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5155. RickNelson - 2/5/2004 12:34:16 PM hmmmm....
yup.
The day, for sure the day. 5156. ScreamingSin - 2/6/2004 3:15:30 PM The night's not mentioned.
I suppose some of them are implicit in "yesterdays's joys". 5157. justears - 2/9/2004 10:53:59 PM Here's another in the nature-poetry vein. I have never particularly been drawn to such poetry, but here I am writing it. So there.
The Forest
The loggers leave a path:
mud streaks, hewn branches, stumps,
scarred trees, boulders askew—
marks left as if a titan has been dragged
screaming through the forest,
rape and mayhem.
The formerly peaceful walk
through the worshiping trees is now
a tormented vision as of a battlefield done,
the leavings of Grendel’s feast
strewn about.
And next year they will be marked
again with circles of paint
like numbers tattooed on wrists
waiting for the train.
The conversation of the trees
is now stunted--
a stricken, amazed
silence echoes.
The caretakers count
their 40 pieces of silver.
The loggers count their
board-feet and drink another beer.
5158. RickNelson - 2/10/2004 12:07:41 AM That's a very good poem justears. It has a gripping tale to tell, with good line ideas, good sound, and a glib ending that disarms.
I think it would gain strides with the Earth First set, and aid in calling to action.
It's important to me though, that we know context.
The line above is a disclaimer, it's surreal that so much of nature is destroyed for progress and we leave little bits for parks. These parks get management and often look so trodden that it's hard to imagine that this kind of environment once supported life for larger animals. The nuisance deer, the scary cats (and they are), the beaver or muskrat, etc.
5159. RickNelson - 2/10/2004 12:09:49 AM I've been looking around at Black History Month sites. There are a lot of good poems now on the net.
Six poems byJessie Redmon Fauset
(1882-1961)
Famous Black Americans 5160. justears - 2/13/2004 2:34:41 AM Untitled.
A bottle of Yellowstone
out by the windmill, another
concealed in the tack room,
one by the cattle-gate to the pasture.
“Hold on here Tommy”
the gentle uncle pulls the pickup
over at the corner of two fences.
He dismounts and searches the grass,
returns with a bottle of whiskey.
“Here take a nip” passing the bottle,
the amber fire
burns his throat and lights
it all the way down
coating everything with
warmth.
The cold prairie and aching,
bouncing bones
able again.
Kind, wrinkled eyes
survey the treeless sea of grass,
watching for strays
or down fences,
salt blocks needing replacement,
windmills pumping properly.
Once we came upon
six dead cows
struck by lightening.
Dropped where they stood,
bodies randomly arrayed
in a shallow hollow.
Uncle Paul betrayed little feeling
but a quiet dismay,
noting he would call the renderer
when he got back to the house.
The bottle is passed once more. 5161. RickNelson - 2/13/2004 8:13:04 AM
It had to be a Nova
If there's a car you work on
sweat, tear flesh and bleed upon,
and hope will make it, it's
a Nova. That Chevy 350, 4 door
which was the fifth beater in
in seven years to get the stereo.
That piece-meal tape deck, I added
speakers to, boxes in the end.
There in the basement, thirteen
years now. That Nova had to make
it, I would graduate soon and home
was 14 hours away. A damn long drive
in a beater.
When I made it home, I was jubilant
I drove that Nova with pride.
It had made it, and it would
make it, until I drove up to
the end of the drive, and the
crank slipped off. If you've
never heard that, you are lucky.
Rickster
5162. RickNelson - 2/13/2004 8:23:45 AM justears,
I'm into these stories at present. That is, I like your poems. I'm reading a few more of these than I thought or is it that I think is usual?
For me, I'm paying little attention to meter, it's the word I want to break a line that catches me. I don't mess with it, I go with it. How about you? 5163. justears - 2/13/2004 8:39:38 AM Rick, Good question...I'm not sure how i find line breaks. I think there are several ways i could write them. Somehow my mind seems to work in staccato(sp?) phrases and that's where i find the rhythm. I don't worry about meter..which is just the way I have tried to construct poems. On the other hand, i like little narratives. Maybe I should really be trying to write short stories rather than poems. 5164. RickNelson - 2/15/2004 12:54:55 AM Feelings Are Intense: 2-15-2004
The one and only complete sentiment
Watch the roses paces to see the leaves
And little places; that slow down
the feeling of where, when, how?
The trickle of sand’s last grain swirl
Spinning into the equation maximus.
Then, run under a giant tree,
Whose giant leaves shield you.
Only then, to realize- stop, drop and roll.
The place where the phoenix burns,
And the sand blown of storm’s wind,
For your clear mind’s eye sees the ripples.
The sand burns no more, the sun no longer burns.
Walk along the place that you are, breathing
The wisps of ashes, flowers and egos.
There the horizon evokes marbleized color.
Sit now together, with whom one would be,
No longer breathless to feel, and the hand
Is there, touching your arm, your hand, your lip.
