Winter upon winter

Winter blahs
of la-di-dahs
oh the glow
of the snow
to just chill
at my sill
and dream away
of bergs at bay
winter doldrums
fee-fi-fo-fums.

NYC - an instant

New York City in the snow
has a glorious dark glow
a wonderment of busy bees
shoveling - hoveling indeed
sitting in a corner Starbucks
people-watching - moments deluxe
stopped by force - by the weather
en route from light to nether
but gratefully I sip my coffee
to the instant of feeling free.

The comics of Cazouls

Last day for a long time
here in this little place
that I know so well
to paraphrase the beginning
of Asterix et Obelix.

Each time is a journey
into the "comics" of Cazouls
its usual gallery of persons
The beginning - my neighbors
British are not your usual lot.

It expands to the Irishman
further down the street
I see him in summer - quite a hunk
young and a bit weird -solidly
charming and somehow caring.

The Canadian photographer
an artist in himself - having lived
the big life of 70 and 80ies
gone from a fancy ever-which-where
to a sad shadow of himself still holding.

The Lebanese couple on the corner
the man supervising everything
in summer and mostly winter
with his obligatory cigarette hanging
his wife a little mouse - yet feisty.

The Tunisian lady who is fully
maked-up to the nines always
impeccably dressed and ironed
always in skirts and silks stockings
yet she smiled and her spirituality shines.

The French fishmonger with a flair
for selling lowes arches like me
and we have great philosophical
and deep conversations about
almost anything from politics to sex.

Up the other way still in my street
although it has now another name
I walk past my favorite house
a true copy of Palladian villa
in miniature to the Norwegians.

These are a spacial breed of kindness
openness and just sheer joyful
integrating themselves deeply
in the village and its life
and remain truly a model for the rest.

To be continued

Les gens d'antan

Je cherche a trouver
l'histoire ancienne
de mon village adopte
des l'age antediluvienne
jusqu'au l'age medieval
avec des troubadours
et des droits seigneurials
Il y a des tambours
qui ont deja fait les pas
et je lis leurs efforts
interessants et mea-culpas
a eux de me douter les coffre-forts.
Dans mon cerveau revant
encore d'Adalais de Cazouls
mes pensees et mes idees hantent; -
elle n'etait pas un capitoul
mais peut-etre une femme
qui avait des idees cathares
elle avait donc un ame
qui devrait se faire avatar.
Quel est la verite des gens
des etres humains de la terre
de l'age lointain ou mainantant?
La question reste - dans
des mes essuie-verres!

Nomenclature for the happy in the soul!

Quintastic equals fifty and wonderful
I found in "the Guardian"
"Sexastic" is the same as a sixty year old
feeling good about herself
"septuastic" will be a person at 70
expression joy of life
"octoastic" shall the eighties decade
in a vivacious embrace
another ten years - a "nonastic"
will enjoy the latest bit
before the big centastic!

Sexastic, septuastic,octoastic, nonastic and
centastic are words coined by "Polygraphya".

Leben is reisen

Ich muss noch arbeiten
fur die Reisen die ich mache
und ich lebe einfach
wenn ich in die Welt herumkehre
einen Tag noch nich zu weit
von dieser Zeit werde
die Arbeit doch anzuhalten
und dann muss ich wahlen
meine Reisen begrenzen
und ich habe eine Furcht
denn ware ich eine Alte.

Food pornographya

Saw a term in a Danish newspaper
"food pornography"
guessing its connotations
of grandeur in Epicurean terms
joys of eating good food
to the point of ignoring
talking about anything else.
Taste buds of a rare kind, ya think?
Nah, due to the French enjoyment
of their well cooked meal -
now on the UNESCO lists of
immaterial items -
you can find it at any
well cooked meal in France
where you end up every conversation
around the dinner table
with food pornography
it is simply a ritual
to discuss how much time,
what did you do to make it special
how did you grandmother do it,
are the beans cooked better
starting in cold water or not?
From Julia Child to
the Michelin guides
they are what I would term
food - pornographya
you write about meals
you photograph the ingredients
you taste a simple home cooked meal
and you are in ecstasy.

