tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20023233914937478112024-03-01T00:39:19.430-05:00GreAt PoeTRy of 5 NaTIonSgary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.comBlogger13780125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-15538219657313075232023-07-03T14:27:00.007-04:002023-07-03T14:28:31.997-04:0016, 381. ODDS ON<div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">ODDS ON</span></span></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've always thought - to a man (person) -</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">on cavalcade Earth - that our steps were</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">prescribed for us. Nowhere to run, nowhere</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to hide. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Headstrong in all others matter of taste and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">declaration, we paint our kitchens to colors</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">that we like, and take our ideas from wherever </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">else we choose. It's just like that, and simple.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> I don't take guesses on things I don't know</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">about; nor do I place bets on horses I've</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">never seen.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-63623018883344787992023-07-03T08:15:00.004-04:002023-07-03T08:15:51.844-04:0016,380. GESTATION PERIOD<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b> GESTATION PERIOD</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Take the robin from the tree, and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">you've still got a robin and a tree.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Those are singular objects that yet</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">remain.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's not like that with dreams and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">hope - you remove them, and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">they're gone.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-91695491843198660122023-07-02T17:51:00.008-04:002023-07-02T17:51:53.853-04:0016,379. NEGATIVES<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>NEGATIVES</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's difficult for me to stay negative </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">when everyone is saying the 'right'</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">attitude will win my day. It may well</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">be just as they say, yet I harbor my own</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">digging doubts. Everything sideways falls</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">off the cart. I am my own worst enemy.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I awoke today in a hole so deep and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">black I thought there'd be no coming </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">back; but by 4pm it was pretty much</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">gone. Last night, again, was little sleep.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At 9pm the town's fire whistle blew is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">nightly signal, and I though that we </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">were done. 9:30, the dirigible assholes </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">got started with fireworks. The next </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">house down the hill is about 1000 feet </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">off. He got his 40 minutes of nitwit</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">folly, and then the next house got their.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And then the next. Each of 3, sounding</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">like a conspiracy.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">With a 'rest-home' here filled with </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">doddering fools, I was surprised at </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the lack of consideration . No sleep </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">for me!</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-56978409596012296722023-07-01T04:16:00.000-04:002023-07-01T04:16:00.801-04:0016378. HEADINGS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>HEADINGS </b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's been a really long time, in years now,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">since I've heard a truly aggressive voice</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">directed towards me; and noticed only</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">by its absence. That's a true distinction,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and one worth the mention. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I think the mark of a man is how we</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">note the passing - some men get buried</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">strangely, with those nods to their distant</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">past : the Marine Color Guard, the fresh</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and preserved uniform displayed in plastic, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">on a hanger at the front. Yes, I always feel</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the Government is out of line with that</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">re-possessive move. What is all this? A</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Communist Soviet, taking back all its</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">souls for its military life anew? Does</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">not this 'malarkey' ever end, and do</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">men not have 'lives' in between?</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-20757706069545722023-06-30T11:24:00.006-04:002023-06-30T11:24:47.228-04:0016,377. MY CENTRAL BEAM HAS FALLEN INTO THE WATER<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>MY CENTRAL BEAM HAS </b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>FALLEN INTO THE WATER</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My house has fallen with it. The center respite</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of my days. I find many things to like, in this</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">naturally de-natured world, and for those I</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">hold them close. A whistle in the dark; some </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">odd moment to remember.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-43799601402237325372023-06-30T08:55:00.002-04:002023-06-30T09:09:32.586-04:0016,376. I CAN'T REALLY LET THIS GO<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">I CAN'T REALLY LET THIS G</span></b></i><b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My trust in mischievous things is gone :</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">marbles hitting against marbles, kids</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">throwing cards against walls, boys and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">stickball in an old schoolyard. You just</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">don't see that stuff anymore.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now they park the electric cars at the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">charging stations and just sit around</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">with nothing to do but watch the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">postal trucks come and go. The old</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">rail cars back there? No one delicately</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">cares.