Brainstorm

Meteorology of the mind.

  Brainstorm

First comes the freshening

breeze and the distant

thunder, then the random

drops before the flash of

light and pounding rain,

mostly runoff  for the

gutter, but some soaks

in until it finds and feeds

those long buried stones

which are really seeds. 

Call and Response

Here's an old, old poem of mine from my youth- one of the few I remember and like, although it's more abstract and allegorical than what I tend to write these days. (Yes, it's been a hectic week and nothing new occurred to me.)

Call and Response

I found myself

in a world of half-truths

that didn't add up.

I found you playing

on an abacus

as if it were a harp.

And when I asked you

for the answer,

you sang to me.

And when I asked again,

you stopped.

Polar Vortex

Another meteorological poem after some record breaking cold air moved down from the North.

    Polar Vortex      

All the Arctic air has

migrated to Manhattan

as if the Earth were lying

on its side. So the glaciers

melt while the Hudson freezes,

and New Yorkers watch for

flying reindeer near the new

North Pole in the Bronx.

Border State

Maryland was caught between the North and the South during the Civil War. It is also often right on the cusp of winter weather systems. These two thoughts came together during an early snow flurry that did not stick.

             Border State

The undecided snow falls as flakes

from the cold December sky but lands

like rain, melting as it touches the still

warm ground. A few degrees south of

a blizzard and north of a thunderstorm,

autumn makes a final stand against whatever

comes after, not too far from Gettysburg. 

Land Mines

Just some thoughts about history, of nations and of people.

              Land Mines

Buried beneath some forgotten conflict,

they don’t forget their appointed task,

so they offer the same explosive answer –

no matter what question they may be asked.

Final Exam

Yes, we just gave exams at my school.

       Final Exam

You must know everything

since anything may be asked

of you, and the one fact you have

forgotten may be the one you need

while two things that seem unrelated

may come together to form your final point.

A Matter of Principle

Here's a little light scientific verse. It started the other day when "Heisenberg" (or Heisenburg?) struck me as a good name for a city as well as for the uncertainty principle (the observer affecting the phenomenon being observed).

A Matter of Principle

In the town of Heisenberg

this phenomenon is true

that everyone is always in

someone else’s view.

And if this were not the case,

this much is certain, too:

they would not know just who

they are or exactly what to do.