Posts for June 3, 2025 (page 16)

“Write poem,” I tell myself.
“Be profound. Offer insight.”
“Reveal something new
about the universe. The
human condition.”

So…I think. “Uhmmm.
Well. I could–
nnnn…
how about?…”

Nothing. Big ‘ole
nothingburger.

I “found” nothing, 
much less something
pro-found.

Then, I see you.
And you see me.
And you smile.

Suddenly, it’s
all there.

Poetic.
Human.
Real.

We move toward one another–
gravity heavy, as at the event horizon–
words no longer needed
for that which follows.

Ding!

9:23AM: Team, I have to cancel today’s discussion. Something’s come up. Will reschedule.

Window offices empty, a hush falling over the entire building as work grinds to a halt.
Questions unanswered, direction absent, meetings cancelled.
Manager level and above, conspicuously missing all at once.

Rushed into a room, doors closed.

Ding!

11:15AM: Meeting Invite: All Employee Meeting, Conference Room, 11:30AM

Hallways fill, a buzz enveloping any nook left unoccupied by wondering wanderers.
Theories whispered, factoids gossipped, postulations best left unsaid, said.
Last to emerge, the managers, exiting the room they’ll soon reenter.

After a short bio break, of course.

I heard they’ve been trying to pull sales orders into this quarter to meet the targets.
What if someone died? Didn’t —- have a heart attack last year? Is he in today?
It’s gotta be layoffs, right? I’ve already been looking, I’m ready. I’m not.
Check the news, did another typhoon hit the Philippines plant?

Chairs squeak, a chorus of anxious movements composing the room’s thoughts.
Curtains drawn, jokes deflated, spouses updated.
Forty-seven careers flash before ninety-four eyes.

The clock strikes, lunch time. No one’s hungry.

11:30AM: Well team, I’ll come right out with it…

We never did reschedule that meeting. 

1
Someone’s cbasing me.
When I was young it was monsters
but now it’s just people.

2
I have a house full of guests
I’ve grown tired of
but they refuse to leave.

3
I’m in a big city
& though it’s vaguely familiar
I keep getting lost.

4
I’m in a play
about to go onstage
& can’t remember my lines.

5
I’m falling in love
with someone
& the dream ends.

Placed on the windowsill,
with a disappointed meow.
Two eyes,
and an intense gaze.

"Let me out, you idiot" 

She didn't realize, 
that the window was open all along.

Sigh and seep: the night 

                                                               We all
live in    a     world of
                                                                  dam-
age,       some version           we

                        embrace,
                                                       a       story
    
we                                                         
                                                        can’t stop
                 provoking,
        a       devastating contact with the

                      cult
central to                                                          
                                                           breaking.                                                

~ An erasure of Rebecca Solnit’s The Faraway Nearby, page 59

listen

Standing on the blue sand
I met a man with a oblong mouth.
He said “I am a tomato logger
and used to be in a cycling band.
My father was a pyramid beggar
and feared becoming a potato swain.”

While holding aloft a glowing tuba,
I looked up, up to a floating grove
of candied trees, A hawker in chaps
of green feathers cried
“Marbled cheese, marbled cheese
makes you whistle and groan!”

Then I stepped to the edge
of a creamy marsh. A mailman
tipped his calico cat and exclaimed
“When the plants recant, 
there will be an utter uproar!”

As I departed on a bamboo scooter,
an elderly woman in a technical dress
pointed to me and assailed:
        Do not succumb 
        to the sickly physics
        be level and civil
        be civil and level.

I favor my Father
-same eye and hair color
-same shape of face and build
-simular tastes in food and music

I am approaching the age
of his death from heart disease
71 years
7 months
17 days

I make an appointment 
with my cardiologist

and wish I took after
my Mother
who lived to be 84 

Life is too short
and passes
with a blink
of the eyes.

Once, we were
in the spring
of our lives
and looking ahead.

Then came summer
where we lived
and experienced
new things.

Before we knew it
a time for reflection
when autumn arrived
and days were shorter.

And then the
cold days of winter
a life well lived
our final season.

What once seemed 
like a marathon
became a sprint
and the fininsh line
in sight.

The trees blossom
become green and
have beautiful colors
before the leaves 
float away.