Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Feeble brain

Combattive preventative initiative 
trying hard to eliminate muss
from brain's overload of visual fog
bombarded with ads and fads
no rest for a searching soul
scared of losing marbles and more
but daily give up on modernity's
names and music and artsy fartsy
not retaining any novelty's name
the temporal lobe answers to its name
temporarily out to lunch -
hopefully a good and fun one
with a glass half full - the other part
should be subdued vehemently




Sunday, December 11, 2022

Eleanor revisited

Humbled again by lack of knowledge 
By the vastness of the universe
Personal or objective
Forgetting myself and my idea
Of leaving behind something 
Tangible or transcendental 
Children and a poet’s stab
How can my humble ideas
Be compared to a mountain ?
The only one one must
Compare to is oneself 
On better days or younger 
The rest is futile 
But one could aspire
And be inspired.

On reading Eleanor
By David Michaelis


Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Un moment de la follie

Les fleurs du mal - les fleurons du bon
moi une cavale -je crains le ton
du monde entier -avec des épines
de l'églantier - liberté clandestine
sans qu'on le sache - ah - la vache.



Monday, November 28, 2022

Les poids

Les poids du monde entier
parlent du chagrin eternel
de la condition humaine
et les miens sont superflus
mais pour moi - cela ne va pas
que je gagne du poids 
chaque fois je suis ici
C'était lourd cet  automne
et on n'a pas encore fini
- l'hiver viendra -
sans que je puisse rien faire
de tourner mes pensées
envers le nouvel an 
l'espoir léger et coloré. 


Thursday, November 17, 2022

Le chagrin comptable

Mon lecteur est mort il y a quelques jours
pas des mots de circonscription possibles
seulement le chagrin le lenteur la perte
Mais surtout le temps soulage mes pensées
violentes et tristes

Mon ami est parti il y a un mois
et meme si c'était un don du bonheur
intellectuellement  avec de degradation
de son corps etc - mes sentiments
ne sont raisonnables





Sunday, October 30, 2022

Day of the dead

In a few days it is the day of the dead
a need for celebrating vigorously now
because everyone shall join the crowd

Revelling in earnest boldly toasting
to those lost -  memories of the past
with smiles, sadness, and recognition

With an honest hope one day someone 
somewhere will send a sunny salute   
retaining a tad of our own life's span





Monday, October 17, 2022

Ton tapis oriental

Ta longue vie, mon cher ami Torsten,
était un tapis oriental avec des gribouillis
des detours interessants-  des morphemes
des couleurs rougeâtres - lapis-lazulis

Du Danemark à travers la Norvège  
De l'Afrique aux pays du Moyen-Orient
tous étaient pour IA et toi un synthèse
vos désirs - vos espoirs étaient encombrants
 
Parce que ta vie de ta retraite avec Ia
fut une rêve  lointaine mais vivante
et l'idée de trouver en France vous mena
à un village occitan et énergisant

Cazouls vous accueille avec des bras ouverts
avec ses associations et leurs humains
c'était presque comme une grenouillière
vous vous en baignaient comme des concubins

La maison vous donnait un cadre pacifique
avec son jardin et la piscine paradisiaque
un lieu embrassant d'un couleur fauviste
je risque dire le mot: aphrodisiaque!

Les associations auxquelles tu appartenais
étaient si nombreuses et tu les as portées
non seulement ton enthousiasme passionné
mais aussi ton savoir-faire de sincérité

Le president de maintes federations locales
de la musique, des arts, et aussi de Rotary
avec un joli coeur tout à fait méridional
ton temps donné sans compter économie

Pour savoir plus de la vie d'ici - l'oenologie
t'intéressait avec les dégustateurs cherchant
à boire du vin de pays - avec méthodologie
en dansant les vielles quadrilles concertant

Les treilles cazoulines et des autres bals
tu étais aussi present avec le corps: Fnaca
têtu - t'as  trouvé le temps pour les cabales 
tu n'as jamais rien fait, mon frère, nada 

