Out of Time

* * *

100228

SUPPOSE NO ROSE (for Cory)

Strip it from all referents.
Eliminate its liaison to love.
Erase its scent.
Remove all that it does.

Suppose it never was.

The question this will pose:
“What is ode to rose?”


100227

TSUNAMI, TRIVIA

Time keeps everything
from happening at once;
prevents collapse, disaster.

To judge by Twitter’s
speed and range—time’s
running out, and faster.


EPITAPH 2

Genesis.
Exodus.
Acts.
Lamentations.
Revelation.
Proverbs.


100226

EPITAPH 1

Crayon.
Pencil.
Pen.
Typewriter.
Computer.
Tombstone.

[ASIDE: This is a variation of a poem I wrote awhile back.
This one is for a publisher’s contest: write your life story in 6 words.]


DDUUEETT

Cross-eyed, I have
four hands, so that—
solo on my keyboard—
I can play duet.


* * *

Peace, Prize

* * *

100225

THAT WOULD TAKE THE PRIZE

Would it be legitimate, when it arrives,
to drench it in water?

I opted for a white woman's
over a black man's
(both are crew neck).
It was awarded by a publishing house
for best self-help book title spoof,
which I won with:
"The Tao of Bliss – What Doesn't
Thrill You Makes You Wronger."

How I'd like, at my age,
to tell the nieces and nephews
that I won a wet t-shirt contest.


100224

POET’S DAY OFF

Self-help book title spoofs, instead of poems.
Last on the list won a t-shirt prize from the
contest sponsor, a publishing house:

Cereal Thriller – Live with Flair on Vegan Fare
Intuitive Time Management – Thinking Outside the Clocks
Perfectionism Rescue – The Ins and Outs of Over and Above
Stop That Teesing! – Help Eradicate T-Shirt Prize Contests
Order Up! – How to Successfully Demand Results from Your Higher Power
Guru Guru – Becoming a Self-Help Expert Expert
Taiwan On! – Dealing with the Taipei Personality
Soulmate Salvage – Correcting the Very Traits You Used to Adore
Stop That Teesing! – Help Eradicate T-Shirt Prize Contests
The Tao of Bliss – What Doesn't Thrill You Makes You Wronger


100223

PEACE POME

☮ is good. ✌ is ✍.
Like the ❂, ☮ is bright.

❆ or rain, day or ♘,
I ♥ to ✏ of ✌ and light.

~ ツO


100222

BUZZARD LADY

Buzzard Lady is my role.
Don’t put me in a pigeon hole.


100221

GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK

Well, it's bad news
for all you six-plus billion souls
who'll have to run your own lives,
now that I've opted out
of that responsibility.
(I was told it was never mine
to begin with, but don't we all wish
I'd found out sooner!)


100220

CHARMER

So cute a pixie
it's hard not to give hugs,
sporting short hair, blue jeans,
tunic and Ugghs.


P-O-E-T-R-Y

I try.
I fail, and fail again.

I fail. Again I try.

I will not quit;
will not admit
defeat.

I will—
like my endeavor—
end in “T-R-Y.”


100219

SPEAKING OF ODD!

No takers for my
buzzard speech—
how bu-ZZARD is that?


RELATIVE TIME

One week ago,
our fledgling finch
was pushed out of the nest.

Today he sits
three new-laid eggs
with the adults—
who would have guessed?


100218

PEAK EXPERIENCE

I told the seer, "I'm here to hear.
How can I make my dreams appear?"

"Cure conscious and unconscious fear.
What you want is very near;
get clear of fear to bring it here."

"My days, dear Seer, are growing drear;
how do I get my fears to clear?"

"Afraid I don't know," smiled the seer
with genuine and gentle cheer.
"Come and ask again next year."


HUNGRY, BABE!

When I see you
through my night vision goggles
taking out your garbage,
I can see you,
Babe, on night missions—slogging,
staking out our forage.


[ASIDE: TWITTER 2/12/10 - MichaelATerry: RT @GhostPanther:
Has there ever been a romantic poem that begins "When I see you
through my night vision goggles taking out your garbage..." ]


* * *

Words of Fun

* * *

100218

LEXICONSTRUCTION

Need a word? Just make one
(it’s a democracy).
Then add two or three.

I needed a word,
for example.
I present it as a sample:

Simplicity plus happiness?
That’s “simblissity.”


100217

A HOST OF DAFFY DEALS

I wandered only as The Cloud
that floats on high o’er th' Internet
(that vast e-commerce-dealing crowd).

With virtual virtue I was endowed.
By data streams I roamed, and got not wet.


100216

COACHING SESSION

“Depend upon your higher power,”
my guru/coach suggested.
“Assign one dream-goal upward.
Let your uptight self be rested.”

