Saturday, August 31, 2019

impatience


has always led me
to throw the words down in a hurry
no expectations

refugees gathering up their families
heading toward the boats and rafts
against all odds     with only courage

poets sheltering infants at standing rock
in a lineage of endless canyons and prairies
a vision that can't wait

words eked out
from a mother's breast
and a river

to cleanse us all

--- e b bortz

Friday, August 30, 2019

earth note 700


surat thani to phuket, 1989

the bus ride for an exit visa
went right thru a rainforest
water droplets hanging
in transition
straining then letting loose
i slide the window open
before the horizon goes orange

--- e b bortz

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

walking with your back straight


is a segue out of the drizzle
it should all breakup by noon
     the rain that is

and then we'll be that much closer
to september
the month of decay & renewal

canada geese are stirring
     filling the void
wings take on poetry
like diminishing warm air currents

the avenue traffic is unusually loud today
school buses determined
with new drivers

a dove puffs up on the wire
starts a low cooing
blends in with raindrops on the roof

the drizzle may go on til tomorrow

--- e b bortz

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

earth note 699














a great pittsburgh ride
     circa 1993
is still waiting for the sun to come out

the colors fade faster
than the legs spin
even with a fitness storefront
in every mall or maul
all inclusive
like a 'healthcare package'

when i rode my bicycle to junior high
some of the kids laughed at me
& said i needed to ditch it
for a better one
of course this was only 1960
long before the eco bicycle awakening
     brought me clipless pedals

this may get me a score of unwanted
online advertising but i definitely
believe in upgrading to a more
supportive and comfortable
prostate neutral
     saddle

that view in your helmet mirror
is not a look back
but forward
















--- e b bortz

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

earth note 698


the head of the ohio river
has been hung out to dry
rolling its eyes     origin weeping
as the commentators come on
gushing about how many jobs
will be supplied by a petrochemical cracker box
     of poison     and plastic
just a few miles downstream

after all
we need plastic
like the country needs a billion more
credit cards

as royal dutch shell gas industry commands it
every bought & paid for politician
opens their mouth
closes their eyes

--- e b bortz

Friday, August 16, 2019

blue song, rev 2


pittsburgh 1969

we walked a few miles before
the summer night cloud burst
soaked us through

somehow we knew
k and g would never
hold together

him back from nam
never settled inside
demons would win

and when the incline
finally made it
to mount washington

we kissed the skyline
in all the haze
a thousand lights nothing but melting candles

and swore to meet
in ten or fifty years
what's real lives on

there comes a beat
only the drum
knows

hands forget
what the heart
remembers

and at dawn
no change
joy-tears find rainbows eventually

the incline makes another round
lights dim
we gather the morning

epilogue:

this fell somewhere between
woodstock and the death of jack kerouac
the rain still washes the body of everything
except the original sins...we live with them
like they were cousins in a long line of ancestry
     the rivers still cry out in the downstream
someone might say
how can there be any tears left

--- e b bortz

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

the sky barely lets in first light...keep the planes grounded


grudgingly
even the maples are drab green
hong kong youth turning their soft bodies
against assault weapons & armored personnel carriers
     this is real steel
post-post-post cultural revolution
not something out of a backyard furnace

businessmen take your gadgets home
to the gig economy
find a cargo ship to stow away with

--- e b bortz

Sunday, August 11, 2019

the earthworms are surfacing

i don't need to look under every rock
it's all self-evident
that the body speaks for itself
you don't need to walk every hollow
to know that the hillsides are slipping
the fog takes days to lift
and then of course that isn't the whole picture

i used to stand at the top of the city steps
and look as far west as possible
breaking out of the box takes many attempts
you find yourself at the side of a highway
looking for a route that always seems to escape you

when the fall rains come
denim is your only covering
the rain comes down gray
coal barges spit what's left overboard
you wanna grab what's left of a blue sky
     walk with your back straight

--- e b bortz

Friday, August 09, 2019

earth note 697


the forest broke the headwind
better than a line of bicycles
even ohio hickories
logged out decades before
wedged their remainders
touching aboriginal mounds
mounds still standing proud
refusing to roll over forgotten
gathering the morning sun
getting under the skin
between the heartbeats
where there's nowhere to hide

--- e b bortz

Thursday, August 08, 2019

earth note 696


on the back ridge
a woodpecker found
rhythm

sound meets
a lost soul
hollow is a message

--- e b bortz

Tuesday, August 06, 2019

earth note 695


after the hurricane
there was a line of inverted mangrove
stretching out like a barrier island against the highway
uprooted in the storm
dying like on a spiral cross
reaching for the sky

--- e b bortz

Saturday, August 03, 2019

earth note 694


when the paper finally unravels
the dogma texts
will take on new forms
grounded and nurtured in dark loam
like sunflower fields
migratory birds
calling out the believers and nonbelievers
     to think
     anew
let the rotting go forward
a new day always begins
like darkness

leave your steel-toed boots behind
toughen your flesh soles
footsteps bare
but the path is clear

--- e b bortz