rusty old and beautiful

[lizzytysh]

Good for you, Mat. You just think, write, and speak all kinds of poetry, don't ya?

I was so glad to see this thread, again.


Where is Bernard??


~ Lizzy

[mat james]

I was so glad to see this thread, again.

Where is Bernard??

Yeh!???
Where is Bernard? I haven't noticed him around the place for a long time.
Are you there Bernard?

As for the "thread" Lizzy? I was "glad" to resurrect it (resurrection is topical at Easter! )
Every now and then I write a poem that fits the style/theme/mood of this thread. So I post it.
Thanks for the generous response.
Diane sends me photos of Wales every now and then and those photos also remind me of our "travels and pubbing through those cyber/hills of Wales" that we got up to here on this thread earlier

irish:
You're not Welsh are you?
I took a look at the "car wheels on a gravel road".
I can see the connection!
Thanks.

Matj

[William]

Gerard Manley must be revolving in his grave.
Give him a break.
william

[jimbo]

whos he?????????

[mat james]

Gerard Manley must be revolving in his grave.

Willy

Yes Willy, I suppose you are suggesting that even Gerard Manley would be jealous of my genius.
Of course, I wouldn't put it that way, but I can understand why someone with your profound depth of understanding would.

Jimbo,
google Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Apparently he is nearly as poetic as I am.


I'll paste this poem here as it belongs on this thread.

No April Fool, today
(April 1st 2008)

This morning
I was in the shower
and the phone rang.
“Who’s dead?”
I thought
as I rinsed the soap from my face;
my wet ears ringing.

We were charging 24 shots
of explosives
Jerry had come to help
and Bernie and I were to follow
this expert miner's advice
but Bern didn’t like bombs then,
so he let me and Jerry have the fun.

23 shots were lit
and the sparkler
that we light our bombs with
went out !

“You go!”, he screamed
"It's safer that way".
I replied “No,
we started this together
we finish it together.”
So we waited
5 seconds
10 seconds
with 23 hissing bombs
reminding us of our mortality
as we tortured that stubborn fuse.

Done! He said
and like a true professional
he reminded me to walk, not run.

A few years later
we were drinking home-made beer
under his pepper-corn tree
down by the dry, red sand creek
outside his "doug-out" shack
and as he spoke
he took us all
back to those moments
among the fuses hissing.

He stared at the others fixedly
then whispered to all,
“You know Mat, I like you for that;
No, No! I love you for that!"

We had bonded
somewhere beyond fear,
and my ears were still ringing:

“Hello Mat, it’s Eva,
Jerry died this morning.
I wanted to ring you
before you heard it from
any-one else.”

...and my ears are still ringing.

[William]

But only nearly Mat.

[lizzytysh]

The pressing question, however...

Where is Bernard?


~ Lizzy

[mat james]

The hand


I had a win yesterday
I was broke
you don't know how broke
-and then
in the pub
out of no-where
I sold the hand

the beautiful, delicately feminine
golden hand
holding the flawed opal.

I loved it because it was flawed..... beauty

I only got
two-thirds of what it was worth
-worth?
worth!
but what is anything worth?

I sold it
I'm no longer broke
I bought some tobacco and a port
and I was happy.

I had a win yesterday
out of nowhere.

MatJ

[imaginary friend]

Dear Mat,

The ambiguity of The hand is thrilling.

[Cate]

Mat - I’m caught in your thread. I’m a little over halfway through, I would have made it further but I got distracted reading about matrix opals. What a great way to spend a lazy morning.

I skimmed through last March but mostly stopped at the poems – this time I’m enjoying the whole adventure. It’s interesting to come back and re-read. Your ‘I’m cooking egg’s’, poem for example, read very differently this time then my first reading. (I can say that because Marsha’s not around and won’t get upset with me for discussing nourishment. I think she has food issues.)

I love this road trip/campfire adventure. So many great poems, by so many different people!

In your last poem. I like how the narrator see's it as a win and not as a loss of something that was beautiful to him.

[Violet]

Wow this whole thread has some very nice stuff to read... I will come back and read more when I can... (it's good when things surface like this, or else I may not have found this thread it seems)...

Violet

[mat james]

thanks girls.
You have inspired me to continue my journey.

My little Red Rider, "Hood".

I rolled out my old red bike
I felt the urge to ride;
creature of impulse
that I am
among the Springing Sun.

I swung my right leg over
teasing that piston
with gentle force at first
like that you would use to nudge
any lovely old girl
back into life and warmth
and as it happens sometimes;
there was no spark.

Not being one to surrender
easily
without a storm
I huffed and puffed
and blew no houses down
nor rode my little red rider, "Hood".
The tempest and the bark
just weren’t there.

I searched for tips
among old myths
on resurrecting the dead
on burning bushes
and sweet reprieve
for some feint glow of hope
in that greying matter.

I drained the fuel.
I filled the tank anew.
I rubbed that old plug
oven-baked it for one hour
set the gap
forging him back to youth
and strength as only hell can do.

Screwing slowly
I inserted that god of fire and light
and connected that universal charge.

I squeezed and choked
just enough air and fuel
to suck
that perfect mix

I pushed, we fired, she purred.

Matj



a-tip a thought of you

…like Einstein
I sit beaming
upon an arrow
always a spark ahead of
flinted miseries that chip and cut
but can’t keep up!

Leading
but not directing,
bolted to my feathered
karmic-drag,
that warp and wrought of a
buckling and shafted past

before me,
rarefied breezes whispering
awakening

... I,
a-tip a razor’d gaze
of sinless blue,

wander home to You.


MatbbgJ (bbg=belly-button gazer)

[mat james]

Orgasm echoing

There's a reptile
in that mammal
you

I have seen the snake-look
I have felt the cold stare
the alone-ness
there

and
one early morning
..beneath the canvass swag
among the sandy stars
among the warm and moist
lip to lip
the hip-lift and groan

of DNA writhing

I heard your erupting
orgasm roaring !
.echoing
..echoing
...echoing

from some reptilian dawn


Mat James

[Cate]

ohh come back Summer, I want to go camping.

[lizzytysh]

Very nice, Mat. Have you been in touch with this particular muse, at all? Just a curiousity question.


~ Lizzy