Best Skitter Poems

Santa Barbara, Summer 2017

Monday
I walked on the bluffs above the sea.
Orange poppies bloom in the dunes.
I discovered
the labyrinth:
smooth stones spell the path.
Peaceful pilgrimage.

Tuesday
Walked on the beach and smelled:
Tar from the oil seeps,
fennel,
coastal sage,
eucalyptus.
And, of course, the sea.

Wednesday
Hiked in the foothills.
The grass is brittle and yellow;...

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I gave you a balloon,
It held my life inside.

Within a shiny rubber tube
components of my soul aligned,
a sign,
I became something new
for you...

Memories
Feelings
Ideas

Each speck
a tickle upon my breath,
a tiny bubble
of nuanced personality;

The strengths of me debrided
the secrets of my lungs,
pink and untold
for you to confide,
ease trouble
in...

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the droplets pitter-pattered
as my footprints melted into doesn't-matters
and all the buzzings and birds skitter-scattered
and, with Beauty on the nigh...all thought shattered...

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Black caw crow flies overhead 
black caw crow cries sounds of dread
small birds shiver in covert trees
mice skitter, scatter and flee. 

Watercolor skies abound 
mournful clouds cling to the ground
critters hide ‘neath fans of leaves
silent refuge from the siege. 

Lazy slugs and snails alight
peaking black...

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Sinking pearls of stone, in an obligatory skip
before the plunge
Haloing the horizon in silver riddles
and the earth is still.
No tides to bite the green watered breath.
No new moons eclipsed by the earth's turn to greatness.
And we laugh.
Laugh in salty brine and cosmos air.
Following the stone's...

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You throw a rock into a pool.

Watch the concentric ring slowly expand
from its point of origin.
Its curvature infinite. Shape pristine.
And yet... there it dissipates
at the subtle sternness of the wind.
To blend with all the other blemishes
on the surface of the stream.

You try not to think...

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When the snout of lush abundance is full and flowing,
when all prey and creature-kind spill upon the verdant swards,
then it is that I worry night and day,
for the stoat, fox and hawk are at work,
they scythe in the whelm and nimiety, they hack and harrow.

The...

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Whispering caresses testify
   under duress with somber
   adoration.

How many sonnets have I
   forgotten
   while tracing the
   contours of your shape?

Your slick fragrance disarms my
   resolve; I yearn to
   bottle such essence

if only to keep a suggestion of
   us in the face of certain
   obliteration.

For once the skitter and
   the titter consume with
   fangs of speculation, we
   shall...

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Once I saw a purplish oblong tangerine,
Standing near the hydrant on Sixty-first
I wondered what it could possibly mean, 
Then, I was overcome with dreadful thirst
When I watched it skitter quickly away
I was transfixed by its stark underbelly,
Joining a cantaloupe on a teeter to play
While a...

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As each squall breaks the random motion starts
Leaves twigs and dust in chaos whirl and skitter
Yet at its core remains a still calm heart
The land shall be restored to a pristine glitter

But this metaphor denies a truth thereon
That neath that placid heart there is motion...

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autumn breezes sigh
dying leaves drift downward still …
skitter across lawn 

Written September 21, 2022...

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swirling leaves skitter
chasing squirrels on the lawn ~
fall Olympiad

Written October 26, 2022...

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Beating their wings hard against the wind 
stars spring out soft, then slowly rescind 
Unwinding their colors round fur line trees  
the world as we know it falls at their knees;
Supernatural scents permeating the air 
diffusing their magic with charm and with flare 
Utopian...

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I sit and watch. 

Changes come so slowly. 
So, vigilance is required,
an attentiveness to minutia.
There are layers of wardings 
erected        between
the watch 	and I. 

Thoughts, which flit and skitter
fight for outward movement.
Flesh that is too weak to hold...

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Dark matter seems to be
What isn’t there to be seen
In between
What we see.

They dub it dark since you cannot detect it
Nor can they inspect it
With telescopy.

Yet, while it can’t be descried
It cannot be denied
For equations that irk
To work.

Should dark matter matter,
Would dark matter matter
A titter...

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