earth note 663

on this non-leap-year last day in february

disregarding grammatical appearance

there's construction across the avenue

in backup horns and backhoe horns

and at least one police suv

speeding down toward the river

like everyone seems to be

behind in schedule

like it was suppose to be

some kind of milestone

by the end of the month

but confusion must have reigned

and someone forgot to check the calendar

this non-leap-year

there's still a lot of plastic visqueen

flapping 'round the steel frame

cold electricians and pipe fitters

crawling all over iron workers

and heavy equipment operators

a typical management coordination

     fuckup

the extra day wouldn't have helped

--- e b bortz

earth note 662

bicycle trail overcast

on a damp winter day

new castle pennsylvania

to struthers ohio

the weeds are dormant

but nonetheless encroaching

from the last warm days

of the last autumn

bituminous coal mines of eastern ohio

western pennsylvania

from the armpit of the ohio river valley

leaving its mark

even if no one

is carrying coal to new castle

anymore

the bike trail shows itself

being a little ragged

on the edges

awaiting spring & summer

cattails and thistle

still to make their claims

many years

since first rolling past

the pavilion at lowellville

--- e b bortz

earth note 661

the roads back to pennsylvania

from the florida keys

might be called the long letdown

they forget the sun and just

roll up mile after mile

from disappointment highway

finally

a cold wind will just grab you

and not let go

if there's a shortcut

to spring

it must be lost like bare appalachian hills

morning freeze

has the ground turning up

contorted in awkward positions

only the sheep understand

through their deep wool

huddling together

--- e b bortz

earth note 660

1

from pine key bight

it's about equidistant

to the bridge at no name key

on the northeastern end of doctors arm

or the highway one bridge crossing

a little south at spanish harbor

but on a windy day in a kayak

when the whitecaps start to show

and you get your no-compass bearings turned sideways

it's easy to be fooled into thinking

you might be at a mouth

of a great ocean

when in fact you might only be disoriented

on the blind side

of big mangrove key

or refuge key

so keep those bridges in sight

2

with the last hurricane

the water rose all the way

into the no name bar

and up the walls

covering half the dollar bills

tacked up by regulars & travelers

     after everything dried out

the money remembered

where it had left off

     depreciated of course for insurance purposes

while the beer bottles had cleared out

before the power went

3

just before the storm

some key deer migrated

to the highest mangroves

scrambling for cover

avoiding the traffic jam panic north

resourceful swimmers all

--- e b bortz

earth note 659

a heavy snow

is like the weight of the world

yevtushenko might have

pointed this out

from his vantage

at the bratsk hydroelectric station

or in the clumps piling up

on the evergreens

it's a cumulative process

this weight gathering

bearing

treading forward

--- e b bortz

earth note 658

something about a sunday morning

when the ground is frozen

the leaves and twigs stall

in their last movement

unlike an extended family of deer

leaping     running across the ridge

half a dozen looking for cover

bareness is a cold brown winter

maples look into the valley

downriver

for a thaw

--- e b bortz

earth note 657

the thaw might be imaginary

uneven the way the fog covers it

there are dead leaves frozen in time

still unaccounted for

the canine doesn't miss anything

when the hillside is slipping

new directions will be chosen

where there's brush     there are hopeful roots

beneath the topsoil

lies the sound of past hooves

colored in the mud

of past migrations

origins are yet to be recognized

footprints are more

than first impressions

when the fog lifts     rivers break free

--- e b bortz

he looks like a scruffy but we named him pax

always hoping for peace

even when losing it

looks more likely

a few long nights or long days into nights

yes we have another canine

occupying the spaces

with all the confidence

of a black wolf hound mix or something

he's pretty tall when he takes command

and gets up

on his hind legs

and he doesn't like crates

but loves riding in the car

hoping for a good camping season

--- e b bortz

cold borscht

was the way my father ate it

like the workers and peasants

beaten down in the black earth fields

and coal mines and steel mills

where the red beets were your life blood

and you learned what suffering was for

no mccarthy or america first committee

could sugar-coat or betray

that kind of suffering

once committed

to the taste

all that was left

was to raise

your fist

--- e b bortz

lost poems or recovering notes from the deep, part 19

circa 1977-1978

so i'm kinda resigned to the fact

that all those raw words

got left behind

strewn across dried up frozen hay fields

bitter down to the root

leaving northern minnesota passion

( 3 miles north of nashwauk 
across from nurka's corner store)

