Wednesday, April 30, 2014
"Crow Installation," by Hans Ostrom
A crow had crapped
on a gray sidewalk
this morning:
a big blopping dollop
of liquid in a heart-shape.
A gray-green dominated
this installation
of public art, with
undertones of blue-black
and a swirl of white:
fantastic! The consistency
was that of diluted
acrylic paint.
hans ostrom
on a gray sidewalk
this morning:
a big blopping dollop
of liquid in a heart-shape.
A gray-green dominated
this installation
of public art, with
undertones of blue-black
and a swirl of white:
fantastic! The consistency
was that of diluted
acrylic paint.
hans ostrom
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
"Look Younger With Natural Ingredients," by Hans Ostrom
Look younger
with natural ingredients. Look
natural with younger
ingredients. Eliminate
bags and wrinkles. Bag
those wrinkles in
wrinkled bags. Yeah,
you're going to look
younger, according
to yourself. To others,
you'll look the age
you are; still.
People you're
attracted to won't
be attracted to you:
nothing new.
But you'll feel younger.
Briefly. Maybe. Give it a try!
Four easy payments. Shipping
and handling not included.
hans ostrom 2014
with natural ingredients. Look
natural with younger
ingredients. Eliminate
bags and wrinkles. Bag
those wrinkles in
wrinkled bags. Yeah,
you're going to look
younger, according
to yourself. To others,
you'll look the age
you are; still.
People you're
attracted to won't
be attracted to you:
nothing new.
But you'll feel younger.
Briefly. Maybe. Give it a try!
Four easy payments. Shipping
and handling not included.
hans ostrom 2014
Monday, April 28, 2014
"Now That Phones Are With Them," by Hans Ostrom
("Is this a good time to call?" --Old Saying)
Now that phones are with them,
everywhere and always,
it is always
and never a good time to call. Life,
a series of interruptions,
has become a shattered series
of interrupted, re-continued,
dis-directed ruptures. Like
a batty princess to a frog,
people speak loudly at something
in their palms. Confused
courtiers look on.
One hand's fingers
tap like spiders' legs
on plasti-glass surfaces.
Apps become vats
into which to pour
attention. Heads bent,
faces slack, eyes distracted:
people's minds leave their
bodies to go to that other space,
that cloud which is forever
and presently calling.
--hans ostrom 2014
Now that phones are with them,
everywhere and always,
it is always
and never a good time to call. Life,
a series of interruptions,
has become a shattered series
of interrupted, re-continued,
dis-directed ruptures. Like
a batty princess to a frog,
people speak loudly at something
in their palms. Confused
courtiers look on.
One hand's fingers
tap like spiders' legs
on plasti-glass surfaces.
Apps become vats
into which to pour
attention. Heads bent,
faces slack, eyes distracted:
people's minds leave their
bodies to go to that other space,
that cloud which is forever
and presently calling.
--hans ostrom 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
"Pecking Disorder," by Hans Ostrom
The smallest chicken listened
again to the rooster, spikes
on his ankles, red gristle
below the throat. Again
the rooster seemed to be
throating things like
I'm a dictator, I'm boss,
a movie star am I, a
celebrity, a CEO, a pastor
of a mega-church, a
full professor, a senior
partner, a Wall Street
broker, a stand-up joker!
The rooster's crew then
came over to pick at
the smallest chicken,
who took it, and who
after they finished,
amused itself by picking
at the chicken-wire,
until, one night, a
hole appeared and a coyote
entered. In the morning,
the smallest and only
remaining chicken
picked its steps through
what bones were left
and feathers and blood,
gristle and spikes and
beaks. It walked through
the hole, proclaiming nothing,
and was picked up by
the soft hands of a god
from that place the smallest
chicken had always thought
to be a bigger chicken-house.
hans ostrom copyright 2014
again to the rooster, spikes
on his ankles, red gristle
below the throat. Again
the rooster seemed to be
throating things like
I'm a dictator, I'm boss,
a movie star am I, a
celebrity, a CEO, a pastor
of a mega-church, a
full professor, a senior
partner, a Wall Street
broker, a stand-up joker!
