Some sneak up, stealthy, furtive, Stalk a poem through wilderness, Nose to wind or cheek to track, Eyes squinty slitted, jaw clenched, Fingers poised, ready to pounce. (Source: "Poetic Divagation", 40x41: Midlife Crisis Postponed) Opening volley in a two-part poem about writing poetry. Or hunting it. Or romancing it... ...
Midlife Poems
Find
Gather chanterelles in unfamiliar woods, Golden answers to earthy questions Long forgotten. Or abandoned. This is damned near all that remains from a poem called "Find Your Why" that started out with soul (really!) and promise, or so I thought. A remix of several conversation snippets laminated together with musty, loamy "glue". I've smashed it apart and put it back together again so many times ...
Paper Poem
Sometimes the stop and start uncertainty, The tactile tension, texture and cross-outs, Wine blots, smudges, and tangled doodles Are the only way to breath life into a verse. (Source: "Paper Poem", 40x41: Midlife Crisis Postponed) This latter chunk of a fleeting vignette on the analog/digital duality neither burnishes nor batters digital creativity. While less of a "divide" every day, there ...
Drift
I will unplug, Unwind, untether. I’ll surf the wind, Not the web. I’ll ride a bike. Anywhere. Weed the garden. Prune a pear tree. Walk. Alone. Far. (Source: "Drift", 40x41: Midlife Crisis Postponed) The top half of riff on slowing down, pausing. Now, not tomorrow. Because tomorrow never comes. ...
Clipping
Precision, I suppose, is the want of digits, though I’ve paired my nails with guillotines for the better part of four decades. Habit guides my thumb and forefinger in the dark as I follow the soft fingerprinted mounds. Who says poetry about clipping one's nails is slightly off? Starting now, I usher the rudiments of personal hygiene from the margins to the mainstream... Onward! ...
Slurp
It used to be rude, Except home alone, With blinds down, Slippers on and hot Homemade soup in An old chipped mug, Two smoldering logs Sighing over coals In a sooty fireplace. (Source: "Slurp", 40x41: Midlife Crisis Postponed) From down-home cozy to global content consumption in two tidy stanzas. Beat that! ...