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I can hardly take living anymore, and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">if the dying wasn't to be such a task, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'd be gone already?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p><br /></p>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-69115535739879324372023-06-29T19:42:00.003-04:002023-06-29T19:42:46.927-04:0016, 375. FRAGMENTS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>FRAGMENTS</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I dazzled my spaniel with my hipster elan, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and once, and long ago. Now there are only </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">penny candies, penny-antes, and penny-whistles</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to go : The Bitter End, the Other End, Cafe Wha, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and me. Bent and crooked and old and all gone.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">When I see these places again, in my dreaming,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">they are like lost dances from another place and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">time. I am climbing to Heaven, in a descending</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">barrel of hopes and possibilities. (My fragments </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">are all broken at the kneecaps).</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-7070184785668973732023-06-29T16:43:00.005-04:002023-06-29T16:43:55.820-04:0016,374. SO LOADED DOWN<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b> SO LOADED DOWN</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My saddled back is old and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">groaning; there is a mystery </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">now in every damned ache. I</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">want to run off, to ancient Egypt,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and be found in some cuspish</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">chamber. How long, I wonder,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">can those tar-torches burn in a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">deep, dark, pyramid; and would</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I be alone? Or are there spirits</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">wagging, waiting for intruders.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'll leave it all to imagination, since</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">there are not really any true ways</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">for me to balance the gauge of what</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I say. This modern world has far</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">outgrown the idle speculations,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and we run from dark to light in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and instant - not much more to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">be said there.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-51990923637924359452023-06-29T08:26:00.003-04:002023-06-29T08:26:44.648-04:0016,373. OF MANY MATTERS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b> OF MANY MATTERS</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the mornings, here, as I arise,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">before others, it's very quiet. The</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">hallways at 5am are dim). I get </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">tended to throughout the night,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">with changed IV's, etc. Then, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">about 6am, (and there are things</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">about this do NOT like), the old</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">people stir. Their thankless TV's</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">are off by then, and long before).</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've already gotten to know the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">voices by hearing. Oddball old</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">female chatterers, who make the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">rounds waking the others up. I </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">keep my own doors closed, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">since my day-one here, to keep </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">out the chatter. But these </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">so-simple voices drive me </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">batty. 'Good morning! What </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">will you be wearing today!'</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A gold-mine of contested sanity.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-37578060134556348862023-06-28T19:01:00.006-04:002023-06-28T19:01:53.718-04:0016,372. NORMAL OCCASIONS OF EXCEPTIONAL MINUTES<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>NORMAL OCCASIONS OF </b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>EXCEPTIONAL MINUTES</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the main street of town here -</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">they tell me - there's a nice little</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">supermarket. It keeps to itself,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">though there's no parking at all.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Which is weird. One has to find </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">a spot out front, metered or not.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another item I don't know about.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm sequestered in here, all the time.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I only hear what people say. My wife,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">who enters that fray almost daily, will</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">always tell me what she finds. I'm all</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">helpless here, and finding my way by</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">imagined steps alone.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In the commingled existences of some</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">200 souls, there's a lot of noise sometimes,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">amidst the geriatric silences : that's pretty</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">strange too. A resounding echo, from a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">silent auditorium.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-73110587200419519542023-06-28T10:03:00.002-04:002023-06-28T10:03:30.249-04:0016,371. MOSTLY, EVERYONE'S GONE MAD<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>MOSTLY, EVERYONE'S GONE MAD</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You can slide the infraction under the door,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the place where the corn flakes glide. There's </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">a raven in the window staring me down. Quoth</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the raven : 'You're a bore!' My, my how things</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">have changed.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This quality of mercy is not strained; I always</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">wondered what that meant; baby food? Strained</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">peaches or beets or pears. I like my spinach straight.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The tan dog walks by again, looking sideways at </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">me as it goes. In the aboriginal night of some</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">dream-time circle, I'd be fearful, but not now.