Over, and Not Over

the big election is over
the most recent atrocity is over
the most recent Winter holidays are over
also the latest predicted apocalypse, over
the morning news, over
cup of coffee, over
cats fed, over
work, work--over
not over is
my lifelong
need to do
things for
people &
worry about
keeping
them pleased so
that i may get
some
sense of my
worth. this search
for worth, not over.


Hans Ostrom 2013

Zen Treasure-Map

On a Zen treasure-map,
there’s an X but no lines
or place-names. The four
directions are all marked E.
What you do is, you carry
the map with you at all times
and assume wherever you are,
is X—where treasure lies!


Hans Ostrom, 2013

"Retired Oracle," by Hans Ostrom

Sex in a Graveyard

We were all sinew and youth,
impulse, tendon, and sex.
When we fucked in the graveyard,
we probably didn’t think
of ourselves as fucking…
We didn’t think of desecration.
Or of ghosts. We lay on cool
concrete that topped a tomb.
We heard creatures stir: I
suspected a doe in the sweet-pea
vines that covered the wire fences.
Moonlight made it through
the canopy of old oak branches
and shone on your body as it
arced above mine: rib-cage,
nipples, breasts, neck, hair,
face, abdomen.. . . Afterwards,
you clutched me close, on top of
me who lay on top of corpses.
Young, anyone might fuck
in a graveyard. Later, they’ll
think of the holding-close, the clutching,
the chill on flesh, everything that happens
before, and after.


Hans Ostrom 2013

"Bric-á-brac," by Dorothy Parker

word hospital

misspelled words visit
a dictionary to get
themselves corrected.


hans ostrom

The Number of Likes in the New Era

(found language)


i want to puke bc 
my friends'  lives now revolve 
around the number of likes their pictures get on facebook
 and instagram and there are only a handful left who still have souls
 so who wants to be my friend


hans ostrom 2012

I Like your URL: Compliments in the New Era

(found language)

I like your URL
 and seriously enjoy your blog
One of muh favs! :3
And your smiles amazuhn! Lol
and you are  so not rude. Lol
you're seriously love
on here,  though--
like one person says something and
10 peeps back you up(: I enjoy that.


hans ostrom 2012

Cousins of Tumblr

bumblr
cumblr
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fumblr
gumblr
humblr
jumblr
lumbrblr
mumblr
numblr
plumblr
quotumblr
rumblr
summrblur
[     ]
vumblr
wumblr
xumblr
yumblr
zumblr


hans ostrom

"Theatre of the Absurd," by Hans Ostrom

Seed Thoughts

after the longest
night of the year, i begin to
think of gardening.


hans ostrom

Translation by Kenneth Rexroth

Someone told me it's Kenneth Rexroth's birthday today.

Here is link to a reading of a translation by him of a Chinese poem:

"Starting at Dawn"

"Perpetual Winter Never Known," by David Gascoyne