Best wishes for the new year my friends, see you all again in 2011!
Leaders.
when people
turn and walk away
they follow
- Magyar
- Cape Cod, United States
- __I see with young eyes, an old mirror. Here, I hope to offer... as I see.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Is this sedoka, or simply a doublet?
__It is accepted practice today... that, haiku written in English needn't follow the 5-7-5 syllable count; isn't it true then, that English written sedoka should be subject to the same sort of acceptance... veering from the 5-7-7... 5-7-7 syllable count?
__Seen this morning, three whitetail deer... feeding on acorns found under the snow cover.
whitetails
in the morning's snow
a watcher
footmarks
at this acorn feast
the squirrel
__It is accepted practice today... that, haiku written in English needn't follow the 5-7-5 syllable count; isn't it true then, that English written sedoka should be subject to the same sort of acceptance... veering from the 5-7-7... 5-7-7 syllable count?
__Seen this morning, three whitetail deer... feeding on acorns found under the snow cover.
whitetails
in the morning's snow
a watcher
footmarks
at this acorn feast
the squirrel
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Nimbus
Departure #5
He was Havasupai and knew the desert's indifference toward life, yet, he was willing to test his heritage in this desert's cruelty; with the rising sun at his back, he stepped into the vile sands.
__This journey was his chosen trial... a crossing of "El mal pais" as the Mexicans called this place... to the river that marked this desert's edge as it snaked its way beneath the western hills... where the sand burned its way into the mountains feet. Poised there, these mountains laughed at such foolish journeys of such foolish men, and this traveler sensed their laughter but ignored that flouting cackle. As he walked on, he knew he'd reach the far edge if one gnawing need could be met... sweet water to allow his folly to reach a kind end.
__At noon of the third day, there were but six more miles of sand and grit, and the paradox of this sun that brutally parched his hide while it aptly served as his guide to the west. But he had lost his balance of thought, and his vision became his enemy by joining forces with this desert's sea of shimmering images. His moccasins became allies of this sand, faltering and stumbling and interferring with his progress across the dusty waves; as his power bled away, the Havasupai spoke with the spirits of the desert__ ancesters that had traveled here, and had mastered this test, in that time just after, the time before time.
__The Havasupai's stumbling vision drew him to an odd and puzzeling place, the magic sight of a pool that lay in this trickery of the desert's sands. Water, a tantalizing comedy that touched his stinging feet. "Water?" He wondered? He formed his mistrusted sight, into a distrusted word that he spat into the foul air of this less trusted desert. But hope knelt him. He cupped and reached his hands into an illusion; he prayed that a spirit sip might rise free of this untruth, and soothe the truth of his thirst.
__Suddenly, snarled words ruptured the desert's hum, and framed in that aging day's sun, a ghostly silhouette seethed, "You cannot drink of this water! It is mine! Through all time I've kept it from thieves and plunderers and mis-begotten wanderers, such as you, that test this desert's sand! I have the only right to the life of this water. This is the only liquor between you and your death dance, and you'll not steal this water from me!"
__"Surely you'd not miss the one sip I would take." The indian tried to reason. "One sip would be such a small loss to this queer pool. Perhaps you'll drink of it yourself and travel with me to the mountains__ just one sun to the west; there a river floods with all the worlds water__ for all the world to drink!"
__"No! You'll not drink," the silhouette bellowed, "and I'll not travel with you, to leave my wealth laid open to the gypsies that drift through my desert's frozen time! Go from here! Leave my pool to me, and this desert's spinning sands!"
__The Havasupai levered his body forward, and again pursed his hands. Slowly he streached into the vague... trembling and uncertain, he reached into that vaporous and truthless promise. Sputtering broke the silence, and the Havasupai quickly recoiled at that repulsive and recognizable sound. Sweet water, ruptured by a putrid stream as it cut through its growing and frothen circle. With his emptying insult, the silhouette had fouled his pool with the venom of his arrow.
