"Of Robert Frost," by Gwendolyn Brooks

"Absent Lover," translated by A.C. Jordan

"Chess Teachings," by Hans Ostrom

"Thought," by Henry Dumas

"Improvisations: Light and Snow 2," by Conrad Aiken

"Cover Me Over," by Richard Eberhart

Awful Bog

That the U.S. president's speech
has declined into bits of blather,
a handful of flaccid bigoted prods,
and droplets of rancid smarm
sharply summarizes the state
of the nation's health. He is where
he should not be because our sense
and sensibilities continue sunk
in an awful bog.


hans ostrom 2017

"no help for that," by Charles Bukowski

Italian Coffee Pot

Caffeine priest in a silver
cassock. Octagonal alchemist.
Silver bird gargling dark steam.

It is in the pantheon of small,
essential pots that lead us
kindly into our daily labors.

It is the beloved mayor of the
stove. It is a three-part harmony
of form and function.



hans ostrom 2017

About Last Week

The old days--last week: hard not
to yearn for them, their billions
of images and messages from robots
that made them so special.

And that's not to mention
all the official depravities
pursued worldwide. And it's a
piquant era in America.

The noxious gas that fills
the nation's balloon president
leaked out and anointed the hate-
filled land. The White people

in power who can stand
between his madness and
catastrophic destruction did
not, do not.  What a time it was!


hans ostrom 2017

"August 1968," by W.H. Auden

"A Permanent Way," by W.H. Auden

"pull a string, a puppet moves," by Charles Bukowski