Aendringsgruk

Et lille ord
jeg derpaa svor
at jeg ville det aendre
skibet er sejlet
og ordet fik
det til at kaentre.

(first poem in my mothertongue
in 40 years or more)

En cherchant les arches

Je me sens si a l'aise
dans mon petit endroit
je fais que je veux
j'ai tant d'espoir
de me debrouiller ici
sans connaitre vraiment le midi
mais les gens me font
le compliment d'ouvrir
leur maisons au fond
d'y bien aboutir
pour me donner la chance
par curiosite ou par bonte
de trouver les arches secrets
de Cazouls les Beziers
et je cherche en favorisant
les vielles maisons d'artissants
qui y reste du moyen age
leur esprits me disent autant
que je desire de revenir
autant que les batiments
me permettent d'avantage.

(C'est pas tout a fait ce que je voudrais dire - mais
l'esprit du poeme est la - tout de meme)

Time after time

- no time - it is gone
as soon as the moment
has been it no longer is
sometimes my perception
of the immediate time
slows it down - internally
and at other times
when I am interested
it runs like a jet motor
my seeing the time
has nothing to do with it
it is what time is
and that is all a nil
it is a quiet evolution
of my space here and now
philosophically I can
comprehend the time
for what it is
but sometimes it is hard
to grasp the moment
and just float along
in it - it all depends
on the internal interest
of the individual
time can exist or not
you can exist or not
the way we do it
is our fortune's wheel
and the time we have left
is all we have got -

Pampering

Today in my little village
pampering my weary face
was jolly on the agenda
expensive - yes
but feelings were great
and somewhat different
I have not done it before
but realizing that the French women
do take more care of themselves
I thought - why not me too?
So my face of maturity is the same
as always - wrinkles galore
but it is hydrated and modulated
and inundated with creams
and massages - and masks
and more creams - so
at least for today
my rippled sandpaper is gone and
my creases are seemingly less deep!

Dreaming of history

JFK MLK RFK
need I say more
than when you read
what they actually said
and stood for
that was when
the US had leaders

JFK knew when to say
how to say it
and the public
was not in until later
on his somewhat sordid
life in power
however he symbolized
the young hopeful US

MLK was a black man
who changed how
the African Americans
were treated
not by violence
by changing the dream
of love in the US

RFK stood for justice
and he would have
taken on the mafia
and made other changes
he of all had the makings
of a great president
not to become one in the US

JFK, MLK, RFK
all within one decade
we can mourn for
what could have been
history might
not have been so -
but oh what a
youthful joyful dream
long gone in the US

In awe - of friendship

Just to forestall
I don't think I'll be
as fortunate as yesterday
with so much luck
on my plate - unprecedented
at least in my book.
Tonight - I am beholden -
for having served a meal
to my newfound almost 5 year old
f r i e n d s
of this tiny village hidden
somewhere - just pure luck
again - unrivalled.
They may not feel it
but I do - unjudged by them
accepted as I am
unless I tell them
of my bagage -
to me that is rare -
in this day and age
and I am eternally grateful.

Lucky day - yesterday

Could not find my cards
knew they were somewhere
in my hideouts or drawers
looked desperately for them
for three whole days - gave up -
and yesterday while shaking
something else - different
out they fell on a whim.
I smiled - it was my lucky day.

Lucky to be alive

in my pj I sit and ponder
the split of mind asunder
of here and there on the globe
giving my thoughts a robe
to tie the different pieces
split like an atom of caprices
not all are so fortunate
as to readily correlate
life here or elsewhere
creating panache with flair
and enjoy this privilege
in my vintage petite village

Une idee germinante

Un dejeuner pas a l'herbe
mais dans un petit restaurant
tres gentil pas acerbe
avec une amie en causant
on bavarde sur nos vies
en mangeant au soleil brillant
on se rend compte bien servie
le temps passe - nous absorbant
une idee notre ensemble gerbe
un personnage sera notre ciselant
sa galaxie deviendra superbe
que sa reflexion soit urbi et orbi.

