dating mrs. universe…

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

silhouette of person holding glass mason jar — Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

so, we are getting ready to go out, where? I forget, it seems like we have been everywhere but then again, there is always something new to explore out there, and then she asks me “do I look fat in this?”, geez, even after all these years, how many years has it been actually? I get lost a bit in my own thoughts thinking about how it seems like a lifetime, no, more like all time since we were together, almost like there was nothing before and I imagine nothing after, as this is all I know, and she notices my stargazing look and interjects again, “I asked you a question!”, oh so you know how these things go, awoken from my momentary haze I utter ‘you look absolutely amazing for your age babe’, then realize, even a bright comet that nears a star still melts, as this quickly lost orbit comes back around as a perceived insult, “what do you mean my age?!?!?!” her steely blue wolf-rayet eyes blazing, she looks like she might go supernova at this point, I try and salvage my position trying to read the sudden gravity of the situation, ‘c’mon honey, we are not in the cradle nebulae anymore, youth is totally wasted on the young, you have the experience to pull it all off, there wouldn’t be anything without you, you know that’, she seems satisfied enough with my response, off the hook for a moment I suppose, the solar winds can shift so suddenly you know, even with all these years navigating the expanse of her character is like mapping the stars and trying to track all the other celestial bodies flying around out there, then I remember where we are going, to her father’s, always the same, a sunday, after all, even after all these years that seem like forever, he works six days a week, still, six days in and out, have to admire the old man, still letting the creative juices flow even at his age, although he is not as touchy about it as the old ball and constellations over there, glad she can’t read thoughts as surely she can turn as cold as the darkest black hole, and who wants to deal with that on a day off? ah, to be fair, when she is on there is nothing brighter in the sky to guide by, but boy does she takes her time getting things ready, like she is building civilizations from the ground up starting with amino acids and the like, at this rate we will have to travel at the speed of light to get there on time, such is life, such is the routine, you think I would be used to it by now, you think I would, I guess standing still is not in my nature, like an electrical impulse just pushing my molecules all around, apart and together, all the time, anyway, who am I ? you may ask, I would say it does not matter…

notes... just one of those that popped into my noggin, an idea, a conversation, so here it is… raw in form but from this form as is….

distilled thought… down to a single simple line (minimalism)…

December 7, 2019December 7, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 1 Comment

“summary“
life-time

so, I paused upon the lake (ok , pond), a somewhere I have driven by many times but I was quite determined to have my lunch here today, and for whatever reason the universe popped into my head (during said lunch) and said “in your lifetime” and the simplest of thoughts derived there hence, the words above, it is all right there really, it is all you have… life and time, nothing else.

a simple thought from this morning…

December 6, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

black turntable — Photo by Dids on Pexels.com

I wonder
as my life expires
if the last sound
I hear
will be
like the ending
of a record
pfft… pfft… pfft…

notes… I was locked in the dark depressing doldrums of traffic, feeling really grey, like everything around on this quite unremarkable day, so I turned on the classical music station for inspiration, the recording must have been aged, in fact later a soft whispery voice dated the piece from a recording in the 1950s, these words popped in my head, I scrambled to write them down and not smash into the car in front of me at some astounding forward speed, like 15 miles per hour as seems the pace I was meant to take this day…. (I hope you all get the rhythm of the piece, the beats that is)

…and of course thanks for the set of eyes, your time, the likes, comments, psychic suggestions, restaurant reservations, constellations… and well, everything…

The ruins of our times…

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

“upon christ of church fairfield township nj cemetery“
for all for now
for all seasons kept
be by brother be
for here I lay
laid to rest
bound to ground
consecrated in earth
soul released to soar
to higher temple mound,
a marker, a name engraved
crumbles, to time to fall
tracing words, fading stone faces
temporal worlds, flight drifts away
embraced, in softest warmth
bathed, in most divine light
eternal grace, to triumph the night

notes… these are the ruins of my state, people who settled here before we were even a country, this cemetery is near ruin but not in total ruin, I drove by a few times and just was drawn to call to attention this place, these were all lives, loves, stories, people, all enshrined here, many hundreds of years past, that fascinates me, because soon enough this will be me, on this plane of existence at least, dust and dreams, we all come to this road, this destination, regardless of any declaration, or any direction in which we wish.

