Six folds can make a bird.
I read hair follicles smell
and plants feel despair
that can make them shy away.
Forty-two folds reach the moon.
Paper thoughts (Tanka)
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Monthly Archives: August 2019
Sometimes unusual wins
Wiping my soles of a green gradoo,
Wishing for catenate rhymes to accrue.
Columnar phrases we whisper at night,
Jointing and cooling, crackling on sight.
Opening comments come up the next day
Out of our comfort, then die away.
Though smiled in response, your eyes will avert
Gathering mettle you hoped to assert.
I’m always hopeful for those might-have-beens,
But with the gradoo, the unusual wins.
*****
Picture by me: basalt formations from The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland, March 2019
Gradoo = cajun slang for “stuff you scrape off your shoe.” Also, a delicious side dish with spinach, onions, cheese, and garlic.
This poem, a sparrow
I remember counting birds on summer mornings,
before the heat settled in,
I’d circle the house.
and count the sparrows and bluejays,
a robin or two and sometimes a cardinal.
A task that kept me focused
each and every morning – on small details
like the poetry now.
I looked for colors,
with hope that this time
I might see yellow in a warbler, a goldfinch,
the multicolored painted bunting
or hear a gleeful song that the mockingbird pretends.
The ominous black crow was not here, though venturing
near the field behind our house – I would hear caws
that echoed.
Tick marks on the page were used to tally,
and sparrows always led the count.
A swath of greys and brown, with patches
of blue and red, and always hoping for yellow.
The darkness far away.
This, before the summer heat settled.
Last Request
Brother, let’s go out and visit the fair,
the weather is nice and our friends will be there,
Laughing and joyously roaming around
The fun and the revelry crackle on air.
Brother, let’s go out and go to the fair.
Sister, let’s go to the market and shop.
It’s early and sales are beginning to crop.
I need some new shoes that will go with my dress.
-palpable joy with a buzz and a pop.
Sister, let’s go out to market and shop.
Mommy, it’s time now to take me to school.
Wednesday, we learned all about a gold rule,
Teacher said Tomas was kind to his friends.
Kindness is always the way to be cool.
Mommy, it’s time now to take me to school.
Father, I’m going with Lizzie and Nance
We’re meeting some girlfriends for drinks, then to dance.
We’ll have a late dinner, somewhere downtown
I may not be home till the morning, perchance.
Father, I’m going to eat, drink and dance.
Dearest, it’s Sunday and time to go pray.
Our brother and sister were taken away.
Gone down in their pastimes, the losses are cold.
Dearest, our action – this every day:
Banish the hatred that caused this decay.
Taps and Ratamacues 