__The Havasupai withdrew his still dry hands, rose from his knees and stood into the salt of his disbelieving eyes, and through clenched teeth he spoke, "I pray your facelessness remains with you and floods your dreamtime! Spirits condemn the faceless!" As his words struggled across his leathered lips, he turned away and chose a consequence much wiser than the impulse of vengeance. He rejoined his test, the journey to the mountanins... and the river.
__Steps passed under him, and with each dusty measure he pondered the sightlessness of the silhouette's reason. "Soiling all that was his... to keep just one sip from me? Greed plagues us, and we foul our lives with decisions sired by the panic of loss. Cursed greed, that parasite infests us all as we gamble in the games of tomorrows... that may never come!"
Thunder_!
__Shafts of lightning shattered the dust, and drumming above the desert sands their throbbing burst the grainy air. They summoned the Indian's eyes back to the soured pool and the silhouette's vacant soul.
__Blackened clouds spooled above the pool, and the silhouette had thrust his arms upward into the churning vapors. He had plunged his hands into the bowles of that seething soup; in that lancing light and pounding thunder, he chanted his pagan drone. He became the storm's rage, he forged and carved, he had created the storm. He was the sculptor of this tempest, the tempest was he. He was the conjured gale, that wore a haloed mask.
__Spinning free of the pool, slung away by the silhouette's wizardry, the Nimbus followed the ordained. By each step, by every new hollow in the sand, this Nimbus traced the Havasupai's footfalls and gnawed its way across the dunes. The Nimbus found the Havasupai's soul, hovering above his conciousness.
__This Nimbus of the storm... this totem of the Havasupai's spirit ancesters from that time before time... were freed from their eternal cave. Ghosts of his forefathers burst open their spirit flesh to rain a moments life on their withered son. Before moonrise he reached the mountains that laughed, and the river that rimed this deserts western edge. Done was his test.
A single question rose above an unanswerable mass, and of that kaleidoscopic tumbling behind his eyes, the Havasupai asked the spirits of that rising moon.
"Who?"
He was Havasupai and knew the desert's indifference toward life, yet, he was willing to test his heritage in this desert's cruelty; with the rising sun at his back, he stepped into the vile sands.
__This journey was his chosen trial... a crossing of "El mal pais" as the Mexicans called this place... to the river that marked this desert's edge as it snaked its way beneath the western hills... where the sand burned its way into the mountains feet. Poised there, these mountains laughed at such foolish journeys of such foolish men, and this traveler sensed their laughter but ignored that flouting cackle. As he walked on, he knew he'd reach the far edge if one gnawing need could be met... sweet water to allow his folly to reach a kind end.
__At noon of the third day, there were but six more miles of sand and grit, and the paradox of this sun that brutally parched his hide while it aptly served as his guide to the west. But he had lost his balance of thought, and his vision became his enemy by joining forces with this desert's sea of shimmering images. His moccasins became allies of this sand, faltering and stumbling and interferring with his progress across the dusty waves; as his power bled away, the Havasupai spoke with the spirits of the desert__ ancesters that had traveled here, and had mastered this test, in that time just after, the time before time.
__The Havasupai's stumbling vision drew him to an odd and puzzeling place, the magic sight of a pool that lay in this trickery of the desert's sands. Water, a tantalizing comedy that touched his stinging feet. "Water?" He wondered? He formed his mistrusted sight, into a distrusted word that he spat into the foul air of this less trusted desert. But hope knelt him. He cupped and reached his hands into an illusion; he prayed that a spirit sip might rise free of this untruth, and soothe the truth of his thirst.
__Suddenly, snarled words ruptured the desert's hum, and framed in that aging day's sun, a ghostly silhouette seethed, "You cannot drink of this water! It is mine! Through all time I've kept it from thieves and plunderers and mis-begotten wanderers, such as you, that test this desert's sand! I have the only right to the life of this water. This is the only liquor between you and your death dance, and you'll not steal this water from me!"
