24 Poems ~ 24 Hours
PARIS PLAIGE 2019
The movie has just begun –
curiously, what’s showing
on the quai-side’s massive screen
appears to be an image of us –
tourists and less shabby locals –
arrayed in small electric
boats on the Canal du Seine.
Are we going to be the feature
then? I’ve never been in a
film – not even a home movie.
What happens next? Is there
some script I am supposed
to follow?
She is our wild world
allegory mourns
we weep as she burns to ash
What it would be to fly through the open sky. Wind in your face. Freedom like no other. Above the clouds, the sun warming the soul. Watching the creatures below. Going about their lives. Swoop down for a closer look. Little creatures moving like ants. Back above the clouds. Where it is warm and safe.
“Listen”
Listen to the world around you
The hustle bustle of busy streets
The quiet hums of napping mates.
The pitter patter of afternoon rain
The nonstop static in my brain.
The ringing laughter of children
The triumph cries of the brave.
What rich sounds we may hear if only we listened with our hearts.
I like to go outside, I dream of hunting mice
My neighbor used to be fun to play with
But now he’s lazy times twice
I leave my home behind just to look around
Another kitty attacks me, what?
There’s a whole world outside
I meet so many cats.
Some are friendly some are not,
But I’ll join them nevertheless.
I’ve got a new name now,
They will call me Firestar
They used to call me Rusty
And then my collar snapped
I’m Firepaw and I’ll be the best warrior
Just trust me!
Like a snake swallowing an egg
I unhinge my jaw
And take in all of
What you have to say
And I also
Try to swallow It whole
Eyes open
Unflinching
I feel my skull expand
As your words
Force there way into
My brain cavities
I am also just as certain
As that snake is
That this is how Nature
Intends me to be
And I commit to
Running through the length
Of my body
The energy of another
Unable to move
Until it brings shape
To Who I Am
Tomorrow
He leaned back in his chair
He closed his eyes
The echoes of the dog’s growl
Still echoed in his ears
He remembered the screams of
Young Lord Baskerville
He rubbed his eyes
He still wasn’t sleeping well
He woke up screaming last night
Images of green dogs
Intermixed with sand and blood
And the screams of soldiers
He went downstairs to retrieve a cigarette
Sherlock was waiting for him, one already rolled
“It was a mean trick you played,” he scolded
As he lit the cigarette
“It was necessary to my plan,” the genius replied
With no regret
Watson walked to his window
“I thought I was alone”
He looked up and saw the reflection
Of his friend in the window
“You are never alone, my friend” the genius replied
For once emotion cracked his voice, “Never.”
Watson was nearly done writing
He would send it to the publisher in the morning
He stretched his legs
He looked around his small office
His friend had been dead two years
And still could hear his voice that night
“Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour,
and we can stop at Marcini’s for a little dinner on the way?”
ther sounds of grasses caressing my my feet as i wander the pre dawn are a soft song,
a dreaming, this world that i am anchored to sings many notes as i linger on crushed rock
and sweet clay, i conect to many lovers as i travel through this brand new world.
A hero named Miles
taught school in Staggerford, Minnesota.
Around him, a cast of teachers and students.
Bright students, dull students,
creative students, boring students, bored students,
and the daughter of the bone woman.
Outside of class,
Miles was a mild Midwesterner.
He roomed with a Catholic school teacher,
sort of dated his neighbor,
lamented not marrying Anna Thea.
He called her Thanatopsis to her amusement
and her husband’s annoyance.
Miles was uncertain where his life was headed
until the day he become an accidental hero
and was mourned by the students, the landlady,
the sometime date, the bone woman’s daughter,
and Thanatopsis.
who has more hot air
from above as so below
kneel before their show
look up ye shall rise
look down on those below you
now you are divine
beyond this narrow
nature views how humans skew
the lessons she gives