"What Can We Do?" by Roger Illsley and Hans Ostrom

OUTRAGEOUS: US Senator Padilla ATTACKED at DHS Presser

ICE came to Spokane, WA. It didn't go well for them. Here's the big take...

The Derelicts and the Rules

I walk the dirt-path loop around

Wright Park, Tacoma, &  I'm get-
ting into stride & then I hear the steps
behind me: they're far too purposeful--
I sense aggression. And with dog in tow
a man comes up beside me. His face, I think,
unkindly, looks like an angry boil.

His rant: "Good morning, sir, hey did
you see the derelicts down there? No one's
supposed to sleep inside the park at night!
They need to clear them out! If all of us
don't follow rules, anarchy's bound to rise.
And sir, you'd better store your food and
medicine--sufficient for two weeks! You
hear those helicopters overhead? 'They'
are about to shut It down!"

And then the guy plus dog are past
me--gone. After the walk I go
for groceries. And there's the cashier with
the close-cropped hair--for she's just gone
though chemo treatment. The line is stuck
because her customer is having issues with
her credit card.
                           My turn at last.
"So sorry for the wait," she says.
I say, "No problem, it's okay,"
and she responds, "You know,
you have to help somebody sometimes."
Now there's a rule that we might follow--
oh, yes, a sentimental thought. But still
unless you're building shelter for unsheltered
folk, you'd better let the "derelicts"

sleep where they can. I go outside
with groceries, don't hear the helicopters.

hans ostrom 2025

"When I Love," by Nizar Qabbani

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Beauty School

At the Medford, Oregon, airport,

the Sky House Bar and Grill
(one floor up) looks past runways
to flat baked grass and green,
lumpy hills. The server

says she's going to Beauty
School--which takes me back
to when women went to
"beauty shops," not salons

or spas. I hope she earns
a Ph.D. in Beauty and becomes
a noted scholar in the field.
Her ways, wit, and face

suggest she has the aptitude.

hans ostrom 2025

Shakespeare's Flow

(At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival,

Ashland, Oregon)

Lithia Creek pours out

of Oregon springs and stair-step-
rolls over dark boulders.

Its braided riffles ruffle foam,
then ease into pools. All
the trees--alder, cedar, oak,

fir, sycamore--drip dappled light
on the eager stream. It's a big
creek, known to flood,

and as it flattens, it runs
through Ashland, where
Shakespeare's plays

migrated to Far West 90
years ago and found stages
in a snug valley. Shakespeare's

language, rhythms, wit, wonder,
and knowing pour forth from
an eternal spring, it seems,

and feed streams of drama
& reading round and round
the planet--in how many idioms?

hans ostrom 2025

Surgeon breaks down in parliament explaining how IDF drones target children

Oregon Bartender

 Ashland, Oregon

Pretty young and pretty,
she wears faded Levis
sans belt and a sleeveless
shirt. Blue arm tattoos

include butterflies and
vines and a cube with
a heart inside one box.
"It gets s-o-o-o hot

in Ashland in August,"
she says, going nearly
baritone for "so."
Blue bartender-eyes

don't miss a trick. She says
she tried a city--Portland
--but came back to Ashland
as most do. Oh, what

would William Shakespeare
do with you? I wonder
to myself. She sets a
mocktail mojito before

me on dark wood. I
think he would  do something
spritely with her--
                           mischievous.

hans ostrom 2025

Knuckle Skin

It's fine how skin

over knuckles bunches 

like upholstery. Or like

a stack of wrinkles. 

Epidermal accordions?

Bend a finger, the skin

smoothes itself, stretches

tight. Nice! I would like to

leave you with a final

pronouncment on knuckle

skin but I can't think of one

and anyway knuckle skin

is such a personal topic. 

hans ostrom 2025