Thursday, October 20, 2011

Giancarlino remembers

talking to an Italian friend
about a music group from years past,
he said they were two  folk singers, big hits. 
i suggested Chad and Jermey? 

Ian and Silvia? 
finally he remembered, “Peter Paul and Mary”. 
That’s Giancarlino,  so Italian.   
he thought it was one guy,  Peter Paul  and a girl,  Mary.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

pond from scratch


since i made this pond
more'an a decade’s passed
so it’s practically natural now.
the frogs think so.

this morning seemed the pump stopped.
couldn’t see it,  couldn’t hear it;
wasn’t any moving water to speak of.
pulled the pump, it was purring.

coated thick with great-green,
though,  pumping away it was;
checked the falls, found it trickled.
heavy  growth  covered the drop.

pulled then threw thick green gobs away,
minutes later all seemed okay;
on a warmer day’ll clean it all for winter,
today it’s late and i’m tired.

tomorrow’s out, heard it’ll rain,
day after’s soon enough for me.
you can’t do everything at once,
heard that said and belive it.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

the good news is


two frogs set to winter here.
watched one, for sure, grow from little.
fish are sleeping deeper now.
while above, leaves keep blowing

and i scoop ‘em out of the pond
and wade the yard through red and orange.
as trees are changing differently,
seems definitely an unusual year

that will result, you know,
in the same affect;
for waiting around the corner,
coming soon, is winter.

Thursday, October 06, 2011

we the resting


our bed of theater
banner front row center
space over town is evident
full mystic river flows left to right

far train crosses, rattles bridge
as off-left plant rumbles lowly
cue distant car from unknown faraway
birds fly  too late to call, hear wings flapping

we the resting
amid pre-morning
hold thought tight
hallowed be the night

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Wonder Bread believer



helped strong bodies eight ways
for about a year
before clever scientists
found four more ways

then Wonder Bread
helped build strong bodies
twelve ways, no kidding.
so why’d they quit?

it’s been fifty years now
and if i don’t hear something soon
i’m going to quit believing
in advertising.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

homeland security poetry


okay shoes off.   could be
weapons o'mass destruction in them
so down on da rug boys and girls
and spread ‘em

we followin' orders lookin’.
‘n don’ matter  none 
what ‘scuse  you got,
cause dis b Merica.

 wann’ a ejication?
put  chez  in da army
‘n  learn yez  practico
like  drive a tank n’ shoot
 
while on the other side,
a lesson in how to do life
at the Amish auction.
six  young  boys in a small cart

pulled in a circle for an hour
by a Shetland pony.
while all of them,
boys  as well as the pony,

kept mouths shut
and eyes open
making the circle,
enjoyin’ the go around.

and there’s equipment
to listen to your calls,
an we drive round
and listen in your house

we’ll feed you
hints in the media
and blur you
with delusion

anymore ‘n that
sheep  jus  don’t
gots da need
ta know

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

when she asked me

when she asked me to turn
off the sprinklers in twenty minutes
i nodded and  noticed the kitchen clock
and then the one in the living room.

they were ten minutes apart.
i began to tell her and she said
“Oh, jack” in that tone, you know which one.
“This is not science.”

“go make a clock then” is what i thought
but didn’t say,
then forgot where i was going with this
so i returned to the spot where i thought it

ever do that?
it usually works  -  to capture forgotten thoughts
return to the spot where you thought it.
this time it didn’t work.

looking out the kitchen window
there on the back of a chair
a squirrel sat intensely
looking in at me.

i had a plan where i was going with this
but  now, before i forget again,
i'd better go out
and turn off the sprinklers.

Monday, August 15, 2011

why i'm not writing everyday

a second summer tooth extraction
this one fractured on a rock
in take-out Chinese food,
kidnee stones, broken toe on my bear pad foot.

and i could be writing poetry
but got distracted.
how’s your summer?

i claim all the trees i see
and the three gulls above
in steady wind just right
that float near still like kites in a photograph

off shore wind
yellow morning sun
seventy eight degrees
still air, no breeze down here

a perfect day just now has begun


(  Note:  I wrote a word incorrectly in the above because in an effort to make more money Blogspot has sold out to a medical information company and alters blogs with difficult to delete site links.  More and more in this Twentyfirst Century it's all about money. )

Thursday, July 28, 2011

happy anniversary

Pookashell-With-Kitties-All-Over-It
jumped into the shower
then came out immediately to kill four spiders
and although i was in the other room

yes, i caught hell
for i am The Man
guilty as charged
for as long as we both shall live.