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I am safe in the Heaven I stand beneath.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-52540259459277995292023-06-28T06:41:00.001-04:002023-06-28T08:40:11.883-04:0016,370. THERE'S PLENTY TO DO<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>THERE'S PLENTY TO DO</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Planning revenge on Putin, in a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">criminal game called 'Retaliation',</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">is an online delight. I crush him </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">under a bulldozer just for fun.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The moon comes down to drip</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">on him. The scandal of the century</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">is called 'Co-existence.'</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-24055012862504908582023-06-28T06:38:00.000-04:002023-06-28T06:38:02.703-04:0016,369. I DON'T REALLY WISH TO WRITE<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b> I DON'T REALLY WISH TO WRITE</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I don't really wish to write about this </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">because it's not my way. Everyone meets</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">someone somewhere. A girlfriend? It was</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">so long ago. I used to walk through all</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">weathers to the library each night. Maybe</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">2 miles at most, but I don't even know that.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">She and her girlfriends followed me there.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I guess we began talking, but I really don't</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">remember. They were all a pretty-nice bunch,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of 4. Without much to say, I just started to make</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">stuff up - being from somewhere else, stories</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">about my life. All of it, at 16? What a walking</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">funhouse-mirror jerk was I</span>.</div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-58331403926631090902023-06-28T06:30:00.007-04:002023-06-28T06:30:56.761-04:0016,368. HOMAGE<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>HOMAGE</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Atlas? Zeus? Thor? Aries? Any</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of those folks worth messaging?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Would they even know? The dastardly</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">cast of eras gone my. Another Mt.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Olympus Mafia.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We can't contact the past unless they</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">already knew their own futures. That</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">never happened, so give it up. Ideas as</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">wild as lemongrass just fall down and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">wither. Here I stand, Lord, somehow yet</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">without you; my barren civilization</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">somehow fighting feast and fire, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">famine, wars and murder.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-24725944992988655602023-06-27T18:09:00.000-04:002023-06-27T18:09:06.912-04:0016,367. MINOTAUR<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>MINOTAUR</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I don't know who left the door open, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">but man they let anything in these</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">days. There's no sense in making </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">sense, just like that. I've moved</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">mountains before, so I guess I</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">can move one of these. Chattel, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to roof shingles, is there really</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">any difference these days?</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-61782166185406437412023-06-27T13:37:00.000-04:002023-06-27T13:37:55.056-04:0016,366. MARTIN BUBER<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>MARTIN BUBER</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'd like to leave the trees and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the forest, and the scrutiny of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">others. I am tired of being looked</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">at up and down by empty caskets</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of renown. This is a dismal world,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and one which holds nothing but </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">a frugal sense of stupid juggling,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">back and forth, to me.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Leaving the covered area vacant,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'd like to stand aside again and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">see the wide expanse of possibility.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Be damned, these small and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">strictured things, by contrast </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">now (and I, and thee, and thou).</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-77734311002786087092023-06-27T08:26:00.005-04:002023-06-27T12:11:09.791-04:0016,365. I CAN'T IMAGINE<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b> I CAN'T IMAGINE</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I can't imagine anything else but this, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and if I 'can', it all comes out some</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">other way: Leaves that grow from </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">sockets instead of trees; rivers running </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">uphill, and under caverns; deer and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">animals that can talk.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's really too onerous for me to </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">hold onto. Not creation's way, for </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">one thing. The Sun, which may </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">run from left to right (depending </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">on where one stands), insists </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">instead on east to west; how to </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">make sense of that is a test. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Help me, help me. I don't need </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the confusion. My hands are full</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and my mind is busy.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-18575757862993983412023-06-27T06:49:00.010-04:002023-06-27T08:15:47.759-04:0016,364. HUNTING TO THE GLASS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>HUNTING TO THE GLASS</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">As in a museum diorama, I can see</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">through to the other side of life. The</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">hunters with their spears stare back</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">at me through weeds, and there is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">little beyond the marsh grass but </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">murk, and a sabre-toothed tiger.