially in a time of
cutting funding
for
all kinds of services
mostly
though a matter
now
of rescue
and the dreadful counting
receiving
aid
enduring then
to take
on
against all pushes of despair
considering
instead how to rebuild
“O God, Our Help in Ages Past” by Isaac Watts
Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.
(excerpt)
flooding town next over
(from mine in Pennsylvania)
Carlisle
one day
for storm floods
that were
severe
boating on streets
through town
no chance to pass through
radiating intersections
all the trees and parts of trees
that fell
and the delicate
dangerous dance
with
electricity
now nature helps to dry
in its irony of
having
delivered all the water first
the human focus next
on
taking
finding stock
and then rebuilding
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photo by Wes Warren on Unsplash
imagining heatwave accommodation
(3 poems)
having a green day
when I think on Robert Louis Stevenson
his verses for children
I imagine a pastel illustration
pale colors of
children at play
there is a swing
which might mean there a book
I’m thinking of
with the picture at
the front
or with
the title
a green-bound book
it seems
though what other color
to represent the liveliness
of play
a green day
washing the gloom away for
children with
a swing to play on
and
with care
summer accommodation
and shall we say
let’s have
a day
get out there
if
shaded from the sun
so that only the light of life gets
through
an appreciate of the colors
paled
beholding all the surfaces
the textures
sights and sounds
things to smell and taste
leaving
what
why
to hear in the surfaces and textures
too
and course through the hours
with a purpose
do our jobs
then toward earned play
(if
a child then with
the understanding that it is
the child’s
job)
to have some trusted company
trustworthy enough
for jobs
and play
a fullness in
the day
accrued regardless of intention
but
but the mind and body worked
into completion
then
the fullness of the night
with rest
while third-shifters
must go
the other way
to
have the filling hours
should we get there
I recall
a picture of a fountain
at La Alhambra
adding imagination
with
the wish to be there
if a moment
to let the spray strike me
the lavishness of
water
for play
in a dry land
how many tour
while I can only hope each time’s
a
treasure
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photo by Sebastian Yepes on Unsplash
uncommon unsense
the prophet helps
a widow
and
when the prophet needs
ravens helps with food
making up for that business
with the ark
all the people needed food
and so food
fell
needed water
too
which poured for them
from barren places
and so
wandering the wilderness
still cannot
be comfortable
but
at least keep folk alive
meanwhile
by
basics
David thinks he needs Bathsheba
though that is
another kind of interest
not
like food and water
whatever the king might feel
he needs
as he wants
food and
drink
from her
blind
needing sight
the lame to walk
the awful sick to have some healing
that
provides a reason
there are stories
too
of prodigals repenting and returning home
of
good Samaritans while
Samaritans are not credited
so much
of parents withholding stones from children
so that giving
bread
has fulsome space as
well as love
need
and response
and
I suppose when honest
still the answer might be
no
or no
for now
frustrating how the interactions
go
in our relationship with divine
whose terms are
to
keep the evidence
of such
unseen or
otherwise unsensed
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photo by Vadym on Unsplash
2 poems about consciousness assigned
anthropons
we talk to things
don’t we
our cars
that
if we’re at it
we should praise as well
as curse
I was talking at the ceramic
chickens
some
minutes ago
making sure I would say something to
the roster for
the sake of the hen
and
then there are the Milnes
who watched
to see how Christopher would
react when given
toys
talking to ourselves
I guess
though I think there’s more
an innate
wanting to believe
to have an audience
to have them
by
some listening in the cosmos
hear us
and
respond especially in the way
we’d like
which the mis-anthropons
among us
if there are
won’t engage
or
not nearly enough
to the animals who love us
(if they do)
why did the dog
save
the soldier
how did it know
serving
as a mascot
only
how to do that
and the cats who wake us
to our faces
when
the house afire
then the humpback whale who
journeys back
to visit with the human
specialist
and rapport-provider
as the mammal can and
may
every year
while
this all might be
mammalian
furred creatures breathing oxygen
who
know
each other by degrees
leaving fish
and arthropods
to fend
while we might
get
to know each other
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photo by Zach Lezniewicz on Unsplash
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