Five Words

The TV image was of a man and his one year old son
home after a twelve month tour

empty boots and bayonet off in the background
in the cheering gym.

no

I'm not going to tell that story.

babies delight in their feet
hold them
love it when you nuzzle them with your nose
peal with laughter when you tickle them

then we confine them in shoes(bronzed on a mantle)
and that soldier missed that first step

no

I'm not going to tell that story

hold the coffee table
come to mommy
bump

up
step
bump

so when the host of As It Happens
talked of six words
Hemingway saying his most powerful line
was six words
For Sale. Baby shoes. Never used.
bump
I sat down
(though driving a car already seated)
up
bump
I pulled over

damn, those six words had just stopped a moving car

but the image that popped into my head
weren't the shoes but those boots
I won't talk about

and five words

We regret to inform you

~~ Phil Specht  26 September, 2012

Fall for 2012 begins in the Northern Hemisphere on September 22, 10:49 A.M. EDT

bryerpatch (clicky)

Soul transport. . . . .

Buried Stevie about an hour ago. Just as we had the first shovel of dirt in, and both of us were crying, a Great Blue Heron flew almost over our heads. I've seen them fly up and down river, never had one or seen one fly across my field in 17 years. Felt like a blessing.

A Day of Remembrance.


The water falls where the towers fell

the names forever in stone still fresh memory

of flesh and blood of loved ones, family even now.

Say them. Global names of all kinds a common thread

they are remembered with love, children almost too young

to feel daddy's hug still feel ours. We taste their tears.

Our nation wraps in self as one.

Strong voices cracked, the solitary sob caught on camera

a public private moment intertwined.

It is alright. You are with friends.


By Phil Specht on September 11, 2011





Phil Specht
Monday


Collective Memory

We came together
saw the flags went to war.
It had to happen didn't it?

So that was our next great leap as a species?
Form a mob?
Just when we had it together.

So chuck on the blog says wage peace.
wage peace
peace

Makes some sense you know
that voice coming from outside
should have come from the together inside
or it wasn't going to happen was it.

Leopard in our midst
scream the chimps.

(more reflections of 9-11)





Phil Specht
Monday


The Great Divide

The surface of this space time
has futures' morn
a birthday;
we have no say
and yet were born.
Pasts yet unborn
will mingle on this side
of the great divide.
We are not yet there
we are here
on a spinning orb
of blue and green.
And those that
have left us for now
had their mourn
and are both there and here
unseen, above.
We let them join us
then fade
or come unannounced
and join this parade
with as valid a claim
as we to a past
that was made
light out of darkness
by love.

(shared on the eve of 9-11)

Dammit, Steve, You told me you’d live forever.
And I believed you. Almost till the very end.

Never a lap sitter. But I remember the week Angie
died, and you slept against my naked back. Pure comfort
for us both.

Who loved running. Leaping. Acrobat. Joy in motion.
Brought so low, the legs whipping air in senseless moves.
Able only to scoot. And finally not even that.

Held between the hands, the energy beat strong
even until the last day. The hum of love, of peace, of joy.
Thank you for that gift.

I hope you are running now – across fields, up trees.
And I forgive you for the baby bunny and the birds.
So many birds. . . .
And mice. Nice about the mice.

And grateful you spared me the last trip, screaming
and howling, to let you go. You always did things
your own way.

Give him a hug from me, Angie.



jjl
9 September 2012

Steven Seagal (AKA STEVIE)
1995 –2012
Great Cat
Rest in Peace
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Passed last night in his sleep. Gonna miss him madly. Troo. This last year's been tough on us both, but we made it right to the end. His choice.

Drought is a slow death
grass waiting for a shower that never comes
and so the cows must go, strange fact
the less grass for the cows the more quarter pounders
(just hold the cheese) as they pass through golden arches.
Did you know cows have names?
Bessie for sure in every herd.
And not unlike a teacher with freshmen,
sometimes confused with an older sister,
as names are learned with start of classes.
Dairyman and teacher tasked.
So it is hard when they go
some more than others
more than a name.


~~Phil Specht
September 3, 2012