Cuttings - March
Michael P. Garofalo
March
Red Bluff, Tehama County, North Sacramento Valley, California
Equinox-
shadows
half-way to summer.
Girls
dress their dolls -
willows leaf out.
Northbound train
rumbles by -
howling dog.
leaning over
stirring soup -
hot and sour
smells
Cheering the Yanks
kicking ass in Saddam's Iraq -
Relapse from that 9/11 Osama flu.
Long storm
stopped. Suddenly - Shasta,
three miles high.
Regrets
replayed -
another gloomy day.
My world crushed
between skull and brain -
migraine.
Time is one apricot blossom.
Space, a bee.
The Universe, honey.
And, the Goddess of Spring?
Flushed purple
redbud shrubs -
creeks gushing.
He ripped up
their picture -
withered pear blossoms.
Reading Beowulf
for eight graders -
a thousand years fly by.
Gently rubbing
sleepy eyes -
snowflakes.
Every inch of ground
green -
midday in March.
Wearing
their team colors -
Ash Wednesday.
God's Hand tossed on the lawn,
Right-Wing Guards in the White House,
Patriots on speed, unable to weep,
Americans raped as they sleep.
Baghdad:
two armies
sweating.
Mockingbirds
singing love tunes -
voices of dying winter.
Shadowless dusk
growing colder -
squealing
teakettle.
From dark trees
an owl's hoot -
chilly night.
New Men
peaceful and giving;
in them, He lives.
Sincere Silence
heads bowed ...
Amen!
Joyful
Embracing the Inevitable -
Deepening Spirituality ...
untouched, dusty
Bible on the shelf.
no chanting
no Temple bells--
wind-chimes swaying
- From: Above the Fog
Branches in blossom
shake to the rhythms of wind -
bees on rosemary.
A twigless
pecan stick;
working underground.
Midnight -
Counting Crows
to stay awake.
Alive with bees ...
radiant pink
peach blossoms.
dark barn -
a ray of light
from roof to floor
Green beyond green
below gray skies,
brilliant forsythias.
a few flecks
of yellow -
forsythias awakening
Snowcapped peaks
in three directions -
wet green valley.
Evil grins, a damn cruel devil,
Gold toothed, slobbering blood,
Shouting louder, louder, shrill
Until his belly is filled
And the stench of millions dead
Pleases his maniacal will.
Redding at sunset:
mauve rain clouds
mountains of shadows.
The plop of shit
down the outhouse hole -
no paper.
March - Poetry, Quotations, Lore, Garden Chores
daylight and darkness
Spring
balanced
Shifting around
from cheek to
cheek -
a long night class.
out of gas -
watching cars
woosh past
Stumbling over words
in an eruption of mind;
deepening stroke.
Gathering dust;
an iron Buddha
just sitting.
Fruitless
lawn tree,
full of flowers.
An empty black hearse
leaving the cemetery;
one
gold coffin alone.
Battered boards
twisted still,
a fallen barn.
empty chairs
for Sunday supper;
children married
The long walk over;
my panting dog
still playing.
satisfying
cold water
swallowed
paper lantern reflected
in
soup bowl
oils
uncounted grasses
Erect
excited by the sun
Upstart mustard-greens
Old guard forsythias ...
Yellow riot.
Her growling snore;
bouncing silence
off the walls.
Bald head,
fallen manhood;
a half-million hours
true to form.
Looking up, dark outside,
Reflections in the window,
a duplicate room with me
Looking back, lighted inside,
Sitting still reflecting.
A poet of yore
whispers to us--
gently turning pages.
Weary and worried
looking for a job;
a broken man cries.
back when
that was then ...
fading as they die
We look up ...
cut by cold winds
snow capped Shasta-Bollys.
