Blue Infinitude

 

Image Maker

A poem i wrote about the days of developing film and printing in a darkroom.

 

Monochrome ten from Instagram

 

Mashes Sands

 Wish we could always reign in

Mashes Sands

I do not know how the sand 

Came from Mashes Sands 

To Sopchoppy 

But my father got it there

And it was my kingdom  

My perimeter I only left

Whenever I would swing

And jump past the pure sandy 

Border 

Flying about into the evening

Til I heard mamma calling

And I would park the fleet

Open the sluice gates

Post the little real plastic man

With strict orders

To guard the Mashes Sands

Kingdom in the county

Wakulla

The township

Sopchoppy.

Rung of Sons

 Rungs of Sons 

john clare

you were never one

to dwell upon the lower

rungs

from a child 

dangerously climbing

toward to sky above

and in a fathers love

letting you climb

always with a ready arm

in case you fell

and so you loved 

to dwell far above

in the heavens

looking at the deer

bear and turkey

passing below

poised silently with

your handmade bow

chirped arrow pulled

taut eye focused

and then the string 

would relax and the

sight window would

rest upon an Indo

wave and you would

descend to skim over

the surface of a long

breaking hollow outrunning

the men in the grey suits

locked in

truck keys lost resting

in a tidal pool

fashioning stick and cord

to make a beach fire

blowing the embers to life

thinking of Hawaii's epic breaks

Guaranteed 

that on your bended knee

was no way to be free

lifting up that blazing fire cupped,

you asked silently

that all your destinations would

accept the one's that's you

so you could breathe

and so i let you climb

to the upper rung

just do not my son

forget a father holding

a steady arm below.

RIDE DINO

 Ride Dino

Johnclarestokes 

In the land before time of man

The dinosaurs roamed the land

Creatures larger than imagination 

Primordial acts of Gods creation 

Our little son rode his plastic dino 

T Rex tamed by a young Lando 

At night the stories were read

Of lands where giants tread

A wallpaper was finally found

Now the creatures did surround 

Years passed and so the theme

Dino deflated with the dream

The dinosaurs were covered in brown

With deer and bears all around

Later, Danny and Gator glory

Then Tebow's inspiring story

Next came Kelly and the ocean blue

Surfboards galore of every hue

Finally to shades of modern gray

No hero found to guide the way

The little hawk with wings had flown

We paused to recall the Dino song

Yesterday, the gray border tore

Revealing faint tracks gone before

We chose not to repair the Dino print

The priceless uncovering of a lost moment

Ride Dino! Ride Dino! Happy song of the boy!

The layers of a life peeling back to reveal the joy! 

Landon Randolph Stokes with his son Nathaniel  Manoa

August 25, 1988

Gentle Man

 Gentle Man 

  by johnclarestokes

  My the splash you made upon the shore  

Trying to drown us in your under tow  

Losing the glasses I just got from the store 

 Leaving us spinning  in surf to and fro.  

You were born for greater shores than these 

 We imagined you as a Tsunami wave 

 Raging to a boil from Oriental seas 

 Lifeguards frantic the many to save. 

 Instead you came gently to the shore 

 For not all waves are born to kill 

 A playful push to the ocean floor  

Come so far just our joy to fill. 

 Thirty-six years hence we stand 

 And as a new wave roaring comes 

 We brace and clutch our glasses in hand 

 My how you splash my gentle man.

Mashes Sands

 Wish we could always reign in

Mashes Sands

Johnclarestokes 

I do not know how the sand 

came from Mashes Sands 

to my sand pile in Sopchoppy

But my father got it there

And it was my kingdom  

My perimeter I only left

whenever I would swing

and jump past the pure sandy 

Border 

Flying about up into the evening

Til I heard mamma calling me in

And I would park the fleet

Open the sluice gates

Post the real plastic army men

With strictest orders

To guard the Mashes Sands

Kingdom in the county

Wakulla

The township

Sopchoppy

the state Florida

Ruled by the kindly

Tow head king.

Drougue Drift

 Drogue Drift

Johnclarestokes 

You could call it the bitter end 

of the rope

the point beyond where the fire

fused the strands

the unraveled part that did not

go through the ring

In the taunt the line turns astern

in a vertical load the lift

as the sea claw is freed

then a straight yaw as the

drift begins 

Into the beam sea they go with

memories of mooring

Above the laughing terns

mock the folly

In cabin crafts they ply on

in dead reckoning 

Paying the price of anchors rejecting.

First Kill

First Kill

Johnclarestokes 

I proudly shot daddy's Purple Martin that day

Not knowing they kept mosquitos at bay.

Mamma told me quickly! Go bury the bird!

And to your father not breath a word.

I dug a hasty grave behind the shed

Then hid the Red Rider under the bed.

Each evening I looked in fear as Martins flew

That somehow daddy counted and knew.

Such the guilt on a little boys brain

That a tiny bird could cause such strain.

Years passed, the Martin houses rotted and fell

Now I'm old, but bless mamma, she never did tell!

The first kill haunts us through our days

Till at last, Martins keep mosquitos at bay

Above our graves.

Toward Fall

Toward fall

The deer of Della 

If the scene does not work in color

Then remove the color

Maybe it was meant for shades

For contrasts, for tones

As Ansel would have said, Zones.

My mares

In my evening tossed mares

Again you were there

Still in your forever young 

From which I’ve long come 

from, as my time grows tidal

rushing below me out to eternity. 

When Beach Bums...and Nikons...grandpaws and grandsons....converge...gulls laugh...waves clap...beyond all words...now the waves recede...the tides cry...gulls lull...and the waves pray....a loss for words....we hold the shells to ear...in hope to hear but one whisper...