#158 Is Just a Seed

Coiled energy

Ready to explode

With the right set of circumstances

I’ve been programmed

To grow straight

And branch out

At the right times

Always seeking sunlight

Always hoping for the higher ground

I’ll crack my hard shell open

And grow my way out

Poke myself up

And see what this world is about

Sending out feelers

Converting minerals into food

Making me tall and strong

With thick skin

To hold the hazards at bay

For a thousand years

Or more

I would grow

If only I could get the ok

For now

I’m just a seed

In this box

Waiting for the chance

The chance

Of my lifetime

#157 Is a Short Tree Diary

In my first year

I grew two feet

Next to a small blue house

Where lived a young married couple

The nicest you could ever meet

In my second year

The small blue house grew

The couple had a baby

I spread my branches a bit

As the baby crawled through

In my third year

A dog appeared

He was happy and doggy

And peed on my side regularly

My skin got a little thicker

To avoid getting waterlogged

In my fourth year

The child toddled near

Daddy chasing anxiously

I tried to shoo him away

But I got tasted by the young one anyways

In my fifth year

I got bigger by a lot

Proud of myself

I spread myself out

A little too much it seems

The daddy pruned me in the spring

In my fifth year

Anxious faces hurried by

The little boy was rushed away

The mommy and daddy held each other and cried

I reached out to them

But try as I might

My branches would not hug them

In my sixth year

A gravestone was put near my side

The still young couple

Would come by often

Lay flowers at the grave

Sit in my shade

I didn’t think they would ever smile again

I smoothed my bark

So I was more comfortable to lean against

In my seventh year

I saw the couple smile

Her belly grew large

His hands held her lovingly

I grew some lower branches

Hoping that this child would someday

Climb and play on me

I plan on being right here

To see

#156 Makes Gossipy Rhymes

Heard anything new?

What’s the latest trash?

How about some gossip

Some hot, hot gossip

Hot enough

To melt my brain

To confuse my senses

Search for my wits in vain

You’ve blown me away

With tales of the royal family

Is there nothing left to say?

How ‘bout we make something up then

The Prince was wallowing with fishes

Making small splashes and splishes

He does as his Queen Mother wishes

She tells him to step thus

And he does, as he must

Or his crown jewels

Will be sold to the Duke

I do so enjoy a good cup of tea

And some gossip

Heard the one about the hedgehog

From down the lane?

It seems that the spikey hedgehog

Had gotten lodged in the bog

Stuck in the nettles

He struggles, and settles

Deeper and deeper into the muck

All hope lost, along came a duck

Who was driving a truck

He hooked up and pulled

And the hedgehog POPPED unstuck

Gossip is so silly

I mean really

#155 Is a Moon Message

I am the little moon man

Some call me

The Man in the Moon

And I have to confess

It’s pretty lonely up here

I look out

Upon your blue and white world

Hanging like a jewel

In my sky

I wish for your waters

Your winds

Your grasses of green and gold

I have to admit I’m jealous

I never really would have known

What it was that I was missing

Were it not for that fateful day

In 1969

A gold foil and silver ship

Rode a tail of flame

Down to my dusty surface

I hid behind some rocks in fear

Creatures in white

Emerged and bounced about

I was curious

So I crept closer

When nobody was looking

I went inside their craft

I stole some magazines

And a snack

Getting out

Before they got back

And that’s how I know

I looked at the magazine that I took

And it showed me things I didn’t have

I regret not showing myself to them

Now no-one has visited

For such a long time

And I only have rocks and dust

For company

I’m sending this note

Along with my subscription form

In a request for attention, it’s true

Please send more issues

Of Sun Life Nudist Magazine

And more dried strawberries

Maybe some people too

I’ll be nice

I promise

I’ll put out some tea

#154 Dreams of Eternal Summer

It’s all so familiar

The hills in the distance

Shimmering in the light of dusk

The air hot from the summer’s heat

The tall grass, fading to brown

Ready for the first cutting

Waving in the breeze

Like wind on the water

Standing on the worn planks

Of a room

That looks for all the world

Like the bedroom you grew up in

The window

Framing this all too familiar view

Still holding an immature carving

Of a dog, with the name “Howitzer”

Etched above it in the windowsill

This all has the feeling

The feeling of you-ness

But it isn’t

It cannot be

The place that this place

Purports to be

Ceased to be

More than twenty years gone by

Bulldozed

For a shopping mall

And a parking lot

Even with

The brain knowing

What this truth is

Doesn’t stop the body

From knowing what it sees

Feels, tastes…..

Even the air here tastes like home

And there’s the catch

The contradiction

Is that thing that can’t be

BE?

Or are you in a place called madness

Of old age

Prisoner in your wizened body

Your brain playing tricks upon you

Kneeling to the floor

Legs going weak

Hands flat, fingertips tracing the grains in the flooring

A lone tear wending it’s way down your cheek

Then a movement in the corner of the room

A flash of light

In the gloom

A firefly

Reaching for the jar on the bedstand

You crouch, and creep towards it

Unscrewing the lid with one hand

The other holding the jar ready

Reaching

Reaching out

Ready to scoop up the flickering light of youth

#153 Can't See the Point

“I have nothing to say to you”

Which in itself

Is the point

So why say it at all?

I swear

If I had a joint

And could still smoke it

I still would not understand

Some of these people

And the words they spoke of

As mindless as me

Running in circles

Around this tree

Chasing a quail

And almost

But not quite

Grabbing it by the tail

All for the trouble

Of flavoring

Some rock soup

For a stranger

But then again

Jamming a fork in my eye

Would make me cry

For the pain

It is not bearable

So why keep coming

Again, and again

Always wondering why

But never when?

If you don’t know

I can’t teach you

I can’t reach you

So I beseech you

Please

            Please

Close the fridge door

The meat is getting warm

#152 Is a Blurry Vision

It's a quarter past one million

And the tenth time

That I've called

Getting that same old song and dance

"Press 2 for the man-to-man tool line"

Christ, look at my phone bill

You'd think I had a problem

Or something

Yes, that is something isn't it?

The way you talk

The way you sway

The way you look

When you walk away

It's what I like

The movement in that heart shaped ass of yours

Don't deny it

Identify with it!

And get on with the show

Showing me what for

Or maybe what I'm missing

It's all in the fishing

The bait is only half the battle

Find the right hole

And you'll rassle a whole lot of cattle

There'll be meat for years in the deep freeze

It'll sure keep longer than the cheese

So we better eat it up

Wheel by cheesy wheel

What's that?

It'll stop me up?

Better fire up the prune juice

And watch me go