the first gnash…

November 14, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

animal bear bored close up — Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

the first gnash of teeth, against me, my skin, piercing fangs, I thought I was prepared, I have seen this before, I have experienced this before, so many times as memory serves, the summer has softened me, the fall has cautioned me, but no, nothing prepares for the veil, the drop of the curtain, the stark view from the top of the cliff as your fear falls off, the reveal of the cold that makes you recoil back into your shell, and in this early fall day this is this, a first grasp, a first gnash, grabs at me, anything, any skin revealed, causing scurry into the indoors, the bite, the jaws, the abject cold, how it penetrates, all your charms and armor just fall by the wayside, cast aside in a moment, so prepared am I that I am still unprepared for the full frontal, the full front swept across the plains, slamming into the northern states, but more so here, just north of where I usually tract, but yet, I am here, dealing with the bend of the jet stream just south, just south enough, twenty degrees, twenty degrees, can it be? the time for outside ends, so soon I think, tomorrow morning I wake, to scurry to the car, huddle in place to let it warm, oh sweet autumn, where have you gone…

notes… wrote this last night in a fever pinch when the temp in westchester NY dropped into the 20s, I was in some foreign hotel, away from home but I have to say the hotel was comfy and had damn good insulation, elmsford NY, I can check that off the bucket list, well, I doubt many have elmsford on their bucket list but it is not a bad town anyways… I checked in around 6pm, parking lot had plenty of options… went to dinner (really good), came back around 9pm and there was literally one spot left, woke up and checked out by 7am and the lot was nearly empty… strange man, strange…. but up the street to Pleasantville I went, I have to say the local Starbucks was one of the most well run and friendly I have ever been too, and they know all the regulars and bang out the orders, for those of you who turn your nose up at Starbucks (and the prices), try the just the regular coffee, not the ‘triple lindy caramel choco double frappe half zebra latte’ or whatever, for the price the regular coffee is damn awesome, I like the Pike, or Sumatra, just a splash of skim… but that is just me… and I did have some amazing sashimi today with my coworker Alzira!

observational moment…

November 13, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

photo of person walking near orange leafed trees — Photo by KIM DAE JEUNG on Pexels.com

observation, like a movie, like a dream, like the terror of sleepy hollow approaching, the leaves parting, dancing as if on cue and string, all the ingredients stirring, in a wind mixer, a blender, in the wake of motion of cars travelling down the highway, even if I understand all the thermal and aerodynamics of the phenomena I am astounded by the coordination of all, not even a rehearsal, just the fall, the leaves in just the right place, in just such a way as to peel off like parting waves and curl off into the wake, albeit behind cars in inward looping curls, but again, all the random perfection that had to happen, the leaves fallen just so, the wind at the right flow, the dryness of the air so nothing is sticking, the amazing spectacle of driving through autumn leaves left on the road, so simple, so over looked, amazement hidden under your nose… and tires…

notes… I am up in Pleasantville NY (‘Westchester is Bestchester’ as they say around here) for work (for a few days now), huddled in a hotel as the temperature drops into real winter depths, actually colder than usual even for real winter, out of my element in a new town, you think I would be used to it by now, but as I rode along the road I felt like I was in a Lexus commercial or something the way the leaves perfectly rode up my ride and danced around… so, you know, I write things… this being one of those, I try to to keep up when I am on the road but when you work 12-15 hour days, and some in a row, time eats you up and leisure becomes the revelation of good water pressure in the hotel you are staying in… ah, another continental breakfast to take in….

and by the way for those not in the know, I am literally not that far from Sleepy Hollow, it is a real place after all and is awesome in the fall as you might imagine, if you are in the NYC area consider visiting especially halloween time… they dress up the town as you might think and it has a vibe…

the continuing travails of jack, not the candle jumper, the lantern intern (whimsy)…

November 10, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

jack o lantern on top of wooden surface — Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