Friday, July 22, 2011

not alone/ conspiracy

been working on this more than a week and can't decide how it really goes, but thought it was time to let it out of the box. i'll decide later.




not alone

everyone feels to be
number one in the universe.
although, not one is truly unique.
not squirrels, frogs, birds nor people;

yet, all living things can touch
the center cog on the wheel of life,
precisely the point
where consciousness is connected.


not alone b.

there are too many of us
for any one to be unique.
yet every squirrel, frog, bird and person
feels to be number one in their universe.

still, all living things can touch
the center cog on the wheel of life
and share consciousness precisely at the point
where we are connected.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

what'd i say?

this quiet morning the robin returned
sat at the same spot on the fence
where the other day we had a chat
from the porch i gave the robin whistle

it looked directly at me
hopped one hundred-eighty degrees,
faced the other way
and flew away.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

i copied

i copied the two note whistle,
the same as the bird in the tree.
the bird liked it enough to reply
and we traded calls back and forth.

for ten minutes our whistles continued
in changing patterns and pauses.
so now i've conversed with a robin,
yet have no idea what was said.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

robinses

set to write good of them, i was,
cause hard workers they are.
first up early, feed the kids.
even give them lessons when they’re out.

always up at dawn, retire by dark.
mid day one'll sail in to sit and stare.
tween times sitting to think about the day,
waiting, staring at me, doing nothing.

then when i mow my heart grows cold against them
for i see the yard torn up here and there where
those hoppy bobbing, worm searching peckers
haven't replaced their divots.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

days are like eggs

days are like eggs
some sunny side up
they’re hard, or scrambled
and, thank god,
always a few are
over easy

Saturday, May 07, 2011

we live in small town ohio

on the back porch
sipping morning coffee watching
our pet wild squirrel,
not pet really,
call her acquaintance,
who takes peanuts from our hand
and presses her paw on ours
gently, touching the human goodbye
and thanks, as she pushes off.
we’d like to give her fuzz a rub
but she won’t stand for it;
she may be squirrel
but is not nuts.

now high above.
on a taunt electrical wire stretched pole to pole.
there she is comfortably sitting,
relaxing, thirty feet in the air.
then casually turning around

below is our small backyard pond
four hops long and three hops wide
where four large frogs
each on a different pond side
sun on the rocks.

a swooping shadow across my old wooden lab
then a splash in the pond
the first of our two mating ducks arrives.
she climbs out on a rock and twists her head around
to preen her feathers
looking good, feeling good.
he'll be in in a minute.

while practically downtown we are,
traffic here is wildlife.
rabbits i haven’t seen this year.
a large fox just sauntered through our yard;
he’s would have seen them, would eat them.
out front passing deer
are early risers.

Monday, May 02, 2011

plans - revisited

we make our plans
and choose our actions
sometimes based on reality
often times on dreams

the attractions to our suit
can be distractions to the root
not tailored to patterns
that follow the seams

Sunday, May 01, 2011

my garden - revisited

my garden today was weed crowded,
a task undone far too long
so that work today, was my purpose
the labor in sun was my song

begin where it needs it the most
do all that you possible can
after a rest on completion,
move forward, and do it again

each part of life is in motion
moving ahead in the flow
your thoughts are merely a notion,
love doing, and not what you know

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

oil change

bused around eyes open.
needed an oil change, not me, the car.
that sort of service wasn’t what we noticed
before we had a vehicle.

in Rome nothing is easy.
i asked friends, several.
a bus ride took us along likely avenues
found a place, we’ll give it a try.

need oil drained,
the correct new oil put in
and a replacement filter, yet i know
in Rome nothing is easy.

discarded the idea of the place we found
drove out of the city.
found another oil changer
on the old salt road.

the guy was quick, kind and did it right.
when a job is complete i can relax
for it seems, for a while, that
everything in Rome is easy.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

four and four

four seated facing four.
an interesting ride
for three others and i observing
enthusiastic constant chatters, as we rode
in an otherwise silent little electric bus.

three were on cell phones talking
in exceptionally loud voices, nonstop.
a fourth looked out the window
no phone, but spoke vehemently
to another someone, unseen.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

the future

i'm an old man
and little kids are here in my future.
did i catch up with the future
or did it catch up with me?

a video clip of an Ed Sullivan Show
TV appearance by Buddy Holly
i may have seen live in Ohio
when i was a kid in 1958

i’m watching in 2011
on my computer in Rome, Italy.
the future is here for me.
so i caught up with my future?

little kids have their future ahead,
out somewhere beyond starlight.
so if i am in my future
what are they doing here?