The Lizards of Summer

Summer--lizards liked to live

in the Old Man's rock pile,

as he was a stone mason

and I was his hod-carrier

and they were dry and cool

reptiles. They scampered

then stopped to watch me

watch them scamper. They

might do pushups. They 

always slightly grinned,

thinking of lizard jokes.

So gray, so scaly dry they

were, with plump biceps

and thighs. They raised

families in those rocks.

Passed on lizard knowledge

without saying a word. My

mammal eyes and their

reptile eyes regarded 

each other all bright Sierra

summer. Sometime in

Fall they went to vacation

in dormancy, and I drove

down-down the curling

highway to the Valley

to study in the rigid

buildings of academia. 

hans ostrom 2022

Bar Codes

 (revised)

Draperies: and some  folds

bunch together. A tired merchant

tugs them across a whole

window  to hide from retail.

On that day rain came straight

down then wind drove it

into mountains like harp-string

nails. We grew desperate for sun.

Was the wall in that baked town

painted white at first, with black

stripes added later? Or black

first, white lines later?

From my roasting room across

the street, I watched black-and-

white TV. It was a documentary

on geometric zebras. 

"A Song in Passing," by Yvor Winters

 Video/reading of Winters' short poem. Winters (1900-1968) taught for many years at Stanford University. He was an independent figure in Modern poetry. 

"A Song in Passing"  link to Youtube

Earth Isn't Worried

Lightning-boiled, roiled

clouds and con-thunder-cussed

air, & down here twisted wind

drives cars and houses into trees.

However Earth is calm. Strata

& old parched channels

rest easy underground. Deep

roots clutch bedrock

& ride the sphere-spin.

Layers of clay and gravel,

lava, sand, loam, and petrified

wood lie together like siblings

camping out. Earth isn't worried. 

hans ostrom 2022

"Like the Touch of Rain," by Edward Thomas

 39-second recording/video of the short lyric poem, "Like the Touch of Rain," by Edward Thomas (1878-1917), English/Welsh poet:

"Like the Touch of Rain" video

National Anthems

If you're a nation,

you need an anthem,

which comes with a flag.

Xenophobia's optional.

although it may not

seem so. Musicians

grind through the melodies

like millers making flour.

Anthems seem to take an hour

when you're waiting for the

game or match or memorial

to start. Hand over heart,

hat off, stand up if you can,

pretend to sing along

the way children do--all

up to you. In America's,

of course, bombs and rockets

go off in the midst of civil

war--which never ends. 

People treat anthems with more

respect than they do humans. 

hans ostrom 2022

Ice Hockey

(revised)

They're painters on skates

who brush and dab  a cold canvas

they whirl and glide on.

They're sleep-walkers

in pajamas, wandering

on a bright dream's stage--

everyone else in darkness,

looking on, transfixed.

Hornets and wasps

in snarling squads,

swarm out of the nest--

sent mad by one

black fly gliding among

them, a dark dot

playing dead, then jetting off.

More Money Than God

Anyone who has any money,

even a thoughtless penny,

has more money than God:

in what universe would God

want cash, coins, credit, creepy

crypto-grift, currency, micro-

change, stocks, bundled bonds,

bullion, or any token that smokes

with agreed upon mullioned

meaning? I swear to God, 

billionaires have become 

like Zeus and his merry band

of psychopaths on a celebritized

Olympus. Metastatisized wealth.

Yes, excess morphed into abscess.

hans ostrom 2022

Preferable Dusk

Do Parisians still call dusk

l'heure bleue? I should ask

the internet gods. At sundown

in the Sierra Nevada, green

pine trees seem gold, sift

mild breezes. You sense

raccoons, deer, and coyote

getting ready for the night-shift. 

Rustlings in the brush. I've 

always felt more dread at dawn

than dusk. Jaws of jobs I hated

waited then. Fresh evils

and the cackling of the pious

lurk in morning headlines. 

Dusk equals After Work, a time

to cook and think, to hear

jazz or savor silence, to sniff

the darkling air--like a coyote. 

hans ostrom 2022

Beside a Farm Pond

On the green pond

faint ripples roll slowly,

just kiss the bank. Beside

this quiet water, you don't

have to pretend to know.

Unseen fish snooze

in mud. Frogs--they grunt

and chirp. Birds flit and fly

and riff their trills. It isn't

nature out here. It isn't

anything you have to name.

Eyes wide open, you sit

in nowhere. You're here, it

seems. What seems? It. 

hans ostrom 2022

"Small Poem for April"

This small poem honors

smooth blue pebbles,

waking up to a local

bird chorus each day,

the price of pollen

(sneeze-blasts), stalwart friends,

more and more and more light,

fair wages, and rest.

hans ostrom 

2018/revised 2022

"What Survives," by Rainer Maria Rilke

Recording/video of a short poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by A. Poulin, approved for use for educational purposes, taken from allpoetry.com site. Langstonify youtube channel. 

https://youtu.be/YGlrJDLcZKQ

The Rose Robe

(La rose robe [1864] painted by  Jean Frédéric Bazille)

the rose robe glowed,

holding its own light,

as last sunlight shone

on white buildings

down there in the town.

she sat on a broad

stone ledge, taking

a break from house

and people too self-

involved to care about

a mild breeze 

that each evening 

met her and teased trees.

she rested her long, strong

brown arms, letting hands

lie on a night-black apron.

What she thought

was no one's concern

but hers. cool air

found her neck 

and shoulders. her tired

feet in gray house 

shoes napped on stone

like two cats.

she'd sewn the pink

robe's sleeves herself

before summer settled,

knowing how they'd 

sit above her elbows

on evenings just like

this one. like her,

women down in town

longed to linger outside

stuffy rooms,

to think, and to listen to

sparrows sing 

themselves to sleep 

as stray charcoal clouds

drifted across

a chalk-blue sky. 

hans ostrom 2022