here is a basketball/and there a violin
one an air-inflated near-sphere/one a wood and string arrangement
both wave
the basketball goes unspherical when bounced against hardwood/and makes a distinct sound/that has an afternoise/from the post-impactal wave form of the ball itself
the violin has an interior/designed to vibrate around a supporting post/harmoniously/when the bow is drawn across the strings
violin and basketball both wave to the crowd
and when the crowd cheers it waves back
In twenty twenty-four an alloy sandwich
Stamped by an unrelenting hydraulic press
Became a coin worth twenty-five cents US.
On the obverse is the image of a slaveowner
And above his head is the curved word
L I B E R T Y
While on the reverse is a portrait
Of the Reverend Doctor Anna Pauline
“Pauli” Murray, Episcopal priest
And champion of civil rights.
Dr. Murray’s portrait fills the O
Of the word HOPE
Emblazoned on the coin.
Beneath her name
Is E PLURIBUS UNUM:
“From Many, One.”
Here are in both fact and metaphor
Two sides of the same coin
Minted in the United States of America.
Flip that coin.
Hope that the whirly gig you just gave it
Has it land on the awake, enlightened Tails
And not the asleep, entrenched Heads.
Flip it till it’s right!
so
here one of us is
unless you are reading over my shoulder
or otherwise have me under surveillance
but isn’t this a conversation?
i speaking,
you listening?
not exactly. i haven’t said a word.
i taptaptap with an inexpensive finger
on the image of a keyboard. i take my time,
change my mind, backpedal
without using my legs,
and later you
will learn what i have texted you
without using your ears
unless you are blind or otherwise unable
to read your screen, in which case
your app reads it aloud for you,
sometimes translating it from english
into hindustani or arabic or swedish
or hebrew or spanish or what you speak
in kenya.
so
what you are reading or seeing
is not quite so or not exactly so
or not so fast but certainly
approximately so.
and if you reply,
and i hope you do,
what i read will not mean
exactly what you meant to say
even if it is english from england
(hello, christine!)
but i hope to mostly understand.
even though nothing is exactly so
and sometimes the translation is so-so,
we try.
sometimes there will be shared delight.
i hope
so.
i am imagining/expanding my horizon as a sculptor/by sculpting the more than two hundred individual bones/of a human skeleton
and having done that/have the bones be three-dee scanned/and fabricated in porcelain/with a three-dee printer/in enormous quantity/and variety of sizes
and with this huge number of hellish tinkertoys/assemble odd dioramas/such as a bone house/surrounded by a picket fence/made of femurs/connected by clavicles
or a portrait of lincoln/with tiny carpal bones/assembled into his beard/and eyebrows/and a little patella/for his wart
the bones could make anything/from petunias to starships
but what has indelibly seared its image into my brain/is a ribcage and upper spine assembly/within which/is a heart-sized skull
the skull would be made not of porcelain but silicone
and via interior bones and a small motor/and maglev tech/would beat like a heart/faster if excited/slower if asleep
and could travel within the ribcage/peering out of the cage of the ribs/with its eye sockets
imprisoned and wildly free/at the same time
Carrot salad parts enmesh
Shreds of carrot dabs of mayo
Raisins soaked and near-grape fresh
Milk or cream for gum/paste kayo
Mix and taste and change the mixture
Dare to add an odd ingredient
Fold and sweeten free from stricture
Take your time be inexpedient
Take your time to eat it also
Savor each cascading morsel
Chakra zings and doom rings false–O
Certain treats do Life ensorcel!
Silence is so accurate. Mark Rothko
the above is fog
not a mark rothko painting
but they are cousins
“Why are you here to have your memory tested?” “I forgot. –Joking!” Beginning of interview phase of neuropsychological testing for patient Gary Bowers, March 10, 2025
we had my pal marty on speakerphone/so he could give input on my cognitive issues
i described blanking out on names and forgetting i had done things
marty confirmed my argumentativeness/but said he’d learned to be more understanding/and i added “we both have”/and we agreed that my directional dyslexia/is nothing new
we bid marty farewell and thanks/i ended the call/ and dr. m commenced the testing
she did stuff like read a list of words/and have me recall as many as i could/in any particular order
then some numbers in strings progressively long
there was one segment involving making a sort of cryptogram transcription/of random-order letters of the alphabet
the worst i did was the test where i was shown an array of six shapes for ten seconds/and asked to draw them from memory
i sucked at that one
then she turned me over to her assistant e/who told me two stories and asked me to retell them/as accurately as i could
had me use blocks to reproduce two-colored designs
read me a list of paired words like “ice°cream” and “wood°fire” and then another list/and asked me which words had been on the first list
there was another list of paired words/and i was asked to describe how they were similar
“habit” and “tradition” were one of the pairs
and there was plenty of other stuff/and somewhere in there i found out/that I don’t know what the hell “pavid” means
the last and most fun thing was simply reading a list of words/that were increasingly unlike the way they were pronounced/and i was proud to give “hyperbole” the four-syllable treatment/and to add some french nasality to “piquant”
but the last word was a mideast (i think) doozy/whose last three letters were i d h/and i am sure i mispronounced it/but equally sure/that none of my fellow glendale high school class of 72 graduated/would get it right either
.