“Use intuition to set that goal.”
Well, that’s how I got flustered.
My inner whisper told my soul—
“Go, ye. Speak of buzzards.”


100215

RISE ‘N SHINE, YEP!

Hello, Sun, how do?
Liftin’ up them clouds, are ya,
movin’ everthang along?

Guess I best git up, m’self—
ta start my own day strong.


100214

PEAR-TREE

Morning is its blossom.
Noon, its honey-bee.
Evening is its harvest:
the pear called ecstasy.

Night has come,
has come, my love,
drawing you to me.

Come, my love—
come share this night.
Love, come pear with me.


[ASIDE: Shall I come-pear
thee to a summer’s night?]


ANY ART

If you plan to pick it up,
know how to put it down.
Progression can be obsessive.

If you plan to stick with it,
know when to put it down.
Obsession can be progressive.


100213

GUEST, LIST!

This is a private party,
not a banquet or a ball,
and if you want a lecture,
go find a lecture hall.


[ASIDE: Scrapped…

This is a private party,
intimate and small—
open just to kindred souls
(but open to them all).

This is a private party
for the select few
who manage to gain entry.
So, welcome. That is you.]


100212

BEYOND THE PALL

The sheet that skims my skin tonight
requires the moon to make it white—
and more than moon; for, though so bright,
moon but reflects more brilliant light.


100211

CHERUBIM TO CHERUBIMBOS

Wondrous, sonorous signs and symbols!

Words are heaven’s mighty cymbals
sounded by angels at their gambols
to babbling mortals at their rambles.


-------------------------------------------------
[SONG LYRICS FOR LIONS INTERNATIONAL]

LION PRIDE WORLDWIDE

If you know one Lion, you’re bound to know a few.
You find them on savannahs, in the jungle, at the zoo.
You find them in the circus, and other places too.
But can you guess—more or less—what these Lions do?

Lions meet and Lions talk.
Lions work from dawn till dark,
Raising help and hope and funds,
Especially for little ones.
A Lion is a lady. A Lion is a man.
Dogged as a shepherd, gentle as a lamb.
Lion vision helps all see—
The world is one community.

If you know one Lion, you’re bound to know a few.
You find them on savannahs, in the jungle, at the zoo.
You find them in the boardroom and on the factory floor.
They do good in neighborhoods—Hear those Lions roar!

Lions meet and Lions talk.
Lions work from dawn till dark,
Raising help and hope and funds,
Especially for little ones.
A Lion is a tiger, fighting for the right.
A Lion is an eagle, searching with true sight.
Lion vision helps all see—
The world is one community.


[ASIDE: Lyrics for our local club, which LOVES to sing
“Happy Birthday” in as garbled a fashion as possible…

Lions meet and Lions talk.
Lions sing in Rogers , Ark. ,
Raising voices to a screech,
Growling this for all and each—

“Happy Birthday to you…”
or “Hear Those Lions Roar” ]

-------------------------------------------------

100210

HAPPENSTANCE

Whatever happens
happens (in one theory)
to be good, so that
whenever whatever
shouldn’t happen happens,
it just so happens
that it should.


100209

KNOWSEY NEIGHBORS

Love that saying.
Is it your own?

Inquiring minds
want quoted sources known.


100208

SNOW ON SNOW

Overnight snow falls afresh,
slipping from branches
to meld with melting snow below.


* * *

Snowy & Flakey

* * *

100207

CHRONIC PAIN

Chronic pain.
Chronic pain.
Chronic pain
is a chronic pain!


100206

ANOTHER
CANCELLATION

Snow. Sleeting.
“No Meeting.”


100205

FLAKEY

Snow is made of water
but it can be dry.

Snow—on your nose
or eyelashes—feels light.
But snow is heavy.

Snow falls
because it’s heavy.

Wet snow is heavier
than dry snow.

A heavy snow
can be quick and thick
or just deep.
It can be wet or dry

No matter
how heavy it is,
snow is light
and usually white.

Against the clouds
from which it falls,
it’s dark—like cinders.

You can build with snow.
You can make a man
or igloo or fort.

Snow can get dirty—
gray or brown or yellow—
but let’s not go into that.


100204

HIBER NATION

For many in this country,
the difference between
joy at snow and joy at snow
is many months between.


100203

SADLY TRUE

It’s bizarre. It’s medieval.
No matter what you say or do—
someone somewhere
thinks you’re evil.


100202

PLAITING FOR PROFIT

The heffalump is plenty plump
from a boondoggle at the zoo;
an inward trade of honey
for an outward of scoubidou.

[ASIDE: Poets Northwest challenge for February:
write a poem using one or more of these words:
boondoggle, heffalump, serendipity (or serendipitous)
This won't make much sense unless you’re familiar
with the key terms used.]


