After The Fall

I wear you as skin
or as the crust of the wound
and the wound itches.
It is almost healed,
at the surface of my skin
now, this long after
the storm crashed by.

I saw you bring all the rain
down on us, on time
itself as if queen
of the eternal cloaked in
the rightness of things.

May 25, 2011 8:37 AM

The Dental Appointment

So I went to the dentist and I sat there listening the whining of the tools and to after hours comings and goings with the kids and stuff while my mouth was full of tools and hands and noise. I thought, "That's different." The dentist is a woman. It was obvious she thought this work routine and nothing for me to fret about. My anesthetic was abnormally effective so it was true. I sit now without pain many hours later but there is a constant inflammatory reminder that new work is in place. As good as it gets, I think when real work is done...

The Dental Appointment

All gals is liars,
and that's the truth. You said it.
I could tell from stains
on your teeth how you
were using all of you to
say this thing to me.

Oddly I thought of
some gal folk singer right then.

Next you said your heart
feels like your hope does
right after a tough dental
appointment when you
have to go back soon.
I mean it's going to get
worse and you know it.
After that, maybe
it gets better, maybe not.

And that woman lies...
at least, lies to you
and that's the damn truth of it.
Case closed, Sylvester.

Next appointment, next
Thursday afternoon at 3 -
chew on that for now.
This work could be just
good enough this time around-
a wee little throb.

‎January ‎28, ‎2016 12:05 AM

C'mon... Lighten up... This is supposed to be funny.

The Price Of Green - Three Word Wednesday

California's East Bay Hills for a few weeks in spring.

Written for Thom's Three Word Wednesday... This week the words are
Harrowing
Imperfect
Lame

The Price Of Green

Harrowing, like fields
plowed under dry and too soon
dusty in outcome
and parched, imperfect
as if ten lame kangaroos
tumbled past our camp
in the west outback -
or the east California
hills growl at us all -
and they wonder why
I moved in seventy-three
to Oregon's rain.

‎January ‎15, ‎2016 5:28 PM

California's East Bay Hills the rest of the year

I truly couldn't stand watching those hills dry out and die every year, easily the most depressing thing about living in San Jose for me. This is my answer to anyone who might ask why I would leave California. To me the rain of the northern reach of Oregon's Willamette Valley is a small price to pay. And I write this at the end of a positively sodden January day.

On Taking This Shot - A Magpie Tale

Photo by Ed Ross

Offered by Tess for this week's Magpie Tales: Mag 301. Find the contributor list on her website.

Ed Ross works with both a half-plate box style and bellows style camera and makes use of period lenses from the 1800s for an aesthetic that is altogether authentic and transformative. He makes tintypes, and says that he distrusts and dislikes computer and digitally produced art.

On Taking This Shot

No wonder I've stood
you up right here in the back
lot under the shade -
or is it the fog?

I forget some things these days.

And your dog whimpers
believing her time
is soon to follow after.

I have a good nose
for attar of rose
and an eye for your likeness
and the feel of you
under my fingers
is of the silk you wear on
your flushing pink skin.

Solitude leaks like
smoke through my stained caps, the gaps
in my tintype wash.

‎January ‎12, ‎2016 7:15 PM

Postscript: I don't know who put the lower blackout square into the picture, discreetly covering the model's nipple. It's hard to believe Ed Ross did, but possibly.

Scribed On The Wall

The Gower Memorial to William Shakespeare at Stratford Upon Avon. Wiki says of this, "A statue was created in 1888, the work of Lord Ronald Gower. This is situated in Stratford's Bancroft Gardens. The monument shows Shakespeare seated on a pedestal, surrounded, at ground level, by statues of Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Prince Hal, and Falstaff. These characters were intended to be emblematic of Shakespeare's creative versatility: representing Philosophy, Tragedy, History, and Comedy."

In the photo above, Hamlet is seen from his back to the right of Shakespeare on the pedestal. In the photo below, Hamlet is seen from another angle.

Scribed On The Shit-house Wall

"Tale for sale" consists
of three torn rooster feathers
in a gallon sized
baggie, stuffed in there
and tangled, with bits of stuff
still attached, a kit
designed for a rat
to take away and ponder
like that guy pondered
(Alas, poor Yorick's
skull) the shape of ends passing
and those still to come.

‎May ‎10, ‎2011 12:49 AM