Saturday, July 30, 2011

(for Mad Men Only)

Harry Haller had a carpet store in a part of town that you would only visit in the day-time and then only on sunny days. Kilim, Azerbaijani, Isfahan, and Dhurrie were a few of the names spoken in harsh whispers in the dark corners of the store. Little light came through the smoke grimed windows. Almost un-noticed among the hanging carpets was a dark doorway with a small sign “Harry Haller’s Records (for Mad Men Only)”. Bins of CD’s, LP’s, 45’s, 78’s and on a shelf an Edison wax cylinder all of these had the theme of wolves of the steppes.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Magic Carpet Ride

Well
Step on board and lets
take a ride.
Shall we go forward
or backward?
Maybe just sideways
and avoid the whole thing
all together?
If we go forward
you can travel over
lands you have already seen.
It will be wonderful — Or it
could be scary and you will
regret it.
Would you like to go backwards?
You can see all the lands you
have known and visited before.
You might fall into a deep depression
and never recover — or it will
be wonderful.
You choose. The choice is always yours.
Hop on up and lets begin
our Magic Carpet Ride into the known
or the unknown.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Rug


Her name was Ima Colektah
her window sills were over-flowing
dead flies and bees
her shelves always had room
just one more kitschy statue
little Swiss children, Hummels
elbowing Ken and Barbie
her 50’s era chrome dinning table
always ready, a complete eight place setting
off-orange Melmac dishes
mom went to Safeway each week
99 cents for each piece
she was proud of everything
the only thing that she regretted
the woman from Antiques Road Show
had a heart attack right there
and ruined the Veramin rug.



Monday, July 25, 2011

On the topic of bees

It happened again. Another dead bee. "Look" he says "a bee." We only notice bees because now they visit our yard one at a time. This bee was hovering around the Jasmin Bush. "Oh" I said "how nice to see one." We admired the bee together. Suddenly the bee makes a loopy almost crash dive and then skims the table we sit at. It appeared to be drunk and flew off to another part of the yard in a wobbly fashion.
My husband moved off to the side yard to attend to some replanting. The same bee flew by him and landed on the cement patch by the back door. "Wow" he says " the bee is over here wandering around on the ground. Bees don't usually walk around like this."
I had been telling him all summer long about all the strange bee behavior and had started a collection of dead bees. I threw them all out as I did not want to become some freaky dead bee collector. And what was I saving them for anyway? Was I going to ship them off to the person in charge of all the recent bee deaths in America? Was I going to officiate at a bee funeral and have a mass grave dug for them?
We left the yard and got on with making dinner. Later I slipped out and went to the last location of the bee. She was there on the ground, dead. I gently picked her up and once again started my dead bee collection.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Barbs


The bee lifted off
from the flower
taking all the sweetness
that it had to offer
and her voice flowed
words of warm honey
a sad, sad song
as she pulled at
the barbs that he
left in her heart

Friday, July 22, 2011

Bee vs Penis

Notice

In the event of Bee vs Penis:
The Bee will always win.

Brought to you by the society to cure penis envy





Thursday, July 21, 2011

An Angry Bee


The creek is called Kuskanax. It runs out of the mountains of British Columbia down into the Arrow Lakes (Columbia River) to feed the never full Pacific. Each spring the snow melt engorges the creek, carrying with it the flotsam and jetsam (wonderful words) out of the forests it passes through. When the waters recede great piles of this debris, this disorganized chaos of mountain forest, are deposited at various points along the creek. It was one of these piles that I faced on my hike up the creek from the lake to the highway bridge. Yes, I can get over this, no problem. I have to admit the stories of unhappy hikers slipping off logs and lying with a broken leg until their bones were picked clean by ravens did pass through my mind. I made it to the top, no turning back now, when I heard it, the angry buzzing of a disturbed wild bee hive. They poured out of the depths of the tangled tree trunks. Oh, My! It’s me that they are angry at. Ravens be damned, I hopped down the pile and ran up to the bridge waving my arms before they relented. It felt as though someone had hit me on the top of my head with a hammer. A bee had gotten tangled in my hair and let me have it. Boy did that hurt. I was still panting in anger and exertion when the worst happened. As I stood in front of the toilet ready to pee, the last bee reminded me to never disturb its hive again. It had crawled all the way up my pant leg and when it could get no further let me have it.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Something Sweet

Saccharine is an artificial sweetner
the taste is not to my liking
When I have tea, honey is dripped

While the honey bee
has gone on strike
with no pretense of
serving humankind
honey becomes
a rare commodity

My Lapsang Souchong will be bare
with only thoughts
of you to sweeten it


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Treacle


In the forest, in the trees
stirs the early morning breeze
small animals begin to stir,
fluttering wings
and the hum of bees
the owls their calls do cease
as the sun in the sky does climb
we whisper to our selves
how can anyone write
such treacly rhyme

 


Monday, July 18, 2011

Aura

She is the Goddess of the early morning
Goddess of the cool early morning breeze
I push open the door
I stand and take it in
into my pain.

