The Gardener
Santa Clara, CA 95051
theroot_us@yahoo.com

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how's them apples?

 

 

HOW'S THEM APPLES?©

 

 

 

CONNECTIONS

 

 

an apple barrel has what to do with it?

 

with a most unlikely handle

a paparazzi vacation to Belize

far away and probably less important

than rainy places in Oregon, Washington

that got so hot this summer

and the fire storms

 

an ocean cruise: let's take a trip to Bermuda

get away from it all

 

but the hurricanes

that cruise ship with Ebola on board

to view a colony of coral reefs, gasping

 

when we were young

father took a trip to Chicago

and stayed there

 

while he was gone no one could know

how I stared into the night

with an unformed question

 

when he came back to visit

family time was a game of Monopoly

his real talent, though, was apple pie

 

one time he explained

 

his first job was cook at a logging camp

peeling and slicing and making apple pies

a skill he demonstrated

 

be sure to add enough cinnamon and sugar

so the juice forms that thin layer of candy

he said

 

and then he got very serious

we wondered what we'd done wrong

 

he said

the pie had to come out just right

or those loggers would beat him up

they were very rough guys

 

and then

as the pie came out of the oven

he smiled

 

maybe he loved us after all

he told us the logging camp was in Washington

near the border

 

the answer to my question now, though, is right here

it could be making an apple pie

if that's what's happening today

 

or Washington – famous for its apples

but really

it's not explainable

 

 

 

FLY FISHING

 

 

bones in the desert

quick as a lizard

impartial flames lap at toes

 

the ebb and flow never ceasing

 

pea gravel crunching underfoot

on another dry day as I think

for no reason

of snow on Mount Diablo

 

and then

with no real connection

of that day on a high school afternoon

of dialing a random number on the phone

and awarding a case of ketchup to someone

who was grateful

and how good we both felt

 

 

 

FANCY FEAST

 

 

blue M&Ms in a jar

rattle like my truck in gravel

on those fantail peacock trips

no longer devoted to customers

 

who never would have worn the proper hat

even if it could be promised

that no one notices anyhow

 

who will pay attention anyway

to the gondola of the Goodrich dirigible

or even the Hindenburg

it was so fat and of course lightning

had to downplay that hint of hubris

 

no, our neighborhood is sensible

pancakes for breakfast, and bacon

emails arrive with descriptions

 

a dirigible floating silently overhead

dropping crows like leaflets warning

of the impending power failure

 

Tabitha, with an outstretched paw, agrees

 

potluck trips where cold morning tires thump

for a couple of blocks

and the drummer on the next block

hasn't started practicing yet

 

there is probably a psychiatric reason

for all of that

a melted clock

no alarm

 

the emptiness of an early street

Philippine clouds not yet rising

the faint scratching of a pencil

off to one side, discreetly

 

and of course the sixth extinction is a topic

to deflate Goodyear blue

M&Ms

twisted hands falling

black wings flapping

laughing gas, everyone

as the face masks come down

automatically

 

 

 

TWO FROGS

 

exasperated: Short Circuit the circus-media!

I had written

this evening it's news time and ATT is announcing

a two-hour system hiatus

 

reasonably, this must be mutual myopia

 

or perhaps those Chinese hackers who recently

took down our National Weather Service?

 

in front of the (dark) TV as usual

time for tea and peanuts

Tabitha purrs and gets her lap

turn on the fuchsia lamp

the Weather channel had reported

a record breaking Arctic Blast

 

freezing the ATT system?

 

with no link to PBS frog tales

the entire edifice has just fogged out

 

was Short Circuit another instance of precognition?

 

a time to watch (or not)

and a time to write

 

Tabitha clambers over the clip board

with predictable skirmishes over writing space

until finally we get sleepy

 

amidst fall leaves this morning

a photo of our concrete frog

does a permanent frog have adventures?

 

 

 

SHORT CIRCUIT

 

 

frog tales on PBS are razor thin

fairy tales

wouldn't it be a quilt to have them again

and the freeways go away

 

to sail with condor wings

find the golden palace, green parrots

clothes washer explanations for haystack things

 

warm oatmeal

Christmas snow

but no, we have the Arctic Blast

Monopoly heads talking weather

 

smile! you're on Security Camera

 

as the entire edifice slowly fogs out

leaving a calm mind

 

 

 

BACK TO THE LAND

 

 

since the operation for cataracts

I see like a child again

 

through the window, onto the street

my gardening truck, shorn of its accoutrements

shovel, rake, soaker hose, rope coiled by the cab

 

as it awaits its fate

 

on the wooden post, a single spider thread

back lit in morning sun

sending rainbow slices

semaphore

 

let the wheel barrow roam

someday it will come for me

 



 

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The Gardener
Santa Clara, CA 95051
theroot_us@yahoo.com