the long reach of stan musial

donora to cudjoe bay

to let me stretch the truth a bit

wouldn't you know that at 2:30 a.m.

i suddenly wake up

and roll up a yoga mat

swinging it fast & level

like it was a louisville slugger

at an imaginary baseball

that turns out to be

the rustling of a sidearm curveball mouse

near the plantain chips

in their noisy bag & dugout

putting on slippers

(no cleats)

just in case

i can stretch it into a double

sliding in high if necessary

or even trying a good kick

with no regard

for mixing metaphors

--- e b bortz

earth note 645

white street pier, key west, christmas, government shutdown

the bocce ball courts are empty today

but i still hear the old men growling

even if they've decided

to sleep in late today

"those somnabitches are talking about

cutting social security & medicare again

...bastards...

they should stick their silver spoons

right up their privileged asses"

i guess this bocce ball court

will be our line in the sand

if that's what it comes to

merry christmas

--- e b bortz

earth note 644

i awoke to a gale

highway one deserted

a most unusual moment

leaving only the wind singing

the day before was different

the heat and ocean

brought out the well-dressed

     and us

grungy and independent

never a dress code that can't be crashed

and then there's coffee

but it's never strong enough

the brain can always use a tuneup

so keep looking

there are perfect tans and convertibles

and lots of selfies from all corners

of the body

bless 'em all

a pet white rabbit decided to escape

and throw in lot with the wild hens and roosters

staying clear of the traffic is a feat

requires a quick foot and luck

cormorants seagulls pelicans

skim and dive

fish past dusk

all instinct

no coffee needed

--- e b bortz

earth note 643

key west

coconuts dried up & splitting

on the world stage

     fronds tremble

like a gray beard shakes at the root

a windy sunday has nowhere else to go

big mutts race across the dog park

never conscious of the peril of a thumb print

or the iris of an eye

just beyond today's broken sound barriers

--- e b bortz

earth note 642

key west

power lines straddling the bay

windy high tension

     tension crossing

anchors in concrete footing

     legs and feet

keeping a sexy slope

like high heeled sneakers

sombrero beach, marathon

winter solstice

wind burn

sand burn

digs deep into the skin

leaving a sharp silica track

sun goes hiding

deluge moves closer

full gray moon

where only the whitecaps standup

     stand out

--- e b bortz

if the light won't stop you the ocean will

then i saw the light

and the palm trees

and the tourists

asking for directions

which in key west

can mean a lot of different things

variations on the theme

     like where did the old man

really hang out

wasn't it sloppy something

and when does the sunset celebration

begin

and who were the original people here

before the conchs

all of this might be so irrelevant

or maybe it's what's

really relevant

in a hedonistic world

even if you missed

all the happenings

fifty years ago

there's still these small wood-frame

artist cottages

next to the key west cemetery

that sing thru the night

just a few decibels below

the crowing of the roosters

     still free

before the storm

--- e b bortz

earth note 641

i know you've walked 1500 miles

to find this empty bench

i can tell from your footprints

they have that worn look to them

the tide goes low a couple times a day

the sea folds out into a flat gleam

you told me once that everything

has a purpose and yours is to heal

there are pelicans that move their gullet

like they're swallowing a fish

but i'm not so sure that they're not just faking it

or showing off for other pelicans sometimes

if you stand in one place for too long

the sand will burn an image

on the bottom of your feet

so you need to keep walking

there are seas and empty benches everywhere

once you know your purpose

--- e b bortz

(published in Jawbone, Kent Ohio, May 4, 2019)

earth note 640

there is no pathway to the sun

the ocean keeps secrets

--- e b bortz

earth note 639

the root of coral

is quiet

determined

life blood

at the edge of the open ocean

before the ancestors

when the sky

broke from history

raining down

the birth

of water

--- e b bortz

earth note 638

a sailor's tail wind

from yucatan peninsula

blows through the southern gulf

a 14 mph southwesterly

caught in cudjoe bay

before meeting up in the florida straits

     it can growl at times

     shaking the fronds

--- e b bortz

greens, socialists, capitalists, & poetic license

i like to start with the things

we might agree on

with very few exceptions

capital is a greasy machine

like a field of tanks

it'll roll right over every flora & fauna

mistook for an enemy

the oily politicians of the R & D variety

(not research & development)

