earth note 364

drizzle makes a poet envious
the cadence is subtle
it'll tap your shoulder
going directly to your heart
you'll get cold
trying to figure out
the difference between
a dark afternoon
and a lament
you've heard before

--- e b bortz

with october approaching

there comes a decision
standing equidistant
on the stairwell
between maximum & minimum emotion
     which way to go
what should be taken from autumn
     what should be let go of

i've been told

there are no recurring themes
a story leaves out details
from before
that you'll never notice
and you'll adjust to them
like a missing character
or a forgotten name

it's not enough to dwell

in the change of season
there are transitions
so quiet
that what touches you
is complete
though sometimes seen
as less
than whole

--- e b bortz

better to remain anonymous

sitting with a ten-year-old minivan
recharging
from dead
this morning
nothing to do
'cept wait it out

reading through an online nytimes version

of nostalgia
for late 70s new york city
     how could they fail to mention basquiat
          revolutionary gospel that is
     doesn't usually make it into
     self-absorbed congratulatory circles
(o.k. i understand now)

like poetic milquetoast 

running off

to another workshop
some still faking the pain & poverty of those days
presenting the in-crowd as
a red badge of courage
or was it all
just another cliquish andy w production
repetitions co-opted
constructed
     and carefully
     only skin deep

(o.k. i understand now)

--- e b bortz

 

not much long after the leaves change

free-falling to their deaths
     there won't be any excuses left
for not leaving every pennsylvania-west virginia
coal hollowed road
& grit hill
hoping to hide
from another season
of dark high noons
     fresh wind weakened
     by the rattle of coal trains & half-burned diesel trucks
every last one of those tongues
snarling apologetic superpaks
always trying to sell you
     another load

we'll take our lesser evil

gouging gasoline price
& head towards the caribbean
even though there are
no perfect sunsets

--- e b bortz

 

from a raft a first step

a backpack
finds the shore
of europe
leaving western guns to ultimately rust
in the sand
     (along with firewater      smallpox    
     cluster bombs      depleted uranium)

children rest upon a generation's shoulders

their smiles yet to come
millions praise
your bare
courage

--- e b bortz

 

earth note 363

a train of coal cars
squealing over the river
signaling an end to summer
with no patience
for a better way

a dove on the wire

still
in meditation

--- e b bortz

 

earth note 362

a trail with shoulders
still soft from the rain
     a dozen footprints
     split off on their own

--- e b bortz

 

earth note 361

 

cawker city, kansas

the great plains

all-consuming
rolling right up to main street
& an art gallery & antique store
filled to the brim
always saying it's open
which i guess it is
in a figurative sense
as open as the prairie 
as the sunflower & wheat fields
are open
open and empty
as the only road
passing through

your eyes will never

bring the horizon
into absolute focus
it will hesitate on the edge
before fading
     leaving your brow
     damp with questions    

---e b bortz

earth note 360

from the mesa grande
the valley floor
emits a dusty bottom
almost effervescent
& the bodies & cars
scramble from their hives
without purpose
sun providing no clarity
just a mix of granules
& out-of-sync energy

when dusk comes

the forest finds the ridge
& goes into hiding

--- e b bortz

the long walk

from budapest to austria & germany
is only the beginning
the road goes on
sleepwalking 
like a melancholy roma song
prodding a response
that can only be hoped for
stepping into
those shoes
     you will dare
     to be human    

--- e b bortz

earth note 359

just another weekday morning
cars rushing down the avenue
wrapped around their coffee cups
tied up in heat & humidity & time clocks
striking down in unison
sweat dripping off the trees
likes to think
it's a greenhouse
when in fact
the insides
are all but
withering

--- e b bortz

 

words left on an empty park bench

aren't necessarily lost
intentional abandonment
maybe

tomorrow they'll take on

a new meaning
if it rains
only the vowels will
leach out

being in a fixed place

is overrated
anyway

--- e b bortz

earth note 358

spirit lake and beyond, colorado

1.

all the footsteps     trails     origins
of the original people
immersed and living
with this land and water
for millennia
without malice
brought to life
through sudden sunrises
and rapid sunsets
commanded by the mountains
and the colors of each day's prism
borrowed then renewed
re spiriting all who were touched
or found reverence
were made sacred

2.

then the mine owners
manifest destiny long rifles came
dominating from a void
a vacant conscience
ripping through
aspen & pine forests
corralling the free
shredding the wind blown high grasses
leaving barbed wire walls
as the standard excuse
for private property