Après la mort d'Ia ton beau-frère et sa bande
t'avaient emmené à une excursion de Stevenson
et tu as commencé ton perle colorée et grande
pour calmer ton deuil et affronter sa dimension

Tu étais fier des tes enfants et leurs petits
tes liens en Norvège étaient fort et vivants
souvent en été tu montais à ton pays depuis
ton enfance et tes fondements énergisants

Ton plus  grand cadeau est ta bonté, ton amour
pour l'autre que tu rencontrais n'importe où
dans le cadre de moyen-âge et les troubadours
tu les écoutais même s'ils étaient des loup-garous

Avec ton linceul des couleurs fantastiques et vifs
tes amis voulaient bien t'envelopper gracieusement
en te remerciant pour nous avoir embrassé  - pardi
et moi -Torsten -mon  ami du coeur - joyeusement

 


   
 

t

Wednesday, October 05, 2022

My outer-worldly friend - invite me once more

Whenever I returned from my happy place
to this outpost of the universe
you invited me for more than 35 years
to eat and chat and into your embrace
and I expected you to do this year too

Our mutual longing for the "other world"
even though our families in the beginning
were here - we  felt like outsiders -
we shared our experiences  before kids
what we did when we were young

Our communal love for art, books, music,
discussions, life - you had your share 
of sorrows - I had mine - how could we not
after all this time - some would say 
a lifetime - or  just a half  of one

Your pride in your family and your kids
are unmatched - their accomplishments
you shared with joy in your eyes - united
you and your husband - you adored him
but you probably had fights too

You became an Ulpan teacher over here 
your group lasted for more than 2 decades
you taught kids to go to their bar/bat mitzvah
your curiosity of your ancestral religion
intrigued me and I learned from you

We as women in the American diaspora
you from Israel and me from Denmark
wanting always to flee this odd place
even though our lives were easy - yet
I wish you were still welcoming me

At your dinner table with Danish decor
and your lovely cooking - Mediterranean
first a drink with your hors d'oeuvres 
then surely a soup created in your kitchen
a fish and a light dessert - lovingly planned

At the end of the evening at the coffee
debates flew wild - mostly between me 
and your hubby while mine and you
watched our sparring matches -  
words of female wisdom  you prompted

Oh my outer-worldly-friend - Mali
of course I reciprocated because that's
what Europeans do - not Americans
maybe that's why we felt a closeness
I wish you could invite me again
  
-    


Monday, October 03, 2022

Pam, summer- friend

In scurrying for a song to compose
about you, Pamela, sweet summer queen
I came across two and the novel
but none would give me the perfect mien

You are so far and near 
Pam - you are a sweet dear

Having known you for some percent
of your celebratory 8 decades
we just connect in summers past
sending you lots of accolades 

You are so near and far
Pam - you are a true star

Need I tell you that you are a blend
of someone fun, sober, and humorous 
the rose imbibed over the years
did sometimes made you stuporous

So far and near are you
Pam - toddle toddle loo

Happy birthday to an autumn broad 
keep your spirits high and mighty
dance away the September days
You are a special one, Aphrodite

You are near and far - so
Pam - nails the day-glo





  





Saturday, September 24, 2022

Huitres à 11

Huitres à 11 heures
les samedis matins
une belle tradition
surtout en plein d'été 

la cave du village
il y a des tables 
du vin et de vie
au soleil nuageux

les coquillages jolis
vendus avec du citron
simples et si beaux
le senteur de la bleue




Saturday, September 17, 2022

Un ami biterrois

Cher ami d'un village biterrois
on se ne voit que quelquefois
mais notre lien est fort et vivant
et je vais te dire en chantant
que j'adore nos conversations
notre monde tourne en rond
de tous les sujets possibles
qui peuvent être sensibles
ou seulement pour le plaisir
de se voir et  vraiment sentir
qu'il existe un ami absolu
bien en partie un peu farfelu.

