Poem: A flight of swallows

by Jack Brummet

A flight of swallows
Spins outside the window.

One by one,
Stars turn on

And the yellow sun
Cycles to dusty rose

As it sinks
To the other side.

The moon's in tune,
Stars turn on

And clouds drape themselves
Across the sky.

In the web
Of the Milky Way we careen

Through space, twirling on earth's axis,
Around the sun, and into the black.
       ---o0o---

Poem: [Let the blue turtle go]

By Jack Brummet

Let the blue turtle go

Train your eyes
Like a bobcat

Leave the knife beneath your cloak
Let things pass
Because all things must pass

Awareness of danger

Brings fortune

As you cross the cold cold sea

      ---o0o---

Poem: The Painting (with illustration)

Poem by Jack Brummet,
Illustration by Jack Brummet

The figure you brushed in,
Stuck under static skies,

Wants off the canvas.
He will not be your Man With Blue Banjo anymore.

He wants to be what he will be,
Not sailing scumbled seas

Under impasto thunderheads.
He is tired of the dark sun

And wants to lie down and rest.
No news comes from a far country.

The real estate around him —
A confabulation of blue and red stone —

Chills in an un-harbored sea.
The black sun was pushed, fell, or jumped,

To shine back upon itself.
He knows the sun will never set.

He cannot open his mouth to scream.
The oars will never move.

The island of color
Will always be eight inches away

And the boat
Will always be sinking.

The tattered sails hang in the wind.
The next day refuses to begin.

He clutches the blue banjo
As the ship tilts toward heaven.
           ---o0o---

Poem: [You can't see earth]

By Jack Brummet

1 
You can't see earth
From the dark side of the moon
But maybe that changes

With the accelerating deceleration
Of the moon and earth.
A waning Gibbous moon

Dangles 1.3 light seconds away,
The Sea of Tranquility
A menacing sinkhole.

2
The moon
And fog
Are in cahoots.

Do our brains have a tide?

      ---o0o---

Sonnet: The green knight

By Jack Brummet

On the floor in the distance
Bercilak de Hautdesert
Battle-axe in one hand
A branch of holly in the other
Walks toward you
And asks if you want to play a gameYou swing the axe
His helmet flies
And the head tumbles down the hall
The Green Knight picks it up
And tells you to meet him
At the Green Chapel New Year's morning
For his exchange blow
The head is laughing in his arms.
---o0o---

Poem: Odds

By Jack Brummet

Probability and statistics

Tell us ineluctably

That the more times

You stick your head

In the lion's mouth,

The more likely it is

That one day he will close it.

---o0o---

Poem: snow day

by Jack Brummet

In silhouette

against bisque skies,

crows bounce

on snow-humped branches,

shaking snow to the ground

and survey the valley

for prey

in dark relief

on the cold white fields.

---o0o---

Poem: Keeping on

By Jack Brummet

You gather your friends

Around you

Like a shock of wheat,

Like a bulwark

Or a last ditch bivouac

In the cold rain and snow.

---o0o---

poem: Here

By Jack Brummet

When I'm not here
I'm often there

e.g., anywhere
that's not here

I'm there,
but not all there

I have to be
a little here

to be there
and a little there

to be here
being here

or being there
is not being everywhere

when you go anywhere
you leave a little bit behind

shedding pieces
here there and everywhere

if you're not here
and you're not there

you are somewhere
neither here nor there

and somewhere
could be anywhere

but can't be
everywhere
I saw a bear

where? over there.

     ---o0o---

Poem: The Curtain

By Jack Brummet

There are pockets of sanity

still scattered among us,

and light years between those
shining seas of tranquility.

The task we face
is keeping the tiller

aimed away from
the sea of madness,

the silver rain
drawn like a curtain

between us
and God.

---o0o---

Poem: Endurance

By Jack Brummet

We like to believe
   We could endure anything for five minutes

But that theory, cooked up
   In your hermetic study or bedroom,

Comes apart at the seams
   When you imagine being on fire

Or having crows feast
   Upon your eyes.
                     ---o0o---

Poem: Hold Together

By Jack Brummet

It is one ocean with many names
And into the ocean, sooner or later, flows

Every river, spring, raindrop, creek, and swamp,
Every lake, lagoon, aquifer, mudpuddle, and pond,
Every snowflake, icicle, glacier, flood, bay, and teardrop.

