earth note 520

  

    photo by Sandra L Hazley

   highway 36 kansas

  no apologies

  for a back road
  and a field of sunflower sutras
  they started as wild flowers
  along the shoulders
  until they discovered
  the farmers
  
  since then
  every town makes a point
  of exclamation
  for their particular shade of gold
  wrapping 'round brown cores
  like the earth itself
  without grease & machinery

  the rain comes

  in deliberate beats
  like a chant
  passing mouth to mouth
  between the stems
  a field of flower
  echoes

  --- e b bortz

earth note 519

joes, colorado

joes

just down the road
from cope
isn't a bar
or rib joint
but a flatlander town
with a grassroots community organization
that maintains
the activity building
a park
& pit toilets
clean as a field of sunflowers
the horizon
never gives up
a day without
a nod to a strong wind
as the crops bend
giving reverence
as their due

--- e b bortz

gamblers

are covering
a well-worn carpet
with their secondary bets

the rain won't stop

until everyone
wipes their feet

takes a deep breath

and comes in
from the parking lot sprawl

eventually acknowledging

that we'll need multiple million jackhammers
to break up the paralysis

the negation of negations

--- e b bortz

earth note 518

   i lay in the arch
   where time curves
   piñon pine has the bird's eye view
   the wind will force you
   to notice
   the grooves in your skin
   are transitory

   --- e b bortz

earth note 517

we left the aspen
the manti-lasal national forest
in utah
a few days earlier than planned
packing it all up
is a kind of separation anxiety
finally stuffing in the tent rainfly
     symbolic
as we're not ones to ever look forward
to a long drive back
to pittsburgh
it's usually hollow and uneventful
like the shell of a bygone era
keeping the radio off keeps the drivel down
the political signs
have all come down
or have rotted off their posts

--- e b bortz

earth note 516

pittsburgh

birds shit in the water

this isn't so much
a statement of fact
just a possible verb tense
for present conditions
so either boil your water
or join the line at the buffalo
     camel?
to get your water
which i failed to know about
early this morning
thus was just sipping coffee
as the phone message
came in advising me
to boil it first
before you drink
wash dishes
brush your teeth
     let me clarify this is
     for all of us on the northside
     and areas north of northside
     if you're confused
     call pgh water authority
     or to be safe just assume
     we're all northsiders now

repeat: birds shit in the water

this undoubtedly happened
and all precautions are now in place
including a duct tape repair
to the reservoir cover
and removing the word infrastructure
from all political shit lists

--- e b bortz

earth note 515

manti-lasal national forest, utah

daylight hangs suspended

transient in the aspen
bodies of white bark blemished
contrasting with the dark
long after
the pine and mountain grass fade
the deer finally bed down
as the sky opens
lifting our burdens
unmarked and unclaimed
without judgment

--- e b bortz

earth note 514

montrose, colorado

coming off the top of the black canyon
     leaving freedom
the clouds darken every corner
of the sky on the way down
     resembling jackboot imprints
     no that's not an overstatement
quarter horses fidget in the corral
the dust of an empty
desperate empire stirs
like a storm of locusts
tacking their way in autopilot

no way of knowing
if there's a news blackout
we keep the radio off
talk over various scenarios
     listen for the mountain jay

--- e b bortz

earth note 513

black canyon of the gunnison

from the top of painted wall
the river is a small rush
pressing the base
like a sculptor's tool
as the world draws in
a serene yet endless energy

without mandate
some species
one in particular
press their objectives
without awareness

what's left of daylight
will be scrawled
on your body
on your conscience
for the ancients
yet to come

--- e b bortz

somewhere along the rio grande

he waits on the bluff
watching moonlit shadows
of every person crossing the river
til sunrise
he's waited for her shadow
for two years
for this moment

they were schoolmates
then lovers     then separated
by five hundred miles of dusty sacrifice

he went north
in search of wages
she stayed behind
caring for her mother

he eventually found work
as a carpenter
building everything from
rough forms for concrete
to fine interior cabinetry

but with every new plan they made
there were new barriers
details unexpected

     til tonight
a mad dash
thru a window opening
they will hold on
     to the moon
& dive on thru

