quick review of gasland 2 from a former green party congressional candidate

stay in the democratic/republican frack pond
as little or as long as you want
when you finally come out and shower
you'll still smell like shit
your conscience having been surgically removed
your mind
     mush

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, June 24, 2013)

perfect summer day depression blues

the yachts and speedboats are piling up
tax write-offs at the marina
a kayak glides past free
     river cooperates
down by the casino
a self-help gambler's anonymous shingle
flutters in the breeze
     the phone number may be out-of-order
     might not pick you up
     unless you own bootstraps
     & a private economy to ride out
     the big waves
or
you can go barefoot
learn to tread water
like the rest of us

the geese know
how to work the system
even in a crowd & bicycles
     like the sky
          finds perfect blue

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, July 31, 2013)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

cafe

1991

an escape as easy as
dark turkish coffee
grounds on my tongue
reminding me of a fleeting kiss
a jolt to the roof of my mouth
even on a saturday
yafa     yafo
palestine     israel
a taste
still fresh
as the brown voiced men
at the table in the corner
the proprietor inviting me
to bring my bicycle in
listen to the streets
     of the displaced

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 249

after a good rain
the loam opens
breathes new life
into its body

if there's a way
to capture this process
save it
make a path from the withering

the maples have turned
their hands over
dripping
tasting renewal

--- e b bortz

earth note 248

razor wire
at the penitentiary
     a hedgerow facsimile
     meets pain
rehabilitation a propaganda phrase
     so
the ohio river keeps its own compass
looks away like a distant green buffer
drowning the loneliness
this moment exhumes

inside
voices are muffled
as homeland insecurity suv
circles the parking lot
     once again

coal barges
overflowing
darkness is their still life
     a stillborn
     yet to come

--- e b bortz

earth note 247

there are no narratives to describe
what's really happening on a trail
inside a forest
taken for granted
blooming in spite
of an assault
by a sprawl
paying attention
to royalties
or not paying attention
at all

bones will remain
affirming that life
once existed
a canopy will fight on
against the elements
choked roots
poisoned water tables
tangled in a grid
of pipes
tanks
compressors
frack ponds
are not for swimming

trading our immunity and innocence
for thirty pieces of silver

--- e b bortz

alternatives

darkness will be lifted
when a new form
takes up the space
     lets in the light
     it can begin right now

are there windows?

do you revere your own hands?

will each person speak?

will each person share?

do we know how to break the ego
     abandon every cult
     every fame?

can we translate the natural around us
and build a living model?

how do we begin?

it can begin right now

--- e b bortz

earth note 246

if i wake early enough
there's always that chance
of going back
(the mind has such power)
to another time
maybe that of the drifter
or the baseball coach
or just the searcher
     of wonder

memory is my window rock

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 245

a promised rain
won't wet anyone's appetite anymore
     parched that we all are
promises turn expectations round & round
making disappointment
just another business cycle

of course that's only my take on it

about the time the suits
suit up for another gala graduation
     celebratory speeches from the mouth
     of another three-mouth-monte
there'll be at least
a thousand more college students
in this town
kicked off the road
of so-called urban renaissance
leaving only
the borderlines of yet
another desolation highway
& the last of the survivors saying
     god and growth
     might just be dead

--- e b bortz

earth note 244

digging in
turning over some shovels
of top soil
upset the worms
     i swear i heard expletives
     as they scattered
          did my best to coax them
          into the new bed of phlox
but it got me thinking
     if the worms could vote
     now there's some power
there'd be a hell of lot less
asphalt & concrete
     definitely no
     soldier-worm-cannon-fodder
     keep your ear to the ground
     when nature
     takes its rights
     i'll trade my shovel for a jackhammer
     tear up those parking lots
          call it paradise

