Morning Song

The morning dawns with a pale, flat light
and eases out the last of night,
tired of black, you’d think she might
squeeze out a little spark.

But no, her bland illumination
consists of gray and its gradations.
You’d think there’d be some small temptation
to make the world less stark.

Lightening now, the grays turn whiter
as though the celestial lamplighter
decided graciously to right her
obvious shortcomings

And now a hint of blue I see
emerging o’er the snow clad trees
and a band of peachy red that seems
to set the sky a humming.

The light grows stronger now and gleams
on silent, stately evergreens
who rouse themselves from winter dreams
and start to switch and sway.

And as the wind begins to shake
their cloaks of snow to falling flakes.
Pink clouds begin to thin and break
and simply float away.

Winter white returns full force
and day progresses in its course
I’ll let it go, with some remorse;
this fleeting, lovely thing.

Another winter sunrise gone.
But I’ll recall the day that dawned
and spread her colours on my lawn
and made the morning sing.

195

 

Goodbye Arizona

Goodbye Arizona,

I liked you from the start

but now a fine grain of your sand

has settled my heart.

Gathering my memories

like layers upon a pearl

to make a jewel to guide the way

next time I return.

So, so long Arizona,

cause goodbye’s hard to say.

I know I’ll feel your sunrise dawn

on me again some day.

#191

Predicting the Future at Turf Paradise

Is it the lucky number, the colour

of the jersey, or the odds?

Are there tenuous lineage hints? (who’s your daddy?)

Do you even know what ‘conformation’ means?

Herring gutted? Spring stepped? Sweated up?

What clairvoyant clues collude to make you choose

one over another?

Ah, but when they all come together – it’s an epiphany.

Thanks for the last race, last chance win,

Northern Poptart.

 

#189

Epic Ride

When bones get brittle
and even little things are hard to do
will I still crave the challenges
of learning something new?

Will a slower step or weaker grip
necessarily translate
to a slower mind or a weaker wit?
I dare not contemplate

the thought that I may one day be
content to step aside
and watch the world dispassionately
as it goes spinning by.

Will I not feel the artist’s urge
to create a lovely mess.
Will I be given crayons
and expected to regress

to trying to stay between the lines
in pathetic colouring books,
when lines were things I crossed for fun
not caring how I looked.

No, I’m afraid I won’t be one
who goes quietly goodnight;
I’m pretty sure when I check out
I’ll still be pondering why

the sky can be as pink
as cotton candy or as green
as willow buds, and wondering
where the wild geese have been.

So I guess it doesn’t matter much
where I live as long as I
can be myself in my right mind
right up until I die.

So take my hand and a deep breath
and stay here by my side.
Let’s rock out the golden years,
It’ll be an epic ride.

# 188

 

See

Open eyes can see the day.

Closed eyes can see at night.

The blurred place between the two

breeds dreams and faint twilight

where alternate realities

whisper whys into my ear

The only question is if I

will heed the truth in what I hear.

Is my heart brave enough to chance

unknown seas, without a chart?

Open eyes can see the day.

Closed eye see in the dark.

#187

 

MIM’s the Word

I am drawn to the strings.
They reach out like musical staffs of cob web strands.
It’s a living thing;
this obsession with plucked notes and the sleight of hand
that makes them sing.
hundreds of years, thousands of songs lost to time.
Hear the ring
of the rhythm and the reason to the rhyme.
I am drawn to the strings
at the MIM.

#186

MIM stands for Musical Instrument Museum, which is located in Phoenix, Arizona. I strongly recommend a visit if you’re ever in the area. (I got to play a theremon!)