Fast Day 275 September 7 2012 {Labor Day 2012}

Labor Day  2012

The rain will descend,

then comes the drought;

we’ll take up our canoe and carry it

to the garage where it will winter,

but spring follows the snow

and we shall put it into the water again

so we may come and go by the river

and visit the islands,

and all the places

where the wild things are

awaiting us…

The sun bakes the ground,

then come the rain;

we’ll harrow and scythe the gardens again

and leave them to hibernate;

the hibiscus will bloom again

and the deer will eat the hasta down to stems;

we may not return to the river

this time… this future

the sun rising in new horizon,

and you and I have defeated

the alien gods…

Fast Day 231 November 4 2011 {Day of the Dead)

Day of the Dead

I heard the water laughing loud
at some off-color joke;
it was a witchy tinnitus
raging within my ears;
then I saw many, many moons
up in the dark night sky
like bright and silver coins, oblate...
fallen from a pocket;
many moons and laughing waters!
and I was very drunk.

I smelled the autumn leaves burning
smoke that was like frost,
medicine moons are in the sky!
like ice in rum and coke!
medicine weed is in my head:
suspend animation -
it takes paleontology
science to walk back home!
we wrestle dominion away...
stars at elbow and foot!

Ah, love! Ah, love! All passion spent!
who is it that does not
need a friend in cold November...
Dia de los Muertos!
Let the vibrant orange-sienna
of autumn leaves rise up;
call out to all ghosts and spirits
to come here for the dance!
Oh, Grandfather! Oh, Grandfather!
flower... moon... deer... divine!

--
pix: Claudia Salguero

Day of the Dead - dia de los muertos, november 2

dominion -  death shall have no dominion... etc. etc. etc.

ps.
I am really beginning to like this poem.
--

Fast Day 226 September 30 2011 {Pumpkins at Rapture Time}

Pumpkins at Rapture Time


climbing through the fields,
climbing through the glean,
looking for a pumpkin
with a green handle
to get for Halloween…

In the viney web
of jack o’lantern raw,
I bent to pick a pumpkin
as the Rapture winnow
harvested us all…

heavenly that combine,
and the call divine,
to disk the earth infected:
to rotate all the crops
and pick us from the vine!

As I bent to gather
a pumpkin from its patch
the Rapture passed on by me,
it swung down low and straight
but did not stoop to snatch.

All this for jack o’lanterns,
all this for Halloween,
self-righteousness has fled the earth
and it is more peaceful now
than we have ever seen!

--
notes

Based on Ruth's story of how the Rapture missed her while she was picking pumpkins.
--