three months

is a window
opening to the sea
though
i'm trying my best
to not see it
like a schedule
creating seems
like unwrapping
a box of dreams
which may not
always jump out
& take the form
you first imagined

if the breeze
has the strength
to turn over
or reverse a tide
surely words
will breathe
in and out
as the spirit
moves them

--- e b bortz

untitled again

the gap
at the old bahia honda bridge
     a section surgically removed
seems to parallel a void
i keep flashing back to
years in the making
emptiness is a process
that i'll never give up on
in it
are the bare essentials
driving the mind
to touch new limits

--- e b bortz

earth note 263

heat returns from the mangrove
in the form of a tortoise
every deliberate step
a body of work

pavement starts suddenly
like the crazy ingrate
revving his engine
in the afternoon

bicycles pass
from a cluster of coconuts
silent water
waves

--- e b bortz

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

earth note 262

little torch key

nothing divides the atlantic
from the gulf
as the last of the darkness
shrouds two-thirds
of the moon
north wind-torn
black water murmurs
nothing is still
the big dipper
has lost a leg
moorings strain
boats hang on

--- e b bortz

long highways

always seem
to bring on loneliness
     unlike the landscape or destiny promised
concrete & engines provoke the void
     as the void leads to tunnels
     tunnels stripping life
     right off the trees
          a startling opening
          a gambit
          with no opponent

--- e b bortz

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

critique

poems are emotions
i don't need footnotes
alienation
love
the planet
politics
it can be scratched into a wall
or it can bring a wall down

--- e b bortz
 
(published in opednews.com, Nov 15, 2013)

foresight

i've come to despise
the word
inevitable
mistrust all its promises and despair
hot summers of love
growing out of scoundrel times
iron heels
lopsided & skewing
every new fashion statement
there are hidden agendas
in the pastels
forbidden colors
that warm you up
pick you up
off the park bench
to escape
the bone chilling rains of autumn
getting you down
on this day
on any given day
there'll be a thousand voices
coming at-cha
about the great coming
     choose your own inevitable

--- e b bortz

impatience leads

like there might not be
an escape
or a next

and the politicians blow out
one more fracking scheme

and the regiment of schemers
grows in the up-tick of the dow

and even on a cloudless day
the sun sneaks off before awakening

and the bus riders step off in town
with strollers and blank stares from the street

and when night finally ellipses light
a million more stars have gone missing

when the eyes
have it
be sure & open them wide

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Nov 7, 2013)
(published in firedoglake.com, Nov 8, 2013)

earth note 261

when the crows speak
it's usually with an exclamation point
& a bright contrast between black & autumn gold
nothing is
as it appears
on a postcard
even from the glut of cyber sound
     the wind simply responds
     with a change in direction
     sometimes too small to measure
just before the sparrows leave the wires
     you know the crows will say it all
          and after every pause
               more cries

--- e b bortz

red-blue-red, part 3

poetry will come after you
even if you're in hiding
stalk you if necessary
until you pay attention
come to terms with it
your veins will ultimately
take the medicine
     bleeding is just the beginning

daylight left a blue hue
     far away
     gray mixed in
clouds skirting beyond the tree line
nothing is broken in the earth belly
nothing is left unnoticed
     or unsaid
     in the earth soul

every red maple
waves a thousand goodbyes

--- e b bortz

beechview, pittsburgh, july 31, 1950

the pittsburgh press said the house
where the reds lived
got stoned with bricks & vegetables
     broken glass for the reds
     the american reds
          a father mother two toddlers

the sergeant had been home
for a few years now
from the 'great war'
dubuyu-dubuyu-two
     handsome thick black wavy hair
     uncompromisingly young-looking
     working
     as a refrigeration & washing machine mechanic
     developing his forearms into steel
     built for wrenches
built from the dark cio steelworker thirties
     & the anti-fascist trenches of the spanish civil war
built to withstand the sneers
     & silence & shouts
     of the company men
          their political henchmen
          & the racists who kept black kids
          out of the city swimming pools
built to withstand a certain
     matt cvetic
     the finger behind the assault
     on the red's house
          our house

moving on
became unplanned but not a retreat
     the journey far beyond shadycrest drive
     embodied the warmth
     of many outstretched hardened forearms
          clear eyes
          unbending postures
               shoes shared
                    walking straight ahead...not running