to fend for itself

stripping everything to bare essentials

locking away everything not claimed already

there were some beautiful words in the fall

as the words grew and took form

memory doesn't serve me well at this point

but i get the deep down guttural feeling

that everything written

on that old underwood typewriter

could only have been written once

and at that exact moment

the wind swept in out of the northwest

somewhat confused

like it was going to a dance

without a partner

waking you to what only could be described

as stumbling forward on strike benefits

and borrowed pencils

and then from time to time

reverting back a decade

to muster all the courage from a family

of shoemakers and tinsmiths

draft resisters and tormented writers

when the strike finally ended

there was a small pile of papers left

stowed away in the attic eave

of a brown loose-leaf notebook

left to gather the maturity or abandonment

of another season

which came and went

and then went again

left leaning into every episode

retrospect vexed or otherwise

for alternative explanations

ultimately recovering what's possible

finding solace

and space
between the words

--- e b bortz

earth note 656

i may have said this

in a different way before

but the flight of a crow wing

can bring you home

through black and gray contrast

an overcast sky has nowhere else to go

following north then west

stripped black branches painted

etched in gray background

snow still a blanket

clean as the grit around it

rolling up and down each hill

without judgment

--- e b bortz

earth note 655

there's a trail

frozen in time

by the last snow dusting

footprints i left six months ago

mingling just below the avenue

with the doe

stepping carefully

toward autumn

--- e b bortz

earth note 654

polemic road off route 19

in west virginia

still ranting while drowning

into the gray soup fog

not knowing the answer

for an appalachian mid-life crisis

coal dust thick in the creek bed

a homicide by any definition

waiting for acknowledgment

no matter how you cut it

if you can't believe that

just take a walk out back

and find the shithouse

still full

from the last century

--- e b bortz

earth note 653

a windy saturday afternoon

and i'm sorry for revealing all this

but sombrero beach is something

of a beach party today

kayaks up the yazoo

a few sailboats

rhythm of the tide

     a dozen languages

& music mix

out near the horizon

a speedboat race

noise and testosterone

and most likely a few drunks

making waves

the seagulls and pelicans

seem to care less and less

like they understand the cajun french

as well as french quebec

while turning their beaks like pointers

     at the wind

--- e b bortz

earth note 652

cudjoe bay

from patience

you'll find your bearings

there's always a larger vista

if you find an opening

it'll be up to you

to go on thru

--- e b bortz

earth note 651

big torch key

the end of the road

but not the end

of the trail

mangrove rising

wild

free

like a growing hill

before the sun

before your eyes

a path

--- e b bortz

earth note 650

denim underground railroad

a mix of hands

eventually landing

in a pittsburgh thrift store

the origins too faded to see

so i'll point them toward

the open water on sombrero beach

where languages mix freely

and no one is demanding a green card

--- e b bortz

earth note 649

i'm walking highway A1A today

like it's a religious experience

     maybe it is

the north wind is sharp and cold

the tide is meandering in from the caribbean

like a ritual or habit

     might as well call it a ritual

there's an old milwaukee beer can

with its head bashed in

stranded in the shallows

might as well call it holy water

when the beach sands

reach the sidewalk and cover it

the hourglass will begin

traffic will stop

pelicans will gather up their tribe

     the sea will open

--- e b bortz

earth note 648

roots anchor sun

sea swallows light

green sprouts push through

first as rhythm

then as song

--- e b bortz