À Jacques

Monday, September 05, 2022

The castle afar

Staying somewhere else
glazing with sleepy eyes
on the morrow of mist
there it is a castle -  

Longish surrounded by
verdant voluptuous trees
greyish skies looping hills
there is a castle -

Someone must have designed
delved in the memoirs 
launched its beginnings
there is a castle

Who lived there - who loved
and who laughed there
and died - families
there is a castle




Sunday, September 04, 2022

Voelva"s secret garden

Somehow - the Voelva mused mysteriously
smiling and sensing what she really felt.
Her reddish-gray mane of locks was loosely
flowing down her back - but no one saw it
- only in her little hut - she lithely stretched 
her long legs and her arms  while feeling free
and seemingly young again although her age
was anything but a fountain of youthful skin.

She didn't care - she felt alive for probably
the last time of her life - an affair that had
begun about seven years ago - a fearless fling
of matching not souls - surely only bodies
craving a bit of fun - a hard run - buns raving
and he flaying about like youngish stripling
and she a vessel owning the jocular bottom
to meet in a joyful but thoughtless coupling
without a care or even a thought of future
- because there was not - mayhap that was why
it was just one of those things - like the bard
of the twentieth century had written -  not
anything serious - only to pleasure one self
in the company of another - doppelgängers
a duality of bodies needing stroking and sex.

That was the secret garden of Vigga the Voelva
and she cherished it without crude culpability
standing -looking out of her window after
the storm flowing over her hok - streaming
rain and wild winds roaring after he had gone.
And she turned the lights out and went to bed.
 

 

Friday, August 19, 2022

le chien et moi

 Le chien et moi 
nous sommes une symbiose
il me protège
moi je ne fais pas grand chose
mais je l'aime
comme je peux.

Friday, July 22, 2022

up yours

don't do this - but do that
find this - but not that
go up - but not down
follow my advice 
but not your own
how can one help 
if - not but - maybe
alas - words so cheap
counsels - hints -
terrifying - worms
- just let people live -
judge not - before 
nor after...
  

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Voelva reprise

Voelva Vigga bumped along the dreary wintry path
leading along the little brook near the hovel 
she had moved into after the death of the sister
the highborn Sophia - she had inherited the book
of reveil - not revelations - but a throve of treasures
medical - meditational  - metaphorical  memes
of the late but latently patient Sophia's thoughts
 
and she stared ahead - she had never looked into
what the book actually contained only she knew
that her wise sibling was not wont for advice or 
spreading good tidings of a special internal kind
so she was entering her adequate abode closing
the door to the world - ruminating its weary ways
what could be done - what could she do  - what???

nothing noted -she could do or say or even think
would change this world's evil men obsessed
with their dreams of supreme supremacy over others
the earth needed only to go back to its beginnings
the amoebae or even before that - decimate the globe
as it was - would it really be such a terrible act?  
musing she shuddered as she took to making herself
a mug of dandelion tea and adding a dash of elderberry
wine - the concoction did not taste up to snuff
but  she needed that for her mind to stay starry-eyed
and clear in her head - just as her sibling Sophia had been

Ah she missed her so - and mayhap it was a mistake
to live where her sister had been but there was not much
she could do to honour her memory - Vigga the Voelva
mused while taking a sip of her mulled drink -
sun up and sun down she realised her sadness ceased not
only the time - as usual - would heal the thoughts -
and she smiled as the process make her think - 
Gemma Sarah - her victorious daughter - wildly worldly
and a pride to her womanhood - and a little taking after
not only her birth mother but surely of her sister
the genial genes of female forage - to find the gems 
of human kindness and care - a truthful treasure
- something that her descendant dearly had in abundance.    