--- e b bortz

earth note 243

when i lived near the equator
there was always that cleansing
that poured out of your body
     got passed along
     between bodies
there was no such thing as
     don't sweat it
the magic oils that
consumer glutting advertises
were all in the air
in the steam of the rainforests
in the poverty streets
of loose fitting saris and flip-flops
in the orange of the monks
the heat could be counted on
     to blanket you
          in nightfall
          in silence

an invitation to pass through
and immerse
was never needed
simply absorb what's around you
in the rugged hills
detached from the cities
     where water buffalo work
     the valleys of ten-thousand-year soil
     on a border with dusk
     rubber trees     coconut     rambutan
          floods and fires
          to labor
          to survive

on the other side of the world
the bankers plan
a decimation of the teak
a dam binding a wild river
a market manipulation
that buys collateral

     but not
          time

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 242

what constitutes a good day
(70s and low humidity)

is there such a thing as being aware
(knowing what's real can get you down)

where does every road and trail lead
(that's infinite...there are no maps)

when will the river find its current
(where there's movement...there's hope)

who will take the first plunge
(it was already taken long ago)

what makes a good day?

--- e b bortz

earth note 241

the new pear
and apple trees
in the backyard
are going to need
a lot of care
preemptive action
decoys
halloween year 'round
scarecrows
louder wind chimes
coyote piss
a siberian husky could help
if there's any chance of surviving
the deer browsing

wild turkeys roam
the avenues & woods
of nor'side pittsburgheese
     seem to be 100% compatible
     with the deer
so can't count on them as a deterrent
guess i feel i need to ask them all
     periodically
jeet? (did you eat?)

--- e b bortz

earth note 240

pittsburgh, north side

the new condos
down on federal street
don't have any institutional
memory of the days
of the apache lounge
or the slick-hair-guys
who loafed
on the steps
next to the garden theatre
     who might still be sitting there
if it weren't for the demise
of those secret phony handshakes
out of the masonic lodge
     gone forever

and just a couple more doors down
there was the window cleaning company
that i managed to work at
just out of high school
and had to learn how to get past
my fear of height
     which i did
in time
     a few years later
     carrying my electrician tools
out on the crane runways of neville island

it isn't likely
the new upward mobile urbanites
will ever hear a rowdy basketball game again
     down in west park
since the downtown bureaucrats
took all the hoops down
     and then left town
     like thieves
          but you can judge for yourself

but don't get me wrong
i like seeing a new coffeehouse
here and there
     a few more poets crawling out
     to find the sun
     maybe getting their hands dirty
     in an urban garden
planting some new trees and keeping
the chainsaw managers
(yes, the offspring of the hoop thieves)
          at bay

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

sometimes dangerous thoughts

from rusty shadowed alleyways
speak out of turn
long after being demolished
& sold for scrap

clandestine attempts to restart
the obsolete
     surplus value cycles
     embarrass even commodity futures

cries of loneliness
will be shared
finding comfort
in the margins

pseudo-clever
cable-networked jingles
deaden the mind
making strange answers

totally unexpected
     & real
like a prism of stained glass
     clashing visions

--- e b bortz

the signs of prague 1968

were all over the buildings
     still
in the spring of '69

svoboda!

among the images i still see
     though
they seem to have taken
an alternate deeper dimension
than the big headlines of
the crushed socialist experiment

not unlike the streetcars swaying
     swaggering
over cobblestone streets
     like those in my hometown
          (pittsburgh)

& the soviet tanks
of august 1968
coinciding with the chicago tanks & teargas
     of the democratic party convention
     (i can still taste it)

from the air
the farmland had a rich
     deep brown
     almost black color
land that had the look
of a thousand years
     of care
even through all the wars & invasions
& death
     there was that indomitable spirit
          to grow and nurture

even in the coffeehouses then
there was a brew
of revolutionary libertarian communes
(this is only an oxymoron to the stilted dogmatist)
     youth rebellion
     the world over
          looked unstoppable

and we each had our small part
in answering the call
     imperial war
     or principled resistance
     the prague generation
     our mentor

--- e b bortz

earth note 239

how abrupt
a spring cool wind
can be
     it's there for a moment
     to awaken
enough to send
a phony fear
past every
lazy mindset bent
on predictability

direction is not as important
as velocity
     from a shaking forest
          a thousand seeds

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 238

dawn opens on a dark sky
every avenue car expressionless
songbirds begin their chants
marking every lost moment

a wild turkey
is separated from the group
scurries around       finds freedom
at the end of the fence line

sun finally visits
the complexity of the trees
     an old man on a bicycle
          takes notice

