The desolate wasteland
of destitute deprivation,
traversed in tortuous trail
by my jagged life,
trying relentless
so long,
so very hard,
to flatten out
anguished angularities
of serrated mangled mind,
swirling scrunched
in the egregious
whirlpool of indignation.
Sucked into sordid abyss
of despondent delirium,
I searched out sedated
for indifferent me
the possessed passion path,
leading besotted through
the pulse of collapsed portal
to my hollow heart,
not yet filled with
the arctic mist
in prolonged dreary winter
of despondency.
The spring of yearning
came on the sly
with fervor fragrance,
drifting in furtive flutter
on the delusive wings
of transient moments,
flowing out
of the fervent flowers
of my blooming garden,
where you had flown
like a beguiled butterfly,
created the cadence
of surreal symphony,
suffusing me.
The tune harmonized
with the mesmeric music
of my longing,
enthralled emotions
danced entranced
on the ripples of rhapsody
that rolled resplendent
between you and me,
to entwine us evermore,
consecrating the cryptic concept
of metamorphic magnetism,
called love…
All them foreigners that move here
they always tell me that they've come
To search for open spaces
‘cause cities made ‘em feel so numb
They came out here to Montana
to a place where they could feel free
To bulldoze out the pristine streams
and chop down the Aspen trees
To tear away the lodge pole pine
ponderosas and tamarack
Dig away the mountain side
and cram their houses back to back
They flatten out the rolling hills
to build a shopping mall or two
Built all them buildings so damn tall
their blocking out the mountain view
They've taken all the wildflowers
and laid down asphalt and cement
Put solar panels on their roofs
'cause that’ll save the environment
Should a deer wander into town
they want the law to do the deed
Because having wild critters around
is something that they just don't need
They say that they feel better now
with all the beauty they can see
Just sitting in their sealed off rooms
watchin' nature shows on TV
You haven't fallen where no one else has fallen
you aren't fighting a fight no one else has fought
this hurdle's a test, let's call it a calling
a challenge to change via natural warning
For now you live life feeling hopeless and broken
but many have been there so talk and be open
sharing with others will inspire ways of coping
time will curve, flatten out and incline terrain now sloping
I started a Corona diary
today, recording what is happening,
and how it’s impacting my family,
as we adhere to social distancing.
There’s more than just one minor risk involved,
that causes us to give this germ wide berth,
to mitigate this problem, not yet solved,
impacting every life on planet Earth.
Most stores are closed, and factories are si-
lent, in a fateful effort to preserve
all lives, both young and old, as we apply
new rules, in hopes to flatten out the curve.
So, here I am ensconcing with my wife,
recording Covid’s changes to my life.
I run uphill for some way,
mostly on an easy pavement,
and partially on a jarring dirt track,
I resentfully enjoy a route
against which I am free to struggle.
The path gradually starts to flatten out,
I breathe heavily with relief,
strain not regretted.
I think of the houses I run past,
or of the squatter camps
too painful to see.
I think of the towering slum,
once a magnificent tyrant,
now usurped and left for dead
by a tyrant of the restless new world
not twenty miles to the north.
I reach the halfway point and turn.
I run downhill, back the way I came,
my legs work with a lesser rebellion,
the morning becomes brighter
and the evening less spiteful.
I enter the last straight line,
more or less flat
for a couple of hundred yards,
I stretch my legs and open my stride,
my muscles burn, achingly free,
for a moment I cannot be caught.
Still, running into the morning
and away from the night,
my ankles remain idiotically shackled
and for some reason I cannot outrun
Johannesburg's hard earned pain.
13th November 2018
Babies crying in an orange,
Evening breeze.
Instead of hot dogs I get slobber.
Nudging branches away from the soft and sweet head,
Geraniums droop into view while we climb.
Her elbows folds tight against my body, safe from the forest chill.
Unknown shrieks are heard somewhere deep in the verdant, carpet of trees.
Mila chucks her nook in response, complete, blind confidence in herself.
Ascending to the dirt road troubles ease as we flatten out.
Never had we a care, never had we a worry.
How To Squeeze
When you share toothpaste in a family it is a drag to have to flatten out the tube every time you want to express your little dab of paste. Inevitably, someone else has squeezed in the middle and messed it up. Small potatoes Huh!
When you squeeze the toothpaste tube
Please squeeze it from the bottom,
If you use another way
You're doing something rotten.
.
I've been a carpenter-mason all my grownup years,
and somethingng's been bugging this brain between my ears.
I've asked experts in architecture and furniture,
but the more they explain, all the more I'm unsure.
I must have been to them either a pest or a bore,
but then my question simply is: What is a door?
Some say it's that panel or board that's hinged to the wall,
that which you push or pull, swing or knock on when you call,
with knob and key, with lock and bolt to secure the place.
Yet others say a door is but that vertical space
through which you can walk or dash away from pole to pole.
As a passage through a wall, a door is just a hole.
But without a panel, you'll be knocking on nothing.
And if you do, some folks will think you're nuts or something.
But then without that gap or hole we call empty space,
that wall will flatten out that nose there upon your face.
Today I don't ask that silly question anymore
for when I do, I'm shooed away and I'm shown the door!
.
Been a carpenter-mason all my grownup years,
but something's been bugging this brain between my ears.
I've asked experts in architecture and furniture,
but the more they explain, all the more I'm unsure.
I must have been to them either a pest or a bore,
but then my question simply is: "What is a door?"
Some say it's that panel or board that's hinged to the wall
that you push or pull, swing or knock on when you call.
With knob and key, some say the door secures the place,
but to others, it's nothing but that vertical space
through which you can walk or dash away from pole to pole;
as a passage through a wall, a door is just a hole.
But without that panel, you'll be knocking on nothing
and if you do, folks will think you're nuts or something;
but then without that gap or hole we call empty space,
that wall will flatten out that nose upon your face.
Today, I don't ask that silly question anymore
for when I do, I'm shooed away and shown the door!
Jagged rocks that tip my balance,
Vein like roots that trip my feet,
Branching weeds that scratch my legs,
The chill of the wind that steals my heat,
The steepness of this endless mountain,
The wanting, longing to reach the top,
The feeling that I can’t go on,
I need to let my body drop.
I see the end, the wind grows stronger,
The mountain seems to flatten out,
I can succeed; I’m almost there now,
My heart is screaming a silent shout.
The feeling of success is sweet,
The sky above, so baby blue,
I finally made it; the pain is gone now,
My prize, my cure: the enchanting view.
I've been a carpenter-mason all my grownup years,
and something's been bugging this brain between my ears;
I've asked experts in architecture and furniture,
but the more they explain, all the more I'm unsure;
I must have been to them either a pest or a bore,
but then my question simply is: "What is a door?"
Some say it's that panel or board that's hinged to the wall
that you push or pull, swing or knock on when you call;
With knob and key, with lock and bolt to secure the place,
yet others say a door is but that vertical space
through which you can walk or dash away from pole to pole;
as a passage through a wall, a door is just a hole.
But without a panel, you'll be knocking on nothing,
and if you do, folks will think you're nuts or something;
But then without that gap or hole we call empty space,
that wall will flatten out that nose upon your face;
Today, I don't ask that silly question anymore,
for when I do, I'm shooed away and shown the door !
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