__"Surely you'd not miss the one sip I would take." The indian tried to reason. "One sip would be such a small loss to this queer pool. Perhaps you'll drink of it yourself and travel with me to the mountains__ just one sun to the west; there a river floods with all the worlds water__ for all the world to drink!"
__"No! You'll not drink," the silhouette bellowed, "and I'll not travel with you, to leave my wealth laid open to the gypsies that drift through my desert's frozen time! Go from here! Leave my pool to me, and this desert's spinning sands!"
__The Havasupai levered his body forward, and again pursed his hands. Slowly he streached into the vague... trembling and uncertain, he reached into that vaporous and truthless promise. Sputtering broke the silence, and the Havasupai quickly recoiled at that repulsive and recognizable sound. Sweet water, ruptured by a putrid stream as it cut through its growing and frothen circle. With his emptying insult, the silhouette had fouled his pool with the venom of his arrow.
__The Havasupai withdrew his still dry hands, rose from his knees and stood into the salt of his disbelieving eyes, and through clenched teeth he spoke, "I pray your facelessness remains with you and floods your dreamtime! Spirits condemn the faceless!" As his words struggled across his leathered lips, he turned away and chose a consequence much wiser than the impulse of vengeance. He rejoined his test, the journey to the mountanins... and the river.
__Steps passed under him, and with each dusty measure he pondered the sightlessness of the silhouette's reason. "Soiling all that was his... to keep just one sip from me? Greed plagues us, and we foul our lives with decisions sired by the panic of loss. Cursed greed, that parasite infests us all as we gamble in the games of tomorrows... that may never come!"
Thunder_!
__Shafts of lightning shattered the dust, and drumming above the desert sands their throbbing burst the grainy air. They summoned the Indian's eyes back to the soured pool and the silhouette's vacant soul.
__Blackened clouds spooled above the pool, and the silhouette had thrust his arms upward into the churning vapors. He had plunged his hands into the bowles of that seething soup; in that lancing light and pounding thunder, he chanted his pagan drone. He became the storm's rage, he forged and carved, he had created the storm. He was the sculptor of this tempest, the tempest was he. He was the conjured gale, that wore a haloed mask.
__Spinning free of the pool, slung away by the silhouette's wizardry, the Nimbus followed the ordained. By each step, by every new hollow in the sand, this Nimbus traced the Havasupai's footfalls and gnawed its way across the dunes. The Nimbus found the Havasupai's soul, hovering above his conciousness.
__This Nimbus of the storm... this totem of the Havasupai's spirit ancesters from that time before time... were freed from their eternal cave. Ghosts of his forefathers burst open their spirit flesh to rain a moments life on their withered son. Before moonrise he reached the mountains that laughed, and the river that rimed this deserts western edge. Done was his test.
A single question rose above an unanswerable mass, and of that kaleidoscopic tumbling behind his eyes, the Havasupai asked the spirits of that rising moon.
"Who?"
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Kin-met
Departure number 4:
__Plausible: the sailors of this cosmos may someday meet... our kin.
Grinding.
Beyond any conscience but their own,
The seas milled rocks into sand's surrender,
But not the sailor.
Wandering through the vague,
Questioning reason, mariners risked mortality
By chalanging this covenant:
Scholars of this cosmos, taught of life
That ceased at the horizon...
In ignorance the mariners sailed
To meet the scholar's error.
__Oceans did not spill over the edge,
__And thought, woven above the scholar's
__Sphere of liquid rule...
__Taunted wonder, and called to
__This sunset's compass,
__Those that would inquire.
__Time didn't spill over the horizon,
__It peeled back, revolving
__And returning as the global seas;
__In contrary eddies,
__Time followed the tides,
__To solve the riddles tomorrow may ask.
Tutored
That life ends at this atmosphere's horizon,
The sailors of these deeper seas
Challenge this doctrine among the stars,
And there, to learn of time's secrets
In words spoken... by Kin-met.