Aura Goddess of this Olympian air
runs though me
and I am transformed.

Able to ascertain my berth,
my place
laying leeward into
the exhalation of the Goddess
I sail these gracious winds.

Coming at once to rest
coming at once to me
acknowledging my need
for gentle touch
and kindly reminders
that she is there
and welcomes me home.
 

Friday, July 15, 2011

Breath

From the first yowl of outrage
at being cast onto this
bright white shore
to that last silent exhale,
we breathe, our life
In and out
In and out
So routine
It steps back from center stage.

Our life a drama
mostly suffering
and all the while
air comes in, goes out
this cool breeze of our being.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Hypnotic Trance

I will count down from ten to one.
When I reach one you will be
in a state of complete relaxation
and all sensations of pain
and discomfort will disappear.

10  close your eyes
9   let your body sink deeply
8   you are getting very sleepy
7   peace slides over your body
6   starting from your toes
5   there now let all tensions float away
4   good breath deeply
3   every breath moves you closer
2   to peace and relaxation
1   now you are at complete peace 

Sleep deeply and be refreshed and in tune with the world.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Sunday in the Park


We were in the park. It was a Sunday in July. Someone had suggested a barbeque. So there we were the four of us, blankets, potato salad, bratwurst and watermelon. We had tried to find a spot with just a little shade but the park was crowded. The only decent space left was near the baseball diamond. Jim and Alice wandered off to try to find some ice cream. We were lying on our backs making stories out of puffy clouds. We were in to the third chapter of a torrid bodice ripper between a plumber and a lady lawyer who worked for the DEA. That’s when you suddenly sat up saying “I got it, I got it”, a new angle on the story. Then smack, it hit you, full on in the face. A slicing foul line drive hit by some muscular eighteen year old. It almost lifted you off the ground. You fell back stunned. The skin was split and a bruise was rapidly forming. When the EMT’s arrived they asked you, for some reason, to count to ten before they would let you go.

Monday, July 11, 2011

10 Thankful Things

  1. When the baseball hit my face, it did not shatter my jaw
  2. Lingerie
  3. Fake fingernails
  4. Seeing My Loved Ones in my dreams
  5. Hair grows back even when you shave your head bald
  6. The Great Spirit is my Co-Con-Spirit-or in all things Great and Small
  7. The Crow hovers by my side patiently
  8. On demand hot water
  9. Books that I do not want to come to an end
  10. The laughter my Bichi Poo brings into my life

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Sweet Song

Little bird
sitting on your branch,
your song
greets each day
sweeter than any human
could devise.
You hold
my truly insane
planet together
so I rise
thankful for another day.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Dino Hummer

little bird
spin high
---  let me see
what
---  you really look like
encased in feathers
who
---  would know
a dinosaur lurks
in your heart

Friday, July 8, 2011

Allen


I almost flinch opening
a page on the computer
he stares back at me
fierce eye challenging
male to male
I’m in his territory
an Allen’s Hummingbird
descendent of dinosaurs
I step back, heart banging
and go onto my next email

Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Hummingbirds Message



The iridescent green Hummingbird
has a beak stained yellow
from pollen — swooping down
from under the influential Jasmine
face to face
he gallantly informs
we humans:
Summertime is here

Hummingbird has no song
to sing — instead he
impatiently clicks his
message into our ears,
colonizing our thoughts
"it is our choice to act or not"




Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Personal Bouquet

Don't tell me you don't remember
I was a flower
An impossibly delicate
budding flower
I was such a dulcet rose
God would have plucked me
for her own personal bouquet
until you came along
with your mutton chop sideburns
and faded blue paisley shirt

Friday, July 1, 2011

Born on the Fourth of July



ratty red curtains
ratty red chair
pink patterned dress
a growing belly
camera! please go away
let me be
no guitar, no song today
un-happy birthday
twenty-one
born on the fourth of July