Village works?

Civilization what is it?
Is it that you can live in harmony?
with Mother Nature and your neighbor?
Does it show its head
when you respectfully disagree?
When you are teaching
your child, "Thank you" and "please"?
Does it appear magically?

When you talk down to someone
does that someone have respect for you?
If she or he does
then he or she is the civilized
and you are on the margin.
Great thinkers have contemplated
the barbaric society for eons
and came up with more reasons why,
but a human being conjures not
by accident - it takes work
it again takes a village.

Sleep- no

Sleepless again
muddles my brain
function is nil
I'm no Jill
a person needs
his, her rest
this is indeed
a day like pest.

Une pierre dans ma main

Une pierre dans ma main
sur mon habituel chemin
chaque jour je me rends
pour exercer mon corpulent
cerveau - exigeant l'air
et inspiration - un seminaire
de la nature et du monde
meme si des idees venues
sont parfois moribondes.
Un petit rocher contient
les atomes, des elements
qui etaient la au debut
une anti-matiere absolute
avec des 14 C radioisotopes
et des cellules de l'hysope.
Ce galet represent pour moi
les temps de ma finale voie
le terre rouge du midi francais
les gents m'obligeraient
de participer et m'engager
de vivre sans me degager
de la terre, du ciel ou de la mer
jusqu'au noli me tangere.

Un diner

Mon petit village cosmopolitan
avec des indigenes languedociens
et presque tous les pays europeens
represent le fait du monde entier
et un plus de solidaire humanite
naturellement pas tout a fait un paradis
mais un bien honnete rassemblement
fut au diner hier mangeant intensement
chez des amis -tous mes remerciements.

(A Francine at Max)

Half way around the world - in a bottle

At the Mediterranean
I imagine myself
with a bottle in hand
thinking of my grandsons
and a sense of wonder
realizing they have just been
at Jervis Bay
on the East coast of Australia
for a couple of days
I imagine they had tossed me
this vial with a little note
saying how they enjoyed
their dolphin watching
or other things they have done.

I visualize their jubilation
when they finally see their scribbles'
mail in the green canister
slowly getting drawn out by the waves
asking their mum ebulliently,
"Do you think Farmor will get it?"
"I am positive" she assures them.
It has a long way to go,
says Alexander, the older of the two
"Bottle reach Farmor," cries Torben,
only two and a half, redhead.

Following the trail of the message
in the green vessel
will take some grand imagination
plus going back to seaward lesson 101
sailings and tips for when
to send your bottle around the globe.

So let me begin the travel of the
bottle with a note from Xander and Torben
I cannot help checking the trade winds
and those can cause a problem
reaching the ultimate goal
of getting a very desired post
from two great guys down-under.

As an Easterly wind of the Pacific
grabs the bottle high on the foaming sea
it bubbles, it wobbles
it twists, it turns, it dabbles
up an down meeting whales
schools of fish of all kinds
on its maiden, but dreamy voyage.

It, however, first lands close by
Jervis Bay - on Austinmer Beach
and Farmor takes a deep breath
not having expected that teeny
speck of an umpteenth piece of ash
from a beloved friend whose dust
was spread there but just before
it hits the sandy lonely beach
the bottle turns around and
out towards the ocean it sails.

An honor bound bottle of a past
vintage red glorious dark and lush
the bottom carries a few drops
mingled now with dead slag
goes fast out being drawn to Fiji.
Somewhere on one of the islands
the bottle smoothly make land fast
on a beautiful beach easily one morning.
A little boy finds it and brings
it home to his family living close by.
They open the bottle - but realize
that it is not destined for them.
To entice the boy his mother,
who is a local seamstress,
tells her son "we are going to put
a small piece of tapa cloth and
send it along". She breaks off a tiny bit,
corks the bottle again, takes her son
by the hand, together they walk.
At the smooth lagune she urges
her son, "Throw it and wish it luck".

