So strange seeing intimacies
from the back seat
like being dropped unseen
into someone’s bedroom.
Neck massages for the driver,
driver’s hand reaching
over to the passenger seat doing
whatever unseen tenderness,
maybe just a hand on a knee.
A world of gentle affection
to be cherished,
admired from afar.
Once was the finest
lady deeply loved by
a house carpenter.
He could not hammer
lest the rhythm be her song.
As he worked, he sang to her days long.
In full sun he sweat and built and felt
no wrong, of she a lady, he a carpenter.
Strong were the houses he did build.
Also those things he said to her.
His word was not of wood,
but stone.
Said the scholar with delight, “I’ve been sourced!”
The one great sentence that arrived unforced
had drawn a reader’s ovation.
The researcher’s one hundred and fourth citation
was the icing on the cake.
Win the lottery? She’d rather be endorsed!
I stood vigil
til dawn.
I knew you wouldn’t be there.
I knew you wouldn’t be here
yet
it was only
an hour
and the moon was wrapping herself
in my words, the sun rising hungry
with expectation, and the birds…
the birds were
carrying the message
tree to tree.
We’ve got to sell the board on making
horcruxes. Compressions & breaths
are not restarting hearts. Think about it,
whole lines for different markets:
Mario Kart power ups, seven rings
for dwarves in their hall of stone, Franklin Mint
bicentennial plates, Nascar bobbleheads.
We can work a cooperative
cross-over with a hospital.
Folks are dying anyway,
think of it as a public-private partnership.
The mutual fund folks will line up
for options like it was Black Friday.
What exactly does it mean
when the jar says,
“Apply a generous amount”
of this cream
to the
affected
area?
I don’t think the FDA
or the EPA
or the CIA
or anyone
concerned with chemicals
and the human body
(Including my high school friend
MLM #ladyboss acquaintance 🙌)
Would approve of the
amount of cream it will take
to smooth out these worry lines that run
all the way back
to my mother’s mother
and my father’s mother
and their mother’s mothers
before them.
trap signals
The action of trap shall override
The value of “$”.
Setting a trap produces undefined results.
Signals ignored on entry
Cannot be trapped,
although no error need be reported.
Traps shall remain in place
Until explicitly changed
with another trap.
When traps are being ignored,
the traps need not be altered.
check analysis;
using $ may still alter them.
trap each condition.
perform the optional check
immediately.
The format shall be proper,
suitable to achieve
the same trapping results.
conformant systems allow
The trap special.
used only for diagnostic messages.
invalid names or numbers shall not be considered.
None.
trap and kill are consistent
in their omission of names.
Trapping is accepted,
but it has no effect.
trap had to change to become wanted.
triggered whenever mandated,
trap invalidates the behavior of some.
character protects against the trap.
—
Found poem (erasure) from the Linux Man Pages
Complete text at:
https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/trap.1p.html
Feathers are a kind of magick
one feather does not make a bird
but each feather is the ghost of a wing
that touched the face of the sky
One feather does not give flight
but the memory of flight clings to it
holding on, keeping the scent of it
like smoke in the cloth of a favorite sweater
The texture of clouds
holds the feather together
ephemeral moments of wing flap
the rush of wind, the defiance of gravity’s firm law
The soul of the bird in its feather
each one a ghost of a wing
the memory of rebellion
feathers are a special kind of magick
Pine Mountain Cemetery XXIII
Fleeta
Fleeta was her name, all five feet of her.
Mountain matriarch was a better story.
Leaders don’t have to be tall, just smart.
Right smart, a phrase that should have
Been carved onto her stone. For she
Was that and more besides. Music
Lived in those stubby fingers and under
Her shyest smile. Mothering came second
Nature whether man, child or her milk cow.
It would be a sight to know how many
Lonely, broken souls she carried under
Her ample wing, and good right arm.
They say beggers mark the place of kindness,
Hers must have been carved deep. Never
A hungry soul left her porch hungry, or cold
Or with an empty pocket. Not with gold, she
Had none and five kids to gobble up any extra.
But a pone of bread, or jerky or fatback to keep
One warm on the struggle to get on to where
Ever a hobo gets on in their lonely walk. They
Might even be known to hum a tune, heard last
While Fleeta was tending dinner or kids or husband.
Funny her man was named Pearl, and he was not.
She was the jewel polished by enough hard work
To smelt the hardest iron into shiny brass. All her
Clan listened to those few words she laid out
For them to think over, wise they knew, better
Than whatever foolishness they were tempted to.
Not because she had it easy was she right, more
Because the horseshoe is strong because of fire.
Five children have made a dynasty, worked
The world over, brought home treasures of life
That last. They climb the hill to shed their tears
For she who didn’t live to see how well molded
Each one is in her image. This place has lots
Of good laid here, and none better than Fleeta.
