Unplanned

The potbellied man said it was amazing
his long hair tangled and wet
the skinny lady in a bikini from her long-gone teenage years concurred
"Put your hands over your head"
they advised
"It feels like bricks dropping on your head"
A bus of tourists from India scrambled down
the edge of the creek
They pulsed forward
closer
closer
We looked up
up
up
"Let's go!"
My brother-in-law urged
Fully clothed we waded in
to the pool at the bottom of the waterfall
smashing
crashing
clashing
Screaming in delight
At the utter joy of life
shattering into crystals of light
and heavy
on our heads

What I Saw Today

I walked to the Fox Regal Cineplex
at 7:31pm I crossed 10th street at Yamhill
I looked up 10th
a sheet was in the middle of the street
a police car was stopped
doors ajar
screeched askance
a leg poked out from under the sheet
tennis shoe on
no one covered it up
no one looked
no one stared
the trolley stopped
dropped off passengers
then left
no one noticed the tennis shoe in the street
attached to the leg
that poked out from the sheet
in the middle of the street
by the police car
askance
I walked past
and wondered
why

103

Portland is hot.
A city wilts
A people molts
the sweaters, jeans, and jackets of a lifetime
All is quiet and still
laden
overburdened
sucumbed

In the 8 month winter of darkness, dampness, and cold
the people tumble out of houses, clatter along avenues
coffees in hand
bicycles chirp merrily, riders clad in water-proof gear
rosey cheeked
smiling
a people drink a pint and watch an indie

But the sun is too much
vitamin D deprivation prevents adequate strategies
No AC rumbles
No fans whirl
New Orleans in the summer
100 years ago

Aphorisms and such

Just Do It
A stitch in time saves time
What's the buzz, tell me what's a happening.
Mind the gap
Just Do It

Why is it so easy to become stuck
Unawares
Unintended
Patterns repeated
What is the glue that holds us to the known
although we strive for more
meekly we submit

Yet punctuated equilibrium exists
It did.
It does.
Biologically
Psychologically
Spiritually
It does
What is the turning point
That grain of sand . . .

That knocks us to a brand new level

Lapse, Elapse, Eclipse, Ellipsis, Solipsism

Haunted passage
Fraught with loss
Confusion
Sadness
The tangled expression of time
(e)lapse
Bundled and undone
eclipse
Forgotten untold
ellipsis
Solitary all-one
solipsism

On Crying

I write of crying. My cat circles around my feet, crying, hoping, yearning to be picked up and held.
I write of crying. The dog who whines and winces, crying to come along.
I write of crying. The widow who mourns the loss of her mate, crying for his absence.
I write of crying. Joy so great that tears run down, crying in relief, in release, in ecstasy.
I write of crying. A baby. A voice not understood. The reason unknown, unknowable, irrelevant, devoid.
I write of crying. Why do I understand my cat more than my baby?

Birth as Reunion

Birth is reunion. Birth is new and old. Birth is wonderful and fearful. Birth is past and present. Birth is you and your baby. Birth is your family and friends. Birth is ingenious and new and old and forever. Birth is the past and future united. At birth the reunion occurs between you and your life as you knew it and your life as it will be. At birth you re-know your baby. The baby you were so close to in utero, but now are close to in a totally different - but the same - way. Birth is a chance to re-connect with family and friends and share the joy, the pain, the experience, the change, the newness, the transformation. Birth is the time to say goodbye and hello. Goodbye to the tummy and swollen ankles, and bladder and tummy that won't hold much.Birth is the time to say hello to fruitful breasts and happy tots. Long and short nights. Blissful dreaming now converted to sleep . . . and sleeplessness.