Friday, May 29, 2020

if i was paranoid it would be time to speak and write in code


something really obscure
or maybe just straight up
like notes from the gallows
     or svoboda
there aren't many escapes
from the blue     brown shirt     camouflage uniforms
& their assault weapons
piling up in gun stores
movie theaters
football stadiums
new legions of national guard inductees
you may have seen all of this before

deep breathing can help
whisper with every chance you get
check in on your neighbors

--- e b bortz

Thursday, May 28, 2020

earth note 744


the road thru the park
is becoming undone
rough on the edges
hillsides slipping
the rain finding a new flood plain
maybe it's another
great glacial movement underway
from some remote tangential corner
of big rock candy mountain
     too many promises promises
     planet earth

--- e b bortz

Friday, May 22, 2020

earth note 743


seemingly a contradiction
between a swan lake
and a rust bucket iron ore pit
the rain hits the water in the same way
the clouds make their way
before the first shift finishes
but there's a logic to working straight thru
before getting five days off

the rain will stop soon and by late fall
the ponds will freeze
it'll be time to bury the mind
and yield to the frozen tamarack
ask the wetlands for direction
mark the landmarks in your own way
so as not to get lost
on the way back

the headwaters of the mississippi
never promised anyone
a free baptismal
but this is no time or place
to get in to
who died
for who's sins

the forest speaks
in infinite colors
more spirits than psalms
ojibwe
wild rice
the living language
for every root
there is a source

--- e b bortz

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

earth note 742


the tops of the maples are turning over impatient
like a heavy breathing wind storm

status quo bituminous
digging through the bowels of low coal

pulmonary blood letting
still popular like black dust

--- e b bortz

Friday, May 15, 2020

everyone left us to an empty road


pre-virus tucumcari to conchas new mexico

they call it the canadian river that runs
near the two-lane
from a state park lake/reservoir confluence in the north

it makes for a quiet sunday morning
sunny dry december
hills in pinyon pine

other than a few lost seagulls
our voices carry
like an intruder

serendipitously
we've been sent
to the outer edges of a singing bowl

of a rock face
that leaves
with a smile

--- e b bortz

Thursday, May 14, 2020

red-green-yellow


cardinal red clashes
into the foreground
moving like a rhythm
long forgotten

no one asks
for a map
or which side of the equator
you might wake up on

maple leaves offer
the most promise
if you can't find any
go with poplar

forsythia before the drought
aspen if you get high enough
if sunflowers are planted
the bees will sing

--- e b bortz

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

the deep blue sky has been waiting for the virus


to show up
like a gunslinger
then go about
and open a secret or two
how many times have we heard
that the best minds of the generation
have been bordering on the absurd

there's a sunflower sutra for this kind of day

at some point
you will walk past the sirens
your face and ears covered
deep into a restless forest
it's all within reach
you don't need an invitation
there is no ideological acid test
when the kids finally grab their diplomas
& bury them in the memory
from this kind of day
this kind of future

billions of bodies
hold on in a fault line
crashing glaciers
maybe the beginning
of the end of history
a virologist will rise on easter
and sing all praises
to the scientific method

so make way
for a sun today
that won't give up

--- e b bortz

Monday, May 11, 2020

earth note 741


rain finally rescues the woods
dampness will try & carry on for weeks
ponderosa have a knack for spacing themselves
but there are no ponderosa in these parts
everyone's an orphan

the trails will dry up with a hundred feet
deer hooves trail off
when you're not paying attention
i've been guilty more than once
for wearing blinders

woodpecker beats between raindrops
a hollow lonely call & answer
i've been waiting with my ear on the ridge

--- e b bortz

Saturday, May 09, 2020

it took a snowfall in may to wake me


coventry, over the fence from lake view cemetery, cleveland

a high green wooden fence
my cousin's backyard where we played hide & seek
peeking thru the cracks
i could see headstones
too still for the impatience
of an eight-year-old

many decades later
still no hiding places
only the words of daniel thompson
the poet freedom rider carries on
food to the hungry
quiet and fiery
in john brown's body

the snow passed when darkness fell

--- e b bortz

Wednesday, May 06, 2020

i've come to this voice


mostly by accident
from mean & gentle streets & highways
it cracks when wind overpowers mountains
leaving only the chill of lake ontario all year round
the city parks are just over your shoulder
find the sycamores for your bearings
find the aspen when you're about
to give up hope
it'll carry you to the next dimension
find the rush of the cuyahoga before it goes afoul
find a window rock before you lose your sight
follow the rio grande in all of its tongues
let your hands reach out to deaden the pain
find the confluence before the whitewater
takes your breath away
find the perfect snow to a frozen wetland
search the stumps and count the rings
place your stones and say kaddish
if you still have tears
gather them in your beer glass
find a body on a steamy august
find a body before the pipes freeze
give the marigolds a reason to bloom
give the phlox enough ground to spread the gospel
find a trail without a trail head
find a desert that hasn't given up
pick up trash before the river eats it
don't take the first words
or even the second
like it's an epitaph

--- e b bortz