Keening for Sandy Hook's Innocents

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Lost in a Crowd

Between quiet and crowds
I prefer stillness
in all its aspects of calm

outside of jostling noise

I seek stillness
embellished with beauty
far removed from ugly inputs

sanctioned for heedless needs

beauty sustains me
in its scant locations
shrunken by human intrusions

to satisfy its ravenous maw

found yet again
beside whispering water
in some enchanted landscape

safe from the planet-trashers.

Death of a Family

Divorce kills
bludgeons
obliterates

familial bonds
ripped asunder
in sudden mayhem

jagged pieces
remain, scattered
among the ruins

love leaves
entropy succeeds
trust in tatters

disparate kin
scarred, wounded
in helpless witness

no formal ritual
food or flowers
for customary comfort.

Back to the Past

Losing just a bit
of advancing stride
in this race with life

need for shifting gears
back into reverse
to slow momentum

eager to set off
in time machine
to repossess the past

alluring vision
of youthful terrain
at high school class reunion

nametags matched
to unfamiliar faces
sculpted by aging

yet fifty years
quickly vanish
in those beholders' gaze.

Flying into Night

Azure, gold, fiery orange
layered like sand art
brilliantly lit
on my west

on my east
impending peaks
shaded in grays
and charcoal black

alternating glimpses
as double visions
soon to disappear
behind the nocturnal curtain.

Career Change

I wish to apply
for flying status
in my hereafter life

ready then
for sky-high adventures
in the third dimension

not as cosmic
or vaporous explorer
with eternal tenure

but sturdier
of broad-wingéd sort
preferably as an eagle

surveying landscapes
from superior perches
riding tall-mountain thermals

if this impossible
any unfilled, wren-or-finch slot
certainly acceptable.

 

Seasonal Prequel

A blooming bouquet of color
neon splashes
gold, pick-your-own orange, glowing red

brilliant zinnias
last stems standing
beyond summer's growing bounds

connecting the seasons
as premonitory avatars
of Fall's flamboyant blossoms.

The Circus Came to Town

The big-top tent up and waiting
unconventional circus in town

no lions, tigers, elephants
trapeze artists or juggling clowns

just rambunctious boy and girl
leading a make-believe parade

on the stage from dawn to dusk
performing with three-ring aplomb

running, jumping, swinging tall
batting balls across nightfall

apple-picking, rock-hopping
under autumn's sunshiny sky

climbing an ice cream mountain
final act of this spectacular show

the tent's folded once again, stored away
until next rendition of their gleeful play.

Personal Multiverse

They touch
but do not articulate...
my two universes

tangential
with convenient portal
between these independent spaces

one world
anchored in daily prospects
of comfortable ordinariness

the other
soaring and unbounded
levitating me on creative bliss.

Saturday Ballet at Market Basket

Swarming with the morning troupe
near the eggs-and-butter cooler

magnetized next to deli counter
pirouetting between with practiced ease

bending delicately over slabs of meat
stretching gracefully for cereal mixes

waltzing toward frozen-food cases
dodging some out-of-rhythm plodders

on point for paper towel choices
bowing low before detergent soaps

threading intricate, crowded spaces
among displays of fruits and produce

swanning discretely into pastry section
twirling round and round stacks of treats

queuing up at last in chorus line of carts
eager to hear the cashier's ringing applause.

Coltsfoot

Dusty colt's feet
traipsing along
in slowest motion

leafy hoof prints
pounding soundlessly
on roadside tracks

cheerfully lugging
summer's fun
on its hospitable back.

Fall Foliage #11

One redhead
among all the green others
grabbing fall's early attention

otherwise nondescript
scraggly with unbuxom foliage
small beside tall, statuesque types

one winning moment though
seized in August's preliminaries
before autumn's official beauty contest.

Garden Warfare

Darting dive bombers
on the offensive

whizzing rockets
among flower heads

helicoptering
with tail displays

ambushes fierce
in aerial attacks

daily combatants
near hummingbird feeders.

Mr. and Mrs. Soprano

They
uneasy seatmates
on the island ferry

she
commoditized
with fancy dress and jewels

he
over preening
in Wall Street pinstripes

she
seething
with obvious disgust

he
careful
under public gaze

gambling losses
new mistress
another murder?

they
inching together
ever so slightly

compromises remembered
tangled web intact
as they disembark.

