Wednesday, March 31, 2021

20210331.0430

There are places where the river flows again
The ice binding it up melting away
The debris that has choked it now swept downstream
But the banks I would stand on are still threatened by flood
Stagnant waters backing up
Dammed by those who fear the prisming spray
Rainbow shining from the waterfall
Among others

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

20210330.0430

The band will play again
I hear
A joyous thought and
Strangely dear
I look for them to come back here

Monday, March 29, 2021

20210329.0430

Jack had farted in the room
Feasting upon cans of beans
Because they keep in winter cold
And need no heating
Even if they dearly want it
Ostara has the timeshare airing out
The windows open as her roommate's mother
Sends a care package to the pair
They should be too old by now
Have no need for such
But who can say no to the bounty
Had and promised?

Sunday, March 28, 2021

20210328.0430

I am not standing in
The free cold shower
But I am also not
In another room
And the choking humid air
Still drowns me

Saturday, March 27, 2021

20210327.0430

No recurring rhythm rings in
Ouranian drumming
A patter or a thundering roll
No timpani can match
The hissing snare of neither sinew nor of chain
And faster strokes than other folks
Could ever hope to claim

Friday, March 26, 2021

20210326.0430

Some look for the downpour
Crashing down amid lightning and thunder
Cloaking the world in hissing gray that roars
But for me
The gentler more persistent rain
Nurturing the soil instead of scouring it away
Sending it to spread on other fields

Thursday, March 25, 2021

20210325.0430

Praise them with great praise
Though the Ring they bore is not undone
Its evil yet at work in the world
And no Dark Tower is thrown down
For though they failed
As have we all
Yet they have at least striven bravely
And that is more than many will do!
Praise them with great praise
The many whose works have gone unsung
As they have sought to make a world
That is better to live in than they had seen
Their voices drowned out by
Repeated reports from throats of steel and flame
A chorus that the old foe of the world
Rejoices to hear!
Praise them!

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

20210324.0430

A gift arrived
Marking no occasion
Not the less enjoyed

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

20210323.0430

The nasal singing as they work
Pitch wavering with every motion
I cannot fault them for their song
Though I find myself entranced
Called to join that strange siren
So far away from the sea
That strikes down those who stretch towards heaven
Sometimes to cast them into the fire
But more often simply to grind them down
Made fit only to tread upon
Such a shame and a waste

Monday, March 22, 2021

20210322.0430

It seems that Jack has left a bag behind
Or did not set his forwarding address quite soon enough
A package arriving that was surely meant for him
Or placed at his order
Plopped down on the doorstep
Leaving Ostara and Persephone to deal with it
How typical

Sunday, March 21, 2021

20210321.0430

Ostara has arrived
Persephone bringing her bags in
As she gets away from her husband
And her mother smiles again
And if the two are slow to redecorate
Worrying that the stink of the old man
Jack
Lingers in the local air
Or that the white hairs of his beard
Might pop up again
Since his chin-fur was so abundant this time around
They have at least brought a new carpet
Even if it is not embroidered
But we have all of us had trouble with the green this year
And might have more in months to come
Still
Welcome back to them

Saturday, March 20, 2021

20210320.0430

Jack has not yet hit the road
And when he does
He will come back
But for now his bags are packed
The boxes of his goods ready to be loaded
Shipped away
Because Ostara comes to take her timeshare rights
And Persephone may well stay a while
Since she has sent some things ahead
Jack might well have mishandled

Friday, March 19, 2021

20210319.0430

Because of course
He just had a bad day
He's a good boy
He has a problem and
He didn't know how else to fix it
But it was the fault of them
As shouldn't be here anyway
And if they hadn't been doing
What they oughtn't
Then he couldn't've
Right?
Or that's the story that lets
People who look like me
Do horrors
We don't need sewer clowns
But are already worse
And I will never have to worry
That I supposedly
Fit the suspect's description
Even when I actually do--
And, oh, how often I actually do!--
When dappled suids swing on by
Running to excuse another terror
They will call by any other name to excuse their own
Far better a rose, for all its thorns
But neither that nor bread
Save only by the grace of those
Too many have to fear

Thursday, March 18, 2021

20210318.0430

It ain't easy bein' cheesy
It's not easy being green
Pimpin' ain't easy, either
As some have, to their shame, seen
But cheesy, green, and pimpin'
Might well thus be held akin
And with the image that results
Might strange tales well begin

