SpaceX

 SpaceX

Years hence

Someone will ask

Where were you

When MJ launched 

Thriller

and I’ll look at them

and say

In a derelict old

car dealership

Once owned by

A Powerful man

But lately the

haunt of mullet heads

who hit on girls

with tyranny for a name.

Dashboard gospel

 Dashboard gospel

Lord protect us from the

virus as we make

Our way down ninety

Give us green lights 

All the way from the 

Lobster to FHP

so we can be first in line

at Popeyes with the

dead intercom

I know you can

We read it in the word.

Finger licking

 Finger licking

You see Colonel

You don’t understand 

We waited in line 

An indeterminate time

Before we gave up

And came to you

And you have the 

temerity 

to hurry us through

Our order

I did not want fries

Or your tepid tea

sans ice

But Popeyes line snaked

all the way around 

and we were hongry

Be a little patient

And get your hands 

where I can see where

They been.

Osprey inspiration

 Osprey Inspirations

At the end of evening

Long I came to the old dock

to watch perchance 

the Osprey enters a 

dive into the water blue

to pull out with talons sharp

some unsuspecting prey

then soar over me

with that piercing stare

that says

did you capture that?

Slow to shoals

 Big Shoals

There was no map

There wasn’t even anyone

to take there

along the way

many frequent pauses

for the way is not rapid

as once was

but slow and deliberate 

slow and deliberate 

it has its advantages 

it allows one to see

to see

what otherwise would

go on hidden

White ankles

 Ankle White 

Johnclarestokes 

The white acre peas shelled....  The love apple vines staked....She finished her canning....Hung the pan and set out...and what of this quiet lady...what were her dreams....what were the heart aches...what called beyond the garden gate...

If ever she had dreams..she never let it be known.. the golden thread in the dress gleamed...long after she had gone...with the slow pull trembling...the ornate thimble upon her thumb...little practical  pleasures allowed….the lowering of the hem...the humming of the hymn…the virgin white flesh never showing....white ankles out there somewhere sunning.

No Admission

 No admittance

So much has gone behind

The locked door

I knock but no one

Answers

So much has gone on

Behind there

At times I think it best

The door never opens

Others

To kick it in

Edgefield

 At the edge of the field

 Nothing but uphill asphalt

So I took a pause

At the edge of the field

Took a deep inhale

And laid upon the grass

So tranquil

By Owl

 By owl

JohnClare Stokes

By owl 

I choose to go

Quietly

Never knowing 

What caught me

They will find

Me

A neatly compacted

Deposit of scat

And know 

Only then

It was by owl

Yes

I believe it to be

barred owl

By which he went.

Up

 Up

It's the desire of the 

Flightless

To keep the fliers

Grounded

The desire of the 

Fliers

To inspire the

Grounded 

To rise

The Lost Child

 Lost Child

Aghast! The three year young 

Claire grabbed Yeats

Tore off his covering

Clutched him to her little

Breast

My favorite book!

She exclaimed

Trotting off with Yeats

Holding him by the red

Nape of the Poem mark

Choking the life

Out of him.

Jonah in the bottle

 Jonah in a bottle 

Don't know how long

Jonah was in the bottle

Probably longer

Than in the belly

Of the fish

How these quiet

Prophets wind up

In these fixes

Is a mystery

Nineveh 

Needs a message

And Jonah is

Stuck in a bottle

Somewhere in 

Florida