Category Archives: by-the-book

When reptiles ruled

Stumbling over the land, footfalls
Rumbling with the discontent of
Evolution, large animals, their blood
Chilled for life on a tropical planet
Tumbling through history as 
Eons roar through their veins,
Leaving their mark in museums
And in books, in archaeological 
Digs, or our imaginations, out of
Our memories. They were never our
Neighbors, pets or prey nor we
Theirs, their romp through our
Backyards and Jurassic Parks is
The stuff of fiction and movies.
Their tread startling the mire and
Mud, they walk the planet only in
The imagings of small boys or
Grown fantaists who see them a
Loud and menacing presence, as
If reclaiming their past can join it
To ours

Simply put

The stranger and less familiar
The greater the pull. Unusual
Words want me to use them,
To sprinkle them over the top
Like so much sweet garnish
Over common expressions,
Expanding meanings from the
Ordinary, trivial. Meandering 
Far from what you think you're 
Saying to a novel thought on
A different trajectory. You've 
Built a tree of ideas, branches
Alive with the unexpected, the
Consequences of imaginative
Thinking opens adjacent ideas.
Strange and unfamiliar words.
Transform an idiom, so it's ass
Over teakettle with excitement.
Simply put, give it a new verve.

Moon verse

Describe your life in an alternate universe.

I told you about the man who's
Been living on the moon. He has
A source of water so he like we
Stays hydrated. But you didn't ask
About him or his issues with food
On account of there's no cheese
There. You wanted to hear about
My life in an alternate universe not
His. On the moon. My alternates
Are deep in the core of this green
Earth. [Still no cheese.] Truth to tell
Not very green deep in the center
Of the earth, in its beautiful heart.
Life up on top was lusher, greener 
More verdant but that's just being
Redundant. Alternative universes
Swirl among the stars. I am over 
The moon. Somewhere behind 
Our sun and up over the rainbow
We can play dodging black holes
And golf ball sized meteors no 
Longer buried deep inside earth.
This is some alternative to life as
I have known it; as we know it.

30, eh?

List 30 things that make you happy.

One is fun, but two is a
Duo. Three is possibly a
Bit kinky. Four can play
At tennis. Or whatever.
Five adds a line to go 
From rectangle or a step
Up from square. Six, a
Sextet. Next a heptagon;
Then an octagon, going
Back to the Greek. We 
Count nine as a nonagon
And ten as a decagon. It's 
Like a decade with sides.
Will we get to 30 just by
Quoting geometry? I think 
Not. We've only reached
Ten and I am as exhausted 
As if playing doubles in a
Match which in tennis is a
Foursome. Four square or
Four score with lots more
To go. Ten by 3 will get us
To 30 but we move slowly.
Are we at happy yet friend?

Advisory

It looks so clear, so clean, so crisp
Deceptively so. The heat. The heat.
Too hot to enjoy staying out under
The sky. Its sharp lines, its pillowed
Clouds look light and airy, but they
Are heavy and weighted with heat.
Enveloping like a soggy blanket at
Your feet. Deceptively calm, pretty,
So welcoming. Too hot in this heat.

Come hither

Hither and yon is an old-style
Perhaps, even an out-moded,
Mandate, a directive that also
Might suggest a scatter-shot 
Charge, a bit of indeciveness,
Forgetfulness in the absent
Minded style. Hither, yon, yet
There's no waffling out of a 
Desire to run out the clock. 
Yes, you go back-and-forth. 
But with no intention other 
Than earnest toing or froing 
In search of who knows what.