Brevity and Levity

brevity and levity
walked
hand in hand

brevity started to say
something...

levity just
laughed

i'd do it for you

through a mishmash of horrid dream I hear chains dragging
and a haunting of slippers shuffling the hall,
from under the covers I pop up to think of breakfast
and feel icy cold fright, hear scratching on the wall
is there bread for toast, are there eggs for two?
yes, it’s only four a.m., but, start the coffee, will you?

beware slimy ghost drippings on the stair
don’t get bitten
heading for the kitchen, don’t say I didn’t warn you,
keep your eyes closed until the lights are on
you can feel for the button,
i hope nothing grabs you
don’t be long
you know I’d come along
but I’m a little sleepy

About You

songs about you
someone should write some
songs about you,
you know I do, babe
this one’s for you

there was a time n April meant good fortune
that’s the time we met and started courtin’

now April comes it brings to me a sadness
wrapped around memories of madness

when kissing you was gasoline on fire
arcing like a hot electric wire

songs about you, someone should write some
songs about you, cause you know I’m through, babe
although this one’s for you, babe,
it’s the last one for you

away

welcome back, old friend
or have you never been here?
oh well, if it isn't said
it doesn't matter
and as for mattering silently
you are able to figure that one out
silently

i'd like to bring you up to date
then again, i like most things anyway
oh well, what's new for you?
why don't you write it down
and read it in two years

so it is a matter of priority, is it?
who's?
why not write that down too
take a look at what's happening for you
don't lie - that doesn't work
and don't waste your time reading this
i don't know anymore than you don't
know anymore
don't know

wind blows

wind blows soft
on the plains
everyday
soft as velvet
quiet and smooth
like a lovers touch
a comfort to men on the way
toward the storm

then wind blows hard as it tears away
at the hopes of each man
in it's way

wind blows hard leaving ruin to lay
after the storm

wind blows cold over the barren plain
stiff and bold to steal it's way
cross the endless road
leaving hopes as cold as the men
left behind

work again

standing up and wiping my brow
the sun hangs low
it’s quitting time
enough for today
time to put stuff away
i’ll wash up now
there’s more to do, of course
there always is
save some for tomorrow

with luck at all
some food and rest
i’ll be back
to do my best
to work again
to do my work again
it's what i do, how i live
knowing I’m taking care of you
makes it all good work

cards

I’ve looked at cards in the game
bet them hard, lost the same
seven in, several fold
kings up, jacks I hold
he has a pair and I have three
this one here belongs to me

another hour tables change
spades and heart rearrange
voices rise, drinks go down
one is sober, one is clown
friends together, time we pass
another game, another glass

seventh day

working on the seventh day
is Sunday in it's sobriquet
well away from Saturday
no such thing as holiday
looks well on the resume
but on Sunday i stay away

what's what

seeing what’s what around the house
while she’s picking up and straightening
did i make this mess?
well, seems good weather’s in the air
quiet as a mouse i stop on the stair

run fingers through my hair
can feel her stare
turn and smile to see her there
alas, two different people
but we make a fine pair

compatability

be done with fear and anger
there’s too much of it
half the people sleep with the light on
the other half throw a shoe at it to turn it off

go with beauty, and finer things
to hell with killing,
we die soon enough anyway
enough angry voices on the radio

we need poets and musicians cooks and bakers
these are our real movers and shakers
let’s say it again like we said it before
take it easy, babe, make love not war

Cowhand Lance

Cowhand Lance
Cowhand Lance
you gots a chance
to see him prance
he goin’a puts you in a trance
when he give dat slo-eyed glance
you gots ta sees him do'at dance
da way he shake dem fancy pants
goin’a wrap you in a fine romance
dey say he from duh South of France

27aug77

i haven’t seen a sparrow for
what seems like years
last night i sat on my bench in the back corner of the yard
and looked at the moon
full that night
quite a sight
racing as it does
for years that come too soon
for years that passed entire civilizations
coming, going in phases of the moon

and we have all sat there
looking at the moon
somewhere
between things to do

i went back into the house
and made some tea
i don’t know
what you did

autumn

raindrops are grace on the wind
amid pumpkins, honking geese and apple cider

fresh rain pelting in autumn’s rolling colored blowing leaves
ride soft pink cheek taps of breeze
and whisk over my collar with a shiver
in gusting chill October

this night’s clouds will
damn near catch fire
as whispy black and white goblins
zoom by the moon

at times i wonder

at times i wonder how the old boys are doing
and the ladies i met along the way
we had our moments and our pleasures
seems like it was just the other day