Music: a little heavy, a classic song in this person’s opinion…

keeping a mental image…

December 3, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

as I sit here huddled in a hotel room in Elmsford, NY (for work), I try to be positive, well, I must admit the hotel is nice, no complaints there, the weather outside? eh, we were supposed to get this crazy storm, turned out to be a normal one, it’s cold to be sure, snow on the ground, that heavy wet snow that can’t decide if it wants to melt away or just fall into your car in heavy avalanche sheets the second you open the door (happened), I don’t hate the winter, there are times the snow hangs out on the tree frames like a perfect frozen gallery, it catches the light, and is quite beautiful, but not to drive in, not with people up here bearing down up my rear end as they are much more accustomed to driving these parts, man the anxiety builds, being stalked followed so closely when the two lane road becomes one, and one with ice, crunching under my tires seeking the dashed lines mostly obscured, I talk to myself as if the two bright lights behind me can hear me, “what are you doing? where would you like me to go?”, I have all wheel drive but I still would rather not pretend this is some sunny perfect day, I contemplate pulling over and over and over (is that a good spot?), I do not understand pressuring drivers in this sort of weather, but I only had five scant miles to travel from the store I was at to my temporary slumber chamber, I was counting, ticking off the tenth miles on my GPS, trying to balance (tame) my mania about pulling over to let this jerk-off pass, and finally I come up on the hotel, on my left, I signal, there is only one real lane by plow, so Big Mr. Pressure behind me all of a sudden becomes a shrinking Lilly and slows down, what a dick, and they pass freeze frame slo mo as I make my left, range rover… now going slow as a sloth, slower than I was when I was the lead dog, man that is typical, but at least I am ‘home’ for the night, at least tonight, just have to find a spot, why the hell is a hotel in this area so busy on a December night ? All the well, I find an adequate spot, I debate the old ‘should I prop my wipers up’, I don’t, I just want to take a shower and crash, thankfully this place has good water pressure, ahhh, damn that is nice, relaxed, and here I am… the photo? Cape May from a couple weeks ago, it reminds me to relax, that’s all…

observational (simple) poem…

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

architectural photography of white and green church bell tower under clear sky — Photo by Dan Whitfield on Pexels.com

stoic white church presides
night black back country road
saturday night
quite alone

notes… sometimes I see something and want to capture a moment, I call it observational poetry to convey a feeling or a thought, I was driving through Franklin Lakes NJ, Ewing Road, through all the mansions up there but right before the reservoir there is a church I have passed many times, but the singularity of it struck me tonight, for whatever reason, I suppose the calm before the storm as Sunday is the business day of god, or at least houses of same in the catholic faith.

post script, looking at this, reading this… kind of Haiku feel… ya feel me ?

music:

The Three Wise Guyz of Pepe’s Cove…

November 29, 2019November 29, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I have a not so tall tale to tell, I can relate, at this point, looking back, not that far, a few day’s past last actually, at this point, present, I am not sure if perhaps I was riding through a vision, a south jersey spiritual calling or hallucination (or just plain old reality), that morning on that beach, the so named cove, that I happened upon, quite on purpose in fact, the beach should be abandoned this time of year, only the domain of the seagulls and wandering fools such as myself, so stumbling up the roughly hewn sandy path through the dunes, I was quite surprised, that I was not alone, and those three figures seemed equally surprised to receive a visitor, to this piece of particular real estate, their kingdom, their court, clearly their land and personal port on the atlantic sea, being from somewhat the surrounding area, and familiar with local customs (hopefully), I gave the old Jersey nod, almost like tipping your hat but with no hat, sort of a head bob, and the long time honored verbally thick greeting “how ya’ doin”, thankfully my attempt at basic communication was satisfactory with three “how ya’ doin”s sent back in my direction, I was through the gate, they slipped immediately back into their inter-casual ball busting banter, I take a quick survey of the crew trying not to look like I was taking a quick survey, so I pretended to scan the beach, like some desolate deserted desert on the ocean there is literally nothing around but sand, and the dunes to frame the borders between here and the water, and this must have been low tide, the lowest of low tide as the water’s edge seems miles away, almost a different country all together, the three wise guys see this as well, and surmise, “I’ve never seen the water out like this, too far, too far”, and then the leader (my assumption), from his throne of gleaming white plastic and matching too small table, remarked “this is what happens when you have one of those sunami things”, nods of approval from the other magistrates follow, I get a good glimpse of the three now, the king (the only one wearing a crown as it were) seated in the middle and slightly back, knitted wool hat adorned with yarn pom pom for circumstance and rank, his robe the jacket of the local football team, no not the eagles (thankfully), the giants (my team as well, he must be a wise king), he is flanked by what seem like his guards, filling in, perhaps filling out their member’s only jackets in faded blue and black respectively, old man sneakers, and white sox, very white sox, complemented by mom jeans, and all three with the official royal drink in hand, a bud light, the ‘sunami’ talk goes on for awhile, I am still a little off centered that I came across this unexpected fiefdom, I admit I am tempted to join in the ridiculous conversation, but I hold my tongue, until the next story is spun, “did you see those big shrimp the other day, there was like a pile of ‘um over there” (points southward to a certain spot on the shoreline), “yeah, the birds were going crazy, did you grab any of those things?”, “those are like gold man, you could have made a bundle!”, “how many were there, like 50, 2000 or what?”, “what are those things called anyways? them big shrimp, they got a name, like little lobsters or sumtin”, I could not refrain as the big shrimp little lobster debate raged for what seemed like ages, I turned, “Prawns…” I blurted out, trying to time my quip as to not disturb the natural order of this circle of friends, they rejoiced with the knowledge I laid down, “Prawns! Yeah, that’s the name, they were prawns Johnny” (or maybe it was Joey… or both, or something similar), now their attention was on me, I could see the look in their eyes ‘look at the smart guy, let’s see what else he knows’, and with that came the question “do you know how much those things go for a pound? did I really give up gold?”, “I honestly don’t know, I don’t see them too often in the stores” I answered, and in dropped a drop of true disappointment, as apparently my knowledge was not so vast to satisfy the veracity of this small crowd after I built up expectations with my prawn gambit, sensing this setting of my sun, I blurted out “hey, but forget about it, it won’t matter after that Tsunami washes us away anyway”, this garnered a wry smile and a couple of genuine laughs, they were satisfied, and I must say I was quite satisfied with myself for jumping out of the jackass fire, so without further adieu I bid farewell, and departed from their lands, might I see them some other day on some other enchanted sands…