__Plausible: the sailors of this cosmos may someday meet... our kin.
Grinding.
Beyond any conscience but their own,
The seas milled rocks into sand's surrender,
But not the sailor.
Wandering through the vague,
Questioning reason, mariners risked mortality
By chalanging this covenant:
Scholars of this cosmos, taught of life
That ceased at the horizon...
In ignorance the mariners sailed
To meet the scholar's error.
__Oceans did not spill over the edge,
__And thought, woven above the scholar's
__Sphere of liquid rule...
__Taunted wonder, and called to
__This sunset's compass,
__Those that would inquire.
__Time didn't spill over the horizon,
__It peeled back, revolving
__And returning as the global seas;
__In contrary eddies,
__Time followed the tides,
__To solve the riddles tomorrow may ask.
Tutored
That life ends at this atmosphere's horizon,
The sailors of these deeper seas
Challenge this doctrine among the stars,
And there, to learn of time's secrets
In words spoken... by Kin-met.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Subway Hero
Departure number 3:
__I wandered off into another [more wordy] realm; friends, I hope you like this glut of words, sincerly, _m
I had been there many times before,
And shrank in the clash of it all;
Breathing in the smells and sights...
Of this cavern, this grimy hall.
The stench of countless, rushing trains,
Burned rubber and electric sweat;
Pulsing through this living cell...
In foulest, dust beset.
Above the grinding , toneless clatter,
A lowley voice was heard;
Cutting through the screeching din...
Saying but, a single word.
"Repent." did cough and blubber through,
His spirit sodden lips;
A broken, beaten, filthy beast...
That spat through lathered drips.
"Repent," he wheezed, and again that word,
Echoed within this oily hall;
And every step he took my way...
Spurred my memory's crawl.
"Repent," he neighed as he reached my stand,
Whiskey bleeding from each eye;
He caught my gaze, then hid his face...
And spewed his crippled sigh.
"Repent," he mumbled, then spilled away,
Wretched, reeking and worn;
Sliding off in greasy steps...
He vanished in his scorn.
Stunned, I followed those sodden eyes,
For what was there was known;
And I listened for his single word...
"Repent," this drunkard's droan.
I searched and scratched through noise and filth,
To find his wasted soul;
I rummaged every crack and den...
And every wretched hole.
I found my kin, in that muck and lice,
Curled in his fetal ball;
And I prayed he seemed again to me...
As he did when, I was small.
He waved me off, and spat out words,
Preaching, I was in err;
That I should turn, and step away...
And leave him to his lair.
"Not a brother," he said, was he to me,
Don't sorrow for my fall;
Go you back, to your life of ease...
I'm no brother, after all.
Go quickly to your wife and young,
And leave me to my cave;
A rotting soul I am, you've seen...
Just searching for my grave."
Against my will, I honored his,
Stealing courage, I stepped my length;
And I heard his anxious and whispered plea...
"Brother, please leave with me your strength."
~
I've returned, uncountable times,
To this subway's sour gloom;
To search for he, within his beast...
Before he found his tomb.
But not the word, nor the sight I'd see,
Within this cavern's sore;
Of brother, or beast, or broken man...
That drunkard's soul once more.
Then one day, in horror's grasp. "Repent,"
I heard, as I spun about;
To the light of my brother's eyes...
This beast he had cast out!
"When last we met," his shining words,
"You gave as I did plea;
You took your leave, but left your strength...
And with it, I burst free.
This was my grave, this subway vault,
And hope in your leaving fell;
To the strength you left as you stepped away...
Your faith has fought my spell.
I pass your faith in fearless fight,
To my brothers barrowed near;
That they may broach their hollow hell...
And slay the beasts they fear!"
~
When I return to this evil place,
To search within its reek;
I listen for his single word, his hymn...
Is the sound I seek.
