Saturday, May 31, 2025
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
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
A Way to Grow Old
Laboring, I used to power
though lassitude like a lorrygoing 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
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Friday, May 23, 2025
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 mouthpraises 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
Thursday, May 22, 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
Monday, May 19, 2025
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