--- e b bortz

earth note 237

there's an impatience
in the words
like the equinox at full sun
taking off in all directions
and even as i write
i'm never sure
where it's all going
or how the meaning
will be sensed
or even if in fact
there is a meaning

the trucks move
along the avenue
as if they have
a schedule & destination
     a hidden cargo
     a secret like these very words
or nothing
     more than clanging shopping carts
     in a parking lot
     of empty pockets

--- e b bortz

every border breeds conflict

integral
to every nation-state
following a river in dispute
an ever-changing labyrinth
     coastline
     or mountain range
where a rope meets an auction block
manufactured and sold
as a hangman's knot

--- e b bortz

earth note 236

the way the afternoon light
shifts around
translucent filters
of the canopy
past bright green buds
     newborn
     maple spring
     arms sway open
          grab the sun
               each frame

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, April 29, 2013)

busk your poems

the street is your canvas
every shard of glass
a point that cuts
to the chase

let the rain
run the ink
like a closed up storefront
on the way outta town

another highway
crawls in obedience
your backpack
     defiance

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, April 12, 2013)

earth note 235

the strip, pittsburgh

iron butterfly 1968 perched on
orange flowing skirt
crossing penn avenue
too young for
in-a-godda-da-vida
but just right
for a day in spring
     finally
     breaking wide
     open wings

--- e b bortz

career day

in the empire
conflicting narratives
might be somewhat
     alive
though not necessarily
     above ground
barely breathing
needing a critical
     real
peer review
not just by academia
and certainly not by maimstreet media
     but by jane and joe
     from down in the hollow

will this generation
be droned
concocted in anesthesia mix
and then formed
like paper mache happy mush
     a sweet talking hallmark card
     looking out for
     the next big gig?

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, April 26, 2013)

there's no production schedule

out of poem bankruptcy
agony and melancholy
    creative twins
    feed the spirit
    unconsciously

sustenance is the darkness
of the abandoned blooming mill
    rust
    a growth product
    of many words

--- e b bortz

earth note 234

between the sudden snowmelt
collapsing       pouring off
bare branches like sweat
a mad rush to the river
becomes a race
with a wedge of dark storm clouds
moving in       passing through
afternoon remains a question mark
all characters still in the queue
with their own logic

a patch of blue sky
sneaks in from the north
rolls out a contiguous form
     of new possibilities

--- e b bortz

let the ladder climbers rise

to the top
of their imaginary pyramids

if they end up
with their heads
in the clouds

we can always
communicate with them
by kite colors

yellow will indicate we need to talk
     face to face
earth brown will show our dissatisfaction
     if we get no response
orange will let everyone know 
     that a great vision is in the offing
blue will be our color
     when the weight of the pyramid
     becomes unbearable

no kite
might mean
we are pulling the bottom out
from under them

     and creating circles

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, March 29, 2013)

authenticity

can't be co-opted
it's that intangible
just when you thought
the demons had
broken through again
with their proverbial whitewash
a hand or a voice
rises to the light
opening
a range of vision
uncompromisingly
    self-evident

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, April 10, 2013)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

most livable city

two days into spring
sitting in a cold van
across the street
from a busy goodwill store
a few blocks over from
three men and a shopping cart
positioning themselves
in the brush
along the river embankment

if you leap the riverfront park
& a couple of river crossings
you'll land beside a dozen tents
bending
braving the wind
smack up against
a cold concrete overpass
expressway indifference
leading advocate
for a casino
& a couple of stadiums
     turning their backs
as the snow starts up again

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, March 23, 2013)

school of the americas watch

earth note 233

wooden wind chimes
like drumming
a clairvoyant hollowness
not to be confused
with randomness
there's a rhythm
if you choose
     to listen

