Saturday, July 31, 2021

Ancestry

 1

My name, pattern of nucleic
acids, and documentation become
a dried leaf glued to
a petrified tree in a fractal forest.

2

The earlier the photograph,
the harder the faces, the darker
the clothes. Work, grief, God,
and fear sculpted these faces. 

3

One cannot behold the soupy
sea of ancestry and still cling
to racism and sad notions
of superiority. A trillion 
accidents set against social
calamity--not "bloodlines"--
birthed each of us. Every one
of us wailed when air first
thumped us in the lungs.

4

Everybody's common. The 
rest is a confidence game.

5

A distant relation died 
attacking a castle. He's buried
in digitized public records.
Genealogists visit his grave.
It's nothing personal. 

6
I have to override the program,
which tells me a relation was 
too young to be a mother. That's 
rape for you. 

7
Genealogy's a pageant of 
folly, a carnival of silence, an
absurdity of great meaning, 
a permanent promise of connection.

8
Sooner or later, our names
become unintended jokes.

9
People travel and travel and
travel. Meanwhile, clever ones
convince them that dreams of
belonging to a special group
are real. Nation, tribe, empire--
that sort of thing. 

10

Humanity is composed 
of women and certain
hangers on. 

11

We're all cousins.

12

On average, each extended
family includes one genealogist 
who insists on boring everyone
with dates, places, and photos. 
In my family, I am he. 





Mountain Saloon

Darkness in daylight and a sweet
whiskey smell said Hey
to six-year-old me when
my Aunt Nevada opened the door

to the Buckhorn saloon. I
registered a glowing brass
pipe running the length
of a dark varnished bar,

down where feet are. 
An altar of bottles--brown,
clear, green--gathered itself
around a long mirror.

An an antlered deer's head
eyed me. Aunt went back
to get broom, bucket, and mop.
She and Uncle owned the bar. 

After dinner, my dad freshly
showered would fall asleep 
in a chair before going to the
second job: pouring drinks

at this place. Tending bar. 
Caves, tombs, hideouts, 
temples, chapels, dens of
equity, harbors, imagined

carnivals of sex and power:
later I'd learn what dark bars
could become--neon glowing
outside, light in darkness. 


hans ostrom 2021

Competition

competition was a custom
systems craved. you caved

to the carnival of conflict.
sometimes. not your preference.

so now you lean against
an old black oak and watch

them in their ruddy scrums
out there, the promise of glory

palmed long ago by a hustler
who's already out of town. 


hans ostrom 2021

Summer of 2021

Petroleum nightmares sizzle
and burst on smoking sidewalks.

Hurricanes scream at concussed 
cities. Snowflakes fall backward

up to fried skies. Whole forests
collapse into ash, and white zombies

run for Congress, opposing 
knowledge and love. 

It's been quite the summer
so far. To be or not to be

cooked by our dear atmosphere:
that's not the question, but it will

suffice. Mobs chase scientists
across deserts strewn with 

condominium rubble. Coyotes 
watch and laugh. Down the years,

they've smelled our madness.
We condition the air. 


hans ostrom 2021

Monday, July 12, 2021

Ancient Overlap

two crows on a line
watched a man work--

he dug, shoveled, raked.
disinterested as scientists,

the birds sat still, sometimes
taking  mental notes

to add to vast crow knowledge
of their neighbors. sometimes

they lifted a wing and beaked
mites off feathers. now

the man took a break, drank
water, ate a sandwich, tossed

bits of bread on the ground.
the birds dropped softly,

feathered shadows. they 
grabbed a quick lunch, took

their field notes back to the lab
made of sticks. humans,

crows. an ancient overlap
of societies. a relationship. 



hans ostrom 2021


Thursday, July 1, 2021

Envy Isn't Good

So nobody's heard your song
yet. It's still a song. When envy
comes to town, trees droop,
crops fail, children in shops
wail for no reason, and traffic
boils. Surprise: you're alive.
And your oldest neighbor
sits in a chair outside, drinks
iced tea, sighs, feels free.


hans ostrom 2021