--- e b bortz

there is no 'two-party' system

free advice from the annals of facebook users

[actually i still view it as
several factions
of a one-party corporate clearinghouse
each subset with a logo & smiley face
but that's beside the point]

on the liberal dem side
there will always be
'lesser-evil'
'take what we can get'
'capitulation forever'
'fracking is a bridge'
     (to the abyss)
'our corporations are progressive or health insurance related'
'sorry...we'll have to cut/gut the students & seniors
to satisfy the other side'
'drones = precision'
     (killing machines)
'a derivative of democracy is our name!'
'democracy is messy so let the president decide'

on the very pure left side
the bookshelves are perfectly labeled
every i must be dotted
in bold
left of center
the platform is made of concrete
     (some of it pre-cast)
if you can't fill both sides of your flyer with text
you're probably not analytical enough
if you have any doubts or fears
abstention is preferred
to messy
     (that word again)
participation

in every tea party coffee klatch
the pot's filled with
     phony messiah complexes
     1950s john wayne machismo
     assault weapons
          (real & virtual)
     grey flannel retro republican
     illusions & delusions
          open the lid
          exposure
          is better than intellectual deconstruction
          let them self-evaporate

leaving me
with the messy
& imaginative greens
roaring in from the margins
     singing within the noise
     tentatively stepping up
     just before sunrise
          beginnings are often
          unnoticed
          or purposely ignored

--- e b bortz

(published in firedoglake.com, Oct 26, 2013)
(published in opednews.com, Oct 27, 2013)

labor aristocracy

sometimes hearing
the worst ideas
are the best lesson
because you remember them
forever
& so it was
when i was about nineteen
working as a laborer
on a parking garage construction site
     downtown pittsburgh
that one of the carpenters
told me
we need jobs
     don't care what we build
     don't care if we build concentration camps
we need jobs right now

well
i'm pretty sure it wasn't an original idea
this carpenter had
after all
it wasn't long before
(or maybe just after)
that spiro agnew's
so-called hardhats
     thugs by any other name
ripped thru our anti-war march
of dick gregory for president buttons
coming out of a misappropriated
(and misnamed) golden triangle
just past the swagger of the hilton hotel
& just about the same time
that george (segregation forever) wallace
dumped his bile on the stage at the civic arena
where several hundred of us protestors
found some very effective disruptive chants
to frustrate the racists & their drivel
til we were forcibly removed by the police
and my picture ended up on the front-page
of the local newspaper
& not to my surprise
confronted with that picture
on the construction site
by the foreman who fired me
& the carpenter
and his shit-eatin grin
to boot
looking on
like he had just won an election
or a war
or something

but i've got to say
it was all worth it
negatives become positives
when inverted
     and
     for good reason

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Oct 22, 2013)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

alienation redux

keeping a distance
separate from the noise
of the superstructure
& the whistling of worn-out bearings
leaky gaskets & caustic reservoirs
grease pits devour like quicksand
     from gears & broken sound barriers
     nothing survives

so you find thoughts beyond
though inadequate
that can burst on to flesh
make a body move
diving head-first
     away
without the aid
of exotic serums
& phony potions

toward the outer most edges
where beginnings
     become

--- e b bortz

road notes pittsburgh/new york city

being first in line for the megabus
can only get you so far
the road still waits
     we're a jumble waiting in darkness
the driver does a last walk thru
cold spit marks the sidewalk
beaming from the street light
dried-up pop      soda if you like
leaves tracks
     like a poor man's jet stream