will line their brooks brothers suits

overstuffed mansion cushions

and off-shore bank accounts

with the big payoffs

a return on investment

the dollar has a million faces

and bodies to hide

with very few exceptions

socialists like to think

every time they stand on a street corner

people will listen

after all the class nature of every struggle

leads to a sharpening of contradictions

and all the obvious truths that flow from that

     i beg to differ

maybe fundamentally even

all of the logic fails to consider

the egos and vengeance of some individuals

known as humans

(only humans are capable of hatred)

     no

i won't bore you with all the names

masquerading as socialists

dwelling in lands and vanguards

of crooked tongues

     even torture

with no exceptions

being a green

is more than art and politics

always a work in progress

a caretaker without quixotic quest

an organizer of ideas

but not a know-it-all

one who will stand on a street corner

with an open hand

a listener above the shouting

but nonetheless a screamer

in defense of heart and mind

using green tinted glasses

instead of rose colored ones

shading out the fakers and impostors

still looking for a universal key

to unlock salvation or a new nonprofit

balance is never binary

but collaborative

there is always a muse

on every horizon

if you scan all dimensions

when the forest speaks

     heed

when the original people speak

     learn

after the glaciers

after the freshwater lakes and rivers

when the sun nods off into the haze

after the mountains and hills

slide over the last hollow

after the seas rise and split

your phony nation-state borders

being green suddenly

     belatedly

is no longer academic

     has never been ivory tower

always too late for dogma

but don't take my word for it

leave your flag at home

bring only what is real

--- e b bortz

earth note 637

from the beach

you hear wind

singing through sand and coral 

if you listen closely

there will be cellos and violas

there's no way to duplicate

or capture this movement

the pitch oscillates unpredictably

like music not scripted

the sun adds a continuous overflow

of sweeping gestures

    like a maestro

--- e b bortz

earth note 636

sunflower fields

roll over a kansas flatlander

leading you past

the last tree etching

distance is a sepia

     misleading

for what's left of daylight

drooping in the well of your eye

dust settles

and your eye adjusts

to this new world order

same as the old ones

     false promises and land speculators

where the road looks back

sometimes laughing

knowing that there's more to it

than two-lane mileposts

heaving concrete

and abandoned tractors

the many shades of the iris

is where the sunflowers bloom

--- e b bortz

earth note 635

cudjoe bay

two thin land masses

east and west

extend like fingers

pointing at someone

with a short attention span

     yes

that would be us humans

cradled in a new equilibrium

a gray horizon nudges the atlantic

coming up to meet us

more than halfway

with open arms

the wind rocks

     from a mouth

          wide open

--- e b bortz

earth note 634

snipe point florida keys 2018

i still hear

pilot whales

dying on the cross

for every living cell

from the foam

of morning tide

coming home

to the resurrection

--- e b bortz

earth note 633

a yearly hundred-year flood

is no cliche

the riverbanks speak

for the unspoken

sumacs bend and hold their ground

after everyone else

runs for the hills and malls

if it's a weekend

muscle cars at the carwash

throw a mean uppercut

just before hauling ass

out     of     town

getting lost in the exurbs

on the backside of a politician sign

who knows no cease-fire

the grocery store pharmacy

is packed with pain and relief

the line snakes

all the way out the door

a price bump

leads to a pill splitter

--- e b bortz

earth note 632

key west

the old trees in old town

can still subvert the sidewalk

raising and cracking the slabs

like an underground rising

d.a. levy has more to do with this

than the midterm election results

there's heat coming up the gulf

a wind that hasn't said a word yet

the cruise ships bully toward the sunset

a hundred hands try to block them

allen ginsberg will make you weep

when he comes to shore with his final poem

only a black sky can give you light

most of the time it's best to hide

among the mangroves

always give the jellyfish the right-of-way

stock island is filled with ghosts

some of them by way of whiskey island

the old frame houses on fleming

take in and save the lost raindrops

a cistern is a heart that opens

for every beat there's a singer's blue note

daniel thompson     jim lang     maj ragain

have more to do with this

than the midterm elections

--- e b bortz