One week later
Six Directions of Green
Billions of leaf-buds.
brilliant yellow
border of daffodils
behind barbed wire
soaked cattlepen
layered deep with shit--
reeking downwind
After two winters--
the heifer now a cow
suckles her clumsy calf
field fogs settle -
downward heads of nibbling cattle
grazing the wet earth
the cow's hide
glowed--
polishing shoes
Thoughtless about their own demise
Black Angus graze, heads bowed,
Unafraid of Farmer John's eyes.
Vaqueros now ride their Fords
bouncing along, dust behind,
Thinking of carne asada for suppertime.
one line
obituary--
John Doe
daughters of daughters
regathering--
grandma's funeral
salty echoes
in our ears--
seashells
Pizza for Lunch.
Middle School
tautology
Workingman's Blues:
5:55
Monday Morning
Daydreaming about a seaside walk,
driving to work
average fellow
eschewing poverty and loneliness
returning home on payday
killdeers shrieking
meadowlarks trilling--
sunlight breaks the cold silence
One's core fantasies
priming the pump--
gushing passions.
his karma
caught up with him:
she left him tonight
Lawn mowed low--
sweeping the sidewalks;
Breezy dry day--
sweeping the dusty porch.
Sipping brandy in the shade--
sweeping worried words
from my lips.
winter sunshine
working in the
garden
sunburnt bald head
warm sun
dry grass
roaring lawnmower
sunlight breaks
cold silence
a meadowlark trills
Snakes nowhere seen ...
very cold
St. Patrick's Day.
moving conversations
down gravel roadways ...
crisscrossing ideas
Barefoot girls in the creekbed
laughing Winter away ...
redbuds on bare black
branches.
day by day
Winter disappears ...
millions of new leaves
bloodied corpse
under a sheet--
traffic slows
blue oaks
leafed out--
robins back
Springing over
wet wild grass--
my charging dog
Microwave tower
blinking all night--
invisible voices.
wet boots
drying on the porch--
a day's work done
Closing his journals in the blue covers of
pain.
Twisted up inside, rotting karma; himself to blame.
Harshly, utterly, darkly -- ashamed.
Yada, yada, yada ...
the sage on the stage--
scattered applause.
The ancient stone Buddhas at Bamiyan
Now piles of rubble in Afghanistan;
Blown up by the Islamic Taliban
Ranting about Allah's stricter demands.
Cheering as they blew off the Buddha's hands;
Those arrogant and artless Taliban,
Purifying their homeland, dynamite in hand.
Who's next in their callous Jihadi plans?
Besides the millions starving in their bone dry land.
The monuments of those infidel Americans?
- Newslook,
The Taliban Destroy the Stone Buddha's at Bamiyan, 11 March 2001
Big
statues or little statues,
Even
no statue of any kind,
Really
hardly matters a twit,
To
those awakened to the Buddha Mind.
Haiku
Poetry
Links,
References, Resources
Cuttings
Short
Poems by Michael P. Garofalo
Haiku,
Couplets, Free Verse, Senryu, Quatrains, Limericks, Fragments
One to Ten Line Poems
Comments About the Poetry Webpages of Mike Garofalo
Teaching Haiku Poetry: Links, References and Quotations
The
Body as Audience
by
Ann
Gleeson
Quotes
for Gardeners
Quotes, Sayings, Proverbs, Poetry, Maxims, Quips, Clichés,
Adages, Wisdom
A Collection Growing to Over 2,700 Quotes Arranged by Over 130 Topics
Many of the Documents Include Recommended Readings and Internet Links.
Over 6MB of Text.
Compiled by Michael P. Garofalo
Pulling
Onions
Quips and Observations about Gardening
By Michael P. Garofalo
Copyrighted © 2003.
All rights reserved.
I Welcome Your Comments and
Suggestions
E-mail Mike Garofalo in Red Bluff, California
A Short Biography of Mike
Garofalo
Mike Garofalo's Poetry Notebook II
Cuttings: March - Winter-Spring Days
Haiku and Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo
95K, 4 March 2003, Version 1.3
The History of Gardening Timeline
Haiku Poetry: Links, References, Resources
Haiku and Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo
