You're Seeing Things

the idiom's "you're seeing things,"

meaning things that aren't there,

things that are not. maybe

a swish of wish fulfillment,

filaments of tropical optical

illusions, fusions of shapes

in the mind behind the eyes.

hope and fear make us tell

ourselves sensory lies. 

in truth (a country hard 

to find), whatever whats

are out there blink in 

and out of form. shiftiness

seems to be the quantum

norm. that's what they say,

the theys that write articles

about particles. we're all seeing--

sensing--things that are/are not

there. every gray boulder's

a bag of flickering electrons.

each crowd of people's an ad

hoc conference of arrivals

and gones. as reality's always

elsewhere, we agree temprorarily

to pretend present forms

can be trusted--can of soup,

freeway loop, chicken coop. 

roosters of routine doodle-do

us awake, and we wake from

one dawning dream into 

another. and another . . . .

hans ostrom 2021

A Thing Nearby

old narrow bookcase,

hand-sawed: pinewood

varnished dark, the grain

flowing like a creek at dusk.

traces of the maker's hand

remain--his keyhole saw

and chisel, sandpaper. 

it's good to see the life

in things falsely called

inanimate--spirits of tools,

trees, crafters, days:

evaporated moments way

before I lived. this bookcase

was when I was not. turn now,

see and touch a thing nearby,

retrieve its history alive in your

mind. imagine its granular past

marked by the form of the thing. 

hans ostrom 2021

Garden's Greens

spinach leaves bring

a green so deep

it looks like an ominous

sea. genial lettuces

foreground more 

light in green, sometimes

whisper blond secrets.

kale makes us think

of Russia--tough,

green without sheen,

unafraid of invading

weeds, partial 

to hot soup. carrots,

always recalcitrant,

offer delicate floral

tops at this stage,

suggest positive 

orange thinking under

dirt. and potatoes,

dear spuds in their

group effort. plain

green tops as practical

as old bricklayers.

such lumpen, golden

manufacturing occurs

down there in Tuber

World, a dark quiet

factory. peas and beans:

what to say? so madly

manic in their way.

pods leap out overnight,

tendrils reach and entwine

with weird desire,

and, friend, you had 

better be ready with 

bucket. oh, greens

of the garden, we

bless you, we missed you

in Winter's gray dungeon,

dreaming seed dreams. 

hans ostrom 2021

Actual Art

Walls of art marching

against sensory perception,

walls exhaust me. Not as much 

as grunt-work at the gravel

plant. Still. Excess of art

fries neurons, sends the self

searching for a burrow.

The Hermitage hit me

like a tsunami. Bus loads

of tourists triggered

a riptide. I ran gasping

to the gift shop. A way

to ease back into reality.

Among postcard re-

productions, I found 

an original print from an

engraving, contemporary

Russian artist. Brown ink.

A simple St. Petersburg

street scene--bridge, river,

stolid building. The cashier,

a lovely woman with Nordic

blue eyes, said, "This is

actually art." "Yes--so glad

I found it," I said. Cold Wars

new and old did not stop

us from agreeing. Somewhere

in St. Petersburg, the artist

toiled at her day job. Outside

the Hermitage with my 

actual art in a brown paper

sack, I accepted September

sun warmth gratefully.

Breathed, the great palace

of art behind my back.

hans ostrom 2021