Siri

 Siri?

john clare 

Between the Radical Face

And the M Ward

Siri interrupted saying,

"I am sorry, I did not understand

What you said."

I could have been 

Clearer in the thought

I did not know Siri read

Minds 

I am so behind

The times.

Oak break

 Oak Break

john clare 

I recall clearly

The day you

Took that beating

You are almost

Healed over I see

I was over raking

And with his 

Little hammer

He was pounding 

Away at your bark

And I let him

Sacrificing your

Pain for his

Pleasure

Oh how I would 

Give anything

To see you 

Take another

Beating.

With poetry

 With Poetry

john clare 

Being with Emily

Is akin to being 

In her garden

Or some deep

Forest spot

Hidden

The sun the

Only intruder

Entering in

A place I can go

At a moment 

Notice

Emily

Calling me.

Certain sound

 I set out

In search of a certain sound

By water by land by sky

If such is found

This day shall go down

as the day

I wish you were around

Then came Ava

 The townsmen were feelin' mighty down...Not a cure to be found...O'er the ole telegraph wire...Send help the situation dire....N'er a word heard....O'er head the circlin' birds...When all hope but lost....O'er range and desert came...Saddlebags totin' Joy and Laughter....Just in time for sure!

About twelve years  since Ava spent the day with Jordon and I. Now she is enamored with Taylor Swift and has no time for Jordon and I. I try and measure Nathaniel by her and wonder what enamors him now. 

Nick 2017

 It was a sad visit to Williston this day in 2017 to the funeral service of Nick Hethcoat, 30, Gerald brother Galen’s son. Mamma always liked Nick and spoke highly of him, always asking us about him. He went out to the back of Orange Hill where the dirt is piled and shot himself. 

.

Nearer my God 

I am sure no one upon that day

Even thought of Nick in any way

And if we did

It was probably amid

Our thought of he’s not as us

His life seems such a fuss

He needs to find a real job

Get close to God

I suppose out on the Orange Hill

Where all was silent and still

The bullet our wish did fulfill

On cue

 From creation comes the cue

Set in motion at first let there be

We do not by chance decide

No, that cue resides inside

And to the wind as one arise

Around and around circling sky

Not the scent of death draws

But on the cue that calls.

Bel Air

 Bel Air

Standing with my reflection 

In the 55 Chevy Bel Air chrome fender

The year of my introduction 

At sixty-nine I wished I looked

So good.

No arrival time

 Beside the journey 

No journey is direct

as by the wayside

with trees we abide

arrival times neglect.

What camera

 What camera

Again I was asked, what camera should I buy?  And I say, any will do today. With Smart phones improving exponentially, cameras are becoming unnecessary unless you want to make prints larger than 4x6. In my day to day photography, I’d say 80% is with the iPhone6x. 

I recently purchased a lens, a 200-500 beast of a telephoto that actually hurts to heft it to my eyes. Now what person in their right mind would lug that beast up and down the trail? 

Well, me.

But then, I own a smart phone.

That don’t make me....smart.

Warm wolves

 Warm Wolves

john clare 

The well-mannered Wolves

Sat among the sheep today

They did not even snarl

Or salivate over the chops

They listened intensely

Seemed to hold on every

Word

But we had been through

 this charade before

As upon the benediction

They blocked the door

And showed the shears

To fleece the wool

And the lambs were dumb

Falling again

For the well-mannered

Wolves

"Just Visiting".

Twenty six houses later

 Homewood

john clare 

Not a pine was standing

Not a grape vine

Scuppernong

Higgins or Fry

Not a Live Oak

Or Turkey Oak

No blueberry bushes

Or Sparkleberries

No Bradford pears

Good for canning

No golden delicious apples

No Holy Land Cedars from Lebanon

No Pecans from Lucilles tree

No Camilla from her wedding

bush gifts

No azaleas

They dozed it all

Just to make way

For the twenty-six stacked

Multi-same family units

Of Covington Circle

In Crawfordville on Aaron 

road.