rolling off the highway crest
a hundred pairs of eyes
     blink
cramming lines of traffic
coming at us
heading to the city
visions of johanna
couldn't have made it
more surreal

rhythm from the pavement
uncovers shadows
of the alleghenies
the stacks and cooling towers
of power plants
and poisons
that confuse by daylight
but visible
in the glare
of a half-moon

descending into hollidaysburg
the fog unravels
then suddenly
morning breaks
wind turbines perched
on the ridge
roll like a steady river

the bus makes a stop in state college
picks up a few students
waiting near the walmart parking lot
not a penn state football booster
or sexual predator apologist
among them

my eyes finally crash
for the interval between
the delaware and passaic rivers
missing most of new jersey
     thank you
but just in time for a breeze thru
the lincoln tunnel
the commotion of the garment district
the hipsters of chelsea
the exhibitionists of broadway & 46th
a thousand dialect soup
mixes in a few pinches of fame
the biggest concentration of ego
or at least
     a good show of lights

--- e b bortz

october spoke today like i hadn't really been paying attention

1.  in high school
that would have meant
that the hallways
still had that cleaned up
pine-sol smell
i would have already
dug-in with my teachers
     our uncompromising positions
for better or worse

the band room still had
a shiny floor
i swear it was hardwood
even though the rest
of oliver high remained
scuffed-up tiles and peeling paint
especially in the basement
where the dislocated students
from a burned-down
elementary school
shuffled through
their dark hallways

2.  i've never bought in
to the idea
of a mid-life crisis
october decided to deal
a hand one card short
of a straight flush
     hearts no less

i guess i did leave
a forwarding address
when i left tel-aviv
then ignoring a letter
received months later
     memory tells me it was typed
but i could be wrong on that
　

3.  the physical world
of october
is more than leaves
nothing accounts for
what you can't see
other than the stir
of those random
embers or chills
     within
     yet beyond

--- e b bortz

nothing is irrelevant

1.  my better judgment
says
slow down
don't rush this
the words need
to germinate on their own
after a while
they have a way
of regrouping
beyond
your immediate vision
finding a place
from memory
you never thought
would see the light of day
     again

2.  if you're over 60
& can stand
on one foot
for five minutes
you should probably
try out
for the senior olympics
they'll have to find
a place for you
even if it's
equipment manager

3.  breakfast
is way overrated
unless you religiously
abandon sugar
the secrets
of battle creek michigan
shouldn't be spread around
like the flu

4.  o.k.
this thing has dragged on
long enough
sun's been up for hours
fetch the paddles
point the kayaks north
leave the rubber ducks
in a splash
with the media whores
after all
     all art is inflatable

--- e b bortz

earth note 260

the maples came through
across the avenue
making the transition
like changing hats
from green to rust
     disregarding the morning traffic

opening eyes
have but
     one
     chance
to see it all
     a perspective
that explains intuitively
     why every forest
     speaks

--- e b bortz

i'm writing this for my own clarity

The cosmos has spoken.

The ideological storm coming will transpose everything we thought of previously as 'politics'. There will be no vindication or rescue: liberal, progressive, moderate, socialist, libertarian, tea partier, large or small d Democrat, large or small r Republican, independent this or that, revolutionary, 99%, a believer or non-believer, corporate monarchist or safe-haven follower, or any derivative of anything else...your analysis is obsolete.

The oceans and storms and floods and poisons and droughts and wildfires and poverty and violence is rising and your safe assumptions and coalitions are no longer valid.

Politics will boil down to hundreds of transformed Green Parties, standing alone worldwide, against all other political mish-mash: co-opters, framers, apologists, indentured leaders, obedient followers, no-label labelers, do-it-yourselfers...but don't fall for the line that this is somehow 'green sectarianism' or a utopian pipedream.

It's survival.

There has never been a middle ground or a table to be compromised on with mother nature. She laughs and cries for everyone deluded.

There's still time for a choice. Make yours count.

