"Rain Music," by Joseph S. Cotter, Jr.

"In the Desert," by Stephen Crane

"How to Be a Cat," by Hans Ostrom

"The Brevity of Life," by Ernest Dowson

"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

"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

"Above the Dock," by T.E. Hulme

"The Arrow and the Song," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The Anguish," by Edna St. Vincent Millay

"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

"Eel Grass," by Edna St. Vincent Millay

"Tapestry," by Langston Hughes

"Sea Calm," by Langston Hughes