The rooster's crew then
came over to pick at
the smallest chicken,
who took it, and who
after they finished,
amused itself by picking
at the chicken-wire,
until, one night, a
hole appeared and a coyote
entered. In the morning,
the smallest and only
remaining chicken
picked its steps through
what bones were left
and feathers and blood,
gristle and spikes and
beaks. It walked through
the hole, proclaiming nothing,
and was picked up by
the soft hands of a god
from that place the smallest
chicken had always thought
to be a bigger chicken-house.
hans ostrom copyright 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Seven Poems Concerning Easter
--A Youtube playlist of seven poems that, directly or indirectly, concern Easter:
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
"Canal Dream," by Hans Ostrom
Oh, lovely nightmare
of the canal and futile,
panicked paddling, I do
love to wake from you
with you. A film
of absurd residue
coats my grogged
consciousness. You
depart like a cool
lover. I get up and
get into a day,
which joins other
days I haven't understood.
Dearest canal-nightmare,
you're so easy
by contrast to these
lived days. I enjoy
working with you.
hans ostrom 2014
of the canal and futile,
panicked paddling, I do
love to wake from you
with you. A film
of absurd residue
coats my grogged
consciousness. You
depart like a cool
lover. I get up and
get into a day,
which joins other
days I haven't understood.
Dearest canal-nightmare,
you're so easy
by contrast to these
lived days. I enjoy
working with you.
hans ostrom 2014
"City of Things," by Hans Ostrom
In the city of things, people
defer to heaps, piles, and stacks
of plastic and alloyed molded
things. The people are stopped
by stacked boxes, so they go
around or give up and sit
and lie. The people agree
to purchase, to take on and put
on a quota of things, a pre-set
set of things. The people
pray to things with the aid
of Thing Preachers in thing-
choked halls and littered
amphitheaters. Austere
and escetic people are shunned,
fined, scorned, and watched.
They're forced to wear
designated denigrating things.
It's quite thing, the city
of things, where over-abundance
is unlimited, loved, and legislated.
I got cut in the city
by an angular thing
I bumped into. I said I
am sorry to the thing.
hans ostrom 2014
defer to heaps, piles, and stacks
of plastic and alloyed molded
things. The people are stopped
by stacked boxes, so they go
around or give up and sit
and lie. The people agree
to purchase, to take on and put
on a quota of things, a pre-set
set of things. The people
pray to things with the aid
of Thing Preachers in thing-
choked halls and littered
amphitheaters. Austere
and escetic people are shunned,
fined, scorned, and watched.
They're forced to wear
designated denigrating things.
It's quite thing, the city
of things, where over-abundance
is unlimited, loved, and legislated.
I got cut in the city
by an angular thing
I bumped into. I said I
am sorry to the thing.
hans ostrom 2014
"Young Woman on Old Skates," by Hans Ostrom
So she nibbled at the
right-hand bit, and did not
venture to go near the house til she had
brought herself down to nine inches high.
--Alice in Wonderland
This late April day spends its last light
on a river of milky windshields
in aggravated suburban traffic.
Where did I come from that I alone,
walking, should witness this young woman
in her absurd determination? Thirteen, perhaps,
high-waisted in blue-jeans, she stands
uneasily on silver skates--bony and awkward,
a victim of legs like a young giraffe.
A hundred lavender blossoms
cover the concrete driveway where she stands;
they accumulate over the inevitable oilstain
left by a wound in the belly of her father's Ford.
Just as I walk past she finally decides
to try the skates. Now I see one hand
clutches a bunch of the fallen blossoms.
They puff out from her fist like a handkerchief.
Stiff-kneed, she scrapes forward and bends--to
do what?--to gather more blossoms.
I won't stop and embarrass us. I look back
to see several petals fall from her grasp;
her skates choose this moment to mutiny.
Her knees knock together, she surrenders
and falls carefully forward. For an instant,
her face says, "My body makes no sense at all."
Her ritual makes no sense at all.”
