Basho
As a child I read a story about Basho. He walked through the fields with his pupils, followers. A young poet saw a red dragonfly and he created a haiku on the topic:
*
A red dragonfly
Remove its wings. Change has come
See a red pepper
*
Basho was sad and shook his head. “No” He told his pupil. “By tearing off the wings, the dragonfly would die. Please don’t. A haiku should live. You just might write or say:
*
A red pepper fruit
Add its wings and change has come
See the dragonfly"
I spent October inside, until fall had fled
Stresses proliferated, and a hospital bed
I missed the foliage on the Adirondacks high
Yellow, orange and red against the blue sky
I remembered where I had seen colors before
Just 40 miles from my cottage door.
An old Dutch Church, built in 1697
And the graveyard behind, a waystation to heaven.
I made my way south and walked up the hill
Between mausoleums were trees and the color would spill
copper and red and orange and gold.
I let it sink in, and peace took hold.
A stone path opened up a Hudson River scene
I was the only one there, it felt so serene
Then a cloud drifted west, colors lost hue
Like a muted repainting of that grave-framed view.
I've seen death before, and one thing I knew
The saddest words in life were "nothing more we can do"
I wondered if those words were sometimes incorrect
and I thought just coming for colors might show disrespect.
But many come to see the place, most for history
to see the resting place of Irving, Celtic cross of Carnegie.
And we all join the ranks; we all pay life's cost.
There's no going back, once the river is crossed.
If it takes a dollop of Dutch courage
to French kiss an English rose
would it make a lily-livered
Indian giver look down his nose
but with Yiddish chutzpah
as a Spanish fly on the wall
and luck o' the Irish
you could Australian crawl
and yet the Chinese fire drill
it's still a safe bet
and a Mexican standoff
are not Russian roulette
but who'd deliberately open the door
for a Portuguese man o' war
Vermeer never disappoints, capturing people muted in shadows
Officer and laughing girl is a weird name for this one
I have seen many laughing people, she barely smiles
But who am I to argue with the artist who named the piece?
The officer is dressed brilliantly in brighter colors than usual
Vermeer’s paintings are almost always done in anything but red
The hat is as impressive as the woman’s bonnet is Dutch dull.
The fascination for me in this piece is the window and the map.
The window is a masterpiece, I cannot fathom recreating it.
The map holds my attention due to the immaculate details of it.
Vermeer knew what he was doing; his strokes are exquisitely done.
It seems odd the girl is sitting rather than working; quite uncommon.
how much could we clutch
able to reach out and touch
which was Dutch and such
fragrance of tulips
bring holland to her senses
pretty dutch petals
pointed wooden shoes
clogging down the avenue
dancing with the dutch
Ice Cream, Soda,
Delaware Punch!
Jumping, Jumping's , .... Double Dutch!
Ice Cream Soda,
Delaware Punch
Initials Spell .... Our, .... Honeybunch!
She believed in Astrology
he believed in her
Their White House chart in symbols strange
whose doctrine ebbed and flowed
She believed the stars made sense
her love had made him blind
To what his darkest fears had robbed
— a modern day Tom Joad
(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)
“double dutch”
it wasn’t a stretch for
street to become
straat
but
i took a hop
skip and a jump
with verviervoudigen
There's my cast iron Dutch oven pot,
Sitting on the counter, still dirty.
Word is, "Don't wash", or it will rust rot.
Old fat increases its purity.
The Dutch were
1 of the first
To voyage , journey and discover
The high seas because they used
Windmills to mechanically power saws
Enabling them to built ship's quicker
faster and more efficiently
So had a far superior naval fleet
New York
Was
New Amsterdam
Dutch East India Company
Tulips were the 1st commodity traded
Ergo the Stock Exchange Market
The Carrot was is in fact
Purple in colour it's a bulb
They made it and turned it into
Orange in colour
Most of the majority of the Netherlands
They reclaimed built canals in order
To take the land back
And also in the process
Made it fertile afterwards enough
To farm and live off prosperously
And is progressive and religiously tolerant
Not bad and pretty impressive
All things being considered
delicious dutch letters
crusty with sugar
delightful almond filling
Jaarsma Bakery
Pella Iowa
tulip Festival
first week of May
The time is now such
All must Dutch up.'
In 2023 speak out free.!
Value freedoms prize
Not humanity's demise
There's scum afloat
On a stagnant moat.'
Skim the surface
And ready the boats '
New Year's Eve in the town Amsterdam
Two Brits I met while staring at the pond
Holding beers and smoking rolled cigarettes
Speaking they said tonight you will be a man
This eve you will recall with a fond bond
And on we walked, drank, smoke, effortless
The Red-Light district we stumbled upon
My body tightened but the face I donned
Let three workers see me as generous
Farewell to my innocence, it was gone
The Brits disappeared, I am Shepard-less
Recife in huge city turned
by the dutch prince Nassau transformed
high culture but people enslaved
now though so that much time has passed
by the people he is still loved
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