Thursday, June 20, 2024

Two-Faced Time

Time, the vicious versatile thug:
pickpocket, shoplifter, burglar,
armed robber, assassin, dictator . . . .
Why can't Time get a real job
like the rest of us?

Time, robust provider:
opener of space for life.
Enabler of Evolution. 
Angel of music. Parent
of our necessary illusions.
Kind casino boss, who gives us
good chances to win 
encounters with the Mystery
that may be God.


hans ostrom 2024

Where the Roads Go

 And soon the roads will take you to
The place that has no roads
And there you will be lost to time,
Old traveler. The forest will absorb you.
(The roads themselves will be absorbed.)

The birds are always well aware
They must make room for other birds.
And every raging storm
Leaves codes for future storms.

The continent of language
Your brain has built itself
To let you play with signs
And sounds will vanish--yes,
The moment your mind leaves 
Its road, your unique ways 

Of seeing, saying--indeed,
The World you birthed--
Will vanish like one breath
Into the air of all the breaths
Breathed ever in their time. 


hans ostrom 2024

Monday, June 17, 2024

International Arrivals

 

this is an age of

people poking, touching screens--

heads bent--birds searching.

       *

in white-washed light

we strangers wait--no smiling--

for ones arriving. 

       *

new citizens wait

for new immigrants--happy!

everyone else: glum.

       *

among a crowd of

people I'll never know, I

wait for one I love.


hans ostrom 2024

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Suspension Bridges

After two days
Of cold rain,
The sun shines big
On the two Tacoma
Narrows Bridges,
Which hang from
The huge cables
That hang from them.


hans ostrom 2024