Starlings

A gogyohka – a five line untitled, non – rhyming. non-syllabic requirement Japanese poem. I have given this one a title to make it easier to differentiate.

Starlings
“Now panic beats and flutters inside my skull like a flock of starlings locked in an attic.” Stephen King

a cold rain is falling –
starlings float in the sky –
uncomfortable dreams awaken –
on a road to nowhere
the panic overtakes me

Orionids

For Poets United, Poetry Pantry

Orionids
“She noted, more than once, that the meteor shower was happening, beyond the overcast sky, even if we could not see it. Who cares if she can kiss? She can see through the clouds.” ― John Green, Turtles All the Way Down

silent as dust falling in the sea of night
the Orionids light up
the dark still sea.
stars like floating bits of
phosphorus sparkle in the ocean of space.
I lie in the lawn recliner
wrapped in my grandmother’s quilt,
a thermos of pressed coffee on my lap,
black and strong as the devil’s heart.
I watch the bits of detritus
from Halley’s Comet drift by,
catching fire as they hit the earth’s atmosphere.
Gazing until the black turns to grey,
the thermos empty by now.
A faint bit of orange shows through the trees.
Stiffly I unwind and put the quilt on the
wash line, slightly damp from dew.
I check on my bees, still asleep and warm in their hive.
small *kim dishes are filled with sugar water.
I go into the house and fix my husband breakfast.
I fall into bed to sleep, to dream
of falling through the sky on fire.

*kim dish – a very small shallow dish used for dipping food into soy sauce.

Muscadine

An American Sentence for Marian’s weekend prompt – One Word: Dynamite. An American Sentence is Allen Gingsberg’s answer to haiku – a complete sentence with 17 syllables.

Muscadine
“The juice of the muscadine is the liquid quintessence of concentrated sunbeams.” ― Thomas Love Peacock

A bitten ripe muscadine explodes in my mouth like wine dynamite.

Cartoon Chefs

For Victoria’s prompt on dVerse – pop art  and poetry.

 

Cartoon Chefs
“I love poking fun at myself. I have a rather mean sense of humor.” Alton Brown

Bam! It’s a good thing.
Now how easy is that?
Oh bother.
The phrases of the popular chefs on the tv
roll off the tongue
like cartoon colored plastic knives.
I don’t use a one of the phrases
but…
sometimes I use a technique
or a recipe.
I love Bourdain, Brown…
sexy men who walk out of a Warhol painting
and steal my heart every single time.
Bam! Let’s kick it up a notch.
You will love it,
I gair-on-tee it.

Alton Brown puppet from Good Eats

Back in the Summer of Big Hair

Back in the Summer of Big Hair
“Your best days are ahead of you. The movie starts when the guy gets sober and puts his life back together; it doesn’t end there.” ― Bucky Sinister, Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos

Many years ago,
back in the summer of big hair
I was cheffing in a small restaurant in PTown.
I was turning out 500 covers a night
and sucking down cocaine like it was Vick’s vapo-rub.
I carried my addiction with me for years
along with alcohol.
I went in and out of lovers like I went through nightly covers –
an endless production of food.
One night sitting at the edge of the ocean,
feeling the water getting higher and higher and higher
I sat until I was almost covered.
It came to me –
stupid. You are killing yourself.
I stood up and slogged myself to the shore.
I bottomed out and went the way of 12 Steps.
I picked a good sponsor. I got sober.
I learned to live not high.
I went to Japan.
I learned to honor the seasons.
I learned to love myself.
I came back home to the South.
I learned how to really live.
It is now October,
October of the season and October of my years.
I sit up in my oak tree
and enjoy the peace of the woods,
the impossibly blue sky, the sound of animals.
I love October.
I love the autumn more than I ever
loved the burning hot summer of my youth.
I draw the bow across my violin and begin to play.

La Musica Notturna Delle Strade Madrid from my personal playlist, a short version from the movie at the end of Master and Commander

Haibun: Everyday Life

For Poets United Mid-week Motif – everyday life

Haibun: Everyday Life
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everyday is a day of peace. Before I retired four years ago, I grasped at the beauty on weekends like a drowning person grasped at a lifesaver, like a dying person grasps for the last look at a beloved face. I hungrily snapped up the vision of leaves, the feel of rain, the silken scarf of moonlight, the smell of French toast for breakfast. I binge cooked on the weekends making meals to feed us during the week, smells of bread and red sauce, pot roast and fried chicken, quick breads and cinnamon and ginger and onions wafting through the house. Now I walk daily – in the rain, the snow, the blistering hot sun. I visit my friend the Oak every other day and sometimes take my violin and sit in its upper branches sawing away for the birds and squirrels. Peace. A commodity more important than money to me. The quotidian details are there but now they are happily supplemented with all I had starved for before.
the autumn cool
says blessed and happy –
and the name of peace

Why are all the sexy guys chefs and…geeky?

Anmol is hosting dVerse and asks us to write a profile of someone.  In the title, I am referring of course to Chef Alton Brown.  I love a knife wielding man with brains and humor.

 

Why are all the sexy guys chefs and…geeky?
“Everything in food is science. The only subjective part is when you eat it.”
“Laughing brains are more absorbent.” Alton Brown

He is a southern boy,
says po-lenta and grits are the same
and proves it.
He constructs a pepper grinder from
a grinder and a power drill.
Builds constructs of sugar crystals
and fat from Tinker Toys.
Interacts with puppets representing yeast
or bacteria.
He is the science guy.
He is the chef.
He is a member of a band
and does a mean two step.
He is witty and chops veggies
like he was on fire.
And he alive and loves life
and food and his rescue dogs.