some thoughts on early winter

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

there are things winter owns
besides this  axial tilt
shortening days & steaming breath

it is icicle teeth grazing the edge of the roof
hungry for the heat inside
& how the moon, no longer warm
readies her blades to sketch a figure
across ice

there is physics to skating:
friction and momentum
curving Newton’s third law
into a glide

& physics in that lesson of snow
teaching lightness

in falling

this body cannot learn
until it knows
the path to clouds

& holds the key
to the storehouses
of the snow

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Posted on November 28, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

Mike–this is brilliant and I am sharing…

ruleofstupid's avatarRule of Stupid

In the town where I reside the main shopping area is a fairly large sprawl. For all you Americans, yes, I know, it’s barely a block – but for England, it’s a large sprawl. We are a tiny island. If I spread my legs I’m in danger of trespassing on my neighbour’s land – although this is due to my exceptionally large

Included in this sprawl is a small subway area, with a couple of over-passes, some circles of benches and a few grassy knolls. This is a favourite haunt for the street beggar.

Offering begging advice on-line may seem futile, what beggar is going to have the internet (you’d be surprised)? But in these times of Sherbet Dib-Dab – sorry, Double-Dip recession, we could any one of us find ourselves set low by misfortunes indiscriminate doings.

In England certain measures were introduced a few years ago into employment law…

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meat

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

I like the taste of meat
that blood kissing fire
in that not quite
caramelization
the civilized call Maillard

but I’m not civilized

& maybe
if I thought
of cows instead of beef
& those birds I named
instead of chicken

before navigating aisles
of neatly sliced protein (note
I do not say animals here–
that’s too personal
too primal

& acknowledges nerve-endings
& fear before the blade)

knowing
we are all meat
for the grinder
& fresh grist
for the mill

something’s bread
to be broken

does not correct imbalance

any more than calling myself out
as predator
eases the guilt

just because
I didn’t kill it
personally
doesn’t make my teeth
any less murder

in owning an appetite for flesh

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stormchasing

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

I have looked into
hurricane eyes
& found the pause
you call peace

that I call breathing deep
an energy save
between screams

don’t get used
to the quiet

it breaks easy

Posted in New Free Verse | Tagged , , , | 34 Comments

have you heard the sound of the sun

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

the sun spins compositions
the way stars shout
across vacuum–
electromagnetic spectra

that resonate under matter
we vibrate to
like struck tuning forks
but it is our substance

the metal in our bones
quiet bells sounding–
the earth sighs, too
& i have heard her voice

the lit chords
of borealis & australis
plucking subatomic strings
stretched taut

suggesting what does hold us
is not that mass to mass pull
of orbit, but a resonance
of matched scales past gravity

& into music

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the christmas tree farm

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

forests have voices
but these farmed
needled trees
arranged in priced rows

can only whisper wildness
learned through roots
touched to roots

what it means to be pine

a memory quietly hummed
& almost scented

beneath the bite of snow
& resin they wear

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be prepared

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Susan L Daniels

be prepared
was what i learned in girl scouts
but they never prepared me
for anything
besides making boondoggle
& granny squares

though mine were circles
because i can never remember
not to add a crucial turn
of the hook
so my patterns rebelled
even then

but being prepared–
that sense of readiness

expectancy

having enough toilet paper
& milk
before the big snowstorm

that’s preparedness

& not this openness
to everything i have–
tasting the promise
of snow coming
on the tip of my tongue

seeing it in the deep
refracted gray
& almost blue turbulence
of ice swarming in clouds

but no, that
is mindfulness
& not preparedness

because knowing what’s coming
is completely different
from surviving it

***at Dverse today we are writing about preparedness.

 

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