O’ withering Jack
you lowly schmuck
only luck kept you out of a pie
or worse yet pumpkin spice spam
or some sumptuous trendy latte, perhaps
or in the boil of some awful seasonal brew
no, you, are now just this sinking lump
a hump of rotten candy corn looking imitation
drooling out god knows what
from the corner of that hole that was your mouth part
drifting ever south
by the hour, ravens will not even peck
at your dead hollow eyes
in fact I do not think
I can pick you up in one piece
might I need a shovel
and dump you in the woods
like some mobster’s body
and then perhaps you may realize
your last final purpose…
to fertilize.

photo of woman holding a pumpkin — Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com

O’ my poor Jack
my creation,
my creativity birthed to fruition
your iron toothed smile brought fright
spawning shadows cast into that hallow night
seeming singular purpose you did guard
my doorstep walkway and the yard
for not even a black cat did approach
nor spells of darkness dare encroach
not on your watch my good friend!
but with the pass of october and leafy dress
that last candle must flicker down
and when all wax is said and done
your watch will have ended
my esteemed, my surrogate, the one
until next harvest, the one

notes… these are just for fun, just me throwing out some lines thinking about the poor sap of a thing on my stoop… seasonal and such… this is a continuation of a previous post…

morning mantra (a traffic trance)…

November 8, 2019November 8, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

time lapse photography of city road at nighttime — Photo by zhang kaiyv on Pexels.com

as I feel myself slip, cars dodging for into impossible pole position, territorial equations, my own assumptions infecting my own reality, all swept up in this nonsense maelstrom, another day barely discernible from the rest, what quite in the hell am I doing?

with deep breath onset, I let the calm literally descend down incrementally like a hand press, top down from the clouds, and decompress the now, as the matted grey sea meets, a bland horizon line, take the air out, the stress out, ‘release your mind’ I think, easier thought than done, I think, but my own logic struggles to contain the boil, reason is not always a foil for the experience within hand’s reach, deep breath, release, I imagine stretching out across the sky like the singular grey clouds on this unremarkable day, the same day, every day, the clock does not tick, daylight savings laid back, the minutes count forward crawling up my back – if I let them, deep breath in shallow measures, I want to close my eyes and dream somewhere else, but the grind, why do some days strike more than some, the only variable to the equation is my own perception, deeper… breath, like a tunnel there is an end, like a frightened white knuckle panic holding on to railings that are only surface for show, let go, an unremarkable day, grey skies are just rumors of rain or perhaps her cold cousin soon to be queen of seasons, so let it be, breathe, and perhaps a small fire of a smile cracks the crust mantle, the silliness of importance, in moments as thus, so smile at the utter world, let the rising happen, regardless, deep breath.

music… somewhat obvious but a but sneaky…

quick shot perspective (aka the puppy effect)…

November 7, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

adorable animal black black and white — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

the morning shuffle, daily, I have been trying to pause for a moment before I hop in my car for the morning commute, to just pause, take a gander around, maybe spy the sunlight creeping through and around the branches of the trees that tower over the backdrop of the house, maybe find a squirrel milling about, a flock or one of the local birds, get lost in the minutia of wondrous nature, of the natural world around even here in suburbia, for just a second, take it in, ingest it like a day’s nourishment if you will, take the feeling with me to fuel some sense of wellness for as long as I can stretch it to last, to remember my place in the universe, the wonder of a planet spinning all the time, my feet quite tethered to yet unaware, but this morning I was in a rush, in a huff, no thinking about doing the right thing and enjoying a moment in the proverbial sun, of course there was none, sun, that is, this morning, just ominous grey swaths haphazard across, blurred and bound I rushed to my car unknown to sight or sound, just on the mission to get to work by nine, on time, or else, but sometimes life intervenes on your own behalf, out of the corner of my eye, down the block, enough of a ways I had to grab a second look, a neighbor, whom I could not identify out of a line up for my life, walking a dog, but not a dog, quite obviously a young one, a puppy, just the word rings the brain and resets perspective, ‘a puppy’, some sort of husky mix thing, paws more like over size rain boots two sizes too large, curiosity streaming from every posture pose, leash taut in stretch directions as all things are new, I wanted to pause and say hello but time would not allow, but time did allow enough, for that moment of puppy love, and things seemed more alright, for at least a few moments thereof.