"Repent," burns through that mortal clamor,
And with this messaged call;
My brother is again to me...
The Hero, when I was small.
__I wandered off into another [more wordy] realm; friends, I hope you like this glut of words, sincerly, _m
I had been there many times before,
And shrank in the clash of it all;
Breathing in the smells and sights...
Of this cavern, this grimy hall.
The stench of countless, rushing trains,
Burned rubber and electric sweat;
Pulsing through this living cell...
In foulest, dust beset.
Above the grinding , toneless clatter,
A lowley voice was heard;
Cutting through the screeching din...
Saying but, a single word.
"Repent." did cough and blubber through,
His spirit sodden lips;
A broken, beaten, filthy beast...
That spat through lathered drips.
"Repent," he wheezed, and again that word,
Echoed within this oily hall;
And every step he took my way...
Spurred my memory's crawl.
"Repent," he neighed as he reached my stand,
Whiskey bleeding from each eye;
He caught my gaze, then hid his face...
And spewed his crippled sigh.
"Repent," he mumbled, then spilled away,
Wretched, reeking and worn;
Sliding off in greasy steps...
He vanished in his scorn.
Stunned, I followed those sodden eyes,
For what was there was known;
And I listened for his single word...
"Repent," this drunkard's droan.
I searched and scratched through noise and filth,
To find his wasted soul;
I rummaged every crack and den...
And every wretched hole.
I found my kin, in that muck and lice,
Curled in his fetal ball;
And I prayed he seemed again to me...
As he did when, I was small.
He waved me off, and spat out words,
Preaching, I was in err;
That I should turn, and step away...
And leave him to his lair.
"Not a brother," he said, was he to me,
Don't sorrow for my fall;
Go you back, to your life of ease...
I'm no brother, after all.
Go quickly to your wife and young,
And leave me to my cave;
A rotting soul I am, you've seen...
Just searching for my grave."
Against my will, I honored his,
Stealing courage, I stepped my length;
And I heard his anxious and whispered plea...
"Brother, please leave with me your strength."
~
I've returned, uncountable times,
To this subway's sour gloom;
To search for he, within his beast...
Before he found his tomb.
But not the word, nor the sight I'd see,
Within this cavern's sore;
Of brother, or beast, or broken man...
That drunkard's soul once more.
Then one day, in horror's grasp. "Repent,"
I heard, as I spun about;
To the light of my brother's eyes...
This beast he had cast out!
"When last we met," his shining words,
"You gave as I did plea;
You took your leave, but left your strength...
And with it, I burst free.
This was my grave, this subway vault,
And hope in your leaving fell;
To the strength you left as you stepped away...
Your faith has fought my spell.
I pass your faith in fearless fight,
To my brothers barrowed near;
That they may broach their hollow hell...
And slay the beasts they fear!"
~
When I return to this evil place,
To search within its reek;
I listen for his single word, his hymn...
Is the sound I seek.
"Repent," burns through that mortal clamor,
And with this messaged call;
My brother is again to me...
The Hero, when I was small.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The tide; the tailor.
each wave
an ocean's stitch
hemming our seas and land
thus bound as one our tender earth
the tide
an ocean's stitch
hemming our seas and land
thus bound as one our tender earth
the tide
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Sneeze
Departure: number 2. A Saturday night two summers ago; an observation, with apologies to those that may find my view, offensive.
I really wanted asparagus tonight. Steamed. Barely cooked, bright, crisp and lightly doused with a lemon butter sauce and a light dusting of freshly ground pepper.
__I stood patiently waiting for a shopper to make her choice. Aha... which bundle of asparagus would suit her purpose? Then it happened, she sneezed_! Once! Twice, and a third time, each sneeze a direct hit to those dazzling greens_!
__Suddenly the pre-packaged green beans definitely seemed more appetizing, and certainly a more practical option; the same sauce would do nicely.
