Summer Night

I’m not one for longing or plumbing depths
in the review mirror – but that memory

– a gasp of sheet lightning. Lucid. You and I.
1980. Side by side in a Dodge pickup truck

bursting with tomorrow’s seed. I was there again.
Then right back. Here and now; staring at the ceiling

between this bed and the summer sky. Eternity
tap dancing through the open window, chuckling.

I want to weep but don’t know why. Downstairs
the grandchildren; smiling in their sleep.

Posted on Desperate Poets Open Link

Power Buttons

This week Desperate Poets were challenged to a high-noon slam with the Ai oracles who appear to be forcing their way into the neighbourhood. It would seem that robots are starting to write poetry. It’s true. No, I don’t know what they hope to gain.  

I was strapping on the guns, kick-boxing the heavy bag and nun-chucking the nunchucks when Poetry came strutting in. Rattlesnake wrapped ’round her finely curved neck and a crown of fireweed gracing those lightning white locks. 

What’re you doing, she asked. I faked a few jabs in her direction. She rolled her eyes, did some fancy-pants thing and put me arse over tea kettle dumbfounded in the corner. Totally in love as usual.  

Prepping for the big battle, says I. Desperate Poets bustin’ chops, head to head, eye to eye, puttin’ the boots to the gang from Ai.   

Her laughter was geese at night through an open window. A little stream mumbling away. One firefly in the woods. Lucid silence. She parts her lips and the wind blows warm. 

Intelligence doesn’t write poetry darlin’. Artificial or otherwise. It’s just one part of being human. And if you look around, it seems to be a very small part these days. Your lot appear to be struggling just understanding the workings of a power button. 

We love you, she says, looking up, down and all around. But you are just a season. A fine little moment in time. Tipping the balance a bit much though. A dangerous, hungry bunch. Blind as newborns. 

For one long and lonely heartbeat she became a black hole and I was just a man. Then she helped me up, brushed me off and growled; if never a word was written – I’d still be around. Now, don’t go getting yourself hurt.

The Picnic

No one notices as you slowly drift
beyond the river’s bend. A friend looking up
almost in the nick of time, misses you.

Later, folding lawn chairs, your brother
mentions your name; a shame about something.
Distracted, searching for the car keys

your wife nods. She agrees. Red-winged
blackbirds sway on the bulrush, speckled trout
flickering the shadows, follow your wake.