earth note 374

what looks like
a coming apart
is as close to a natural process
as anything in nature

the powerful exert

& beat their meat
like a conqueror
     their words recycled & not important

if you gaze the treeline

what is misnamed
     weak
is in fact an embryo

long-distance snow geese 

in the voices of refugees
a river current
finding its way from the origin

--- e b bortz

earth note 373

atlantis blew in like a virus
like it had somewhere to go

the gnats are biting

like they're on their death bed

false advertising & political campaigns

can barf up the unexpected

if there's a will

it would be good to know yah

i guess this is seasonable

hyperbole     what goes in must come out

take a couple aspirin

& call your proctologist in the morning
(kudos to daniel thompson)

--- e b bortz

 

earth note 372

hollywood, florida

the moon can't be trivialized

to fractions
like last night's seven/eighths
or maybe it was five/sixths

it was bright enough

to differentiate the recycling
from the rubbish cans
though the puddles in the alley
needed galoshes
     who even uses that word now
     being from pittsburgh
          is enough of a reason

strange times indeed

keeping everyone off-balance
     you can tell by their driving habits
like hydroplaning
& continuous braking
and for every new-old construction site
there's another flashing emergency vehicle
about to be deployed
     you take your life seriously
     as a rear view mirror

is that eighteen wheeler
closer or further than it appears

even a full moon

has its unexpected detractors
     still
what hides in the clouds
can be whimsically left
as a secret

--- e b bortz

earth note 371

hollywood, florida

a woodpecker

in the tropics
sifting through
the fronds
fire ants
run for cover
     there will come a time
     when peace will prevail

a drawbridge creaks

another sequence
just after the bicycles
make their way

is it really ocean sand

or just an imposter
to these parts
     does it really matter
     will the pelicans complain

will it keep the tourists away

--- e b bortz

earth note 370

the yucca plant
has its own defenses
sharpened through millennia

the earth

& its cumulative knowledge
answers to no one

there's no such thing

as an invasive species
walls are not the answer

what has been misnamed

a desert
will grow & bend with time

--- e b bortz

earth note 369

pinging on a tin roof
in short intervals
is some kind
of internal song
that awakens
but is impossible
to understand

when the rain turns cold

the northeast will speak
in tongues
& you'll wonder
how long it's been that way
or how long you'll
keep listening

--- e b bortz

 

call it a convergence

or focus
there are loose ends
like scattered range grass
that come together
without being noticed

the subtle

are not voiceless

no commodities

to be exchanged
     mattresses
     will sleep on their euros
the thousand dollar suit
will never notice
in its stupor

--- e b bortz

there's no fooling anyone

with a phony quiet
     at this instant
calm & autumn leaves are only
on a park trail

but go back a few days

& that's when
two people
were gunned down
a few blocks from
     here
in front of the high school
i graduated from
49 years ago

no teenage scuffle

like it used to be

the season has changed

start looking deeper
the forest can only weep
so long

--- e b bortz