Under the Heat Domes

Near the supermarket (and what

an American word that is), crows
peck at a crumpled bag from

a fast-food place; a woman begs
(her sign says "ANYTHING HELPS/
GOD BLESS"); and a two-acre

parking lot fills with cars
that face each other in lines
like 18th century troops.

The windshields glare.
The black tires roast.
Car alarms start to twitch.

I'm just another ghost
in training, pushing an empty
cage on wheels, headed

toward a section called Produce,
an Impressionist's or Cubist's
heaven of colors & shapes invented

by soil, trees, bushes, stalks,
and vines. Much of the Northern
Hemisphere today is on fire

and under heat domes. The
supermarket's air-cooling
machines crank out false breeze

in the false peace of retail space.

International Share a Secret Day

Hey, It's International Share a

Secret Day, or I've been lied to,
anyway it's a day when spies

and politicians go mad &
confessors go glad, pleased
to let at least one heavy hidden

tale fly light and free and bright
like a butterfly. Many secrets
there are out there today!

They swarm like hornets,
they roll like waves of desert
dust, and some stink like

putrefied garbage. I've kept
some secrets so long, they've
dried up like dates in a pharaoh's

tomb & there's nothing to tell,
so I make something up. I lie.
I whisper fiction-secrets

like squeaking crickets
on this gabby, shabby date called
International Share a Secret Day.

hans ostrom 2023

Solace

I read the word solace

in a novel and look at it hard
for the first time.

The word reminds me
of a thin, single pane of glass
in an old farmhouse.

It rattles in storms.
It could crack at any time.
Spiders nest against it.

Solace is a window. It
does let light into the attic
of grief. But not enough.

hans ostrom 2023

Ava Intimates S/S 17

"Tuesday Blues," by Roger Illsley

DAVID GATES & GLEN CAMPBELL ( MEDLEY )

Werner Herzog anecdote about Klaus Kinski's "egomania"

RICHARD BURTON SPEECHS TO FRANK SINATRA 1983

Man In Store Standing In Front of Mops

Lots of mops for sale, I see.

Some end in rectangular sponges
(harvested from rectangular seas?).

Some end in wigs of rope, some
in plastic absences to be filled by
the legendary "sold separately."

If I stand by these mops too long,
I'll worry someone. But where would
I go? Not to the meat department,

certainly not to the carnival
of cereal boxes full of sugar.
Perhaps to red fruits and green

vegetables? For now I'll stand
and stare, thinking of my grimy
floor, and I will try "acting normal"--

a strange state of being.

hans ostrom

Move

Move through dew

on grass like an eel
muscling itself between
canals. Move

into light and shadow,
the dappled landscape
of your life. Ride
like a child

the silly contraptions
of commerce--escalator,
elevator, metro, & sad,
sagging bus. Keep

going, knowing
you're probably not
going to get anywhere
special fast, except Here.

hans ostrom 2023

Ineffectual Hell

If Hell exists, Hitler

must be there, and Stalin,
and slave owners....

So what? Hell can't undo
evil's horrors, unkill
the slaughtered, comfort
those battered to death
by racism and hatred of women.

The most hellish thing
about Hell seems to be
how useless it is.

hans ostrom 2023

Dua Lipa - Genesis - Glastonbury - Remaster 2018

Steve Perry Stuns the Internet with his Mesmerizing #GyGafex Music Video!