The Morass

There was a photographer –
I read about him –
who went to the wetlands
to photograph a bird,
a red winged blackbird
early enough in the morning
to catch the bird’s breath

And of course this is where
he came – the edge of the
world, land foundering in
the notion of ownership
as if anything wild
can actually be owned

But it is here deep
in the woods
on the banks of
rivers great or not
in the grasslands and
in the mirk
these squawkers of
the sky migrate in
numbers that throw
a blanket upwards
in the spring and the
fall – a good time
to see them breathe

out here, on the edge
in this bog
this fen
this quagmire
this marsh
this wetland
this muskeg

this swamp

Just like the
breath of a blackbird
Mother Nature will rise
she will rise
she will rise
she will rise

2-17-2025

Christmas in Ecuador

Darwin thought he was ugly
Amblyrhynchus cristatus*
this agile swimmer
with a diet of algae
but oh how they light up
near each other
like a tree in glory
with a star on top
mating brings out the
jewels they truly
are in this place where
the two legged beast
Homo sapiens that
breeder of malevolence
has barely tried to live

Seems water might be
necessary after all –
not optional –
which the ruler-deciders
are trying to make us
believe

These creatures dressed
in green and red show
no fear of me
perhaps they know that
to be so isolated is
to be ignored
perhaps being ignored is
enough to save them
when the ruler-deciders
also known as life-breakers
mange to kill
even themselves.

1/2025

*Scientific name of the marine iguana. The Christmas iguana is a possible subspecies, Venustissimus, located on the island of Espanola. These iguanas are found only in the Galapagos Islands.

Cardinal rules

Listen closely and
you can hear him
chip he goes chip
chip a hard C
and then another
she responds
chip – chip
call and response
keeps them safe
from sharp shinned
and Cooper’s
listen closely
that is what it takes
the mewl of a catbird
quack of a mallard
different from a
wigeon almost
whistling
and the eagle’s sharp
high pitched screech.

It is easy to get
lost in the noise
when verbosity
inundates you
hurts your head
every time you
turn it
and that is the purpose
confuse fact and fiction
cruelty and kindness
the coming and the going.

Easier to tune it out
of course
quit listening
hide under the bed
but –
listen closely
I say and soon
you too can see
oak and pine
and hemlock
you too will
see the forest
full of trees.

2/2025

careful friend

careful friend
they come
for you

the noose – the gallows
knows no blue
or red
it only knows
obsequious
deferred a bit
and not on end

tilt a little and
watch the wind
blow you
out to sea
no wind cares that
you can’t breathe salt
or that flying
is not your thing

and no my friend
i won’t be here
to answer for
your faith
they will have sent me
helter skelter
into outer space
my face oh friend
my face my face
is ever out
of place

so careful friend
they’ll hunt you
too
if you bend a bit
askew

2/2021

Cancel culture

We have done this like
forever
haven’t we?

When Anna’s cousin was
beaten to death by Mrs. Hicks
for falling asleep over
a crying child
the toll of countless
sleepless nights was not
considered – no being a
slave means
stay awake,
stay awake, stay awake
or die.
The child belonged to
Mrs. Hicks.
Of course.
The crime was falling asleep.
Not the torture.
Not the beating her dead.

We have done this like
forever.
haven’t we?

Demby ran to the river
not heeding the voice
of Austin Gore an
overseer who mastered the
whip with glee.
The river was pure and cool
and away from the lash when
the gun shot him dead.
The mixing of water and red
is the foundation upon which
America stands.

Culture is just a somewhat thing.

We have done this like
forever.
haven’t we?

The hunting of humans
leads back to the wild
where beast is the norm
and conscience is void
straddle two worlds
natural selection
and vehement use of
technical invention.

We have done this
what seems like
forever
seems like Amistad
was a miracle.

I am looking for miracles
every day miracles,
miracles as norm
since we’ve done
this like

forever

haven’t we?

2021

Remember them always from Emmett Till to George Floyd and all those who came before, after and between.. May the world change.

Historical note: Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass gives an account of the incidents in this poem.

Hyperthermophile*

If I were a betting woman
my money would be on you
resident of Old Faithful
lingerer on a deep-sea vent
tolerant of Death Valley I bet
you are doing just fine in Salem,
Oregon June of 2021 I doubt
this weather is phasing you
at all, minute though you are
naked to my eye so small
but fierce like the vireo
defending her eggs from a
foraging jay – I watched her
as she dove and dove again
pushing him back
hunger makes us do things –
all of us and I see the
hunger coming when the soil
turns to powder so fine you
wonder where the seeds are
when everything turns to
dust

*An organism that can survive in really hot environments, 140 degrees Fahrenheit and upwards.

Checkpoint Charlie*

Can you imagine it? Little
brown skinned children evading
the sharp eyes of the Texas
governor giving all those legislators
Covid, yes those little devils,
challengers of walls and all things that
injure wildlife roam the state
Capitol in this, the hottest of
wars

Mister patriotic, friend of
the KGB, (well formerly), seems to
get a kick out of blaming
children – poor children that is,
since everyone knows the
poor are always to blame

Yes folks, they are children and
are to be blamed, or
so we are told since my uncles
who went to medical school to
study all this stuff don’t know
nothing,
or so we are told

Cold wars, hot wars,
pandemic wars, I want
the most stuff wars –
can’t get enough of it,
can we? And good thing too
since we can always blame
the little brown skinned
children yep
as American as
apple pie

*The best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. I traversed this point back in 1975.

In the time of rain and dust

This is the place to be
or so say those nerdy
folks who watch
the sun, dig at tree
roots, study the fish,
this land where the
people change from
Bedouins to skippers
in days, years,
minutes – in the land
where snow disappears
into hoax like it never
was

This is where wildfires
devour fewer homes
heat domes don’t settle
wires do not melt
where lungs, livers and
hearts stand a chance
of surviving the fire
that consumes the organs
of anything mammal
bird or toad
this is the place to be
alas

2021

Living on the coast of drama

It sure is addictive
the constant pressure
to one-up
man-up
push the extra weight
off this water bound
airship
into the thicket of
bramble and gator
snake at the ready
venom constant
living can
wear a person
plum out

and that’s the point
of course
bury me in the
downtrodden sea
so I never
speak again

my voice is just
a rat gnawing
at that broken-
down conscious
of yours

but even a midge
has to eat
or how would it
feed the swallows and
swifts
the never-ending
floating of wings?

10/2021

The death revelers

What a curse it is
this touching
display of the love of
hatred and fear
words that go by
different names these days
the vigilante as
victim

My window on the world
never ceases to amaze me

There is a hierarchy from
big to small from
squirrel to jay to sparrow
what is a poor
chickadee to do?

Dart in dart out
live a life on the run
for

The gun is the biggest
thing yet – certainly
bigger than the
Word*

Leave us to
bleed or live
a life of darting

I’ve been darting
a lot these days
perhaps I can
learn a thing or
two from the
chickadee my
mirror into all
that is beautiful

*Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Fall 2021