Music… obvious…

whimsical of the moment…

November 6, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 1 Comment

candle creepy dark decoration — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

o’ sad Jack
once ferocious teeth scowled
now, sagging, inward,
to the side
as your mouth collapses
and the roof caves in
your short age
your short time in the sun
so briefly, gone
witness to all the leaves
now quartered and drawn
a mouth once alight with writhing flame
throwing shadows on demon’s bane
casting out into the night
flickering dance candle light
for you have seen better days
hollowed out for hallows eve
has left you less whole with no reprieve
and like the shrinking land repose
off into the landfill you must go
yet let not all hope be squashed
for come next fall
we pick your kin

notes… just something somewhat silly that the muse bequeathed to me today…

music… sort of weird and inspired… damn good band…

the unwitting knot, how not to, a guide perhaps…

November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

gray trunk green leaf tree beside body of water — Photo by Daniel Watson on Pexels.com

we choose the daily spiritual nutrients we pull up from our roots and feed into our trunks… and when these avenues of nourishment are polluted does it not travel into the the outer leaves on display for those eyes that might come upon our grove, does the reflection in our bark reveal the underpinnings coursing through our veins, for the truly vane may think not, but certainly, what we choose to allow into our inner sanctum at once becomes the base of the exterior statement, so what’s the point tree boy you might ask? fair enough, I was off for a week, as a treat scrap thrown floorward down to me from the table of my work overlords, reality changes so quickly, how quickly I succumb to a routine of lounging, feet up, admiring the view out by the lake, or just the mountains in general, no where to be, no appointments, just the minor distraction as to where to dine that evening, or just sit and ponder some more, and more, I try to encapsulate those moments, take them in, take them back with me to that other reality, this monday’s reality, all anew with my shiny relaxed post vacation armor, confident I will not be beaten back by the hordes of circumstance I anticipate will befell me, what cruel beasts of work reality await me, what madness has been waiting not so patiently by my cubicle to ambush me, and in all this, I find myself, feeling the creeping anxiety, clawing it’s way slowly up my back, wrapping in an around my spine, squeezing. squeezing life, air from my recline, pulling the shades down so I might no longer see sunny memory, in this, that moment, I realized I was quite twisting myself, I was tying my own knot, or tying myself into a knot, allowing these thoughts to intercede and invade when they would have no place if I was a good gatekeeper, apparently not, I wind up thinking myself into situations of confrontations that haven’t happened, but yet the ojeda of same remains, my vacation shield only lasted a day… pretty sad state of affairs, but maybe the goggles have born me a little new sight, I grab a full on handle of my own dumb self, looking at myself from outward bounds, I am letting this all happen, sure the external pressures are real but I am the one who lets them in to root and cause destruction, am I in some ultimate battle for the soul of the universe here? surely not… surely not… so why then am I the hands tying this very knot…

alexander, what might have gone through your mind…

November 4, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

alexander-the-great-quotes-featured

on golden rod bend sun sheen
strolls on by the strident king
glides on through and between
these careful rows of winter wheat
Oh, Alexander!
keeper of the namesake
halter to the great mantle
a border past beyond barriers
ties brothers out landscape born
for in the eyes of the conqueror
begets the lion’s roar

notes… I imagine a conqueror must be both fierce and strong… but at times pauses to admire the landscape in between battle that bear namesake… and also I am invoking the elysian fields type of view as well, there is other commentary in this poem, we will see how many of you get it, I have no idea why this popped into my head, it just did, who am I to argue with the universe? I just work here…

autumn poem, at least for the northeast USA…

November 1, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

red apple sweet fruit — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

the autumn apple
reservoir of the summer sun
for within your flesh
for within your keep
the star seeds of life
key to the generations
core to root
earth to bore
the autumn apple
full and ripe
the seasons full bloom
now fully landed
upon your hand

notes… apples are a fall fruit, get it, they fall ! waka waka waka… but one of the sure sign of the fall is the apple harvest, cider and cider donuts… mmmm cider donuts…

Shades of My Garden

a window into a life, a conversation with a soul, a gateway to a heart

Month: November 2019