OBJECTIVELY AGHAST

I’m to read

at an open mic -

protest poems

I’m having a hard time

getting my thoughts together

What are you protesting?

            Whadda ya got

to misquote a Wild One

Protest:  to state an objection

That covers everything (for me)

from almond milk to xenophobia

I object to the fact there are so many fucking things to object to!

Maybe that will be my next protest sig(h)n.

Ah, your Honors

            I protest

            I object

            I oppose

            I am against

            & aghast

that –

these truths we hold to be self evident – aren’t

and furthermore…

RW

Seattle

07/15/2009

FIELD NOTES @ 939

                                                        (highcountrygardens.com)

Field Notes

Seattle @ 939

07.04.2019

At 3:15

the breeze

returns

trees

resume

their

songs

&

elocutions

bees

come

to

blue catnip

two

white moths

jitterbug

across

the

lawn.

3:20

breeze

flips

the

pages

of

this week’s

New Yorker

to

centerfold

of

dark

arms & hands

rich

red & charcoal

fabrics.

At 3:20

Reggie

awakens

from her nap

on

Barbara Ellen’s

blue green

quilt

Reggie

is

wearing

coral slacks –

     rolled to her calves

a dark blue shirt

a blue

& white

striped

sun hat

her

head

has been

resting

on

a

red

pillow

“That was a lovely nap”

          she says.

I have been sitting in a red plastic Adirondack style chair and attest to the veracity of these observations.

Sincerely,

RW

Seattle

07.04.2019

OH, MY LITTLE CHICKADEE

Backyard bird

so small

it would fit

whole

in my mouth

and peep

between my lips.

My friend

would lean over

and ask

what…what

wondering

just what O.G.

was going on about.

Bird

wet & warm

would

finally

burst out

after

gnats

hovering

near-by.

My friend

would miss

the great escape

and wonder

why O.G. looked

so

surprised.

RW

Seattle

07.02.2019

HUNGRY WATER

Coffee @ 25^th & Union

Strolling past

like Christ on a Crutch

Everything owned

attached to battered-ness

or in shopping carts

Contact or greeting

a baited hook in

hungry water

Reverse fishing

make the cast

become the catch

No current strong enough
to allay – can you spare…

Eyes and smile

Neither Jew nor gentile

neither black nor white nor native

but all of us

in the stark reality

that none of us

are free.

RW

Seattle

07.01.2019

(Galatians 3:28)

BOWING

                                                                      Angelus:  Jean F. Mille

Bowing to this world

and creation

To the quiet

that will never attain

silence

Bowing to the

trees surrounding

Bowing to

the spaciousness

above

Bowing to the stars

masked by daylight

Bowing to honor

our great star

Bowing toward

the infinite which is

eternity

Bowing to honor

your soul’s journey

Bowing to honor

my own soul’s journey

Bowing to acknowledge

the reaper of souls

Bowing in gratitude

Bowing.

RW

Seattle

06.29.2019

SIGNS

SIGNS

A friend and I were visiting over coffee, and our conversation rolled around to current events and the sense of doom so many of us feel.

Something was said, I don’t remember what or by whom, I do remember

          (and even stepped aside and watched myself)

making the sign of the cross to ward off danger and enact a blessing on both of us.

My friend nodded his/her head and said

          Yeah

and the conversation moved on

the ancient act so oddly apropos.

ALL THE SIGNS

that say religion

are only that

because some guys

painted them so.

We can

shake off the orthodoxy

and allow the practices

to mean something more.

The sign of the cross

connects head to core

shoulder to shoulder

          body’s energy

          four elements

          cardinal points

          universal field

no blood sacrifice necessary.

RW

Seattle

06.20.2019

RW

Seattle

06.20.2019

US

US

We are too much like the scavengers

to be comfortable

with

crows making tools for theft

buzzards watching for death

coyotes thriving anywhere.

Our animal nature

            mammal life

scares the hell out of us

so we imagine ourselves

above

                        our fur-bearing

                        breast sucking

                        shit producing

                                    species/selves.

But

our footprints carry a scent

and mortality is on our trail

            just over there

                       

and the buzzards

and the crows

and the coyotes.

RW

Seattle

06.07.2019

(photo:  unattributed)