Poetry
Some originals, some from real poets. – Some English, some German
Poem about a Tumbleweed
From Chihuahua it rolled on a windy plain,
Caught in shadows of a desert rain.
Hungry and gaunt with outstretched claws,
Awaiting hot winds and Spring thaws.
The ball of thorns–dead since Fall,
White bones of a giant green ball.
Roundly waiting, patient as the earth,
Still working to give new birth. -kn
Augeries of Innocence
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
- William Blake
Full Text of “Augeries of Innocence”
Prophezeiungen der Unschuld
Translated by Kenneth Nicholson © 2001
Eine Welt zu sehen in eimem körnchen Sand
und einen Himmel in einer wilden Blume,
Endlichkeit in Deiner Hand zu halten
und Evigkeit in einer Stunde.
Mondnacht
Es war, als hätt der Himmel
Die Erde still geküßt,
Daß sie im Blütenschimmer
Von ihm nun träumen müßt.
Die Luft ging durch die Felder,
Die Ähren wogten sacht,
Es rauschten leis die Wälder,
So sternklar war die Nacht.
Und meine Seele spannte
Weit ihre Flögel aus,
Flog durch die stillen Lande,
Als flüge sie nach Haus.
- Joseph von Eichendorf
Moon Night
Translated from the original “Mondnacht” by Kenneth Nicholson © 2001)
It was as if the skys
Had kissed the earth to sleep,
That she in living glow
Should dream of heaven’s deep.
The wind swept through the pasture
The grasses waving soft
The trees did whisper lightly
So clear was the starry night.
And lo my soul expanded
With wings so full of joy
And soared above the stillness
As if ’twas flying home.
To Stop or Not to Stop? (That shoulda been the question)
Cowboy Ken was doin’ a trick:
Lean’in out of the truck to pick up a brick.
He opened the door and bent to the ground,
Then left the cab – groundward bound.
He picked hisself up, no wound could he see,
But he saw his ol’ truck had run into a tree.
Now the moral of this story, as you will hear,
Don’t leave your truck runnin’ when the dang thing’s in gear. -kn
Two tombstones in Ribberford, England
Say a prayer for Cassidy,
They buried him today.
He lived the life of Riley,
While Riley was away.
Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread,
And the Lord sent them manna.
Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Lord sent him Anna.
-as recited by Art Bohr, sometime in 1999
“Earthling Poems”
We have a beautiful
mother
Her hills
are buffaloes
Her buffaloes
hills.
We have a beautiful
mother
Her oceans
are wombs
Her wombs
oceans.
We have a beautiful
mother
Her teeth
the white stones
at the edge
of the water
the summer graces
Her plentiful
hair.
We have a beautiful
mother
Her green lap
immense
Her brown embrace
eternal
Her blue body
everything we know.
-Alice Walker
Haikus
The mountain pines song
Waking with the morning breeze
The crow sings off key. -kn
Scott Able Canyon heat
Makes people hot and homeless
Stinks like a dead goat. -kn
Scott Able fire, 2000
You have set sail on another ocean
without star or compass
Going where the argument leads
Shattering the certainty of centuries.
-Janet Kalven “Respectable Outlaws”
Campground Autumn
Motors pumping freon through tarnished coils
Motorhome driver cues eight-ball to side pocket
Electric eye spies walk-in traffic
Television polluting minds of guests.
Clerk forces a friendly grimace
Register measuring success
Thank you – come again. -kn
Election 2000
Waddle daddle, Daddle waddle, bim bam boom
Piddle diddle, Diddle piddle, Flim flam zoom
Roter Rooter, Motor scooter send ‘em all to the moon.
-kn
Computer Haiku anonymous
Having been erased,
The document you’re seeking
Must now be retyped.
A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.
Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.
ABORTED effort:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask far too much.
Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.
First snow, then silence.
This thousand dollar screen dies
So beautifully.
The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao-until
You bring fresh toner.
A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.
The website you seek
Cannot be located
Countless more exist.
Yesterday it worked
Today it is not working
Windows is like that.
Don’t know who wrote this one.
Words
Words have changed in recent times,
Changed to jive with modern rhymes.
Where once they seemed to clarify,
They now our reason do defy.
Our great institutions see fit to commission
Their dark interests without our permission.
Using the science of public relations,
They want to avoid alarming sensations.
When faced with large profit,
They’ll think of their market.
Good for our health is toxic sludge;
From dissenting positions, they will not budge.
Silicon chests enlarge our esteem,
No danger of seepage says academe.
Do not fear mad cow disease,
It won’t happen here, if you please.
So go back to sleep dear reader of mine.
The market is purring and all will be fine.