Tag Archives: poem

Shoebox

20 Mule Team (for Smoke Blanchard)

1

Whip that 20 mule team
“just so” he declared

They’ll drag up
to the pass
to commune with
the ghost of
ole rambler Smoke

2

Peanut butter
wrapped in wax
wooden staff
machined to the end

Wanderer equipped with gaiters
bearded mischievous serene
the Sierras to the Wasatch
forays to box canyons
hidden from those who see
trees stunted by degrees

But clear to those who keep
their Sanskrit skrimshaws
bundled up in rock and sage

3

Gathered in a desert
witnessed only by peregrines
and rising orbs
named for Roman lords

4

O’er the pass
20 mule team
Mojave plateau
to the spaceport
shiny glassy steel

5.

Passing Shasta and the sidekick
– noble in diminution
~ shaggy crags below
Shasta’s silver flank…
the signs point to Weed

6.

Somehow Jupiter and Venus
came along – glancing from the high right –
mighty mass of glorious gas

the longhaulers swing before the
end of the Cascade blowers
Baker to Lassen
with all peaks between.

Requited

Say Your Name Softly

I say your name softly
hear the gracious sound
drift with my breath

I watch the sounds float
above me, towards mountains
over lakes, down rivers, across oceans
to find you when i am far

I voice the sound which
describe you, when i am weary
or afraid in need of a mantra
to strengthen me, to steele me from fear
a protective spell unburned, unheard
too sacred for others

How would another understand
an explanation, halfhearted –
how do i describe you? describe us?
to someone, anyone – in a brief phrase, a stanza, an essay
a poem

How many words required to elucidate
these two searing syllables i say
so i don’t say
but i might say,
my grace, my prayer, my hymn, my exultations
my fantasy in times of pleasure
my relief in moments of panic
my security when confused
my homing beacon, signal-fire
my rescue, my escape

Shall i say to them
your name loud enough to hear?

So they will assume who you are with an easy
definition, a convenient descriptor?

No i shall and will keep you mine. like Nefertiti’s treasure
hidden
known only to the wisest, behind the wall
in Tutankhamen’s chamber

Like shards of pottery
missing from an ancient grecian antalect or decree
the space between Mile’s notes
the breath between Baker’s croon
the noise behind a sonic boom

Be the she of my story
the only part of me
i protect without mercy
without thought
you are my essential
no compromise will i offer

You are my magician
i willingly climb into the box
to be sawed in two
there and then
i will say your name aloud
fall in with the rhythm
with each saw stroke
confidence from the obscurity
foisted by your powerful hand

I am not ashamed
but also i am not foolish
to trust my treasure
to errant mortals
to those who quickly determine
how to place you by my side

You are not for them
you are for me and for you
and for we
to savour us

Cascadian Byways

California Plateau, Eastward

Winding weary roads
high desert farms of
wind and pistachios
backtrack county roads
beleaguered edges of
parts unfeatured
by geography or films

California’s high plateau
39 degrees dry
oil wells and water machines
rest like dinosaurs
and their empty gas stations

Did you see the shows?”
he sells artish bits
stretched canvas
with stucco and shells
and shellaced print
of steal your face
they lament and encourage Chicago
and we all wish yesterday could last forever

Lead to Vegas 1AM
Sasha dog, Mexican food 114 degrees
road, desert, red rock

Home is the road. Art, crafts, highs and music.

Wander + Wonder

Drawing Room, Sunday

Drawing Room, Sunday
Find me in the drawing room
At the Majestic Hotel
Hot toddy made with
The second-finest single malt
Curl smoke from roughest Beedies
Rather than clumsy cigars
Red velvet belted robe
Replaces the glen plaid
Hung behind the hardwood high back

The barman named Sunday
I tell him the day i was born
6:45AM if i recall Mother’s story
However unnecessarily, continue to explain,
I’m not sure exactly
Of the time in Kuala Lumpur or
Kinchasa where his family waits for
Remittance he exchanges as salve for
Pain of separation and expectation
And aching tolerance of the unroyal man
Who explains old culture and
Stumbling billiards to all within
Without hint of invitation, irony
Or a scrap gentle restraint

(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2017)

Wander + Wonder

Rome, Lonely

In a bar named for Bukowski
With kisses on cheeks for all
Excepting me of course
Anonymous as an empty wall

A beat down wanderer
Forgotten in eternal places
With candle wax on wine bottles
Espresso in martini glasses

Mirrors reflect arty photos
Of curvy/bushy Italians nudes
Next to the usual movie posters
Audrey exquisite as she broods

Haven’t heard a bluebird call
Over constant squelching siren
Distant choir interludes and
Swiss guards ordering me to run

Skipped the Sistine Chapel
And internient related dogma
Head instead to a tiny post office
Send a postcard of my mind
Pet the stray cats begging
By a red checkered table
Where i alternate small cigars
And large glassses
Of cheap red wine

Wander + Wonder

Selling Arbitrary Citizenships

Selling citizenship to a country which isn’t recognized by leagues or unions, intent thrust into existence, scant generations hence.

Your initiation packets include:

A passport, acknowledged only by arbitrary atolls, expired drilling platforms, and occasional metaphysical realms – with names borrowed from Dead Sea Scrolls

Postage stamps, assorted, bearing fetching motifs in three colour plates

A seal, stamp-able with ink and spring or possibly emboss-able

Currency, printed on vellum, with dew-coloured coastlines which might exist, if randomness permits.

The rest, yours to determine, simply add origin myth, considering prior manifestations

Govern yourself accordingly.