Schmuel - the summer of her wondrous love's wandering
off the beaten paths of dreamy times and away awaiting
he had been a beacon of hope but he was the wandering 
and becoming invisible due to his supposed heritage
ah but she had followed him and had found heaven -
in his arms - but she needed more - than he could give
so she had returned to the brook the woodlands and 
her life leaving a male just because she needed her self
her womanly weaving of thoughts and trials  (sometimes)
self-inflicted by doubts and dullard thoughts - Vigga
unbound and wild to the point that she could only 
truly live alone apart from the daughter she so treasured.

She was a soul of something that could not be defined
only felt in a moment and only by her friends who knew
drinking her tea she decided to have a look at the book
that meant so much to her wise sister of yore
The Voelva took it down from the shelf over the chimney
the first impression when she grabbed the volume
was not the size an octavo but the weight - so light?
the bark of willow was glued over the old leather
a silk band bound to the edge showed where Sophia
had been last or mayhap it was just an afterthought
Vigga bought it over to the rocking chair next to a small 
table where she had placed the teacup - a relic 
she did a switch - put down the book - sat down 
- took a swig of the tea - it felt weirdly bitter 
and started to reach for the book again -  
   
But poof her sister stood in front of with her granny
nothing had prepared her for this harrowing event
they both silently looked sadly at her  - deeply disturbed
like she had awaked them from their deadly hallows
---
she had of course known it was no ordinary oeuvre
but still to see the two people she revered the most
beckoning her to come with them to their unearthly world
she raised herself - strengthening her back -and said
in an assertive voice without fear or rancour just plain
I am living - when I need you I shall call for you.
She tapped the old volume three times and waited -
 - 
the mist in her little hut slowly fading while her
feminine fabulous foremother evanesced ...
her sister languished for a while longer - seemingly sad
but eventually she also disappeared elegantly
leaving a speck of dust on the surface of the Voelva's tea.   

Vigga shuddered a little because the vision had been vivd
too vibrant was she already in half between the world of
living and the realm of the dead mennschen 
alas she took another sip of the concoction and opened
the book of reveils hoping to find soulage 
for her sorrows and to dig into the wisdom of the ages.

The yellowing page upon which she glanced -
turned to be ... blank - nothing - not even her sister's -
the highborn Sophia -  writings were to be found...
lei alone her granny's medieval ministrations...
The Voelva Vigga started from the beginning - 
nothing - no signs not hieroglyphs - no Celtic runes
no alphabet no drawings - just plain yellowing pages
throughout the whole olden oeuvre ... emphatically empty

Vigga found the the flask with the elderberry wine
and instead of drinking the tea mixed with the concoction
she dumped the rest over some dead plant on the sill
and poured a good swig of the wine, sat down again
and glanced one more time at the opus that was not.
Bellowing she could not believe what she had seen
but categorically she also knew that her reality was real
How could they (Granny and Sophia) have made
the world and her trust that there were vital creeds
created over time to be followed and truthiness sought?
Nothing had prepared her for this kind of business bunco
the double deceit made her realize that her sphere
her own reality was hers and that she had to find 
her vital sources within herself and not in a book.

The strength of this discovery was illuminating
for one thing only - you are always alone -
you can find your own force from within
only a person's personality will prevail - influenced
inwardly and from outside - machinations only 
by yourself and your learning will help you grow.

Vigga the Voelva looked up from the book
of revelation and - while smiling mischievously
mumbled, while taking a swig of the bonnie beaker
filled with the flowery wine - a fitting gesture 
to remind herself that believing can become
if you do not dissect the facts - a fool's errand.



Friday, June 03, 2022

Poétesse - pourquoi?

 Tu n'écris plus des poèmes
Pourquoi?
Bonne question d'une copine

Un jour je me suis arrêtée

Au fond je m'avais tu
car le monde me semble
ignoble  - non sans futur
et pour qui alors s'exprimer?

Pas trop d' espoir un joli jour
d'été
pas trop d'avenir pour les
petits-enfants -
quoi hérite-les?
un globe qui brûle
un ciel foutu
des pandémies terrestres
la nature qui bat 
les gens qui battent les autres
pour quoi?

