#22
Simon Hides
He spends his days all covered
Up on the davenport.
Sometimes he gives himself away
With a vigorous lint-laden snort.
Shades of a Sinuous Eden
#21
Tree Climber
I keep my eyes sharp for the snake
That looks like a curling vine.
I saw one once on an apple branch,
Where he looked almost benign.
But still a snake in the garden
Is a creature made for ill;
When I called for my wife to come see him,
Her response was both loud and shrill!
It's Raining
#20
From the Window
21 August 2010
I watched the falling rain today
Against the background pines.
The water fell with graceful ease
In thin grey shifting lines.
Bugs fight back
#19
Horny Insect
I saw an osmeterium
On a caterpillar head.
He used it to create a stink
To keep from being dead.
Three Cities and the City
#18
14 August 1945: the Kiss
We've seen the famous photo
Of the sailor and the nurse,
But hidden in the background
Is the shadow of the curse
Unleashed upon the City---
For better, or for worse.
Turtles matter (pun intended, though you may have to read what follows to see it).
The last poem was inspired (some would question that, of course) after I found a small box turtle in the middle of the road in front of our house. He must have been about 5 inches from nose to tail; he kept his head and feet out all the time I held him. He was a perfect turtle: red striped head, perfect little reptilian head and feet, solid, clean, patterned, uncracked shell.
Since some people think it sport to hit turtles on the road, I wanted to make him (her/it) a little safer. Mary and I used to put road turtles in the garden, but our current dog pack (Jack Russell Terrier, Dachshund, and Beagle) and cat can find anything that moves out there, so I put him way up from the road in the front yard in a wild section. When I picked him up and looked closely at him I saw his perfection.
Inspiration, such as I get, comes from my encounter with things such as the turtle and the maxim I discovered from Charles Williams: "This also is Thou; neither is this Thou." The only way one can discover the truth of this maxim is by attending to the things, for things have the first requirement of images: that is, identity. This turtle is; this turtle has being. Thus the turtle could reveal God; the turtle obviously conceals God. (The philosophical materialist would say that there is only the turtle, only matter and that mind is merely an offshoot of the way matter works.) For most of us, myself included, I see turtle, yet the beauty and perfection of this particular turtle does indeed do what images do: it points beyond itself to the idea of beauty and perfection manifested in a turtle. There is such a thing in our minds as turtleness (Plato territory, I think); if there weren't we couldn't tell a turtle from an aardvark or an aardvark from our wife. Obviously I believe mind is more real than matter but that one might move significantly from matter to mind.
Too many words. One should think and then write, and then rewrite, etc. Okay. Things are expressive. Writing about them is one way of discovering what any particular thing might mean. That is the simple version of the above.
"All the thoughts of turtle are turtle."
#17
Real Life Is Meeting
I met a little turtle
In the middle of the road.
He looked a perfect turtle
In a turtle perfect mode.
I placed the little fellow
In a turtle perfect place,
Underneath some ivy
In a space he might embrace.
I placed him in the turtle patch
Before he could implode,
A plenty perfect ending
To my turtle episode.
The August Perseids
#16
No Peek at the Peak
I missed the meteor shower
On a muggy August night;
The august night turned cloudy,
And the clouds diminished sight,
As the meteors went streaking
From their space-born comet flight.
Ahoy
#15
No Message
I am a bottle floating
In the middle of the sea.
It’s true to say I’ve lost my way,
Though I bob and wave so merrily.
Simon's dachshund days
#14
Pet Lover
I find him often by my feet,
A long dark form, asleep, discrete.
Then I lean down to stroke his side,
Filled with a grateful lover's pride.
Your morning cuppa
#13
A Civet Experience
The beans ferment in the Civet's gut,
Get excreted through the Civet's butt.
Kopi Luwak, what a brew,
Coffee made from Civet poo!
Dachshund discoveries
#12
Feeding
Simon, the little rascal,
Lurks on the edge of the pond,
Where he snaps at the floating fish food
Of which he and the fish are fond.
There are no accidents!
#11
Accident
Last week I sprained my ankle,
Rolled it off a stair.
Now it’s swollen, black and blue—
Thank God I’ve got a spare!
Who's your Daddy?
#10
Panda Possibilities
Baby Panda in an L.A. Park,
Trying to make a score selling bamboo bark,
Took one look at his L.A. keeper,
Said, “Send me back to China where bark is cheaper!”
Work is a curse; however...
#9
Work Ethic
If you have a plank to swab,
Swab it best you can.
No matter what your task in life,
That plank is in The Plan.
Variations on an Idea
#8
Moses, a Magus
Moses was a wizard;
He bore a wizard’s staff,
Given him by God above
To make the Angels laugh.
Watching the Universe on TV
#7
Energy
Energy's not created,
Nor is Energy destroyed.
That's a law of physics;
I hope you're not annoyed.
For that's the way that Nature works;
Conversion's one of Nature's perks,
And all that's here was always here
Unless of course it wasn't.
The house at night
#6
The Early Hours
In the lonely time of night
Between the hours of one and three,
I have the house all to myself,
And its silence speaks to me.
It whispers in the motors,
Burbles in the drains,
Creaks in the ancient floor boards,
Rumbles in the distant trains.
I love the lonely time of night
To read and write and think--
And peer into the darkness,
Doing dishes at the sink.
Tiger Tiger
#5
Trapped
I saw a tiger swallowtail
Stuck in a high skylight.
The butterfly kept fluttering
Against the outside bright.
I took a broom to help it down,
Alleviate its plight;
But the butterfly kept fluttering
Against the outside bright.
Childhood Trauma
#4
The Window
Fate of glass in a wooden frame,
Tempting target in a young boy's game.
Find a rock with a certain heft,
Hurl it hard so there's no strength left.
Feel the impact as a chill,
Consequence of an unformed will.