Clerihew: "Sir Humphry Davy"

Cinquain: "Niagara," by Adelaide Crapsey

"Starting at Dawn," by Sun Yün-feng

"Starting at Dawn," by Sun Yün-feng

"Cow," by Gary Snyder

"German bar," by Charles Bukowski

from "New Year Letter," by W.H. Auden

"Mutability," by William Wordsworth

"I Do Best Alone at Night," by Gunnar Ekelöf

"As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame," by Gerard Manley Ho...

Don't Know, Do Know

)
)
)
)


Don't Know, Do Know

i don't know why. i
do know why. i do,
i don't, know why.

why, no, i don't
know why. i know
why i don't know

why and don't
know why
i know. i don't,

i do, and i
don't know how
it is for you.


Copyright 2011 Hans Ostrom

Lemon Harangue

]
]
]
]


Lemon Harangue

hey, it's hard to do
anything. yeah, but
you have to try. hell,
we all start out as

squirming blobs of
flesh and then
get push-pushed
to join reality.

later we get
volunteered to
join this mess,
society. with

a system like
this, who needs
chaos? for
today, stop

haranguing
yourself, although
it's a good word,
harangue.

do what you can,
if you can, and
know that doing
anything is hard.


Copyright 2011 Hans Ostrom

Dramatic Noise

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/
/
/

Dramatic Noise

in the next motel
room, someone's
talking, with volume,
on a telephone.

words get stripped
of their wordness
as they pass through
stuccoed sheet rock.

so what i
hear sounds like
the intense language
of a huge insect

that is related
to a small
electric drill.
it's fascinating.

there's drama
in this noise.
hearing the words
would diminish

that. the noise can
be an argument
about anything.
i'm sad when

the sound stops
and the walls
of the room
i am in begin

to advance on
me, flashing their badges
of splendid, cheap
mass-produced art.


Copyright 2011 Hans Ostrom