Her blue sweater hikes up her back; the wind roughs up her hair
like an obnoxious brother; no doubt Daddy will be
wheeling in at five-thirty-sharp to conquer
the driveway. Grimly she begins her ascent to equilibrium,
grabbing two fist-fulls of flowers.
From almost a block away I can hear her skates scrape and sing.
hans ostrom, 1977/2014
right-hand bit, and did not
venture to go near the house til she had
brought herself down to nine inches high.
--Alice in Wonderland
This late April day spends its last light
on a river of milky windshields
in aggravated suburban traffic.
Where did I come from that I alone,
walking, should witness this young woman
in her absurd determination? Thirteen, perhaps,
high-waisted in blue-jeans, she stands
uneasily on silver skates--bony and awkward,
a victim of legs like a young giraffe.
A hundred lavender blossoms
cover the concrete driveway where she stands;
they accumulate over the inevitable oilstain
left by a wound in the belly of her father's Ford.
Just as I walk past she finally decides
to try the skates. Now I see one hand
clutches a bunch of the fallen blossoms.
They puff out from her fist like a handkerchief.
Stiff-kneed, she scrapes forward and bends--to
do what?--to gather more blossoms.
I won't stop and embarrass us. I look back
to see several petals fall from her grasp;
her skates choose this moment to mutiny.
Her knees knock together, she surrenders
and falls carefully forward. For an instant,
her face says, "My body makes no sense at all."
Her ritual makes no sense at all.”
Her blue sweater hikes up her back; the wind roughs up her hair
like an obnoxious brother; no doubt Daddy will be
wheeling in at five-thirty-sharp to conquer
the driveway. Grimly she begins her ascent to equilibrium,
grabbing two fist-fulls of flowers.
From almost a block away I can hear her skates scrape and sing.
hans ostrom, 1977/2014
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
"Discreet Books," by Hans Ostrom
Old books, discreet, keep what now
seems naive, quaint, or embarrassing
enclosed, hidden in stacked pages
between covers. Replayed TV episodes
lay bare what's now funny
for the wrong reasons. They
show how the writers
sank their lives into a wicked,
remunerative genre bound
to betray them as now
they sit in fine houses,
their bodies ravaged
by the stress of the Industry,
looking at the spines
of novels they've collected.
Faint noise of grandkids
splashing in the blue pool,
Hollywood hills, reaches
the interior, paid for
by residuals. It was,
it is, a living, and as Sam
Johnson said, "No one but
a block-head writes
for anything but money."
hans ostrom 2014
seems naive, quaint, or embarrassing
enclosed, hidden in stacked pages
between covers. Replayed TV episodes
lay bare what's now funny
for the wrong reasons. They
show how the writers
sank their lives into a wicked,
remunerative genre bound
to betray them as now
they sit in fine houses,
their bodies ravaged
by the stress of the Industry,
looking at the spines
of novels they've collected.
Faint noise of grandkids
splashing in the blue pool,
Hollywood hills, reaches
the interior, paid for
by residuals. It was,
it is, a living, and as Sam
Johnson said, "No one but
a block-head writes
for anything but money."
hans ostrom 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Monday, April 7, 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Friday, April 4, 2014
"She's Checking," by Hans Ostrom
in the Parkway Tavern, Tacoma,
i'd been drinking lemonade
for a half-hour or so.
a different waitress
came to the table. i
wondered if waitresses
and waiters like
to be called servers
now or not. i kept
this question to myself.
anyway, she said,
"what are you drinking?"
i said, "lemonade."
she said, "we don't have
lemonade." i said,
"i have been drinking
lemonade." she said,
"well, i'll check."
hans ostrom
i'd been drinking lemonade
for a half-hour or so.
a different waitress
came to the table. i
wondered if waitresses
and waiters like
to be called servers
now or not. i kept
this question to myself.
anyway, she said,
"what are you drinking?"
i said, "lemonade."
she said, "we don't have
lemonade." i said,
"i have been drinking
lemonade." she said,
"well, i'll check."
hans ostrom
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
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