earth note 813

sand dunes colorado

there's a mexico wind

to explain a beige sunrise

mountains crack to feed

a trickle of a riverbed

mule deer head upstream

looking to the shelter of the pines

dry lightning tries to wake the world

sangre de christo

--- e b bortz

orifice

as things get desperate

i'd be willing to pull a

     word

out of any orifice

i could lay my hands on

after all

my dad would say

he'd go as far as

joining the steamfitters

if that was the only union around

sometimes (maybe always)

you just have to

     improvise

scramble down the highway

til that

     word

hits you

     head on

the clouds are getting grayer

by the minute

pressure's building

there's a pile of boiler pipe

with nowhere to go

my dad would probably say

just keep looking

--- e b bortz

earth note 812

on the old barn road

you can count a hundred maples

looking for a second life

     regeneration

it can come in waves

almost migratory

even the stones pick up moss

deep into winter

i don't think my eyes are fooling me

i've seen the mountain grow

--- e b bortz

earth note 811

i found an oak leaf

to cover my hand and fingers

it felt like a long lost caress

almost fitting

from a body long forgotten

--- e b bortz

red-blue-red, part 5

if only a community of lungs

could work together

rise together

stop listening to father death

learn how to make good

even from the bad

knowing still

there's a blood promise

to be resolved

and sometimes

gasping for air

is all we have left

if you get there in time

smathers beach will look as blue

as any andaman dream

float instead of swim

let the tides hide

your true intentions

from the inside of a mango

the sun fades red

even at midnight

--- e b bortz

earth note 810

clouds have stretched from west to east

in a fire season of prevailing winds

a venture capitalist is looking out his window

& planning his next private space trip

smiles are going all around even as death valley

contributes to the burn

it's all a las vegas crap shoot

that the dinosaurs tripped over

--- e b bortz

earth note 809

the plains have a way of closing down your eyes

and placing them at the end of the earth

you're never sure how they get there

how or why it happens

dust comes & goes like a free appaloosa

a free soul without a trail to follow

you're still looking for a handful of black soil

it can take a lifetime

--- e b bortz 

earth note 808

photo by Sandra L Hazley

i'm gonna save a poem

     even in a dry spell

for goodwell oklahoma

the flatlanders were paying attention

& left in a hurry

left me to dig up the red clay

like the wind blows

the miles off your feet

& you look southwest

like it's your destiny

     

--- e b bortz 

earth note 807

there's still green luster

filling up the canopy

cool drizzle makes it to your ears

just before the blue jays wake you up

if the traffic means anything

you'd think the pandemic was over

the car washes have been busy

so have the undertakers

every drop of rain

rising from minnesota lakes & rivers

could renew us all

given half a chance

running out of time to choose between

poison of an oil pipeline

or the sanctuary

of the forest

--- e b bortz 

a & w took their crown

and thought they were building

     an empire

only to discover that

the pen is mightier than

     you know what

and that a footballer's foot

even on the pitch

is no guarantee

that you won't end up

in the null set

--- e b bortz 

earth note 806

if you can believe a dream

a rainforest has spread its roots and thundered in

from the west

landing east of youngstown

just down the road from

the old lordstown chevy plant

south of the swarming carp

at pymatuning

it swelled the river ohio

originally o-hi-yo

sending all the river otters

(and a few raccoons

digging through the recycled trash pickup)

on to higher ground

breaking the heat in the garb of the dalai lama

if memory serves me

he often says no task is too small or great

if it serves the greater good

so i'll take this blessing and pass it on

rainwater can be life

a rainforest can grow

if we bring our hands together

embrace it

defend it

remember those who walked before us

the ponytails at the lordstown plant

could shut everything down

when it was warranted

a robot has no heart and never sweats

     a rainforest

so don't minimize a dream or a ripple in the pond

every leaf is a biosphere

every raindrop

a path you never expected

--- e b bortz