Sing then, the song, the beat or melody, be happy.
5165. RickNelson - 2/15/2004 1:33:13 AM Poetry friends. In the Cafe I posted about expecting a new member to my family in message 7048.
Also, any comments are welcome toward the poem above in msg. 5164.
5166. justears - 2/15/2004 3:17:21 AM Congratulations rick! I find your poem evocative of joy and rebirth. Reminds me a bit of Blake's famous line about seeing a world in a grain of sand. I like the intimacy at the conclusion. 5167. justears - 2/20/2004 2:59:07 AM This morning the dawn
painted the eastern faces
of the frozen trees
pink.
5168. RickNelson - 2/21/2004 10:57:59 PM Memory Unfaded:
It lacks cake and candles, a solo,
that little boy’s black and white photo.
It’s a cool fall day, overcast gray.
The little boy alone, intent upon play.
Nothing revealed beyond image imagined
And what does that mean?! Emphasis ‘that!’.
I’m that little boy in gray-scale,
standing on a sidewalk, and I know
too much now. How small hands
touch emotion and observe others.
From that photo, my hands grasp
a board, perhaps my sword?
But, I don’t swagger and stab,
and pose for my pirate debut,
I stop, and hold the board up
to cover my left eye.
From there I peer at you-
Why?
5169. uzmakk - 3/2/2004 12:11:28 AM Have you ever heard this one, Ladies and Gentlemen?
Christian science is to science as science fiction is to fiction.
5170. justears - 3/2/2004 11:04:50 PM Outlet Song
At the outlet mall
we are all connoisseurs
on a delectable voyage.
Versace, Cole-Haan, Malo
Saks off 5th, Karan, Lauren
Prices marked down and
down--
the best within reach
for one and all—
20%, 40%, 60%
off---
SOLD1
Every language echoes
Russian, Spanish, Hindi
Korean, Arabic
all in one voice
The thin, the fat,
the swarthy, the young
the old, the hip,
the square, every race
known to man
and perhaps more.
The goods trickle down.
Bruno Magli—
“Aren’t those the shoes O.J. wears?”
Beene, Bass and Brooks,
Hilfiger, Klein--Anne and Calvin.
On the promenade
A big chocolate poodle,
leashed,
well-groomed struts,
much at home.
Cozy as
a colonial village
on a hill,
peace reigns,
gentle rock anthems
sound down the avenue,
babies in strollers,
America is at home.
It’s Christmas every day of the year
at the outlet mall.
Breasts, bellies, biceps, legs and hips
on display.
Voices in awed tones:
“Versace?”
Ears sprout, noses grow
the braying begins.
5171. RickNelson - 3/2/2004 11:38:06 PM There's enough humour that the subject matter of malls is transcended. I am cajoled to think of a world view while I read this.
The ending made me grin 'braying begins' gives those images of harassed shoppers vieing for the deal they just want too much.
This is a good job with a subject that I wouldn't particularly want to write myself. I live in the land of 10,000 malls, Minnesota. We've got malls per capita here, and the world's largest mall to boot. I'm pretty sick of malls.
You've taken a higher point of view justears. Good job. 5172. justears - 3/3/2004 12:05:08 AM Thanks Rick. It is an odd subject, unexpected for me too. This particular mall is on I-95 between NYC and Boston and perhaps because of its location, draws a lot of different types of people. 5173. NuPlanetOne - 3/11/2004 3:04:25 AM
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Snow Piles
The dirty snow is almost gone
A few piles sit where the plows
Pushed it. They bleed little trails
Of water like the tracks of snails
Or like the pattern in bloodshot eyes
The rivulets sparkling in the late march
Air, glistening as they make their way
To seep into things and awaken flies
And foliage and begin the burst of Spring
An odd sign of Spring, I suppose
But in the city listening for more subtle
Underpinnings is lost in the traffic horns
And the scorns of pedestrians and scowls
And ungodly howls from bustling shoppers
Yet, the dead dying dirty snow mounds
Shrinking steadily amidst these sounds
Hardly go unnoticed. Here and there some
Do stop or lean complacently for a second
Or two and let the sun hit them. They do
Look up at the sky and acknowledge the
New angle the light is taking. A few coats
Over arms and the smiles they had been
Faking, seem sincere as if hope had descended
And a battle had ended and now they might
Begin again. And even though a slight bite
Rides on the breeze and drafts around the edges
And byways of buildings, there is no freeze
No bracing or placing your hands deep in their
Holes. It has begun and soon they will sweep
Away the sand and soot where the snow piles
Once stood. It will get warm again. And that is good.
5174. wonkers2 - 3/14/2004 5:41:04 AM Both Bush, a mendacious bewitcher
And sly Cheney, his policy pitcher,
Scheme for taxes and oil
And will let nothing foil
Their sick plot for the rich to get richer.
Jack Kevorkian, from prison, 2004.
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