notes:. the real story, well, this is really it, I explored a lot of beaches on this trip (the photo is legit mine), I was really really not expecting anyone to be there, this seemed literally in the middle of nowhere, sure, there are houses, but most are summer retreats, who was I to walk onto a beach with these three who come to escape their wives and lives for a short time, I entered near this beach many more times that day… not a soul in sight, so maybe this was something magical or mystical, who am I to know ?

Music? some ambient goodness to get you through… c’mon, trust me already… dig it…

Cape May NJ Travel Log (part 2)… “in the dead of…”

November 27, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Preamble… yes, I know this post is out of order (this was written mostly on day 2 of my recent vacation) but I finally got all my notes together and transcribed, if you want to read up on Cape May (GO HERE), but in short let me just say, this is a place I have been coming to my entire life, it is an old shore resort town, full of history, hundreds of years old in parts… that said.. here goes….

new towns or cities just do not have the between your fingers feel, the weight, the very taste of history itself spinning slowly in the fog in the air, apparitions in plain sight, hollow sounds floating on the voice of the wind and the ever present, sometimes distant, but ever sounding crash of the waves off in the darkness, even on a night like this, dreary, drizzle hanging over or hitting your face depending on which way you turn, even on a night like this, some might shy miserable, yet, I feel drawn to walk the town, there is both something equally eerie and calming in a nearly deserted resort town, as if the buildings are exhaling from all the commotion of the summer season, homes and buildings that have literally seen and been witness to hundreds of such seasons, taking in the winter to rest their old bones, throw on some new clothes of paint, perhaps replace a beam or two, to encounter again the coming crowds and blazing sun, but that is all rear mirror now, the sun falls short in the day and never quite reaches room temperature or above, just enough light to inform and know you are awake, but in the night, the buildings can sigh, a collective hum across these old streets, this time of year is far creepier than true winter, every scrape of leaf means you are being followed, you look, and see a leaf, but are convinced otherwise, so I understand the phrase now better than I had previously, “the dead of winter”, yes, winter is more desolate, the leaves are all gone, the moon light invades and penetrates around within every inch, guardians, the trees, bare, but not tonight, a slight breeze bends the light, conjuring shadows and forms, unpredictable sights, sounds like shallow words breathed upon your neck, spirits nipping up at your legs, a cold bone finger reaches gently glances against your ear lobe, just out of your periphery but somehow felt, in these moments, strolling through this old town, as the town observes me when I think I am the observer and not just the interloper, I am unsure if I wish to find a ghostly anomaly, some proof of haunting, of life understood as after or in some other dimension, so sure would be belief if I perceived such a thing, or would the fright be more than I could bear, or the disbelief as logic might kick in and overwhelm the sense sold of my eyes, all of these things boil up inside my cauldron mind, the curiosity makes possibility lurk around every corner, surely if there were lost souls they would be here, here in this old shore town, shipwrecks, lover’s jilted, homicide guilted, accidental dispatch, all captured within the memories of these victorian walls, somewhere in a window, I am sure, I would see a form, or a passing glance, a glow, an orb, would I trust my sober nature or lay favor to my rampaging imagination, for I do not know, for I never found out, this evening, as all the creeping I perceive is the autumn playing out final tricks, before the time of the dead of has conspired, to slow down life to the point, of silence, except for the ever dull roar of the ocean waves, just over the dunes, just out of sight.