--- e b bortz

(published in firedoglake.com, Sept 19, 2013)
(published in opednews.com, Sept 20, 2013)

exposed

at the bottom
of an empty washtub
where the grit's left
bare against rippled steel
something leads you
to hear a beat
that only you can make
     detached from it
you thought
everything would fall
into place
     you miscued
a hollow sound rises
like a drum
tingles the hair
in your armpits
squeezes out confusing rhythms
always dropping a half-step
     you try to latch on
but fail to catch up
leaving
like a bead
sweating it out
     alone

--- e b bortz

the poetry reading

was on monterey street
a couple blocks up
from the y
a place where i honed
my bumper pool
& pin-setting skills
fifty years before
(when the streetcar still ran)
and though the neighborhood
is called 'gentrified' now
i'm still at a loss
to make a connection
with that
and words like
'gentle' or 'gentry'
none of that applies
from what i guess is
my historical vantage point
     there's animation
in the dissonance
that rings out
     scores of voices
     wash down
     but never whitewash
          soot-laced bricks

--- e b bortz

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

earth note 259

the marsh inhales
a strong deep breath
landing the kayak
on the edge of the weeds
beside a jellyfish
quivering near shore
translucent
green sandy bottom
takes in the sun

breaking from stillness
absolute
a blue heron
moves in protest

--- e b bortz

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

again

let me see
is there a new way to justify
going to war
     we'll protect civilians
even if we kill lots of them
and the more that flee
the easier it will be
     now go
find yourself a safe haven

     i know
it won't be american families carrying coffins
in their birkenstocks
through the streets
shouting grief
     they usually play taps & do it quietly
and don't worry about the money
there's plenty to feed war profiteers
hiding in the fine print
of every ledger
guns & butter keep the machine oiled

don't we all love wrapping ourselves
in the shroud of phony sacrifice
convincing ourselves that we're
riding the high road
     a gutter it's always been
for every official bureaucrat
there's an army of apologists
     & lonely dying soldiers
     too late
     for atonement

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Sept 5, 2013)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

seventeen septembers

since we first saw
toronto spreading out
like a flock of geese
     every morning's a wakeup
our campsite drying out
from last night's downpour

the west humber river trail
finding the cracks more pronounced now
the graffiti painted over
then tagged again in another language
then painted over again
authority can't ignore the resilience

scores of cultures from every neighborhood
     head dresses finding deep roots
     growing each tradition
like the geese find their flight path
in a spot of blue
     opening

--- e b bortz

an ax grinder's confession

there's not a damn thing new
about blunt force criticism

with everything coming down around us
forging & slashing steel
becomes a cottage industry

of course you know
a great leap forward
has been tried before

if the brush is wide enough
even the windows
can be covered in one stroke

what looks like a new day
might just be dusk

--- e b bortz

earth note 258

a carpet of thorns
from the rose bushes
creeping then weaving
a sharp wild fabric
over the terrace & concrete steps
     every one of them
     covered

as i cut it back
there comes a gnawing recognition
that the rose will always flourish
     it has no equal
and in this
     there is comfort

--- e b bortz

so

you said you were looking
for the next big idea
     well
maybe there aren't any right now
just a bunch of small ones that
could add up to something
someday

here's a small one: take down all the borders
abolish them all right now
we'll all live in that one big neighborhood
     planet earth
     every drone strike & cluster bomb
     will be a strike against us all

restore the rio grande to its original intent
     that
     of being the rio grande

stop poisoning life
all life
from the forests to the cities & oceans & lakes & rivers
& the air you share
     isn't for sale

redistribute all the wealth immediately
abolish all secrets right now
free all whistleblowers & resisters of conscience
shutdown kangaroo courts
     let the kangaroos free

--- e b bortz

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

i might have just turned eighteen

when i first read my brother's copy of
a coney island of the mind by lawrence ferlinghetti

that summer
     restlessness became a verb

it was what i guess you could call my
coming of age time...my brother's east cleveland pad
the place where i became fully acclimated
to sex...my "spilled sperm seed" (ferlinghetti)
taking me as far as skinny-dipping-make-out
in lake erie at mentor headlands

even if it's all tame by today's standards
     i'm still somewhat mystified by it all

guess you could say i was pulled between
being radical
and being love torn/worn
     so i chose both

