earth note 191

fracking rigs that have turned
western north dakota
into an industrial wasteland
must somehow
some     way
be reversed & restored
never forgotten

every last politician
with filthy hands
needs to be run out of office
exposed as the executioners
that they are
defiling what used to be
sacred grasslands

how the landscape has changed
with the blessings of
the fracking president

but this is no time
for despair
there are rugged mountains
     humans & other forms
in montana
that refuse the devil's fire
     reject suicide & a fools' gold rush

with the ferocity
and grace
of the rivers
two medicine    cut bank    rose    avalanche
let the apostles go forth
shaking every plain and valley
turning a betrayed people toward the light

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, June 29, 2012)

cass lake

millions of dollars from casinos
that aboriginal people of minnesota
     wait to recover
from the deluded
     get rich quick dreamers
will never compare to what was lost
from so-called new world ism
     conquest
     plunder
     genocide
     an official government sanctioned policy

the ojibwe still bleed from the bounty hunters

the land & lakes & wild rice
now stifled and commodified
for the twenty-first century
while a mother waits
for a minimum wage job
at a traffic signal on so-called u.s. 2

the many hues of the indigenous
is a continuum of the forest
     with historical wisdom
          spirit that can't be translated
immersed in color
     from the strongest
     straightest
     tallest jack pine
     with bark that's rough
     resilient
     receptive
to the cries of tradition
tribes and nations
     to be whole

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, June 23, 2012)

headwind on itasca county 8, minnesota

evidently the horse flies had no interest
in a slow moving bicycle
i didn't notice them much
rolling west
just relentless wind
like a wall

but on the return
the extra fifteen miles per hour
must have been more to their liking
they buzzed at the head and legs
landed at will
finally found someone to bite
who was more their speed

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 190

muskallonge lake, upper peninsula, michigan

south shore of kitchegumi (lake superior)
just a pebble's throw from here
through pine maple poplar
thick green line
intimidated
but hanging in there
standing
against the logging trucks
though it seems like everything else
and everyone else
in the past forty-three years
has moved on
that being the first time
i passed these parts
leaving the empty roadside pasty shops
to fade and close with the seasons
all on their own
while the great lake
so cold and steady
as it's always been
passes on its blue life
     gift
     unconditionally

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

homage to spontaneity

is a fragile commitment
the road looks one way
fools you
until you are
upon it

and what is truly unplanned
might just be
an illusion
built upon subconscious
decisions in your dna

and then you begin
to question
why you're alone
in this impromptu lapse
as day & darkness collide

the dog lifts his nose
instinctively
in an effort
to find new bearings
you refuse to acknowledge

yet there's beauty
in every forest
     every desert

--- e b bortz

stop looking back and stop looking forward

every revolution starts within
you
by a decision to create
from love
create right now
words
images
sounds
where no recipe
knows
where every consequence
is unforeseen
where dogma
never gets recycled
where earth
germinates its own
where structures collapse
in their own irrelevance

when hay goes to seed
the field will grow
anew
unpredictable
every field
every seed
     a revolution

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, June 8, 2012)

earth note 189

the fennel
is windswept today
like a brush through the sun
angles of bright and shadow
diffuse within green
lacelike leaves
     the herb of sight
a simple ritual
puts vision
before expediency

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 188

a sheet of rain
is music
each note melting
into itself
surging shallow banks
of the little colorado
brown & grainy forms
collapse into the rage
where the songs are written
unrehearsed
where the water tower
stands
rusting
where the boys speak
of the mad ones
mad to be saved
one of them adds

where no one highway
speaks like the river

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, June 4, 2012)