--- e b bortz

so some teens are wearing camouflage

gathering under the flagpole

next to the man-made

one-acre pond

stocked with fish

and strict regulations

some practicing their casting

others thinking about enlistment

college maybe a dream away

the options are manufactured

and manipulated by old men

still seeking a hard on

as the country sinks

up to the waist

     in shit

and all you'll get

are rationalizations

for starting another war

the longhairs take off

on skateboards

the sun is finally breaking out

and the taste

of being free 

is about all there is

to hope for

--- e b bortz

earth note 512

woodland park / pike national forest

as the temperature drops tonight
the flies from the pit toilets
might just consider hibernation
     alright
maybe hibernation isn't 
in their genes
but hiding out might work
     for us anyway

on & off rain 
kept memorial park
kinda quiet
it's usually busy
during the day
dog walkers and 
pickup basketball games
and fully packed for
the farmers' market on fridays

from the library windows
you can see the high rockies
to the west
the smaller     rounder     older
green hills in the foreground
the buzz of dusty pickup trucks
along the two-lane going north
crazier yet on the city avenue
& in the strip malls

there's even an old inn
crying out for an open mic
where musicians and maybe
     poets
can lose themselves
in the moment
like generations before
doing the hard travelin
just after the gold rush
went bust

--- e b bortz

earth note 511

tuesday dusk, pike national forest

merging with the tall pines
the campsites blend
with neighboring
black angus cattle
scores roaming back & forth
separable by four strands
of wire fence
cow voices of many tongues
(in the early morning also)
a mama with full udders
and a calf in tow
she screams doesn't moo
the little one catches up
in a hurry

two thirds of the campers
have moved on
another round will
fill it up by friday night

there are painted rocks
to view the world
windows in fact
a crow sounds off
bringing the distance
closer

--- e b bortz

earth note 510

victor, colorado

the casino lobbyists

won out
taking over cripple creek
just down the road
from victor
     an old working gold mining town
of about four hundred and fifty people

cripple creek buses in

the senior citizen gamblers
through winding mountain roads
sometimes a herd of cattle
     milks them
     and then returns them
     to their cities

victor

     meanwhile
continues to fight off
the gambling predators
(in favor of gold one might argue)
nevertheless opening their doors
to the artists     artisans   
     bohemian rhapsodies
as the old buildings sing-out
rejoicing in the fact that they're
still standing
carrying on tradition
shouting down
the bought and paid for hucksters
before they open their mouths

--- e b bortz

earth note 509

pike national forest north of woodland park, colorado

the storm held off

just enough
to get the tent up
water jug filled
reading matter sorted out
with a touch
only a gary snyder
left out in the rain poem
can give you
and the first blast
of rain giving us
some confidence that
the western forest fires
might actually be subsiding

all the motor home tourists

are still coming
barreling down the road
to make it to
the nearest sports bar
in time for happy hour

and we

simply sit and think
and raise our lounge lizard voices
in just as good a harmony
     as the thunder
     crack of lightning
     tall pines trembling

--- e b bortz

earth note 508

emporia, kansas

5am motorcycle
starts fast
right after a fading train whistle
     did you hear 'em?
everyone will be trying
to beat the heat
maybe a hundred degree day
just below the horizon
     when the sun finally gets up
we'll see
what kind of mood she's in

--- e b bortz

heat is a revelation

growing right below your chest bones
making any sense of it
is only half an answer
so you dig more
without preconceived direction
turning away
once and for all
from the canned explanations

easy dogma

needs to go out
and run a bit

there used to be

recipes for the masses
before the stockbrokers
took over the kitchen
result is not edible

the body politic is an incubator

growing life and disease
simultaneously
taking chances
can be a holy act

--- e b bortz

earth note 507

marshall trail, pittsburgh

matter of flora

sticks to the skin
pollen goes limp
in the shade
pores stay wet
succumb to moisture
pine trees even at this latitude
start thinking
they're a rainforest

--- e b bortz

earth note 506

songkhla, thailand, 1989

sunlight bouncing across the craters of the moon

staying visible thru half-a-day
rolling waves take their cue
fishing boats paused and bobbing
the surf labors to bring home the tide

where there are shadows within the grasp

of the mermaid
the sun will abide
sands forever beige
warming every touch

--- e b bortz

memory needs no script

prague, 1968

i never said

i knew enough
to write about the nurturing black soil
of czechoslovakia
or the soviet tanks
crushing every seedling rising in the field
then building expressways
to the money markets
the spring would have to wait
another year
another generation

vietnam, 1968

the planes dropped

burning chemical defoliants
and cluster bombs
emblazoned with
usa     usa
while a new plastic
hit the market
originally designed
for body bags

chicago, 1968

the democratic party
was a lethal machine
before
during
and after
the chicago convention
floodlights and police nightsticks
bayonets in formation
blood throughout the ranks
chemical defoliants
     again

