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Odin odin@aflx.com, click here
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Sometimes, yesterday’s prosetry struggle becomes even more of a question. This is dedicated to all who have pondered what it’s all about. Do we all create a Glitter Tree of a circuitous nowhere? Perhaps it's inevitable, given the aspirations we are conditioned to work for. But then there’s Peggy Lee’s classic jazz vocalization to wake us up: “Is that all there is?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCRZZC-DH7M
(Image by Kandinsky)
Glitter Tree Circles
SCRAPBOOK FIRSTS
A Teddy Bear propped atop the crib's corner,
a bell beneath its neck,
silent,
that's fine,
I just realized I can see.
No discomfort yet.
Learning's first skirmish begins.
The blanket's got my back.
The rubber sheet's got my blanket.
Just lie and wait.
Soon mobiles dazzle my eyes.
Excitement sends my legs kicking.
Spillways' open.
Wow!
Mommy says that's okay
I just discovered I exist.
FIRST XMAS
I sit beneath a green triangle.
Strange creatures circle the bottom.
High above pointy triangles twinkle,
colors blink at me,
curling around the tree,
coiling in and out of prickly things,
globs of white fluff softening the glare.
Funny…
My nose tells me this lit-up green thing should be outside.
What do I know?
I just learned to crawl.
BIRTHDAY 5
Teaching me
I'm important,
‘cause kids give me presents,
just like Santa Claus.
Be good,
maybe get more.
Is this the planting of my own tree?
What do I know/
I'm just learning to party.
LOWER SCHOOL
To be or not to be.
School yard bully.
Chalkboard genius.
Teacher’s soft.
Oh so soft.
Sending emotions askew.
HIGHER SCHOOL
Frat life.
Suds life.
Study life.
Suffer life.
GRADUATION
Gifted new car.
Congratulations.
One,
two,
three girls,
future nights,
travelling with decorations now.
FIRST JOB
Brooks Brothers pledge.
Button down promises.
Watercooler lessons.
Grab ass sleight of hand.
All part of Tree's irrigation.
That's fine.
I learned well.
I'm a career man now.
FIRST WIFE
Draped in luxury.
First child staring blankly,
even as I position his own Teddy Bear.
FIRST FAMILY XMAS
Tinsel climbs to the top where
five-point light touches ceiling,
lights coiling about the vortex,
ever squeezing tree's life,
childhood's white cotton fluff,
now but gooey flock,
hardened to rock,
smothering prickly defense.
Once of Nature,
now synthetic.
Less time for yesterday's real.
That's fine.
I'm a family man.
A man of responsibility.
MARKET CRASHES
Wife.
Son.
House.
Gone.
EAST VILLAGE BAR
Hunched over Jack.
Permanently crippled scrawny tree atop TV.
Ragged angel leaning sideways.
Another Jack…
Every-day-of-the-year Xmas repeatables.
Glitter time always there.
Happy hour always same.
Guaranteed.
Feet no longer kick.
Nothing's got my back.
Spillways can't open.
Can't pee.
Can't cry.
Dam about to burst.
SLEEPLESS DREAMS
I coulda' been a ...
But a tree kept cropping up.
Tinsel.
Flock.
Lights.
Glitter.
Each year bigger.
Touchy feely creatures at the base.
Wood.
Plastic.
Metal.
Marble soldiers.
All because…
SOMEONE ONCE TAUGHT ME
Teddy's bell would ring.
Mobile's precarious balance would remain real.
The star,
haloed angel,
bright luminance,
now an abandoned lighthouse,
guidance amiss,
fog enveloped waves tossing everything
against cliffs rising,
pushing upwards,
reaching precipices anew,
seducing,
always seducing,
readying edges.
My legs.
My balance.
Falling.
Where's my Teddy?
My blankie?
My God...
Don’t say that’s all there is.
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Love ya!
Jane
Ron