after the testing came feedback from dr. m/that filled me with jazzy joyous comfort
six words were especially thrilling
“there is no indication of dementia”
Laugh, Emoji, Laugh
In the lively arena of Social Media political discussion
Someone might post something that espouses a viewpoint you abhor, and you counter their point with facts and logic, thinking your response beyond reproach and repercussion,
But behold, there are those who don’t like what you say and therefore don’t like you and they are happy to let you know
That you are the Scum of the Earth and you are The Problem and why don’t you crawl back under the rock you crawled under or make like a tree and leave or hang your head in shame and go.
Your logic, your facts, your reasoning cut no ice with certain true believers
Who think beliefs are like votes and once they have voted they are forever devoted and instead of counter-logic and superior reason they reach for pitchforks and torches and meat cleavers,
And one more tool in their arsenal is a favorite of passive-aggressives who have nothing to say because lazy or cowardly but oh gee
Behold a way to mark the territory: the insidious Laugh Emoji.
It is the weapon of choice for those too ineloquent to speak but with an urge to mock
And don’t want to take the time to comment, preferring to hit and run, deride and dash, with the subtlety of a caveman’s club rather than the finesse of the nerve pinch of Mr. Spock,
But when you ask What’s So Funny? they like as not use another Laugh Emoji, wiggling away easily
In the manner of the passive-aggressive, just effing with you with minimum effort, quickly and weaselly.
But, Friends, please keep on speaking your truths and taking your stands, because it is vital to oppose this Rush Limbaugh and that Tucker Carlson and other Bull Connor,
And if you get a Laugh Emoji, realize it says more about them than about you, and wear it like a badge of honor.
.
Grateful acknowledgement to the spirit of Ogden Nash for the use of his style.
the tilt of the planet offers up the north to the sun/and new warmth turns crystal to flow
the new heat activates an earthy redolence/activates hormonal response in creatures
and in the smelters of certain minds/the metal of new resolve is refined
hope shakes off sleep and rises
Once upon a time there was a land that retained an executioner.
It was an elected position. The person was always known to the public, never wore a mask, and had final say over who was to die or be exiled.
Executions were rare and exiles uncommon. The probing questions posed, and the answers given, if any, were always transcribed and put on public display. Below the transcription were analytical comments. All citizens were invited to comment.
They had about ten executions a year on average. The executioner, who was popular as any rock star of later days, offered all those condemned to death a variety of lethal exits, from a never-wake-up sleep potion to head-chopping to defenestration for the more theatrical. An accomplished chef, the executioner lavished expense and attention on the last meal, and a favorite request was “surprise me.” Legend has it that he created the first Chef’s Surprise, and the diner died smiling hours before his execution was scheduled to take place.
One fateful day an attempt was made on the King’s life. The suspect was the executioner’s own mother. The trial took but two days, the old woman offering no defense nor explanation except “I felt it was in our best interest to dethrone the King.”
After a brief interview with his mother, the executioner announced that her death by guillotine would take place at dawn the next day, and he would ask the King himself to pull the lever to release the blade. “I am able to delegate the task, but am ethically constrained not to do it myself.”
Near dawn, the lady was offered last words. She shook her head and went to her knees, positioning her neck so that her throat rested gently on the slot guiding the blade.
The King burst into tears.
“By Royal decree,” said the King, “I spare this woman’s life. I offer my own life instead. My only stipulation is that she keep her silence as to why she tried to kill me.”
Soon the King assumed the position. But the executioner did not pull the lever, instead nodding to his mother, who solemnly stepped up and ended the King’s life.
What happened afterward is another story.
One with Clay, Image and Text 