Music: Cream – As You Said

thoughts from the porch… end of vacation edition…

November 25, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

The last day, always, or at least it seems so, the cream of the crop, or at least perception be, from my hotel, the ocean is gleaming, sparkling morning sun fingers playing upon the little tiles of tide ridges, looking out my hotel window, no wind, no temperature to consider, just the visual, I walk down to take in one more final gulp of this ocean town, now, I am standing at the cusp of the beach, there is one of those small beach fences just mere kindling and chicken wire, just past the sign that warns you about there being no lifeguard, morning coffee in hand, more like my habits back on the mainland, to which I am summoned to return in a matter of hours, in retrospect, maybe this is not such a perfect day, a bit hazy, a bit cold, I close my eyes to feel the sun on my face, granted, the warming seems more mental than actual, and it is, if I concentrate for a bit I can feel the tops of my ears are quite exposed and colder, but somehow, with my eyes closed, a hazed globe shining on, the waves crashing down left to right, the occasional intrusion of the world around, am old diesel engine kicking up rattling throat, conversations about nonsense and such as people walk by, behind me on the boardwalk and benches meant for such things, I try to soak it all in, somehow capture this moment to store as long as I can, I know this is futile and fleeting but I inhale with hope anyway, moments like these choose me to ignore my reason, and my mind drifts…

I imagine the shore and the wonder of the original explorers, I think of how vast the ocean must have seemed and actually been, that moment, that eruption of emotion when they first spotted this shore, on the horizon, a hallucination for months of maritime lore, the realization that even among something so vast and unknown, had an end when no one had found such end until that initial landing, is that the pinnacle of man? discovery past known boundaries? our hope, our quest, to be at the beginning and end of that next discovery, there is, the pure seed of hope resident in that, all the despair, the lost ships and lost men, sunken lives in so many centuries past, but now what was once the impossible pass, is just to us a simple basic task, maybe that is what I was meant to take away this day, not just the same sun to bear upon my face, I open my eyes and nothing has changed, outwardly, an owner and a dog walking, a couple being a couple out on the sand in their moment of love, me, standing like an observant statue on the cusp of this beach, I reach for one more slug of my latte, take one more deeper breath, snapshot with my mind, one more look, a postcard to take away, and that lesson of hope, against the vast ocean, against the unknown, to ride the waves to where they go…

notes… no matter how many times I visit, Cape May surprises me, and now that I am reaching out to other places, there is so much history here in my garden state, and history is not just unknown things or lost battles, history is people, people who lived here and did things, we forget or are never told, but we should remember or learn, because that is ourselves in the end, the human story struck out against nature, nature will win, humans will disappear, the dinosaurs were here far longer than we, but we do not act that way, I suppose that is the way it will always be for top species… I hope there is more, out there, among the stars….

Cape May NJ Travel Log (part 4) “A Tale of Two Beaches”

November 22, 2019 by David Koblentz ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I think I might have had my fill of route 347 and 47, both roads unknown to me previously, and now, I think I have driven every paved inch of them, I knew, well, I looked online, that the weather was set to be the best for my endeavors today in terms of outdoor activity, so I woke up early, um, at least I tried, 10am on a vacation day might as well be first prize, so I was out and about by 10:20, grabbed a large latte at the local coffee joint, I was THAT guy making jokes about ‘beating the rush’ (there we no one within 10 miles of the place), so in retrospect, ugghh to me, but at least the coffee was good, that is the important thing, dialed in my destination, once again off into townships and towns I had only googled about, destination: Seabreeze Beach, I mean, with a name like that what could be off ?