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

20210317.0430

There is no small delight in
Driving along the lonely country highway
Amid grass greened by rains that passed in the night
And white-tipped blue feathers rising from among it
Bluebonnets painting the springtime
As a proud
Star-spangled banner waves in a stiff wind
And a lone-star flag flies under it
And a thinner banner below
Ragged as its rump flutters and tatters
No more whole than the promises that were made under it

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

20200316.0430

The floodgates cannot be opened
Though the waters mount behind them
And a little leaks out at odd times
Because the flow will not stop once started
And too much has been built downstream
To let be washed away and rebuilt
The knowledge and materials cannot be found anymore

Monday, March 15, 2021

20210315.0430

The gap is opening
Ragged edges parting at the middle
Showing the inner emptiness where
What had been wrought in beauty
Has crumbled and fallen away
And a cold wind blows raw
Whistling at the edges

Sunday, March 14, 2021

20210314.0430

For most
The screens show sharper colors
And more of them
But some are sliding back into monochrome
The contrasts fading with the hues
And not always to gray

Saturday, March 13, 2021

20210313.0430

Perhaps the small ridge of soft limestone
Sticking up amid the cedar hills and scrub oak and weedy mesquite
Might be broken off and carried off
Sharp strike of a chisel freeing it to other ends
Or jagged flint edge doing the same
But it is just as like to shatter at the blow
Dust of little use in such a place or many others

Friday, March 12, 2021

20210312.0430

Running again along the ruts
Long worn into the limestone hills
My feet falter over a stone I did not see before
But as I look I see
My own skin bleaching white
Instead of darkening under the sun
That does the same to oak trees' leaves
And mesquite in many years
I begin to join what remains
Of sea-borne creatures in ages past
It is no wonder that others think now
To leave me behind

Thursday, March 11, 2021

20210311.0430

I was twelve when I first saw the ashes
Leavings from the burning fire I had been told to tend
And they have only spread since then
Each glance showing more as the fires cool
And I have not been feeding them as once I did
Having burned my hands badly by reaching in
Unable to manage the brand as needed done
If those flames were to yet warm me
Feed my family

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

20210310.0430

Glimpses of the lingering light
Suffice for such as these
But more demands a longer stare
And I will never be as Homer
Even if I come to mimic him
Keeping my eyes where I ought not in an eclipse
And less so without

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

20210309.0430

No one would compare me to a summer's day
Although one in late winter might be apt
The more so as I trudge, sullen, onward
Such leaves as I can sprout turning more
Like the leaden sky than the good dark earth
Waiting to be tilled and filled with seed
Promise of bounty if things go well
And as like to go awry
As things are oft apt to do

Monday, March 8, 2021

20210308.0430

Somebody left the a/c on
Again
And set the thermostat low
Or else the refrigerator door stands open
But at least it's not the freezer this time
Even if the power bill will be high
Far more than the mercury

Sunday, March 7, 2021

20210307.0430

Mushrooms growing on hillsides
More springing up each day
What decay do they feed upon
Those crowding fungi wherein the wealthy dwell?

Saturday, March 6, 2021

20210306.0430

Dug deep
Drilled down
Struck spring
Soon sucked
Fracking followed
Found fuel
But now the well is dry
Another plot needs to be found
And mineral rights claimed

Friday, March 5, 2021

20210305.0430

The present dull persistent ache pulses
Counting out a cadence for which nobody calls
Escape exceeds what's eagerly done
To endure, the only open path

Thursday, March 4, 2021

20210304.0430

Call out the cadence
So that the feet fall
In the rigid rhythm
That we feel all
Blow on the bugle
Beat on the drum
Heave up the horn
And do not flee from
The flute and the fife
The tuba, trombone,
Clarinet, cornet,
Or the saxophone
Button the blouse
At attention stand
Clap and call loudly--
Strike up the band!

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

20210303.0430

I read a thing
When you call for delivery
You're an NPC
Sending someone in a fetch quest for coin
But when I did the delivery
I was still the NPC
Rattling the same lines off
Again and again
In one short scene
Someone else's story
I would not offer many XP
Though then I might have been worth looting

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

20210302.0430

As we remember Goliad
Remember the Alamo
Remember San Jacinto
Remember that the fight for freedom
Is not done
And too many languish
Still oppressed by
The same people who claim
They would have fought for freedom
And would have done
For themselves
But less for one another
And more for one another
Is more of what we need to do

Monday, March 1, 2021

20210301.0430

So few still hear the ragged cadence
No marching band with tightened drum
Would pulse out proudly as others cheer
Young drummers striving to find rhythm
On a larger head than any bear
On Friday nights in fall