ALL BEASTS ARE DRIVEN TO PASTURE
Buddha Bear, sea lion on surface, sleeps in the sink,
Slinks under city drain pipes. But weekends allay
Hibernation of the vestigial tiger, and the Buddha
Rubs snout to grass, limb extends limb. Stalks
Deer and wild turkey. Devours flying dragons.
Bottled in muscle for flight, my beast chases bee up a tree.
*
THERE WAS AN OLD MAN WHO LIVED IN A SHOE
Tells he how in Hades
Psyches know by smelling
The stench of souls.
Then pulls out his measure
And asks me to sit,
My hoof he will make out of wood.
Tagged lasts along shelves --
In a dark, lonely backroom
Lay petrified steps taken decades ago.
He wields his hammer
And sews while I sleep,
This secretive shoeman
The keeper of feet.
*
HERBAL WISDOM
The kingly basilikon must be reviled,
Spit upon, abused for abundance
Tho admixed with goose grease so good
For babies' ears and aphrodisiacs.
"Ego, Borago, gaudia semper ago"
The ox-tongue's liquid quiets
A wildman but combined with wine
One howls and pines. "I,
Borage, always give courage."
Who said character is fate?
I should like to sate
Myself with sage and thyme.
*
THE CIRCLE'S BEGINNING
Our bed -- a wall on which salvages cast
"Job's Troubles" or Crazy"
Which means random in quilting.
Stretchers suspend space
And women side by side
Practice stitchery
To protect loved ones
From the cold.
Thousands of pieces
Applied to form
A whole that cures
Our bed -- a wall on which salvages cast
The beginning or end of a circle.
|
Poetry from Web Del Sol