--- e b bortz

ap nam (shower)

a tin pot and water reservoir
in the bathroom
which i became enamored with
living in thailand
made a cool splash as you dumped it on your head
     streaming down
     your body waking up
          to celebrate

--- e b bortz

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

earth note 257

i'm ready to make the leap
to the withering away of the state

right now rules are made & broken
by an unelected homo sapien filter

who consulted the others?
what manifesto-bible gives a single untold story?

dreams are wet in the rainforest
from an out-of-body experience

pelicans fish past sunset
long after the nets go home

if it rains all day
the earth will breathe

from a desert
comes solitary decisions

let there be times
when the moon touches water

--- e b bortz

(published in shadowproof.com, Oct 30, 2013)

earth note 256

a pair of dog & cat coffee mugs
at the flea market
the $1 tag standing out
like a badge of courage
for the many times these cups
have endured
the curiosity of hands
always stroking for a bargain
     & a low ball
& a story behind the story
     who's table did they sit at
how many times
have they put out
from the top of these card tables
     buried behind outgrown
     kid's clothes
     & worn down socket sets

we gladly trade away a backpack
     yanking the $1 tags
          forever

--- e b bortz

the conscientious objector in us all

no one springs from the womb
with a gun in their hand

killing requires indoctrination

as the human heart
takes off on its own
brought into a living
breathing
interdependency
of species known & unknown
     rivers rushing
     every conceivable geography rising
responding to the unpredictable
     a planet ethos lives
     though still a mystery to most nation-states

but there's the greed
& the convenience of the status quo
& the social conditioning
of taking
and then holding on to
at all costs
a double-speak that every bureaucracy
understands
and defends to the death
your death

but who can argue
that this is all
preordained?

no one springs from the womb
with a gun in their hand

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Aug 11, 2013)

return of the august torch

as in the weather
& the rumbling planks
from the bridges of madison county

the sun has that constant haze
never seeming to set
draping above tree tops
motionless against the corn rows

desperate as emotions
as when love goes searching
coming up with another
forever stained half-full coffee cup

tractors grunt like draft horses
decades before them
and for every silo full
     an empty heart plowed under

--- e b bortz

earth note 255

it's the kind of morning
that puts your traveling shoes
on for you

free of all hitherto conventions
when your thumb led you down
a whole lot of dead ends

wasn't any foot dragging
that you'd admit to
a young foot never looks back

everybody knows the highway's slipping off the mountain
toll gates around every bend
the new mad ones text on cruise control

the sage brush still leaves blood in its path
a cluster of cottonwoods
still a good place to hide

move on
if you can't put much credence
in what can't be touched

--- e b bortz
 

earth note 254

plankton
feeding ocean fish
     overwhelmed
by homo sapiens plastic
broken & shredded
just to size
to fool plankton eaters
man-made compounds
exotic chemical floats
just below the surface
gathering their own 'schools'
swarming every sea
embedding living tissue
     hungry consumers
     lining up
          keep the food chain
          unbroken

--- e b bortz

if there's any possibility

that the nsa is reading
my poetry blog
i guess it behooves me
to cloak every word
in a new & obscure language
& super subtlety
that most mfa graduates
     would throw out as gospel
poetry critics expound on
     highfalutin literary editors solicit
snoopers erotically pour over
     in visors & dark glasses
congress codes away in doublespeak
     every noun & action sandwiched
between double-layered metaphors
     (wtf are they?)
imploding like a thousand points of light
     traversing the planet
          babel-ing for notoriety
     forgetting all the rough & tumble
          heathen poets
          our heads still up
          ranting to the sky

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Aug 3, 2013)
(published in firedoglake.com, Sept 30, 2013)