__Going about my business, I collected a few potatoes and the unsalted butter, a lemon, pork chops, and a few other essentials needed for the evening's picnic. Too, I remembered those small packets of kleenex Kathy requested; I checked out.
__Once outside, I lit my -pipe- and from behind me came the roar! "Oh yuk! Phew! Cigarette smoke! P.U.! That stinks! You are polluting MY air!."
__Guiltily, I stuck my pipe in my pocket, and snapped my head back to see that person frantically waving her hand in front of her puckered face, whisking away that fictitious fluid cloud of smoke that she insisted had completely enveloped her!
__"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said. Reaching into my bag I found one of those kleenex packets, and handing her a pouch; I continued, "when next you need to sneeze, you might think of using one of these, and perhaps you might even consider turning your head away? And oh, I do so hope you enjoy your asparagus."
__I stepped away from that look of confusion and bursting disbelief, those wordless questions that suddenly wrapped her self-assured face, a face now seemingly so... unaware.
__Puffing, and guiltily boorish as she may have reasoned, I inwardly smiled and enjoyed my grand lapse of civility... I slid away, further and more deeply into my depraved elation. Ah... such splendid vengeance.
None of the elite purists, with their favored agendas, are so chaste and over-rich in their own virtue, that some benefit can't be realized by a terse, and timely observation.
_m
I really wanted asparagus tonight. Steamed. Barely cooked, bright, crisp and lightly doused with a lemon butter sauce and a light dusting of freshly ground pepper.
__I stood patiently waiting for a shopper to make her choice. Aha... which bundle of asparagus would suit her purpose? Then it happened, she sneezed_! Once! Twice, and a third time, each sneeze a direct hit to those dazzling greens_!
__Suddenly the pre-packaged green beans definitely seemed more appetizing, and certainly a more practical option; the same sauce would do nicely.
__Going about my business, I collected a few potatoes and the unsalted butter, a lemon, pork chops, and a few other essentials needed for the evening's picnic. Too, I remembered those small packets of kleenex Kathy requested; I checked out.
__Once outside, I lit my -pipe- and from behind me came the roar! "Oh yuk! Phew! Cigarette smoke! P.U.! That stinks! You are polluting MY air!."
__Guiltily, I stuck my pipe in my pocket, and snapped my head back to see that person frantically waving her hand in front of her puckered face, whisking away that fictitious fluid cloud of smoke that she insisted had completely enveloped her!
__"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said. Reaching into my bag I found one of those kleenex packets, and handing her a pouch; I continued, "when next you need to sneeze, you might think of using one of these, and perhaps you might even consider turning your head away? And oh, I do so hope you enjoy your asparagus."
__I stepped away from that look of confusion and bursting disbelief, those wordless questions that suddenly wrapped her self-assured face, a face now seemingly so... unaware.
__Puffing, and guiltily boorish as she may have reasoned, I inwardly smiled and enjoyed my grand lapse of civility... I slid away, further and more deeply into my depraved elation. Ah... such splendid vengeance.
None of the elite purists, with their favored agendas, are so chaste and over-rich in their own virtue, that some benefit can't be realized by a terse, and timely observation.
_m
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
__Silence, may seem "indifference;" silence, though, allows the listener of that silence... to reach their own resolution... without the harmful imprint of the "silent's" thoughts and words.
__I sincerly wish you a very Happy Birthday, Daughter Jess! Much love, Dad.
birthday
of these silent years
flowers
__I sincerly wish you a very Happy Birthday, Daughter Jess! Much love, Dad.
birthday
of these silent years
flowers
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
....."pistol journalism"
__This 'title-phrase', as I see it, was written by Louis Vance in his loosely historic novel "The Dead Ride Hard," first published in 1926. I draw a simile between that phrase, and politics.
__Oh... some 'humor' attempted here! _m
politics
spewing the schemer's jumble
these grackles
__This 'title-phrase', as I see it, was written by Louis Vance in his loosely historic novel "The Dead Ride Hard," first published in 1926. I draw a simile between that phrase, and politics.
