"Love, Come Out of the Shadows," by Roger Ilsley

A Way to Grow Old

Laboring, I used to power

though lassitude like a lorry
going up through the gears.

Digging trenches, mixing
concrete, hauling hod,
pounding anils, house-painting,
weed-slashing....

Tired? Take a breath
or chug water & get back
to it. Engage the will
like a lever. Age

inforces hard limits.
Heat and humidity
level me. So too cold
weather. I say to myself,

"That's it. Tools down:
done for the day."
One way to grow old:
realistically.

hans ostrom 2025

"Mademoiselle, Where Are Your Clothes?" by Roger Illsley

Hey, Grace, Say Grace

May I have your cursory

attention, please. Green peas,
brown beans, and golden corn
attend our blue plates. All
we have is today: grace.
Bon appetit. Let's eat!

hans ostrom 2025

Watercolor

The painter sharpened blurs,

smudged lines, herded blends,
let pigment and water dance
in cosutme to visual elliptical
tunes. That is not a poplar,
that is not a house, nor is
that a field! Yet, once wetly,
now dried, they seem so very well.

hans ostrom 2025

Hot Day, Cold Watermelon

   Pink tongue (the center)

tastes. Sweet. Around it the mouth
  praises water: cold!

hans ostrom 2025

Homage to e.e. cummings

 (1894-1962)

in rightnow
     our cummings and go-wings
buzz with fuzz
                 of 'lektric nerves,
   shocking swerves.

one and all ta-morrows
   are notyet, & egret
& sunset know that
        to-be is the tiny now-here
in which we're alive. whobody
            knows
when we-you-&-I
                    may vanish-go,,,
ya know?

hans ostrom 2025

Anthem for a Nation That Doesn't Exist

 Our home is Earth.

We know its worth

is more than we

can say.

We know we're small,

a speck in All.

Let modesty

hold sway.

Humanity--

that is our We.

May we be good

today.

May we live right

today. 

hans ostrom 2025

Triolet for a Cold Spring Day

It's such a brusque and chilly late-Spring day.

We felt that we had earned some easy balm.
I hunch inside my coat beside the bay.
It's such a brusque and chilly late-Spring day.
The wind slaps boats and outlaws calm.
Whether the Lord's our shepherd, I can't sy.
It's such a brusque and chilly late-Spring day.
We felt that we had earned some easy balm.

hans ostrom 2025

RFK Jr. Is Dumb | Lewis Black's Rantcast clips

A Tale of Two Farmers!

The Manhattan Transfer - How High The Moon w/ Ella Fitzgerald - The Grammys

The Six-Drawer Bureau

In a room of this rented,

creaky, tired house, a thick
brown six-drawer bureau
stoutly stares at me. Although
made mostly of empty space
(modern physics claims), it

convinces me of its reality.
One drawer contains my socks
and T-shirts: thus have I put
my faith in illusion. Reality

takes me seriously: a bus
will crush if I get in its way.
The weather's cold today.

I retreated to this room to rest,
to read, to think, to scribble.
I think I'm probably a real
illusion to myself. I think I'll nap.

hans ostrom 2025