3.

a few nights ago
i thought i heard
a strong solo drumbeat
coming from the canyons
in the north
just as the spirit lake blues festival
was winding down
a wavering blues harmonica
rose and faded away slow
the lake had now calmed
a fingernail moon
stamped its image
on the water
the rock faces of the canyon
spoke again
the drumbeat echoed
long into the darkness
     where the original dream
     lives on

--- e b bortz

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

earth note 357

rocky mountain national park, colorado

the grassland

before the peaks
shift each morning in the sunrise
it's in their nature
to confront & adjust

a mystic sculpture lies

at the top of the mountain
some say a woman
resting her eyes
from the troubles of the world
synthesizing all the green 
to become brown with the earth
brown as the origin
of all life
     brown
as the indigenous

when snow joins

the river
what passes
for calm
will be broken

--- e b bortz

earth note 356

estes park, colorado

moss clings to the opposite side

of the creek
pines shelter out the sun
with a short meadow beyond
every rock challenges the flow
in the name of the dormant
     for now
when the sky opens
to the last of the summer
it'll be time to walk
the path of the mule deer
     search new pastures

--- e b bortz

it's important not to put too fine a point on it

but
this crossed my mind
as detached as i am in the colorado wilderness
how bernie sanders was answering
black lives matter
in his new stump speech
& i was finishing up
invisible man ralph ellison
in my tent
& thinking it would be good
if bernie took himself back
to that period & looked so straight
in the politician mirror
as distorted as that may be
& thought down deep to his marrow
how totally inadequate
(a weak word at that)
all the platforms he may build
if it only leads to more platforms
& more platforms
like the one that hung
thirty-eight dakota men & women
in mankato minnesota
on december 26th in 1862
with the official signature
of abraham lincoln
no less

if there's a politician

that can address
an empire's original sins
now
is the time
to step up

--- e b bortz

laundromat

grand junction, colorado

catching up on household needs
after eight days on the mesa
leaving the rocks & forests
for a day
the colorado river cuts through
this valley ignoring the sprawl
and takes its direction
from a higher power
like gravity or mountain contours

down north avenue

college students seem
to be following a prescribed
early orientation
lining up on the sidewalk
still upbeat before
the semester begins

the laundromat change machine

spits out quarters
like an imaginary
slot machine payout
an imposter by any definition

you gotta know somebody
or have relatives in the city government
to get on the internet
in the one spot
we happen to be stuck in
this moment
for the next hour
(stop whining already) 

but can't say

the place isn't alive
though i almost
stepped outta line & butted in
to tell someone
they deserved free
laundromat services
after sweeping up the floor
with their flowery quilt
en route to the supersize machines

--- e b bortz

 

this dispatch queued up hurriedly from another day

grand mesa national forest, colorado

wind       rain

thunder on the mesa
came up last night
& throughout a halfhearted daybreak
all tent stakes secure
'cept the mosquitoes
weren't told
to take a day off
too cold & wet to venture
     the aspen leaves are shivering
     waiting for the sun

--- e b bortz

earth note 355

cedaredge, colorado

he might be doing
the woman who owns the laundromat
but really all he wants
to do
is play pool
and is happy
to make change
with quarters
for the washers & dryers
unless you're bringing in
work clothing
from the oil & gas fields
in that case
don't
as the sign says

the city park restrooms

have running water
the closest a camper
will get to a shower

& if you get down

as far as delta
the dust seems to settle
on every surface
right in line with
a sprawl beginning
'cause there's a four lane
ramming up against the mountains
and enough pickup trucks
with big mirrors
to fill
a rodeo parking lot

--- e b bortz

earth note 354

grand mesa national forest, colorado

sunset lake is small enough

to be missed
in the tall pine & aspen
capturing it
cold to the touch
& it has a way
of drawing you
to every corner
so you have to consciously
keep a distance
avoid the lure of the spillway
there can be danger
in a daydream

the wind is confused today

blowing hard from the west
then lackadaisically
from the north
there are no adequate descriptions
for the flight
of a blue dragon fly
or the squawking
of a mountain jay

--- e b bortz

earth note 353

rifle gap state park, colorado

 

photo by Sandra L Hazley

a patch of blue

still poking above
the crown
of a piñon pine covered mountain
an hour left
before the sun dips behind
a long dusk
     storm clouds circling

