Yggdrasil, well not really, but definitely a distant cousin… at least…

Yggdrasil, well not really, but definitely a distant cousin… at least…

flight landscape nature sky
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

upon Llangernyw Yew

so you grand tree does thee wait
guard the dead and call them out
in st dygain’s yard beyond the gate
there you wait, date to date,
on the promise, all hallows eve
all the world’s ear leans towards that tree
not wanting to hear that prophetic voice
and bear witness to angelystor, no, not by choice
for role is the call of the dead
might your name, might be read
do not be bold and curse the land
for bear you will with Rhobert’s hand
and know now that halloween has past
your name not whispered cross those limbs
from the depths of that ancient root
you are not called back bound eternity
under that shadow of Llangernyw Yew

notes… so my friend inspiration came knocking, we have been sort of passing each other on the street in sight so often, but this time a knock on the door from an old friend, invited in, sit down for a bit of tea, yes, I am a sucker for earl grey, burgamot is citrus after all, a unique lemon, I know not why I get the visit, I just sit and listen, and so transcribe my notes… (I will annotate this poem later with my many references, as I am known to do)

 

a poem about the cycle of life..,

a poem about the cycle of life..,

silhouette of man sitting on grass field at daytime
Photo by Spencer Selover on Pexels.com

for upon your children’s children
a parade of red roses
ash blows the sky
for generations remain
locked beneath in shallow graves
foundation of bone
fire on the feet
countless clock hands clap
a breath, a clasp moment
a heart, a beat to
pulse sweet blood on track
how the world eye remains fixed
a glorious host
the vessel of birth
the cradle that serves
the ending desires of the natural way
of all that may be
expanding
one day collapsing
the cycle of near infinity
loops back upon
your children’s children
a procession of possession
travel on for as long
as time will permit
as time shall exist

notes… I will let this one stand alone, it was one of those that I say “wrote itself” for whatever that is worth, your thoughts on the matter are always appreciated…

Miranda, revisited

Miranda, revisited

(previously posted but now with annotations,  links and such. being a bit nerdy today… sometimes more goes into a poem than I care to think about… sometimes…)

PIA18185_Miranda's_Icy_Face

dear Miranda, (*1)
but just a glimpse
a fading pass (*2)
for you hide and dance
forever show the same face (*3)
within a tempest born (*4)
the scars of stars upon your form
all about craters worn
from drunken horde, magicians wand (*5)
father Prospero’s hand, Stephano’s yard
Trinculo’s joke read out on your garb
your scarps take breath
Verona Rupes
in all the moons of this
solar system our bed
your light touch would save (*6)
twelve minute fall
and might I discover
the patterns
the sulci
in which your lines are read,
may we see you again (*7)
not just a glimpse
but a visit then.

  1. I chose Miranda for a number of reasons. One is that the previous four discovered moons of Uranus were named after fairies.  Miranda was the first to be named after a human (well, a character in a Shakespeare play). Besides that designation the topography of Miranda has baffled scientists with it’s seemingly unique (at least here in our Solar System) nature and formations.
  2. Miranda was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1948, it was the last moon discovered in the Uranian system until Voyager 2 passed on by in 1986 (after being launched in 1973).
  3. Like our moon, Miranda has Tidal Locking, meaning the same side (or face) always faces the planet it orbits.
  4. Obvious reference to William Shakespeare’s The Tempest from which Miranda was granted it’s name. I was thinking of a loose association of how the planets and moon formed.  There was a cosmic tempest of sorts and then the celestial bodies fell into place like their own little islands (and life on them, well, at least Earth).
  5. More references to The Tempest characters, read more here.
  6. The gravity on Miranda is a fraction of ours here on Earth, so even a fall from Verona Rupes (the tallest cliff known in our Solar System) would take quite some time (twelve minutes is kind of an arbitrary number I picked that could be reasonably accurate).
  7. A reference again to Voyager 2 passing by but also that NASA has hinted at revisiting Uranus in the 2020s (you know, this new decade).
perspective: how our mind tricks us

perspective: how our mind tricks us

earthrisereduced

does looking at this image cause you some disorientation ? In fact, this most famous of photographs is shown here the way it was meant to be seen, or more accurately the way it was actually shot, Bill Anders (Apollo 8) was not thinking about the horizon (which pretty much orients our visual field), he was just a space explorer taking a photo as one celestial body comes into view from right to left (from the capsule orbiting another body). Amazing how that screws us up but yet is a great reminder on how much we take for granted in our daily experience (how limited we are to this sphere and maybe we should think outside of things sometimes, being stuck to the ground with gravity). More remarkable, to me, is also the Apollo missions themselves. Imagine, during the course of just a few years, continued space launches to reach the moon (and walk on it) with the technology of 50 years ago. There were no cell phones, no flat screens, no home PCs, no GPS, no finger spinners… OK, that last one seems inconsequential, I admit, but just chew on that whole for a minute… in the space of three years 12 people walked on another world, hard to even get my head around let alone yours. Just something to think about in the coming year, shoot for the moon they say…