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I have to stay crash-happy, even in </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">this wreckage. Too little to say about</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the ivory and the tusk.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-53851673558301078282023-06-26T21:15:00.000-04:002023-06-26T21:15:04.518-04:0016.363. MY SAVAGE DESPERATION<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>MY SAVAGE DESPERATION</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The birds have gone from off the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">ledge. There was supposed to be a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">band, in town, somewhere today, at</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the bandshell, but I heard nothing.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">No matter. At noon and nine the fire</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">whistle blows; a sort of central</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">notification for a town still afraid </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">from its last conflagration. Any</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of that has GOT to be better than</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">my savage desperation.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At night, all night, for me, this all</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">turns ghoulishly wrong : my mind reels,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">expanding my imagined troubles into</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">new and worse grotesqueries. I have </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">nowhere to turn, no friends, no kin, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">here, in a place like this. The power </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">is worse than the wish.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm pretty sure, for me, this is the end of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of the line. I'm scared and I'm desperate;</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">like in a savage way, when a glass no</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">longer will hold water. (And the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">birds are gone from the ledge).</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-42183539924686660402023-06-26T14:12:00.007-04:002023-06-26T14:55:25.380-04:0016,362. RUDIMENTS, pt.1.303<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b> RUDIMENTS, pt.1,303 </b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>(the shakedown was in the kitchen)</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've long lived without certain things; </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">items I've always disliked and avoided.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">'Sweats', for example. Those loose, saggy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">sack-pants that so many like to stay in, for</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">days at a time. Pretty gross, to me. Shorts</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">too. In my adult life, I've never worn shorts,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and won't. I don't like the feel of them, and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">that Etonian, British boys-school thing that</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">goes with them, was never me. Anyway, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">back when, riding a motorcycle in shorts</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">just seemed a terrible travesty. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I co-existed with lots of things I disliked:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">schools, church, various cares and palliatives.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">TV. Some music, and all those short-end of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">life things that can really ruin a day. Most of </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">my life was spent 'undirected' - I pretty</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">much roamed, at will, and came and went</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">as I chose. It was funny, in its way, because</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">after a few years of seminary training and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">discipline, I took off like my own Huck Finn,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">once all of those rigors were removed. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Procedures and process, be damned.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">- </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Good or bad, I don't really know. At home, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">my parents seemed more confused, or feared, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of me, than anything else. Nothing was ever</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">instilled; advice was nil. It was a busy family,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and I just stayed away and then was gone</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">(again); given nothing, and taking nothing.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was an empty, quiet, life, which I liked, and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">my rigors of self-training and book-learning,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">after all that had gone before, were gracious </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to me, and important to me too.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nothing held much meaning to me;</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">holidays and celebrations without any merit.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I ignored them all - if I wasn't laughing</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">in someone's face over their 4th of July</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">ridicule, I was throwing a firecracker</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">on my way out. Demon-trouble lookalike,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">but I knew my ways.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After a while it all appeared simple; the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">family dichotomy was was : Father represented</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">brute force, anger. Mother represented a</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">soft, feminine (in those days) passivity</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and some sort of drag-line by which she</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">has pulled along by kids, family, stove and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">home. 'Too much confusion; I couldn't</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">get no relief' - to paraphrase.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I found out, after some time, that things</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">that don't start out correctly never end</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">correctly either - call it Destiny; call it</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fate. Your choice.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-13483864625405819852023-06-26T09:59:00.007-04:002023-06-26T14:21:27.869-04:0016,361. A COMMUNION OF BUM MAGICIANS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>A COMMUNION OF </b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>BUM MAGICIANS </b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's not me, that's Allen Ginsberg writing :</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">a crisp soliloquy of words once more, in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">pursuit of the damned technocracy, in 1955.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Military-Industrial complex, and Herman</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kahn together, rolled in a ball of fat.