Awkwardly Social

To be socially

            awkward
is to be
    existentially
comic: or, bow slightly
while shaking the hand
of an American faux patrician
because their schtick,
like a witch, turns you

into a faux British-butler.
It's something to do with
mountain origins, your pop's
disdain for urbanity, your Cubist
collage of manners and inborn
suspicion that the most

well mannered people might
be serial killers, white supremacists,
that sort of beast, & your
       certainty
that fate set you down
beyond or between customary
                                  circles:
a question of placement. Ec-centric.

You're often outside,
on the pavement, nose to the glass,
staring at a Them, who
    Know What They Are Doing.

hans ostrom 2025

What Will You Have?

Would you like a glass
of water? Would you like
a cup of worry? I've
made some sandwiches
of bread and beauty.
And mustard, which
goes with beauty. Make
yourself at home. Because
you live here. The
satisfaction is still cooking.
It will be done soon.


hans ostrom 2019

Lighting Out

I'm lighting out for infinity.  I don't
yet have a firm idea of when
I will arrive. Oh, everybody says
it's going to take me "forever."
The truth is they don't know.

Who could blame infinity
for getting sick of extending
itself, for stopping and settling
down?  I think on my way,
I'll come around a bend,

and there will be a town,
a scape of mirrors, towers,
boulevards, gardens with
gigantic butterflies and
multicolored trees.  It will

all have been designed by
close associates of time.
After I settle in, I'll
ask if anybody knows the street
on which I might find infinity.

Of course I'll try to reach
the residence by phone or signal
ahead of time.  Manners matter.
What sort of gift should I bring?
What sort of song should I sing?


hans ostrom 2017