L'infamie me fait taire....
ou plutôt ....l'idiotie...


A Patricia

Monday, March 21, 2022

Past, present, and future

A country with all its glorious past
turns to the present and soon
will the present be a future
of death received and taken
split, divided the world stands still
holding its breath for too long
helps death along in its spread 
of past present and future
only to mourn briefly 
after all we are all expendable
after all we are nobodies
after all when one speck is born
sure enough the same dies
nothing is eternal - all change
from genes galore to genes" death
so is the past, present and future
   


Wednesday, March 09, 2022

A day and a time

 In time - in time of time
in the nick of time
time flies - time dies
everyone counts the seconds
the minutes the hours 
the days the months the years
until there is not time left
-
that is not a surprise but
what is - is that time and time 
again and never and forever
it sometimes slows 
it sometimes speeds
il is a whirligig - a foss
of running velvety cold chills
or a slithering snaky lukewarm
tired lake - sunbaked of course

-
on a keyboard or when reading
it flies away to far aways 
it lingers in the deep presens
trying to write a poem
not with new thoughts just
to whelp of a timeless task
so for each line of this hologram
it represents a hour of a day


Thursday, February 24, 2022

Little men

 Little men with small dicks
get into powerful positions
so they try to man up

Little men with tiny pricks
get the idea - me I am big
so the world is mine

Little men have to be sick
get theirs into a money pit
and start another war.


Sunday, February 06, 2022

It is what it is

My chance in life
is to change it
but a conundrum 
how to alter it
when you are 
almost decrepit?
How to know
what and when
to execute it
the variation
which could bring
a life to new light?
Not navel-looking
inwards but
naturally ahead
seeing what life
truly brings - joy 
laughter - hatred
shame  despair 
hope as always.
As everyone says
It is what it is!
To which I exclaim
Yes, but yet....

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Carol and LAC

A lady and a comrade in arms
like the odd persons at LAC
Carol has tutored many students
flowers with thorns,  a lot’ of beauties

Each budding branch of blooming words
attacked the logic with sure inquiries
Carol explains it candidly calm
and as clear  as a carpenter bee

English, Business, ethics, and drama
Carol tutors with her master’s degree
enlightening and embellishing 
all of her many craving tutees

Twenty some years of well-tilled coaching 
nudging eagerly her growing trees
she now bids you all a fare thee well
I am off to be a retiree!


Friday, January 28, 2022

Nailed them

Doggone nails of wintertide
they split - they rip - no tips
dryness - weather to blame 
these ugly and untidy claws
Wishing for just a bit of lube
with no cracks and  relics - 
my pincers healthy and fit 




Monday, January 17, 2022

Nightly darkness

The damned long leftover
of menopause - wakefulness
still haunts and taunts me
Strategies abound - no blue lights
no drinks - a dry period
not too moved - or exercise lacking
To eat or not to nipple
to heave ho or not to vibrate
with Hamlet's eternal mulling
to be - not since the day
where alertness of the night
made its too clear debut
alas only to be stopped
at the final night's arrival 



Monday, January 10, 2022

A man afar

A man afar - all in flesh not
reddish hues and then some blues
the wherewithal of shattered dreams
fulfilled by oddities and gnats
how can this be my dream?

Hubby will not have sex
I have been dry for umpteen time
so that's why it is a distant reality
- with or without carnality -
that I go on gossamer winged Pegasus

a man afar - in flesh I wish
a difficult and condemned desire
what everyone else will say
but - when men take a mistress
of their wives' lack of drive

That is ok - not for a second
would anyone condemn thus -
whereas if a lady in suburbia
is in need of sex and love
that is a nono - from the pope

from lose friends to the friendly foes
I have no shame - no hang-ups
just a mental image of again
be where I belong in a lover's bed
and getting laid just like that