Urban Ocean

Urban Ocean

In the early morning I wake to whale songs.
Ne, straining sounds of garbage truck.
The street leviathan’s hydraulic call.
A dorsum baleen packer blade scrapes to hopper,
feeding on plankton of lives.

True story, it has happened twice now. I wake to oceanic whale calls and it is only the garbage truck picking up the apartment complex’s rubbish.

Compare these sound bites:

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=18769
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=82325

Plankton are defined by their ecological niche rather than their phylogenetic or taxonomic classification.

An 'other' Country

My sister passed away a few months ago. When I describe how I look at it, it is like in the olden days, if someone left to homestead or settle a new place, there was no way to keep in contact, you may or may not have been able to send and receive letters. I feel that way about my sister Gayle, that she has gone to settle a new place, I won’t see her again in this life, but she has just gone to a new place. And that like the olden days, the best way to send word or a letter was via someone traveling into the same territory.

Last week we learned that my Grandfather was ailing. His readying to pass has been on my mind. My sister and brother visited him yesterday.

I wrote this poem this morning, and by noon had received word that my Grandfather had passed away during the night. Adieu, and give our regards to Gayle.


A One Way Communiqué.

A metered mass migration to an ‘other’ country,
pioneers all to this new frontier.
My sister is there, Grandpa readying to go.
Julie says, “tell her we love and miss her”.
He says, “I will ....”, and the rest is lost.
No letters or photos will come back,
a one-way communiqué.


I am trying to come up with a good way to say this ‘other’ country, to express heaven, without getting confusing. I don’t think ‘other’ country does the job, but is the best I can think of. ‘The farthest country’? ‘The hidden country’?

Blue Moon, Did You See Me Standing Alone?

A blue moon is a full moon that is not timed to the regular monthly pattern. Most years have twelve full moons which occur approximately monthly, but in addition to those twelve full lunar cycles, each solar calendar year contains an excess of roughly eleven days compared to the lunar year. The extra days accumulate, so that every two or three years (on average about every 2.7154 years), there is an extra full moon. The extra moon is called a "blue moon."

full moon, blue moon, oh
glowing soft cool light on me
my pagan heart keens

New Year's Eve 12/31/2009 was both a full moon, AND a blue moon. Such an auspicious omen. I wanted to be out in it. I wanted to be bathed in its celestial light. Two friends were willing and so we went snow shoeing up Millcreek Canyon. It is the only way to greet a new year in my opinion. So stunningly beautiful.

I love full moons, and blue moons are even more wonderful iterations of full moons. Really, I could puke I get so excited about it.

Blue Moon
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue Moon
You knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will (ever) hold
I heard somebody whisper please adore me
And when I looked to the Moon it turned to gold

Blue Moon
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
2010 is going to be a good year for me, I just know it!