The green ship trips and twists
over and under the waves for days
and one night makes land fast on Vava'u
a beach in the Tongan archipelago.
The next morning an old man finds
the bottle and opens it -
He sees the message to Farmor from
her two wonderful boys in Aussie
so he smiles, and looks with farseeing eyes
out on the ocean. He takes the receptacle
home to his little house, adjacent.
He wonders what he can put in to show
where it has landed on its half way
around the world trip - still far off.
Suddenly he smiles. Leaving the house
to find the post office in the little hamlet.
The all-trading store has everything
you could need for beach holiday
such as foods, tins, toilet paper
anything, as well as stamps.
Since the old man does not want to spend
a lot of money, he buys the cheapest stamp
of them all,and some kawa for his siesta.
He hurries home, places the stamp in the vial
and strolls leisurely down to the sea.
The sun is now high and it is fairly breezy
so he tosses the flask - and waving at it.
Two young kids look at him - with contempt
but he just laughs them off -
"haven't you ever dreamt of something?"
he almost dances away, whereas they just
shrug their shoulders continuing doing nothing.

Days later the bottle finds Upolu
and it almost smashed against some rocks
however, it managed to land somewhere
where it could possibly be found.
A little girl surprised at seeing
the receptacle and curiously uncorks it.
Her hands shakes a bit - excited.
Alas, she cannot read it -
She wonders and thinks it over.
The next day she brings the bottle
secretly to school St Mary's
in Apia where she lives.
She shyly approaches her teacher
saying, I have found this -
but I cannot read it - can you help me?
The teacher looks at the message
and starts reading it out loud
translating it into Samoan,
Dear Farmor, We hope this
will reach you in France, somehow.
Your grandsons Xander and T0orben
From Australia and then there
is the address of the person.
How did you find it?
I saw it near the beach.
Well, then I think we should
put it back in the Ocean
after school tomorrow
and we are going to place
one Cocoa bean and your name
and our location on it
just like the others have done.
The next day the whole class goes
on an outing to throw out
the wonder vessel on its grand voyage.
All the kids and their teacher
waves as it wobbly disappears.

The bottle loaded with letters
stamp, tapa and a cocoa bean
continues its seafaring journey
half away around the world
the it decides it wants to hit
the Easter Island or another name
Rapa nui or the end of the world.
At a beach again a kid found
the vial and grabbed it eagerly
too rapidly ... so the items
gathered carefully by its benefactors
flew out on the sand...
the child screamed and yelled
and within minutes his friends
had gathered the tiny specks
placing them eagerly into the bottle.
Holding the bottle the older one
said, we must do the same.
We should draw a picture with
our island's mo'ais.
It has to be small, said another
so who is best at drawing?
Deciding who should depict
the representative was elected
they all knew that O'Kohia
drew the best, so she without
further ado designed a
figure like the ancient ones.
Everybody looked in awe
of her abilities to sketch.
When done, the oldest
took the drawing placed it
in the bottle of renown
and asked the finder
to have the honor and throw
it back on its long journey.
It bobbed and waved at the kids
as it took of from Heyerdahls dream.

It was bobbing, twirling
on it maiden voyage and suddenly
a fair amount of time passed
until it hit a coral reef
and got stuck - oh no
what would happen to
the message from Torben and Xander
to Farmor half around the world?

Luckily there are people who dive
in Floreana, not many but just enough
to have one of them find the bottle.
Where is Floreana or Charles Island
visited once by Charles Darwin
and his illustrious boat The Beagle?
At Post Office Bay the barrel
serves as a mean to send cards
all over the world without postage.
So the diver, a Dutch. with a sense
of history found a small piece of shell
from a tortoise - wrote on it Galapagos
and recorked the bottle, took it
to the barrel and placed it there
so somebody would perhaps take it
with them forwarding it to the addressee.

Half a year went by - slowly.
Xander and Torben were very disappointed
because they knew that Farmor had not
gotten the bottle - where was it?

A passenger on board a fancy vessel
invited by his millionaire friend
visited Galapagos looked through
the post and stopped, because he
once as a little boy had sent
a message in a bottle - it never arrived.
Fulfilling the childhood dream
he took the bottle and decided
to take it along - for his ride.
He knew that his friend was heading.

