Enga mellom fjella: where from across the meadow, poems sing from mountains and molehills. |
I desperately need to sort these short 'whatevers'. Last time I sent gps. This time I'll need to send more, say 1,500 - 2,500. I'm looking for the best, say the best 8. (another 4 alternatives would be okay) Any opinion as to why something works is deeply appreciated. Humor? Truth? Depth? Emotional response of some sort? Good poetics? If you have an absolute favorite or two, I'd be amused to know that too! They will become Sushi.2. You may have read them before as they are old. I've re-edited and renamed some though. NOTE: it's okay to mention grammar, but that is correctable (I've re-edited since posting to catch errors). What is most essential is impact. If you have an idea how choosing a different word would make or break one, that's great too. However, it's how the audience responds here in Montana! #1 Good morning, California! Patchquilt of excitement: montañas, tsunami, playas, sushi, terremoto, Ahnold. #2 Once seen from Windsor Water, summer swimming, cherry trees, ice fishing, crowded ferries and Henry Ford, Detroit. #3 Spirit Lake in North Dakota On wings of Lakota flutes, woven with wonder from blue flax and blue sky, we dance with hoops. #4 New Hampshire Old men get lost here, turn to mountain stone, but not all is taken for granite. #5 Talamina Drive, Oklahoma “Red and flat, they say!” The Ouachitas laugh, beckoning from green knifed heights. #6 Will the Black Hills answer? We ask at Rushmore, we who lived here first: Do faces of these presidents cry stone tears for what was robbed and never returned? #7 Utah Valley Vaporized, the Mormon trials ended here; faith grew anew from a bed of salt. #8 Richmond Virginia Statues stand in granite, legacy of an ancient war. Hearts still resist all change, stone cast. #9 Vermonters Hidden behind the cloak of evergreen, the red of maple, the white of snow; in silence, folk just watch. #10 Steven's Pass Index points one finger skyward; pines shed snow; mountains peek above the fog. #11 Midland Texas Oil stench, guns and fists clenched, violence raping hot ... this desert land where people worship money. #12 Along I 80 through Nebraska Wide as the sky, deep as grandma’s washtub, the Platte flows slowly eastward. #13 Missus Sippie Scent of magnolia, thick upon the breeze, beckons morning mist, a Southern dream. #14 The eyes of Idaho Cut off by mountains’ majesty, river canyons, whitewater tease, land of potatoes in summer, in winter, the abode of skis. #15 Song of the Ozarks Houses cling to hillsides, while hidden in the hollows fiddles sing as roadkill cooks and hogs wallow. #16 Northern melodies Why not enjoy the buzz, fly’s kin that sucks on skin? Dare you swat to kill Alaska’s songbird? #17 Tucson, Arizona No green revealed by rock, this color of dryness shares no foothold of life without water. #18 Nowhere east of Illinois In Diana, note the fragrance of her personality. Indiana? None. #19 At the Preakness Black-eyed Susans, green-eyed Margaritas, crabs cakes doing a dance, the sound of two clams clapping. #20 Somewhere in the State of Misery Earth, wind and water. All meet here in the flow of mud. Baked, they run through Oz, the yellow bricks of Dorothy's dreams. #21 Fort Bragg North Carolina Fresh breezes from the Outer Banks and mountains' cooling mist don't reach here. Piedmont heat hugs humanity, boils all in its humidity. #22 The road through Columbus Ohio! To your three piece civility, spanning north and south, I say, “Hi!” To your chilliness, "bye-bye." #23 After the Oregon Ducks game Slugs climb over moss. The road from Eugene glistens with their slime. #24 Wamsutter Wyoming The continent divides here, leaves a hole in the middle, vortex of this emptiness. #25 West Virginia Her curves: green mountains of narrow roads, coal fed streams, fiddles heard at night through mist. #26 Nevada gambles Dice tumble. What will it be today? Avalanche or earthquake? Or the breach of dam that floods? #27 Sunburg Minnesota New Years Day: so many frozen lakes, at minus five it's mild. But oh so few hours to skate. Uff da! #28 Western Kansas Wave hello. Wave goodbye. Only the friendly survive among the hardy wheat! #29 At the small town bookstore Quiet. After vespers, even the sunbeam motes soft-shoe among the coffee cups and flies. #30 Exorcise of summer Heat seeps, beyond the bones, into weary muscles, then sweats away the excess fat and pants. |