channeling the islands

On a lark we sailed
the borrowed blue trimaran
from Santa Barbara
out for a day of snorkeling
in the kelp forests
rimming the south cape beaches
of Santa Cruz Island,
holding our masks
as we splashed over the side
our big frog flippers
glinting sunlight in early July,
plying those sublime
netherworlds
strand by translucent kelp-strand
in a trail of outbreath bubbles
until you chanced
upon an opening
and the startled flash
of seabream by the silver thousands
turning from you
& oceanically gone

murphology #131

If you ring me
Please make certain
I'm square in the middle
Of something
Can't be put off

16d carpenters

(for Alistair)

He forgot his lunch
Now I have to give him
Half of mine

yes, fate?

As it turns out
Yes it is possible
To subsist
On the accidental largesse
Of a society
Hell-bent on widening its wealth--
But- did it have to be MOI?

trouble

I lean over
To pick up my droppt keys
And the night's imagery
Comes awashing over me,
Faint runs
Down chalked playgrounds
Or camping by simple tombstones
In breezy May:
Then I recognized
What trouble I'm in,
Somewhere on the high seas
Sans paddle or compass
Knowing that numbered are my days-
Yet charmed unspeakably!
By saffron morningtime
Streaking the eastern
Ramparts

Toe-Stepping

After he honked behind me
At the ARCO Station
I turned to look at his wife
Pointing to her watch:
Get Done Fueling SOB!
Was the scowl on his face--
Incensed at the moment
Now I feel only amused
That someone gave me their toes
To step on

bike-bliss

     Finding a secret source of bliss
Brings always a smile to your face:
Like the one I've found
Tooling out backroads on my spoke-spun pony:
Gliding through long canopies of oak leaves
On a splendid June morning,
     Heading in particular Nowhere:
Down county roads like Auburn, Orion, or Ponderosa
Neglected by most traffic:
And instead of clicking down to low gears
Getting off the darn thing
     And just pushing it
Up those shady pavements:
Best of all, doesn't cost a dime!

field trip

In a circle
   Around the Park Ranger
      Kids pass a bear skull

Darwin's Dementia

Once upon a merry time
I was an aspiring birder-
Charmed by the shape & song & soar
Of crows robins & orioles
Not to mention the dazzle
Of darting hummingbirds
Or the swing of pigeons by the dozen
Across the Del Oro marquee
Even investing a hundred dollars
On a pair of nice Nikon binoculars-
Then one day
Purely by chance
I was surfing Wikipedia
And landed on a site
That presented an exquisitely
Iridescent blue-green citrus beetle-
Now I've set birds aside,
Now I've landed Darwin's Dementia-
I'm become an aspiring BUGGER

Ridge Feed & Supply

Please don't
   Pick up
      Chicks

-hen cages

murphology

Thirty years in the trades
Have shown me
Very few troubles are orphans
Most have cousins & uncles

who's to Say?

Who's to say
The frolic of pigeon flight
Swinging across April sunlight
Is not the incarnation
Of good souls
Rewarded with delight?

samadhi

Any 'Seeker' soon discovers
that life is full of lessons,
parables that indicate further
or deeper truths
so cultivates a self-awareness
to encounter roadsigns
pointing to what really matters--
accordingly he finds
his everyday reactions
that spin him around
present a SURFACE
disturbed by these crosswinds-
a surface thus indicating
the enormous reservoir of samadhi,
of reflective poise
disturbed & deflected
by the press of attachments,
converting all Be-ing
into the mad scramble
of Becoming....

Barn Owl

There I found him
In the high farm valleys
Of southern Oregon

Where some of the world's
Best timothy is grown baled & stacked-

I found him
Near the irrigation boneyard
Foraging for 'lost' objects-

High inside a plywood box
The yardhands built for him

On the steel crossbeam
Of an abandoned hayshed

His mission quite obvious-
On residential rodent patrol-

One of the world's
Most otherworldly-
A tawny barn owl

Giving me that look

supreme ironies

Supreme ironies shape human life
& an engineering culture like ours
    sows this one:
Where its enormous premise
is to save time,
    its plethora of devices
Only puts time on the run,
underscoring the flight of time,
    endowing it with fleet feet--
thus for the poet disappeared
into mountains
his morning is slow wide & unhurried
    as the sun's leisurely transit-

[his devices:
shoes/shades/shorts]

the buzz

They're worried about a large buzz of bees
Above the sushi bar "Kaido"
(former home of the Aldebaran)
They want a bid from me to remove them
-Ladder, long sleeves and wasp spray-
I told them I'd have to think it over

Sunday bike ride

How perfectly sublime
to coast
your sleek-wheeled pony
down Hidden Valley Road
a Sunday morning  early in June
past many a pasture rail
painted white
horses turning heads
to check this strange sight-
down to an alder-dappled creek
named French Ravine
where some night cool
lingers

"Civil War Re-Enacted in Pioneer Park" -news item

     As a former combatant in a very real war
I remain perplexed whenever I encounter war portrayed as theater, entertainment, or anything "fun".  Simple regard the present state of video games.
    War is a hideous business, as anyone will attest who's been sullied by the viscera of comrades, or had one breathe his last in his arms.
    With all the sublimity that surrounds us on this blue planet, I can't help but wonder why we go to the lengths we do to rehearse and recreate- thus legitimating- the next river of blood.

two hundred pounds?

It's an old excuse
But it's the only one I have-
"The scale must be broken!"

apocalyptic gladiators

It’s still undecided
Who Rules the Heavens

But Thor & Zeus
Had it out Monday night
Over Grass Valley

Hammer & Tong-

Fearsome gladiators
Locked in titanic combat
For supremacy

The outcome unknown
But what a display
Of apocalyptic firepower

ah, early morning bicycling

Coasting my fat-tire back
     down the cool breeze
          on Willow Valley Rd

Through long morning canopies
     of oak leaves

It was the first week in June

I braked at Varnell Lane
     leaned my bike against a tree

Drank deep the samadhi there
     the world's troubles far behind

Serenaded by orioles