there were some good times that i thought were never ending
sometimes i think just like a child
they say the nights are colder when you’re older
i guess we’ll find out in just a while

take good care of your self you’re a lot like me
take good care of yourself you’ve been good company
and when i thought it wouldn’t end
there’s nothing now like there was then

once in a while when a cold wind is blowing
i’ll ride off on some memory
i may visit you when you're sleeping
don’t mind it’s just a fantasy

the gears of time are always shifting
there’s nights i wake in dreams so real
like the tide i keep on drifting
just telling you now so you know how i feel

take good care of yourself you’re a lot like me
take good care of yourself you’ve been like family
if my life was a book too torn to mend
i’d flip back to see how it would end
and if i never see your face again
here’s wishing you only good luck until the end

“This morning this was sleeping all snuggly in the ground in our back yard,” she said with a comforting look. I had to give her my annoying chilled stare for that one. Although, yes, it was true, this evening we were eating the root as horseradish sauce. She made it, after watching a Youtube video for tips on the fine points of the execution of horseradish sauce; which is something not spoken of everyday - the proper execution of horseradish sauce.
Also this morning we saw Herb in the pond, our favorite frog of this summer past. And he might have a new friend living with him already.
My these are big reports of big doings. (big deal)

Hershey Mine

we heard it was there and were looking for it
after a drive and long hike in the dark pine covered
Piute Mountains of the California Sierras
from a rocky ledge above we finally came upon
the remains of the old Hersey Mine
visible far below

because the rock strewn road was so steep, so bad
we could never have driven down
and expect to drive back up again
so, descending carefully on foot
we passed along the way a few abandoned
old trucks and a car that had started the
perilous ascent in the 1930’s and remained,
never to make the return

at the mine site we found mining equipment,
leaning wooden buildings, part of a locomotive,
rusty solid steel, great metal pieces laying about
everything, as if in the middle of their labors
they took a meal break and kept walking

about fifty years after they shut down
we entered the mouth of the gold mine
it was a dark hole, we were ill equiped,
and so we quickly turned around
the mine shack had tools, old dynamite boxes,
no dynamite, of course
.
the few small cabins were in shambles
we checked out those living quarters for the workers
here and there a tattered decoration,
a stained torn curtain
as in the large main building,
most furnishings were missing or destroyed
they must have carried out what they could
when they closed the place

only a few stragglers like us had
wandered there previously
it was too far back in the thick woods to easily discover
at that time we lived in a cabin in those woods,
casual day trippers wouldn’t have had
the time or the information to find the place

the dilapidated remains now sleep dust covered by time
somewhere deep in a rocky valley
up there in the Piute Mountains
after an hour of looking around we
climbed back up, that was it
and although we have spoken about
the old Hersey Mine, we never returned

special love song

let me sing you a song of how it can be
a special love song for you and me
soft lights and flowers
we’ll spend the hours as you’d like them to be
just a little bit for you and me

here comes my tune to fill up your head
the sun and the moon flies over our bed
since time beyond ages the wisest of sages
sees life like you’d like it to be, just a little for you and me

carry on to Eldorado
by pyramids and golden bars
fly the Phoenix from the ashes
beyond the stars,
just a little for you and me

house moving

when i was five i saw my friends house
moved from down the street
to the lot behind our house,
there it sat for a lifetime

then five years ago i happened to be driving by
the day they put that house on wheels again
and moved it miles away to the next town,
saw that house come, go out

my old home was torn down years ago,
house, lawn, garage
garden, trees, bushes, everything is gone
the whole thing is an asphalt drive way

stuff comes and it goes
sun goes up, sun goes down

flew in fast

a bird flew in fast,
landed on a wire
and wiggled to perch there,
as the wire bounced a lot

didn’t look easy, looked dangerous
considering how high up, how far the fall
how embarrassing it would be,
I’d say that bird was skillful

and you’d say,
aw, that’s nothing.
oh, really?
well, you try it


Addendum & Errata -

Why me worry?
So, I spend time worrying if I should use three stanzas in four lines, or three stanzas in three lines. This sort of thing can use two or three hours of my time, maybe several days. Not all at once, of course. I have to worry a while, then walk around and do something else, then come back and nothing has changed so I worry some more. Hey, I do my best, take my time, and worry when it doesn't feel right. For me feeling is what it's all about.

bury me deep

bury me deep in your heart
draw me faintly without a face
make soft lines far apart
keep me hidden without trace

use colors bright as autumn
in lighting right, no doubt
when you near completion smile easy
leave some space to sign me out