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It was all rough edges, along the groin of</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">11th Street. The fastidious love-doors of 14th,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">always in service, stayed quite busy as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I tried to listen. I tried to listen. But there was</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">really nothing there to hear.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The multi-lingual desperados had already laid</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">their claims to all of the street - from NYU up</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to Columbia too.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-6368718324050462902023-06-25T18:53:00.006-04:002023-06-26T14:21:07.874-04:0016,360. LIKE A REMBRANDT<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>LIKE A REMBRANDT</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Like a Rembrandt afire in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">some Rotterdam hallway, I</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">listen to myself burning. One</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of those so aimless portraits</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">now flaming. My multi-tiered</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">hat, atop my very dark head,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">on fire as well, and raging.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Nothing really to be done, for </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">there is no fire-brigade here or</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I would have seen one painted</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">already. It's funny like that - in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">a town like this, what shows up</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">in census books and business </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">lists can't always really be found.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-23469039529269285972023-06-25T12:37:00.005-04:002023-06-26T14:20:47.015-04:0016,359. RETURNING TO THE FOLD<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>RETURNING TO THE FOLD</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Returning to the fold is one thing, but</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">expectations of not showing a crease</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">are another. (I an now a wildman, in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">calm-man digs). Having parked my</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">chariot, and doused all the flames,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I've even turned in my Thor-hammer.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I'm too shot now for that shit any</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">longer.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Haven't you heard the news? No one is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">wild in the streets anymore; unless it's </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the Gay Parade or some Juneteenth</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">revelers let loose; those are the only</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">ideologies left that people know.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Philosophy? Existentialism? Paradoxical</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Realism? There are foreign concepts in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">such an Idiotville we now are given to</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">live in. Our leaders are hacks and criminals.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Our nails should be scratching their eyes, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">but our inactivity rolls over into a sold </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">mass of nothing - a Mass even the Pope</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">won't recognize.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-90384009340316062752023-06-25T07:15:00.001-04:002023-06-26T14:20:06.028-04:0016,358. NOW IS THE SEASON OF NOTHING<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>NOW IS THE SEASON OF NOTHING</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The air is carrying nothing today, and the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">day's new nurse lady just told me it's humid</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">out. I don't feel a thing like that, even with </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">these tiny windows up, the little bit they go.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There are no morning noises here at 6am;</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">just her.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I could sit here dazed and confused, but</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I manage to stay sharp with writing and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">reading, in a very nice one-bed isolation </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">of my own. It's a gracious world in that </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">respect. It's a nice world, in my drawn</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">imaginings. I keep a mental sketchbook, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">sort of, of everything and I do have an </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">actual one as well but haven't brought </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">it out. Never dug that 'Art-as-Therapy' </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">stuff, and won't start now.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">From here, I'm betting that it's not a solid </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">world, and I can walk through clouds and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">other objects as I go. Probably wrong on</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">that, but I can learn 'bruising-as-therapy'</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">to work that out.</span></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2002323391493747811.post-43454355151232561702023-06-24T22:08:00.003-04:002023-06-26T14:19:42.046-04:00 16,357. KETTLE BUMS<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>KETTLE BUMS</b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Not the glory of the drums; just the bums.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Those streetside guys who hang around the</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">fires in barrels. Leaning against a signpost</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">or fence, or something larger covered in</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">shitty graffiti. The landlord wants it gone;</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">the street crowd, with their lattes, say it's</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Art, with a capital A. A big, fancy car </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">rolls by; ravenous and wild in its polish</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">and space. Rap Star or mogul. Anxiety.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Notoriety. New Variety. Impropriety.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">All these sidewalk mirrors, they reflect </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">nothing. The model's teeth are gone. The</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">cocktail crowd lined up at the curb is</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">facile. Dumb. Stupid, and Loud.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anxiety. Notoriety. New Variety.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Impropriety.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>gary j. intronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18195280236260048631noreply@blogger.com0