Subliminal Messages (detected while camping beside Glazier Lake in northwestern New Brunswick)

The beaver whacks the water
loons call across the lake
a shooting star lights up the sky

the beaver thwacks a welcome
loons send their eerie greetings
a shooting star flashes its cosmic hello

the beaver slaps loudly and rudely
loons communicate the same
a shooting star weeps luminous tears

the kingfisher is shrieking, too
a spectral great blue flies by
I understand.

Airfall

Invisible flow
down the back mountain

gravity-fed
after sunset

gaining momentum
with soundless force

spilling through the window
pooling on cabin floor

splashing my face
with air-cooled essences

as I lie at edge
of sleep's deeper abyss.

Beach Front

Contented
side by side
in rocking rhythm

courtesy of
southwest breezes
blowing houseward

proxy presences
in porch waiting
for corporeality.

Loon Night

Bright as day
within black night

many wakeful
as others sleep

the spotlight rises
on flattened shadows

quiet resounds
across the lake

point, counterpoint
sung in unison

loons frolic
while owls abide.

Atmospheric Beasts

Dinosaurs once again
storm across the continent

thunderous rumbles
herald their coming

loosing death and destruction
in their atmospheric wake

stalking prairie lands
even suburban boroughs

sweeping aside all impediments
with random, spiked-tail swipes

offering no quarter
to resisters in their path

nothing available
to slay these sky-high beasts.

Modern Dilemma

How to resist, switch off
anesthetizing media
addictive electronic fixes

instead to nourish muscles
to observe, to think, to imagine
to exercise life vigorously.

Non Sequitur

Active aversion
to accumulating stuff
except for tilting towers of books

addicted craving
for crafted pages
of twisting plots and provocative thought

with endless permutations
for words and syllables
to praise, to chastise Homo sapiens

not always wise
not always humane
but occasionally divine.

Exercise Class

No aerobics
in my exercise niche

huffing and puffing
exempt from regimen

printed words exhort
thinking muscles

for literary
to authorial stretches

to achieve

new generative state.

Sunset Serenade

Not at the Met
La Scala
or Santa Fe
my soprano

her vibrato
bel canto
bravissima
in simple arias

enchanting
as Pan's piped tunes

harmonized

among hermit others

in concert with

sunset's brilliant encore

casting a spell

over her north woods venue.

Relativity

Anticipation
with memory
makes a moment

either future
or past
the present never is

punctuation
to a string of days
accumulating

collected
memorialized
as butterfly fragments.

Concert by the Sea

Performance under glass
unified vision beyond

rocks, sea, sky converge
to vanishing point

all matter resplendent
in sensory apparel

stage-lit by sunset
with advancing colors

swooping, white wings
in syncopated dance

harmonizing brilliantly
with bravissimo sounds.

Virtuosic Lover

Magnificent curves
resonant hollows
in lovely waiting

softly rounded mounds
explicitly exposed
inviting caresses

tenderest touch
sweetly pitched response
of devoted practiceship

fingers and sinews
working as one
for rhapsodic intimacy.

Execution Day

Today the trees

came tumbling down

one by one

by one by many

sky-high spires

summarily severed

shorn remains

stacked, tumbreled away

'the forest is dead

long live the forest.'

Feast of Lives

We only live
one life, maybe two
during our days

unless we read
then I have had at least
ten thousand more

myriad selves
through the ages
in global places

in many guises
troublemakers, heroes
from all sides of the tracks

empresses
artists
politicos

fortune-hunters
space explorers
clowns

cats and dogs
flying horses
even Loraxes

the list goes on
and on and on and on
in magnificent panoply.

On Entering Fenway Park for the First Time

Explosion of green

incandescent welcome

stepping across

this mythic threshold

hallelujah sounds

haloed sights surround

transcendent zone

for strike-it-rich moment

finding Fenway

at the end of the rainbow.

Renaissance Portraits at the Met

A death mask stuns

among gorgeous youths

older, bald Lorenzo

with pugnacious face

hung beside

his scholarly profile

in tiny portrait

sketched by friend Da Vinci

final cast more real in repose

against il Magnifico's ideal

suggestive perhaps

of a mafiaesque man of letters.

Conjugal Dialogue

She: What brought us to this moment?

He: Our tested and untested love.

She: What is the purpose of this challenge?