---o0o---

Found poem created in The Poetry Generator [We confound fluorescent witches]

By Jack Brummet

We confound fluorescent witches near the virgin
The fun has died
Dark and glowing beyond the sea
You pull lustful devils below

And grind blue demons against the sky
Awaken, awaken! The evil was good:
Unsure, silent on the edge of the world 
Down streets where guests
Look for landmarks while the snow falls
                    ---o0o---

Poem: The Islands from eight miles high

By Jack Brummet

Beneath a chiseled frieze of cerulean blue
Islands recede into the water
To settle on the sea floor

Like an archipelago of Atlantises.
Islands come and go,
Bobbing up and bobbing down

Like lost corks
Drifting the seven seas,
Treading continents,

And the islands and straits.
They crest the waves
Beneath gathering clouds

As flocks of birds
Circumnavigate the globe,
Shuttling from landfall to landfall.
          ---o0o--- 

Poem: The Quest

By Jack Brummet

Public domain image, "Soria Moria," painted by by Theodor Kittelsen in 1914.

It’s all one story—

                           A ragged

                                        Shape-shifting tale

Of incredible coherence and constance,
                           Encompassing all you know,
                                         All you don’t know you know.
                                                           
There is more
                            To be seen, tasted, heard, and felt
                                         Than can ever be known or told.

Our myths flourish and spread,
                              Person to person, 

                                          And mysteries of the seas, skies and stars

                                                           

Fill our collective conscience

                              With mystical scenes,

       Quests, and tales of greatness.

These myths, tales, and fables
                              Cannot be invented,

                                           Or ordered, or denied.

                          ---o0o--- 

Poem: Afraid

By Jack Brummet

We play dodgeball,

Weaving around and through

Unseen hazards and shoals,

Always feeling less safe

Than we actually are.

---o0o---

Poem: Meaning

By Jack Brummet

People say life
Would have no meaning
If we lived forever;
Others say life
Would have meaning
If we did.
The meaning of life
Is like the rings running circles
Around a tree trunk.
If you remember back
On your last trip
To the natural history museum,
The best tree sections
Have pins on their rings:
Jesus born;
Magna Carta;
Mayflower arrives in America;
Declaration of Independence;
Civil War ends;
Man walks on moon.
Wouldn’t it be something
To not konk out
And see rings marked
Race wars end;
Israel and Palestine merge;
Poverty eliminated;
The return of Jesus;
Alien diplomats arrive? ---o0o---

Poem: Here

By Jack Brummet

When I'm not here
I'm often there

Which is anywhere
That's not here.

I'm there,
But not all there.

I have to be
A little here

To be there
And a little there

To be here.
Being here

Or being there
Is not being everywhere.

When you go anywhere
You leave a little bit behind,

Shedding pieces
Here there and everywhere.

If you're not here
And you're not there

You are somewhere
Neither here nor there

And somewhere
Could be anywhere

But can't be
Everywhere.

I saw a bear.
Where? Over there.

---o0o---

Poem: [We all have a platoon]

By Jack Brummet

We all have a platoon 

Of partly-contained voices

And shards of multiple personalities
Ready to burst

From the confines
Of our clown car.

---o0o--- 

Poem: Growing up (revised 9/15)

By Jack Brummet
[illustration  "eight stages of life" via http://thenakedconvos.com/]

The 1950s were about

Giving ourselves The American Jitters:

The Day The Earth Stood Still, Huntley-Brinkley, The Thing,

Ed Murrow, The Blob, Fidel, Godzilla, Senator Joe McCarthy, Gorgo.

Wild-eyed Nikita pounded his loafers on TV.
He promised to bury us.

The Cold War ignited on Ike's watch
As alarms shrieked duck and cover.

Dad was in the basement
Sandbagging the jam closet

And caching the beans

And gasoline.

We spooked ourselves for good
And grew up to fear nothing but nothing itself.

                              ---o0o---