__Oh... some 'humor' attempted here! _m
politics
spewing the schemer's jumble
these grackles
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Hollow Lies
A departure: a short story that may reflect the thoughts of a Patuxet clansman.
__I looked into the boy's face and saw tears... coursing down those dirty cheeks. "Boy, what are those tears?"
__"These tears question my value to me, and my clan. Old one, hidden among your years you must surely have known these doubts, and found the answers to the troubles of the young; having found those answers, please share them with me and my impatience."
__"Boy, I fear I've frogotten the troubles of a child... as a child sees their troubles. What, can your cares be?"
__"Elder, I have tried to be what the clan wants me to be, to be where I am wanted, and not where... I am not. I have been silent, I have spoken only when spoken to, and then only in the Spirit's truth. I have tried to make my clan proud of me, and me... proud of me; I've cared enough to do these things, but these tears still trace my failures, and my failures seem all that matter. Old one, to unravel these streaks of tears... I ask three questions. Will I ever please myself? Will I ever please my elders, and why are my tries... overlooked?"
__"Child, always be pleased with your attempts to please; If your unnoticed tries to please are your greatest triumphs, that joy is a gift you can give to yourself, and then you will see the sum of those tears fade as you follow that joy into new tomorrows. But first, you must see that tomorrows contentment can never be yours if you linger... within yesterdays unanswerable questions."
I awoke.
__Within that instant's kef of a vanishing dream... I saw the rusting tears of the boy that I once was, and I knew I had told myself... Hollow Lies.
_m
__I looked into the boy's face and saw tears... coursing down those dirty cheeks. "Boy, what are those tears?"
__"These tears question my value to me, and my clan. Old one, hidden among your years you must surely have known these doubts, and found the answers to the troubles of the young; having found those answers, please share them with me and my impatience."
__"Boy, I fear I've frogotten the troubles of a child... as a child sees their troubles. What, can your cares be?"
__"Elder, I have tried to be what the clan wants me to be, to be where I am wanted, and not where... I am not. I have been silent, I have spoken only when spoken to, and then only in the Spirit's truth. I have tried to make my clan proud of me, and me... proud of me; I've cared enough to do these things, but these tears still trace my failures, and my failures seem all that matter. Old one, to unravel these streaks of tears... I ask three questions. Will I ever please myself? Will I ever please my elders, and why are my tries... overlooked?"
__"Child, always be pleased with your attempts to please; If your unnoticed tries to please are your greatest triumphs, that joy is a gift you can give to yourself, and then you will see the sum of those tears fade as you follow that joy into new tomorrows. But first, you must see that tomorrows contentment can never be yours if you linger... within yesterdays unanswerable questions."
I awoke.
__Within that instant's kef of a vanishing dream... I saw the rusting tears of the boy that I once was, and I knew I had told myself... Hollow Lies.
_m
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
__In, and beyond these rapid and incalculable changes that erode what we once knew, I admire the changeless. I'm privileged... to have been able to watch the Catbird hatchlings change, in that changeless scheme of creation; today I smiled broadly at this sight... an empty nest.
a change
the catbirds take to wing
changeless
a change
the catbirds take to wing
changeless
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
__Those that know a little of me, know how enamored I am, by those things left behind; found in my imagination are the stains of the sweat and blood that graced the toil of these people... unknown. __Stonewalls, abandoned foundations, crumbled barns... all, monuments to their builders. _m
stonewalls
these lines of once...
a dove coos
stonewalls
these lines of once...
a dove coos
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
__From Milton's Masque 'Comus,' circa 1634, a few of the early lines that seem to fit today's life__ as I had read them:
"Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot
-Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care,
-Confined and pestered in this pinfold here,
-Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,
-Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives,"
virtue sought
we frail beings...
a breath
"Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot
-Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care,
-Confined and pestered in this pinfold here,
-Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,
-Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives,"
virtue sought
we frail beings...
