If this tumbling stream be nameless,
I might as well hazard a descriptive guess.
Ripple River might do,
there are none here
to deny my footloose thoughts.
Submerged river rocks guide
a sun guzzling water
through a wooded way.
I'm not good at identifying tree's,
how they shape themselves
means more to me.
How old can a little creek be?
How to measure the ever changing?
If I return to this place by dawn or evening light
the name of this stream might alter yet again,
the way the light swims
renames our memories of it.
I prefer pictorial names
for all those innate features of a place,
the pleasure of naming prospects and vistas
gets to be a sacramental act,
a way of saying:
"Hey, I see you."
My grandmother renames her dog on an hourly basis.
On Wednesday he was Sharpshooter when we went to the races.
Thursday night she was calling him “Didhebiteyou?”
I listened to her call for him with this until she was blue.
He never came, for he is as ornery as any dog has a right to be.
Plus he was watching Lassie reruns, his favorite black and white TV.
Today he is Evil Kenievel King, and it seems to suit him fine.
Anyway, it doesn’t make him growl and it does not make him whine.
You can’t
embrace reality
forever
Its tenets
restrict
and constrain
By definition
it renames
itself
Once spoken
to then be
disclaimed
What comes
upon you
the moment laced
Where vacuums
exit
in time and space
Regenerates
from life’s
cocoon
In endless
cycles
—moon to moon
(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)
I know I'm 41 now,
But the kid just trying to be silly,
Make people laugh,
Make them lose themselves,
Find themselves,
That kid is still manning the controls.
He gets nudged, knocked, wrangled at times
But we all know, all those outboarded
Shadowy figments know, he's the only one
Who can make a spark in the reaching darkness.
In fact he renames the darkness and calls it a blessing.
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