Most of the drive was an uneventful romp through alternating front yard scrap yards and vast tracts of farms, or something that resembles farms, and lots and lots of houses (some on wheels) with a pentacle symbol on them, the road to the beach was long and then became longer, oy does GPS boost the old confidence because there was a few times there I was convinced I was off the path, or lost, or both, but I stuck to my I-guns and followed along, seabreeze road just meanders for days though dotted by a house or two and turns that seem like streets but have menacing red emblazoned Private Property signs screaming along fences, some of them look electrified, maybe to keep in the livestock, livestock ? yeah, I think I left New Jersey at some point and was plowing through Nebraska or some other plains state, this is not my mother’s New Jersey, that is for sure, so, without a hitch, the GPS is dead on, 1 hour and some minutes, I find myself at a road closed sign (oh no, not again) but just to my right, seems like a path for cars, I take it, the road (as it were) abruptly ends and sand begins, granted I have four wheel drive, but there is no way I am testing it out here, wherever out here is, a sketchy road dotted with abandoned looking half houses or double shacks, I pop it into reverse and park up on what might be the side of the ‘road’, next to a pile of old tires stacked near an old tree, someone should film a horror movie here, but that is for another day, so onward to the beach, tale one…

this area has an interesting history, I won’t go into it all now but if you like (read up here ), so this beach is rather unique in that there were houses here, there was a town (booming shore/summer town), now? eh, not so much, in fact if you look closely in can be a bit depressing, there are still a few residents hanging on but I didn’t not see any (the road to the collection of houses that people actually occupy is blocked off, I respected their boundaries, even if I was quite curious), as the beach unfurls in front of you, well, you can see how this looks like modern ruins, cinder blocks, metal rusting in the ocean wake, concrete jigsaw puzzle with no solution, nature growing grass between or barnacles on, the northern exposure is the resident’s land with a ‘No Trespassing’ sign as desolate and alone as the flag on the moon, this place looks more apocalyptic than what Heston was cursing in the original Planet of the Apes, except I had no one to yell at, so for an hour plus drive this seemed like a real bust, I gave it the full walk through, a whole eight minutes later the beach was over, except, that curiosity itch, had to push a little further right? so southward there were no warning signs, just this weird house up on blocks like a subaru brat your brother was working on, how do they even get in the door ? strange, creepy, I an definitely alone out here… aren’t I? so I walk along the sea wall which seems like a blanket of cinder blocks rolled up against the tides, there are some fresh tire marks on a semi-road, so… well, let’s just take a few steps I think…

the road less traveled, unfortunately not the case, there is nothing more disheartening than being in a wildlife preserve and seeing tons of human left garbage, for whatever reason the garbage of choice seems to be modelo beer cans and corona bottles, with a sunkist orange soda two liter or three thrown down, there seems to be some sort of construction taking place (underground pipes of some sort), so I am not sure what to think, my hopes sink but something carries me on, I suppose I just go until I hit a natural obstacle I can not overcome, I’m a stubborn one like that, I press on this logging road, well, not literally a logging road, the tracks kind of remind me of that, of course the ocean is off on my right the entire time, then there is this shack hidden in the brush, intact enough to be occupied and the door is open, damn that is creepy, again, I am trusting in being alone out here, I’m not armed, with a gun at least, we’ll leave that at that, so I press on along the road next to the cinder block wall, I pass a couple of camp sites, more like ‘we had beers here’ sites, campfires that remind me not of camping as a kid but sloppy drunk people burning most anything in a ring of rocks, suddenly, the whole thing opens up, I might have well passed into another realm, another place, another dimension, behind me to the left opens up a beautiful tidal marsh, in front of me this little island between and then a pristine beach on the other side of the channel, as is my rule, laid out earlier, I press forward, the water looks deeper than I am willing to go (knee deep is the limit today), but in actuality I can see the shoreline under the water, where the tide marsh and ocean are colliding, I can see the bottom and follow along, such a strange revelation, this almost feels like I am walking on the water, if I step a few feet in either direction I will surely be up to my waist, there was this little bridge, in essence, for me to take, to the little atoll in the middle of… well, wherever I am, I can not call this Seabreeze beach, this is something else, something in complete contrast, maybe what this place was before the hand of man, test the water to try and reach the far beach, not today, way too deep, damn, I will have to settle for a look, and come back when the weather is warmer and certainly the water, so I may explore further, but my nature battery is recharged, from the depth of the depression of recent ruins to pristine beauty and amazing views, I wonder how many have not come this far and stopped only in that sad spot near where I parked.

post script… on the drive back I encountered a flock of about twenty wild turkeys, and they were skittish and did not even allow me a photo ! I get it though, this time of year I would be nervous if I were as tasty as they are…

For those interested… I have been uploading a bunch of videos to my YouTube Channel, this has been a strange week but a good one, the wind has kicked up, I can hear it behind me, tomorrow is not going to be a fun day, a storm is coming off the water…

Shades of My Garden

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

Tag: Life