(a nice outline of the entire Apollo project) and since I am being nerdy, here is a loaded poem, I will unpack it at some later date, lots of footnotes to date and take… can you catch them all? (hint: the one link I supplied in the name)

dear Miranda,
but just a glimpse
a fading pass
for you hide and dance
forever show the same face
within a tempest born
the scars of stars upon your form
all about craters worn
from drunken horde, magicians wand
father Prospero’s hand, Stephano’s yard
Trinculo’s joke read out on your garb
your scarps take breath
Verona Rupes
in all the moons of this
solar system our bed
your light touch would save
twelve minute fall
and might I discover
the patterns
the sulci
in which your lines are read,
may we see you again
not just a glimpse
but a visit then.

imagining a scene… (poeming by numbers)

imagining a scene… (poeming by numbers)

20170122-ST-messydesk

interrogation of flies
I sit at my desk
cigarette in hand
half cocked, not lit
ashtray, ashtrays no longer exist
papers arranged by ear by year
slop across the desktop
or what the cat lady dragged in
priorities rise and fall like a tide
always coming in
always high tide
I would like to think I made something of this life
wife, kids
but no, here I am, here am I,
mired in this, my domain, my cage.

notes… in my head I saw this beaten down disheveled lifer newspaper guy, who can’t smoke at his desk furiously anymore, and like any of us he misses the “good old days” regardless if they were actually good, they were the routine, and most of us fall in love with routine, but then we wind up, here and there, with a waking moment like “what the hell am I doing here?” and then it passes as furious and visceral as it felt, falls back to the routine, so this poem is not technically about me but definitely has some pieces of me in the bones…

and…. if you do me the honor of sharing my content, cool, please do, just a hint of credit would do nicely though on the karma meter, and thanks for the look, the read, your time, I appreciate it.

a simple thought on winter…

a simple thought on winter…

cat lying on cloth
Photo by Jenna Hamra on Pexels.com

“summer the lover has left my bed
phases pass as the world groans colder
sheets witness to warmth now transform
a shelter for the winter come
once spring fling now just an austere dream
so here I lay, sleep, now dormant beast”

 

notes: just something that appeared in my noggin, then I lost it, forgot where the heck I jotted it down, man that is annoying, then I had to read (translate) my awful handwriting…. yay !

a simple thought from this morning…

a simple thought from this morning…

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…

observational (simple) poem…

observational (simple) poem…

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:

a simple poem, a simple thought…

a simple poem, a simple thought…

bricks brickwork close up cubes
Photo by Lucas Pezeta on Pexels.com

am I the brick in line so perfectly laid
or the tuft of grass
that has found a way
in that space
in between
and which on now would I rather be?

notes… I was driving to my local supermarket, and the median before the main road was so manicured just a few years ago, it still is nice, but I noticed the bricks all in line, and these lines just came to me, so I wrote them, as I am known to do, in one of my scribble journals that I always keep close by, I suggest you do the same, you never know when the muse or inspiration will tap you on the shoulder, so, be prepared as much as you can, without ruining the moment, let it happen…

music?  ok, here is something from a band that gets no due, I tend to specialize in such things…. punk post rock anthem… unique sound, great vocals, garage honed sound…

 >>> Warrior Soul – We Cry Out

hey ! all thoughts, comments, critiques and such… are all appreciated, let me hear from you peeps!  Honestly this blog is for me, no guts and glory or fame, I do pretty OK in the real so this is just me throwin my art out there, if one person is helped or likes it… I’m good.  I am on vacay next week so no idea what might happen here… probably a bunch of beach shots of south jersey and places no one goes to  (but should)… we’ll see, Cape May baby…. Cape May!

Scrimshawshank Redemption…

Scrimshawshank Redemption…

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scrimshaw
if teeth could tell tales
instead of having them pass by
from the mouths of babes
spawned in the maws of whales
food for thought, a pictograph
etched enamel, weathered hands
captured memory of the sea
a voyage through the seven and creatures be
words wrapped wisdom around a molar born
or an incisor’s whit captured nautical dawns

“This is the tooth of a sperm whale that was caught near the Galapagos islands by the crew of the ship Adam [of London], and made 100 barrels of oil in the year 1817.” (an early scrimshaw inscription)

“lively sketches of whales and whaling-scenes, graven by the fishermen themselves on Sperm Whale-teeth, or ladies’ busks wrought out of the Right Whale-bone, and other skrimshander articles” – Moby Dick by Melville

Scrimshaw collection @ the Museum of New Zealand – Te Papa Tongarewa

Music? gotta go nautical with one of my all time faves…

>>> Voivod – The Prow

A “prow” is the portion of a ship’s bow (ahem, front of ship) that is above the water, in old times adorned with various carvings, creatures and maidens…

notes: Scrimshaw ? yeah, I know, what the? sometimes, ok, often things just pop in my mind, “it just popped in there” – ray