--- e b bortz

earth note 352

downtown denver

there is no imaginary

neal cassady & his dad
on these streets anymore

their story was one of a kind

spelled out at life's
first third marker
& even throwing in
another fifth for good measure
won't bring you anything new
today

the marijuana generation

has made it legal now
for folks like neal & his dad
to jam themselves
into a dusty church attic
to get a few winks of sleep
before heading out
into the streets again
or on over to the still under funded
elementary school
or down to the old union pacific
tracks & box cars heading west

not saying it's better or worse

than it was then
just different
all the promises were bullshit
it's just taken so many decades
for that simple acknowledgment

clothing for the homeless

is now all about corporate symbols
issued with an accompanying
pat on the back
& a mention on npr

--- e b bortz

earth note 351

the dog days of august
are a month early
as a forest of limping green
squeezes in co2
& releases o2
from the far fetches
of a shallow valley

where the trees breathe

we all answer
in deep breaths
     a lifeline

--- e b bortz

 

sauna

circa 1976

from that first minnesota winter

cutting ten cords of wood
to keep the furnace going
in the house
as well as
the demands
from the outside sauna
     a log building that
     served as
     the only means for bathing
it became clear
that learning
survival skills
was always
in season

it took almost an hour

from below zero
for a blazing wood stove
& makeshift water heater
to really get things going

clothes hooks
in the 'changing room'
were still cold
as we peeled off everything
& darted into the 'heat room'
& the steam of splashing water
on stones & stove

hot & cold water were mixed
with buckets to get
the temp just right
& then on to a quick
soaping & rinsing
while the heat flashed & soaked
through your body
like a purging
bringing you through
a first real sweat
     & renewal

--- e b bortz

gulf of thailand 1989

by sundown
an orange mist
hangs just above
the water
letting the day's heat
release back through
a restless tide
anxious
to get on
with one's karma
from this moment
there will be no duplicates

--- e b bortz

 

earth note 350

cloud cover
is a welcoming reprieve
shutting off the shadows
near high noon
leaving only the fading outline
of a wrought iron fence
tangling with bamboo

--- e b bortz

the air is heavy

& not without direction
laying out the trail
around the knob
past the gray cloud overhangs
disappearing with the hemlock

you follow without

qualifying the morning
it has come
& you've made your peace
another day

--- e b bortz

most of the time

there's nowhere to go
to block out
the boredom & powerlessness
of the present

i retreat

not from fear
but from monotony

& find solace

in words
& the imagined

--- e b bortz

 

if there's a ticker tape from greece next month

let it be a beat
from the bluest
of the aegean sea

fearless facing the storm

alive in the tradition
of ancient mariners

where the surf

offers up hand to hand
courage

where the shipwrecks

& outmoded machinery
are scrapped with every illusion

--- e b bortz

there's no pattern here

never was
in every recipe
there's embarrassment
of the obvious
like a steady rain
for hours now
needs the freedom
to keep going

& when the wind

shakes the bowels
don't believe it
until all the dues
have been paid
a promise
is nothing but another schedule
that can change

scribble down everything

remember nothing
every answer is really a question
pick through the remnants
& if the thrift store closes early
keep your backpack empty
the sidewalks
are still open

--- e b bortz

earth note 349

colors of the soul
drip down
just after dawn

with a cluster of red-brown leaves

burrowing in
a leafy green maple
across the avenue

as the rains come

& the traffic slows
the withering ones
     weep
& try to cover their tracks
worming inward 
drooping lower

a steady crawl towards the body

     where the trunk
     does not flinch

--- e b bortz

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

earth note 348

the planet records
an endless toll
on everything & everyone
who speaks her name
in vain
never forgetting
the ornery fool
staking a claim
& recoloring the forest
     gray

--- e b bortz

running out of excuses

hearing the phrase
ego is exploited by the system without your consent
can be confusing
free will via madison avenue evil lesser
is beyond your control

assume

in an average lifetime
the bed you make
repeats itself
thirty thousand times

even the ration books

have been sold off
to the highest bidder
& you've known that
many thousand times

you still have the word

     no

--- e b bortz

in the raindrops

left last night
is the original sin
brought to the shores
of a misnamed rock
near a forest
without borders

this is not an answer

nor a hypothesis
the great minds
have all forgotten
since it may have been
beyond the pale

a manifest

of innermost logic
self-fulfilling prophecy 
has no challengers
     but the river

--- e b bortz

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