a breath
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
__Once in a while I actually like something I've written, and I'm not above 're-posting.' This I scribbled several years back, and posted here 'bout a year ago. It was my last 'butterfly' haiku, and since, I've used the common, or the biological name of the butterfly seen.
listen...
above the silent flowers
a butterfly
listen...
above the silent flowers
a butterfly
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
__One of the charmers of our summer pond-life, the chipmunks, always provide evidence of their surprising intellect, and leave us... smiling at their antics. But one fellow last summer, failed to solve this 'carry away' dilemma... the 'stuffing' of his cheeks. (chips?)
a chipmunk
fails to run off with his prize
this potato chip
a chipmunk
fails to run off with his prize
this potato chip
Friday, April 23, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
__The Nemaskets, a clan of the Wampanoags, used the phrase -the moon of leaves- and that, it is said, was the month of June; perhaps it was a reference to the first spouts of Mondomin, or corn.
__Now, the tree leaves become full during the first week of May, and May's moon I see as "this moon of leaves." An entry in my scribble book, from last May.
warm night
this moon of leaves...
pond frogs
__Now, the tree leaves become full during the first week of May, and May's moon I see as "this moon of leaves." An entry in my scribble book, from last May.
warm night
this moon of leaves...
pond frogs
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
How slowly things change, and yet, how quickly.
__From creaking ice to this greening underbrush... but a moment in time. Just yesterday we were fighting snow and frozen pathways, confined in our boots and parkas, hoods and gloves, the only sounds were the howl of the winds and driven snows.
__Today the tree buds are swollen, the birds are calling, and the squirrels, the chipmunks and rabbits are tending to their awakening, and the Sun warms our world.
__The flowers are smiling; its time to put the snow-shovels away.
green and blue
beyond this winter's bounds
flowers smile
__From creaking ice to this greening underbrush... but a moment in time. Just yesterday we were fighting snow and frozen pathways, confined in our boots and parkas, hoods and gloves, the only sounds were the howl of the winds and driven snows.
__Today the tree buds are swollen, the birds are calling, and the squirrels, the chipmunks and rabbits are tending to their awakening, and the Sun warms our world.
__The flowers are smiling; its time to put the snow-shovels away.
green and blue
beyond this winter's bounds
flowers smile
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
I referred to her silently as "Shelly," but, of course, not in class.
__It was 1959 and Shelly was an elderly, High School English teacher; as a sophomore, with extreme misfortune I was assigned to her class. She pulled and pulled, and I hated every moment. As a Junior I was in her English Literature class, I hated every moment. Senior year? I chose to enroll in Shelly's Creative Writing course, an optional class, and I hated every moment.
__Shelly never taught me how to think as she might think, or to dream as she might dream, to write as she would write, or to understand as she understood. She taught me to think as I would think, to dream as I would dream, to write as I would write, and to understand as I would know.
__ She once said: "A poet can only put marks on the page, it is the reader that must interpret the dream."
__Shelly was a teacher, long before the word 'imprint' became a synonym for 'educate'.
the teacher
pulls the student from the root
a tree spreads
__It was 1959 and Shelly was an elderly, High School English teacher; as a sophomore, with extreme misfortune I was assigned to her class. She pulled and pulled, and I hated every moment. As a Junior I was in her English Literature class, I hated every moment. Senior year? I chose to enroll in Shelly's Creative Writing course, an optional class, and I hated every moment.
__Shelly never taught me how to think as she might think, or to dream as she might dream, to write as she would write, or to understand as she understood. She taught me to think as I would think, to dream as I would dream, to write as I would write, and to understand as I would know.
__ She once said: "A poet can only put marks on the page, it is the reader that must interpret the dream."
__Shelly was a teacher, long before the word 'imprint' became a synonym for 'educate'.
the teacher
pulls the student from the root
a tree spreads
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
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