earth note 734

sun and storm isolating in the same frame

spring stands naked as a flag

blowing straight in from the west

betsy ross should have been designing surgical masks

a clash with the northerlies is imminent

--- e b bortz

the poets should go back to work

everyone else should stay home

or take a dog for a walk in the park

the poets have never earned their keep

let 'em work now

or we can round 'em all up and put 'em

in cages like in texas or china

we'll show 'em what isolation's like

there goes a cardinal on the forsythia

what a clash of red and yellow

this ain't no exercise

the rain's washing the gutters

but the trash is left behind

there's a mountain of medical waste

hiding in some hollow

if you have nightmares

wear latex gloves to bed

the poets should stop feeling sorry for themselves

not everyone's charles bukowski

     and anyway

     the liquor stores are closed

your jeans are looking thread-bare

dream up a few lines

and shout it out

in front of the dollar general

let the poets go back to work

     damn it

     everyone else

     keep a distance

--- e b bortz

earth note 733 adjusted for the virus

night rain ends

the dog is still dreaming as in whimpering

every street is coffee black

most of the houses

are on lockdown

save your ire while you're still feeling it

keep your hands away from your face

don't pick your nose

shave away your facial hair

you were never born with it anyway

a county executive wants to cleanup the porta-johns

at the frackin cracker plant construction site

didn't anyone tell him

     shit flows downhill

     don't bite your fingernails

     (and payday's on friday)

so the store shelves got raided

before sunrise

toilet paper has made it to the commodity exchange

you need keys to the city

to get into the senate office building bathrooms

so take the money & run in your cleanest jockey shorts

i won't be voting for you anyway

a pickup truck with a rusted-out bed

is dropping his muffler on the avenue

no one told him to keep quiet

& stay home today

so he's heading downstream

to the cracker plant

     river rising

--- e b bortz

antidote

when the eyes are clear

look to the arches

buttes and mesas

carried up through the ancients

gathering their roots

in the veins of

diné

apache

hopi

ute

zuni

     a thousand more

--- e b bortz

earth note 732

indigenous green and brown

the riverbanks of the tapi river

gathering like runoff silt

color and grain

before the western structures

before industrial agriculture

touching the land

marks your beginning and end

in the thai language

there's a whisper

for every syllable

a free secret

beyond bitterness

out of the forest

a body extends

like the branch of a tree

even for the skeptical

a kiss will always

warm the living

your hands are your eyes

the small airport was crowded

for a weekday

our hands were sweaty

the announcements gave us

little time before abandonment

there were lies we told each other

it felt right for the time

i gave her a bob marley cassette

she gave me a photo

from the beach in songkhla

since then i've read a story or two

about the farang who leaves

     a heart

in the quiet alleys

of the mind

like the heat from the equator

never leaves your body

--- e b bortz