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)

earth note 226

snorkeling off the reef
looe key
rises and drops
like fingers
open hands along
an ocean bottom
a thousand fish
swarm blue with the sun
yellow with black stripes
then a barracuda
and a couple of
hundred-pound groupers
keep your attention

rolling and rising
the waves meet crescendo
in every specie
     a heartbeat

--- e b bortz

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

mediocrity equals death

for all the talk of
free expression
and the liberation
of the artistic soul
is it not clear
there's very little
creative fire
that really surfaces
or takes root
or inspires?

we're being droned out 24/7
by the pundits
and
unsocial media
with talking points
kept within
predictable restraints
     like the straightjacket
     or a starched white shirt

even the words
freedom
peace
justice
that so permeate our texts
are losing all practical applications
wars continue
prisons fill
most politicians
return their contributions
with custom legislation
for their captors

so far
the great upheaval
has passed us by
the lid stays on the soup kettle
opening occasionally
to dole out a piecemeal
of disappointment
(so let's start a new facebook page)

it's true that
the words and music and colors
that can ignite a generation
still kindle
in the darkness
     every once in a while
          there's a new spark
but nothing burns
every facade and border and prediction
or goes wildly
     all out
     way down the road
          like a chuck berry song

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Jan 20, 2013)

oil-gas-dogma fundamentals

even a shot & a beer
can be a most toxic brew
when consumed through the script
of the one and only
     answering to the infidelities
     (yes, we all live with)
an eye for an eye
     (keeps the void well hidden)
beneath our breastbones
     an entryway
     of stereotypes
     answerable only
     to the water-board
     each wagging tongue
          dipped in fire
          will claim victory

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Jan 18, 2013)

earth note 225

marathon, florida

hot breeze
cool water
a few people
venture into the surf
     i splash my arms
     & dive in
     backstroke
     then float
     all is well

all's quiet
'cept seagulls
wind blown
yelling out
something like
yooow or cooow
     the waves coming in
     are a steady rhythm
     like island drumming
     the stones warm & healing

when sand slips through your toes
     touch each grain

--- e b bortz

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

earth note 224

the end of the road
begins the gulf of mexico
far out to the north
     more islands
enough elevation for a calm day
not nearly enough for a storm surge
     rising seas are not negotiable

but today
the wind is up
palms spread their fronds
     legs open
     perfect bliss

--- e b bortz

(published in broad sidling thirteen, Green Panda Press, March 2013)

it cost me a margarita

to post this poem
if it falls short
maybe
i should have two

--- e b bortz

earth note 223

white street pier, key west

pelicans hold back
     nothing
     dive for fish
     deep
     all out
     come up empty
     mostly
seagulls
     smaller and more tentative
     always looking for any slight advantage
     compensating for their frailty
tourists
     snap pictures
     peck at their phones
     walk behind dogs
     run along the beach
     hide in the trees
     shake sand off their towels
     read names on the aids memorial

pelicans hold back nothing

--- e b bortz

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

earth note 222

even a no-see-um bite
can lead to revelation
a nip of blood becomes more than an itch
if juxtaposed on a sea grass beach
an abundance of bare asses
still makes blush coloring
on foreign sand
castles that refuse to melt
in a tide
driven by memory

--- e b bortz

earth note 221

as quick as the heat came
it left
twenty-five mile gusts
from the east
sail off the gulf
as if the whitecaps
could whip up a storm
all on their own
my wheels spinning true
     growing legs of their own
a constant tailwind surges to my lower back
guessing i'm peaking near thirty miles an hour
flat out
head down
     leaving the dogs
     no time to bark

this sixty degree wakeup
     this morning
     this clarity
     this misplaced midwest autumn morning
          this reprieve
          from the tropics

--- e b bortz

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

earth note 220

it felt odd
a dog day afternoon
coming up on a florida keys
     new year
the osprey seems content
high in the nest
     not moving
one pelican
     with not much ambition
     skimming across the water

small puddles near the canal
     like as if they formed overnight
     motionless in the heat

i share a moist sweet mangrove
     organic decay
     thicket of silence

--- e b bortz

glasses of beer

warm
spilling on the sidewalk
running over the sticky stuff
near sloppy joe's
key west if you want it
     there's your metaphor
every blind spot
     comes out of the closet eventually
     messy nonetheless
as sunset celebration misses again
     mountains of empty clothing
piling up at big pine flea market
     thrift stores under their bulges
call it excess
like yachts gathering moss
     in a wall street kind of funk
everybody (knows)        then squirms
inside their earphones
duval street is a makeover
     not
     just sayin
     it might be
     last go-a-round
    
