Thursday, May 27, 2021

thai heat comes to pittsburgh

with the dedication of dripping water droplets

trees in the canopy bow in reverence
murky rivers take their turn
a welder's arc at minimum wage
from a darkened garage
oily skin takes in all the grit
then screams for a cold shower
a jackhammer labors up the avenue
there's no beauty in the work-a-day world
the vans carry the immobile to the hospital
coal mine subsidence sinks another hillside
and yet the summer
has not yet begun

--- e b bortz 

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

maybe i'm not well read

or i'm looking in the wrong places
but where is our camus
our new generational someone
standing against the cryptocurrency suits & military brass
with nothing but naked intellect
methodically exposing false prophet politicians
their executioner noose platforms & pipelines
     call it carbon blinding if you want
but the blood is real
awash in every river
'til you reach a dustbowl

camus knew the underground
his blood the ink on the paper
blowing up the lies of the third reich
another thousand-year empire delusion
where ghettos and gas chambers intersect
and ashes never go cold

the clear cuts have made way
for the barbed wire borders
concrete & asphalt facsimiles
as far as the eye can see
but then there's camus
here to walk every last hollow
inside a notebook and scribbled truths

--- e b bortz

Saturday, May 22, 2021

earth note 801


weigela java red
wakes up suddenly
a month before the summer solstice
wrapping itself up in
white pine austere
there's more than one way
to subvert the paradigm

--- e b bortz

Thursday, May 20, 2021

earth note 800


fruit beginning to show a fuzz
drooping weeping peach tree
rust red losing some color
packing just one carry-on
a steel rail bowl
singing alone
westbound

--- e b bortz

Friday, May 14, 2021

bedouin


the original people of the desert
before slingshots
documents
crusader swords
messiahs and messiah complexes
where skin meets sand and rock
and tears
when the dead sea was pure
no one walked on kinneret
camels sleepwalk as the sun sets
through unfounded claims
of ownership
all that needs to be said is
let one life open for another
when you find water
feed the animals first
leave enough for the next traveler
those carrying the burden
are the righteous

--- e b bortz

Monday, May 10, 2021

grinnell street key west

a few years before now


is the shortcut toward
harpoon harry's
eventually you need to step
out of the darkness
the exposed tree roots
a hundred years growing
through hurricanes and floods
leafy overhangs
crowd your sweaty palms
opening hands in a black sky
to the cemetery
like iron gates and headstones
locked above ground
for the poets
and mandolins

--- e b bortz 

Sunday, May 09, 2021

earth note 799


the coldest rain
came in may
leaving a bed of loose pine needles
as witness
the nutrients bleached out
a trio of white pine
leading toward the valley
the road out of purgatory
is just a cold river
if you feel the pinch
you know you're still breathing
somewhere in between
beatitude practice
and a remembrance of youth
finally breaking free
walking 'til the soles become
endless practicing souls that have
nothing in common 'cept
their ability to find
or define
your purpose

--- e b bortz 

Wednesday, May 05, 2021

earth note 798


steady rain drumming
trees with their mouths open
roots through the underground
to stop the pipelines
you need that internal rhythm
like a heartbeat
like a storm

--- e b bortz