He: To build a better We than you or me.

She: How do we pursue this quest?

He: To investigate love together.

She: What is love? What is love not?

He: Love is complex with intricate strings attached.

She: Love is subject to the heart's control.

He: Love can be a hollow dream if only pursuit of perfect bliss.

She: Love can be an illusion composed of hope and false assumptions.

He: Love can be a chameleon with many emotional disguises.

She: Love may not be equal in all times of relationship.

He: Love needs giving with more giving to endure.

She: Love may not always have the answer.

He: Love may not be the alpha and omega of humanness.

We: Kindness is better...unambiguous.

Each Day

The curtain

rises on another day

reminding me

of fortuitous existence

in the midst

of satisfying spaces

with

pinkish sky

waking woods

mist-covered field

cheerful birdsong

inside warmth

smell of coffee

a sweet on the tongue

familiar fabric

of sensory connections

re-woven

through evolving years

wrapping me

in its daily welcome.

Almost a Fossil

Slithered into narrow niche

beneath limestone overhang

only refuge from thunderous storm

along exposed, Swiss hiking slope

grateful for protective shelter

against nature's raging moment

until I solemnly contemplate

unsupported bulk above

primed to crush me into a fossil

hid for multi-millennial time

yet quite a fitting, final imprint

for this rock-enamored scholar.

Cave Art

Once upon a time

tens of thousands of years ago

magnificent panels of art

filled mostly with hunted animals

bears, lions, spotted horses

artist-signed with red handprints

appeared deep underground

in France and Spain

who, what, when, how and why

now haunt these ancient galleries.

Human History

Many crushed in pendulum strokes

in wrong-way sweeps

fluctuating extremes

from enlightenment to fear

luckiest others in the ascent

before change begins again

greater swings on occasion

pushing the future more forward.

Natural Archaeology I and II

Elegant fragments

in every size

I never see a rock

I do not want to pick up

and examine

puzzle pieces

of a vast expanse

I came late

to this relationship

as sand-drenched native

millions, billions

in far-flung middens

once introduced

these magnetic treasures

captured my soul

ready to reveal

encrypted secrets

now true aficionado

connoisseur, collector

ever seeking stories

of the planet's

long-ago passions

in nature's

casually tossed aside

revelatory shards.

Sunset at Haleakala

Memory treasure deeply buried
crystallized as awe-struck moment

glorious sparkles at low-angle light

ground-scattered off augite facets

statuesque, silversword columns
solitary, once-blooming sentries

leading to the amen spectacle

at Haleakala's crater's edge

psychedelic vista above the clouds

studded with neon-colored cones

eternity in theatrical relief

stands audaciously revealed.

Swiss Intermezzo

I heard ten thousand flies buzz

in blooming Alpine meadow

inflorescences small and broad

smothered under hordes of black

raising their hobnobbing chorus

in summerfest celebration

not interested in me

relaxing in mid-hike

sprawled in this noisy midst

of unrestrained rejoicing

still humming that moment in my head

several decades later.

Ubiquitous Fences

Barbed strands

as far as vision stretches

across plains

deserts, badlands

companions

for the highway

shouting out

to all passers-by

'no trespassing

on my wide open spaces.'

Lucky Duck

Paddle

dabble

dive below

fly above

sunny and

rainy play

solitary

or social

no awareness

of disaster

would I trade

for a duck's life?

Walking Hadrian's Wall

Come follow me

along this sinuous trail

across dramatic hillscape

unfettered views

to unclaimed Barbaria

beyond Britannia

watch with me

upon the emperor's wall

for invading spirits

join me and listen

to Roman voices

in these heaped-up stones

grousing about

history's wild guesses

of frontier life-in-exile.

Classification of Pain

Toothache pain

trapped

in pounding surf

hip pain

stabbed

with many knives

childbirth pain

caught

in a whirlwind

migraine pain

encased

in Medusa's head

grieving pain

alienated

from Eden.

Siren Songs of Hope

Down the hill

convergent values

round the bend

common resources

in the valley

shared sacrifice

under the bridge

attenuated suffering

flowing river

absence of fear

toward the ocean

enduring love

into blue sky

universal empathy

back into clouds

without prejudice

poised as rain

post-political epoch

gentle drizzle

with forgiveness

morning dew

peace on earth

talismanic rainbow

good will among all.