--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Dec 31, 2012)

earth note 219

the darkness of the canal
sobering if nothing else
not the waterway
     of glossy colorful brochures
not exactly the best neighbor
     either
though functional
     as our kayaks are functional
as artificial
     it is

on occasion
     an oil slick fouls it
between judgmental stares
     and outboard motors
it's clear
     we're only passing through

--- e b bortz

earth note 218

sunlight flickers through palm leaves
with a strong wind
it seems like
flashing eyelids
     a lover's dream

--- e b bortz

(published by Green Panda Press, January 2013)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

from the cruise ship

spills a thousand pieces of silver
     gold tarnished by a broken sunset
every earth-toned song from shore by mustafa
bounces off white
     sanitized
     sanitarium walls of the ship
     a distorted high-energy intruder
     surveys the landscape
     shadowing the manicure
     of perfectly placed palms
     stark crisp uniforms
     shifting around the deck

another attempt to drown
every creation of original dirt
     sweating armpits
     artist hands homeless
     whitewashed dreams
     stalking mallory square key west
          failing ultimately
          by next high tide

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Dec 20, 2012)

Occupy Nonviolence

The massacre in Newtown, Connecticut has exposed the essential political failure of the so-called political leadership in our country.

Democrats and Republicans alike have failed miserably in leading our society toward a more nonviolent future. In times of crisis, such as now, the political class nibbles around the corners of the problem, but lacks the vision and capacity to really tackle the culture of violence at its roots. After all, there's an entire military-industrial-financial-media-educational-prison complex that relies on establishment conventional 'wisdom' for so-called solutions.

Independent of this abyss, stands one political party practicing a fundamentally different kind of politics founded on nonviolence, grassroots democracy, ecology, social and economic justice. This is the Green Party.

The fact that the Democrats and Republicans will ultimately wither on the vine, a kind of obsolescence based on a natural historical process, is no comfort for communities and families in the painful here and now. Only a new grassroots political engagement that boldly builds a culture of nonviolence throughout society, can offer any meaningful solace to the grieving.

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Dec 17, 2012)

earth note 217

the road to
no name key
has power lines now
     slicing the wind across the water
     still choppy
     boldly unpredictable
half a dozen key deer
grazing in reach of a woman
tending her small cottage front yard
     sheltering near shadowy mangroves
     filling in like a forest
     when left alone

off-road
the thicket
covers my bicycle
stopping
at the endangered key deer posting
     without authorization
     i guess i'm supposed to piss myself
          i break the rules and join the other
     animal intruders
     long live those anarchist
     pelicans      ospreys      turkey buzzards

meeting up later
with highway one
     the mad and only highway to key west
what's left for the hair on my legs
just about
gets a shave
     crazy-driven (textin?) camaro
          keeping that pearl color body
               sculpted
               like a true party animal

--- e b bortz 

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

morning news

the newspaper listed him
     solely
as a "52-year-old transient"
who died on the north side
near the railroad tracks
     near the place the openings
     in the railroad trestle
     got cemented up      closed up recently
     to keep "transients" out
          pittsburgh city fathers
          following their political noses
          right thru election day
          throwing their weight around
          detached in their warm homes
          glutting unabashedly
          holding hands
          around the holiday table

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Dec 14, 2012)

earth note 216

yesterday i heard a fisher say
this december was more like summer
the heat and humidity unusual
puddles that don't evaporate easily
overnight condensation leaving
beads of sweat on the kayaks
     clear
     like droplets gathering
     then running down
just before the sun
finds and pokes a hole
thru the clouds

a lizard blends in
under the kitchen table
     confused perhaps

--- e b bortz

photo by sandy hazley

earth note 215

fragile as the key deer
the slight body of land
looks southwest with disbelief
that the present circumstances
will protect the endangered
animals     coral     mangroves
air and water
there's always another cruise ship
with its target
on key west
duval street prepares for another onslaught
     how many silly tee shirts does it take
     to screw in the christmas lights

still wandering and nostalgic
past the old houses
with roosters and caribbean music
now upstaged by pastels
nonetheless stale
     a housing complex thrown together
     without a sunset

--- e b bortz

(published in opednews.com, Dec 7, 2012)
(published in earth notes and other poems, Least Bittern Books, 2015)

earth note 214

dark water shimmers
with the canal
foam near the mouth
washes ashore
hit hard
by what's blowing off the gulf
whitecaps distract my eyes
launch bottom murky
small fish scramble
     kayak venture
     waits another day

--- e b bortz

in detroit

mustang sally waits
under the marquee

at the fox theatre

     inside leonard cohen

     kneels once more

     for her

     from an ornate stage

     projecting and lifting

     a deep sexual voice

     for all the outstretched

     idled hands

     lovers' hearts

     gone cold

 --- e b bortz