--- e b bortz

earth note 505

i can't remember
the last time
rose of sharon
told everyone
on the back porch
that this is
the season we sing
in mountain thyme
     wild
or that red is still the rose
we open in our hands

--- e b bortz

earth note 504

does the rocky mountain lady
turn her head up
as the sun moves up

--- e b bortz

recovering notes from the deep, part 13

haifa, 1991

i'm going to catch hell

from the political and personal
for what comes out now
but if you can't say it
the way you feel it
why say it at all

we bicycled in the early morning

before the heat
through the haifa port area
before finally breaking out
into the countryside
heading north
past an orange growing kibbutz
with newfound friends
physicians from montreal
where fate brought us together
in a somewhat thatched hostel bungalow
the night before

we were animated

talking about what might lie ahead
even the world situation
came up and challenged
all preconceptions
they asked me about the last war
     the first gulf war
and all i could tell them was that
there were scuds from iraq
that hit residential buildings
killing several civilians
and that this was at a particular
tactical period when the israeli military
stayed out of direct conflict
so as not to upset
     somebody's grand coalition  
but really it was before my time in this place
and i certainly was no expert

but i knew the best bicycling roads

to akka or akko
as our eyes caught
each other's expression
we knew this might be karma

some details aren't as important

as the physical landscape
but i do remember the old walls
     in akka
and even more so
how the shadows wrapped around us
as i took her hand
for the first time

--- e b bortz

congressman, you've asked me to sign one more petition

and that's fine
i might just do it
but without using the word don't
i want to ask you something
     when will you stop cleaning up
     the shithouse
     known as the democratic party
they have oodles of corporate shills
paid in apartheid krugerrands
borrowed from your republican colleagues
to do those dirty deeds

is it not time to crawl out

& pitch your tent with the living

--- e b bortz

earth note 503

the dump trucks
keep coming
up the avenue
tarped over
to keep the dust down
even as the unburned diesel
darkens the tree line

what they're hauling

is a mystery
in the neighborhood
something that needs
to be asked about
repeatedly
or put up placards
before it tumbles down
a captive ravine

scrap concrete

from road repair
or coal
or limestone
or sand & gravel
or maybe
the mayor knows

--- e b bortz

death in manchester

who am i to write about this
a young woman and her friend
shot down on the street
     one died
many lives scarred
on the very streets
i walked down
fifty years earlier
with names like
liverpool and sheffield
the summer heat
m & i touched between us
at the very moment
every flower blooms
the wooden lattice
on your front porch
an organic framework
for what may be a future
your parents asking
how and where will you be going
     in the fall

--- e b bortz

earth note 502

one self-absorbed hawk soars in the foreground
     free
from the background
gray white cumulus
take extensive journal notes

there's an outside chance

a literary coup
is in the making

what the hawk stares at

becomes written verbatim
     this will not be workshopped
alive & synthesizing every moving detail
the ultimate full wingspan
even to the point
of chasing down & snagging
those pesky promotional blurbs

--- e b bortz

earth note 501

the mirage at the end of the highway
is not the end of capitalism
we've been fooled before

billions of bank notes

have been stowed away
just for these emergencies

camus spoke of the absurd

did he include the oil tenders
of the machinery
and a trillion moving parts

infrastructure has no color

it was never meant to be alive
it grinds on
even after the road turns to water

--- e b bortz

earth note 500

the storms are coming
and the only question is
when is it time
to lie fully prone
in a ditch
holding on to those teenage memories
scattered phrases
between bird songs
and what the experts say
when it's a couple minutes
to midnight

there might still be time

to pull weeds
keep up with the recycling
take a last cold shower
before heading
into the forest
standing somewhat erect
like our ancestors
expect from us

--- e b bortz

earth note 499

tired hills of eastern ohio
away from the interstate
at the bottom of a handmade clay pot
there's a spider that hasn't moved
in a century

clapboard houses

lining the two-lane
paint peeling up until
it gets dark

the timber too

has taken
a beating
leaves will be browning
before their time

overweight semis

roll through
on a regular schedule
crossing the centerline
skirting the shoulder
sweeping up gravel

mom & pop places

keep the old folks busy
the kids will be leaving
before summer ends

--- e b bortz

earth note 498

marshall trail, north side pittsburgh

cool damp

will give way
to hot damp
a spotted fawn
takes flight
on its own

when i last hiked

there were footprints left
by the anonymous
from a paleontologist
dream

--- e b bortz