SAIR-N-DIPITY

Now I ain't a'sayin', "Jest ignore it,"
but don’t go a'lookin' all up an down
an’ don’t go a'searchin' all aroun'—
‘cuz you kin look yerself pure blind.

Sair-n-dipity's somethin' good ya find
when ya ain't even lookin' for it.


100201

SHARED WORKSPACE

Clickety, clickety, click-click-clack!
Unless I focus on my own,
his keyboarding makes me groan.
Clickety, clickety, click-click-clack!


[ASIDE: Actually, I rarely notice. I was just
listening for inspiration and that’s what I heard.]


* * *

Animals, Weather, Time

* * *

100131

ATTUNED

I love it when he whistles and laughs
and jokes with the cats;
their ears swivel to tune him in;
they climb onto his lap if it’s available;
they gently paw his face, stroke his cheek,
then settle in to ride the warm rhythms
of his chest. "More," they say. "More!"


100130

SNOW DAY

Deer braved the yard today,
where they cautiously fed.
Cats braved the snow for birds.
Birds braved the cats for bread.


100129

WEATHER
WISHERS

What?
You didn’t expect
more snow to fall?

Please.
It’s January,
after all!


100128

BLAST!

"Brace yourselves,"
weathercasters scold,
rhapsodizing over sleet and ice.

Hmmph. That isn't nice; it's cold!


100127

TIME PIECE

"Time flies," Eagle cries.

"Time flies," Frog sighs,
"snatchin’ you up like some bug
that its flickin’ tongue has tazed.
Oh. Time flays," croaks Frog, amazed.
"Time flays," Horse neighs.

"Time flows," Raven crows.

"Time flows," Bear knows,
"driftin’ us along with gentle dreams
of polar ice an’ siftin’ snow.
Ah. Time floes," sighs Bear, mid-doze.
"Time floes," Whale blows.

"Time flees," buzz Bees.

"Time flees," Dog breathes,
"bitin’ our hides to set us movin’,
then lightin’ out; that irritatin’ tease!
Ooh. Time fleas," Dog moans, aggrieved.
"Time fleas," Cat agrees.


[ASIDE: I wanted to leave out quotation marks because they
were so cumbersome and distracting, but that didn't work.]


100126

RELAXED FIT

“When you retire,” his buddies asked,
looking at him a bit askance,
“who, at your house, will wear the pants?”

“Myself,” he winked, with a cheerful glance.
“Of course, I’ll be wearing putter pants.”


100125

TWENTY-TWENTY

Best gift so far,
this twenty-ten—
contact lenses.

I see again!


100124

TOO LATE

I missed a meeting
I meant to attend;
there’s no way to regroup,
recoup, or amend.


100123

BUZZARDS

“Unclean!” they’re seen—

“Untouchable!
Gnarly-headed grotesques. Fearsome
Underlings. Awful offal-eaters.
Horrid things on wings!”

Of this, buzzards are oblivious—
as they are of praise from students
of their ways­­, who say, “It’s official.
Buzzards are good to us. Beneficial.”

They recycle and renew.

Like morticians, beauticians, mothers,
menials, and multitudes of others
(maintenance workers, trash collectors,
hazardous waste operators, plumbers,
and sanitation crews, to name a few)—
discretely and with daily diligence,
they efface life’s ugliness.

They lift in air like dreams.

For those with eyes to see—
such elegance, such grace!


100122

LOOKOUT

At my north-sky facing view,
two trapezoidal windows
show through to a vast expanse
of icy blue; slightly smudged
with gray and white. But—
not a single buzzard in sight.


100121

MEAT OR POISON

One man’s crumpet
is another man’s strumpet.
One woman’s jackpot
is another one’s crackpot.


[ASIDE: Just playing with words, which,
like old stereotypes and clichés, are also
one person’s meat and another’s poison.]


100120

WINTER THUNDER

Startling!

Like a midnight pounding at your door
in the secret-code cadence of a comrade.


SELF-EMANCIPATION

First you have to make it okay
with yourself to think about
what you might possibly want.

Then you have to decide that,
yes, it’s okay to actually want.

Next you allow yourself to
full-heartedly accept
wanted and waited-for things.

After that, permission to pursue
is a natural progression.

In fact, you stand self-revealed
as a natural progression.


100119

CHARM SCHOOLED

It’s hard enough to
charm life into beneficence
when you’re an ingénue;
much less, a nongénue.


ASPIRANT

As if either is a place,
somewhere between seven and seventy,
I got used to living. I expected to expect
every day another day, and every day
three square meals, slow or quick,
and all my blessings double-dipped.

Little plain-old mortal me
aspired to immortality: unending life,
and not just that—ease, abundance, health,
pleasing occupation, and an inside track
to bliss. It hasn’t happened—yet
I’m caught by the idea. First, I’ve heard,
you go through death and back
near-endless times. Or not.


* * *