--- e b bortz

earth note 232

the little colorado river
in the arizona high desert
is nothing more than a dry wash
most of the year

if you walk the riverbed
long enough
you'll hear sharp canyon walls
speak truth

of empty water vessels
and sudden dust storms

of a rich blue sky
with no promises

rolling sage brush
sheared in the wind

rocks that replicate the sun
too hot for the touch

rough brown texture
supplanting green

life on the bare edge
     fragile species      go hiding

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

i know i'm a believer

in the ideal
rather than the real
love
friendship
politics
     sugar coating the possible
     isn't like leaving reality to the cynics
     more like refusing
     to be willingly bored
     into submission
choosing to escape the droning
     of some hard facts
     doesn't make one an accomplice
     to oppression
it's more like leaving materialism
     to the sophist philosophers
     & their neat diagrams
          choosing instead
          to throw poems
          like bombs

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, March 13, 2013)

earth note 231

the glassy calm
on the ohio river
is a disguise

the dark green water
is a color
that avoids definition

only the tug and its armada
of heaping coal barges
are speaking

the geese squawk
but have no standing
in this court

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, March 11, 2013)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

from the top of a 50-foot norway spruce

a hawk
head twitching left then right
eyes for prey
impatient
soaring off instead
piercing a city valley
blending with traffic 

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 230

koh samui, thailand, 1989

under the strain
of being overrun
by the farang
the fishing families
and banana farmers
     that still carry on
     eke out subsistence living
look to the sun and moon
     to their hands and tools
     to the weather and a slipping landscape
survival something of a gamble
     powerlessness a fait accompli
          where only soil and sea have reverence

--- e b bortz

earth note video

looking for direction from the rain

which way is it moving
does it chill the air or make it warm
is it strong enough to clean the body
will it last until tomorrow
does it go by another name
is it talking with the crow
is there lining in the clouds

why is the wind confused

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Feb 28, 2013)

earth note 229

between winter
and not yet spring
stand naked arms
     an interlock
     of the barren
     your eyesight
     transforms dust
     into mud
leaves become the trail
     they dodge but ultimately scatter
     into anonymous patterns
     with death
          a new beginning

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

talkin' carbon blues

in the middle
of the west virginia mountains
not far from beckley
an old twisting road
named polemic
wraps itself around a steep hillside
and i suspect
a cluster of houses
that might answer
these eternal questions
about whether capitalism
after grabbing a lot of coal
     out of its asshole
would consider a serious
redistribution of wealth
to cover the thousands of miners
broken by black lung and cancer throats
broken knees and broken hips
crying widows and children
company store and captive town
     thieves
and doing this
one hundred percent redistribution
just before shutting down
once and for all
     every coal portal
          gouged out mountain
     black dustbowl
          bought and paid for politician
          still telling us
          there'll be pie in the sky
          when we die

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Feb 21, 2013)

the pigeonhole

you've built
doesn't allow wings

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

cheap advice

surveillance video rolling
as we leave the mall theatre
in myrtle beach south carolina
just up the coast from old fort sumter
     maybe the best place to see
     the movie "lincoln"

then
just in time to catch
the last of the indian buffet
     but with no reprieves
next time
get there early
before the kheer is gone

and finally and most important
if it's the slow winter season
remember you need to see the room
     & look under the bedspread
before putting your money down
     avoid any place advertising
     "american owned" or "southern hospitality"

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Feb 16, 2013)

lost

between daytona flea market
and palm beach high-rises
are a couple of million refugees
of the great downward spiral
     creaking along
on loaded up beach bikes
carrying all that's left
     gone is the mystique of the artisans
     or the proud hands of the industrial working class
partitioned
beyond the sponsored walls
     daytona 500 incorporated
left behind
     like a two buck bet
          at the dog track

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Feb 10, 2013)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 228

a lone pelican
on the halifax river daytona
must be a rock star
score of seagulls
     jumping
     bobbing over the dock
          pelican gyrating
back and forth and around
          little richard
          striking perfect chords

--- e b bortz

(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 227

in spite of
the automobile stealing
a special pass
disguising itself
     as a deity        golden calf
a fully awakened
daytona beach atlantic
surges from the belly
covering the tire tracks
flushing over
a manicured packed-down shoreline
loosening up
some hardwired impressions
managing to leave
a body of shells intact
     whole
     integral
     children of the last high tide

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Feb 5, 2013)