The gorgeous boat finally sails off
and the passenger kept the bottle
in his luxurious oak lined cabin.
A month went by they had now gone
through the Panama Canal and were
heading to St Thomas one of the Virgin Islands.

St Thomas, old Danish possessions
of slave island and and sugar cane history
not a proud time for anyone
large slave auctions were held here
when the traders came from the African continent.
In the middle of 19th century
the sugar trade went down and
slavery was abolished.
What remains in Charlotte Amalie is
the pirate Blackbeard's Castle
and one of the oldest synagogue
in the American hemisphere.

The kind man who taken care of the green
innocent vessel from Xander and Torben
in Australia was now debating
with himself whether or not
to throw it out in the sea again
or simply send it via mail to Farmor
in the South of France.

As the was visiting Charlotte Amalie
he saw a perfect little tin figurine
of Edward Teach, and he decided to buy it.
Then he thought again. Two kids
two figurines - and another tin figure
went in his shopping basket.
He had a niece in Daytona Beach, Florida
and he brought her a pirate doll.

The unknown benefactor decided
that the odds were too slim for
the bottle to reach its intended goal
without a little generous help
so he brought a box to wrap it in
opening the cork and placing the
two tin figures in the green bottle.

It now contained the note from two
Australian boys from Melbourne
a speck of ash from Jervis Bay,
from Fijii a tapa cloth piece
a tiny stamp from Tonga
a Samoan cocoa bean with an intense smell
Easter Island represented by a drawing
a shell of tortoise from Galapagos
and two West Indian tin figures
probably made in China representing
adventures waiting for anyone to grab.

The man wrapped the bottle carefully
and placed safely in a box explaining
how he had found the receptacle.
Took it to the UPS store in Charlotte Amalie
and mailed it to Farmor in France.

One day about a year after
Xander and Torben send their message in the bottle
to their Farmor - she received
a package from US Virgin Islands.
She was puzzled, knowing nobody in that spot
but her name was on it - so....

big was her surprise when she opened
the package and found a bottle
carefully wrapped and a letter
from an unknown person ...

Dear Farmor,
I found this bottle in Floreana,
Charles Darwin Island
and I sent a bottle once
when I was a little boy.
I could not understand why
my intended recipient did not
answer back, so I am fulfilling
a boy's dream of receiving
the meesage in the bottle.
Hope this will again reach
Xander and Torben in Melbourne.
Signed a boy who hopes other kids
will fulfill their dreams.

Farmor started to cry for joy
and for once she called Aussie
even though it was late at night
in Melbourne and asked to
speak to her two grandson's.
When she saw them on Skype
she waved the vial and said -
The bottle has safely arrived
and when I come to visit you
at Christmas we shall open it.

Shellacked?

Damn it
I cannot do it
I lost my sense
of wonder for a day
I wish
it will not
be the case of
forever -
only
this instant.
Maybe all I need
is
Sleep?

Sous le pont l'eau coule

L'amour d'un frere de l'ame
tres prochement observe
je suis etonne de la ferveur
si tendre et nettement donnee
sans rien d'autre qu'un mot
une geste - totalement sans drame.

Un homme en train de mourir
l'autre un copain un voisin
pres de lui serenement comprend
que sous les ponts bien passe
l'eau coule - aerere - se vide
la vie est en train de courir.

C'est un amour d'autrui
qu'on voit entre deux confreres
l'un est concerne de cancer
l'autre de son ami favori
chancun fait se qu'il faut
la mort la tendresse detruit

Un symbiose de deux hommes
qui se connait depuis des annees
l'un etait un solitaire
l'autre un homme de famille
mais ils voient la vie trempee
des images chancun consomme.

The List

To ignore or claim no knowledge
is sometimes bliss
but with the Washington Post
New Year's List
humor on the first day of the year
is a good way to grin and bear.

One item stood out for me
a Spamalot game of glee
The brits
always have wits
even during the German Blitz
all your endorphins adhere
if you just laugh and smile alot.

Remember humor is all you got
if everything goes wrong
2011 - ding dong!