[lit-ideas] Re: Sunday Poem
- From: david ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 08:57:28 -0800
it was not the light of dawn
neither cold nor grey
but a fabulous orange hue
nor the lady in Fred Meyer yesterday
pouring a twenty five dollar cabernet into
plastic cough medicine cups and saying
of the beaujolais nouveau that she guessed its taste
was near the gamays she drank when first
she was trying to get herself to like wine
no today's poem was caused by a week
in november
I'll probably miss the goal
but I'm taking a shot
of best macallan
and I sing first of a Romanian tune
and then of re-branding
following dogs
and finally the high church titter
of a mccall
smith
how many poems have you read about life's unpredictability
lots right
and his wife's
well the point here is that we live like dogs in a garden
surrounded by possible routes
but we wear instead a few tracks
and looks for strangers
which can be seriously funny
last year my daughter the music guerilla brought home from France a
disc by this Rumanian band
which she released like free like willy like nilly into the wilds of
high school
at the last dance this was the hit even nerds knew
and unidentified as the instigator she sang in the dark
irony in harmony
"I wanna be pop-u-lar"
because no one knew
she says the Harlem Renaissance didn't only occur in Harlem
so
it's now called the New Harlem Renaissance
teacher distributes sheets on it
birth upon birth
she also says the Cold War has a bad name
with Russians you think the war was fought somewhere freezing
Finland maybe
she's urges re-branding
calling it
she doesn't know what
something that doesn't involve staring
something people could know and recall
at the high school play
Arsenic and Old Lace
by what strange process does an Ealing comedy slouch toward a high
school staple
Someone Orbanski
tried an Irish accent
i like being warned in advance of such feats
knowing for example when someone will disrobe
brings out the boy scout
set a dog in an enclosed area and he will wear a track by repetition
which reminds me of conversation
what seems like exploration
sniffing out clues, evaluation of messages,
rooting balls from hiding spots
wagging a tail at squirrels
taking off in pursuit
digging for moles
grubbing generally
is often not as free as it seems
bounded bounding wears a path
you know
Alexander McCall Smith
the least belligerent of fellows
on Tuesday for his speech wore a kilt
but his high-pitched whinny of a laugh
crushed any Rob Roy comparison like a good fly half
in person he is very funny
he can't hit high notes on a bassoon
so wants to cut the instrument down
he told of sitting at the back of a lecture hall and watching a judge
crawl out
on all fours escaping an over-long talk
like a felon
which posed for the judge's two bodyguards
creeping issues of etiquette
he revealed the entire plot of his next novel
one character buys shoes that are thinner than she knows she needs
as a speaker he was unvarying relentless
talking at double time with the scant wild hair
of a high church minister on speed
if such can be imagined
funny like your granny
if your granny's a professor
who worked for UNESCO
funny like Henny Youngman
bred to the female lead from "Brigadoon"
at the end he read a poem one of his characters wrote
which was about the importance of tea
of small ceremonies like dinner
of all the small traces which make up our lives
of muddle
which in a funny way we know
intimately
but fly over like dogs in haste
David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon
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