paintbrush

blown like a kiss

over heart of stone

a love letter

- arem

Memorial

Is it time yet? Time to head out to the graveyard with a few geraniums; our dues to deaths well died, if not lives well lived?

. . . yeah, here's a geranium, got a good price on it at wal-mart - specials all over but they still had the best price - thanks a lot, by the way, for diein' & all - diein' for the U.S.A. - at least you can feel good about that. christ, how'd you feel if you died for nam, or germany, or japan, or goddam france, or some fucked-up desert full of oil for chrissake? that'd be a bummer. oh yeah, forgot that your kid's over there now. well, gotta go - three day week-end & all - goin' back down to wal-mart to buy a new grille. everyday low prices, man. yeah, it's made in china, but that's how it goes. looks like i'll have to get more geraniums next year. holy shit. florists must be cleanin' up, man . . .

evening song

and the sea rolls away

to the west

to the west

where the day is young

and we watch it roll

as it's followed by the sun

- - -

and the dark wells up

all around

all around

this place where we stand

with all of our fears

oh let me take your hand

- - -

- Ralph Murre

Remembering Stanley

from his drifting boat

an old poet calls to us

the cry of a gull

- arem

Self-Portrait with Thick Glasses

some may have wondered

about arem arvinson

now others may, too

Ready? w/update

Ready to head out coast-to-coast, and I don't just mean across our skinny little peninsula. Well, I don't really mean Atlantic - Pacific, either. No, we'll head from home base on the shores of Lady Lake and have an overdue visit with Old Man River. Bicoastal Wisconsin style. We'll travel back roads where we can and try to rediscover ourselves and our state, with an eye for real women who serve great pies and lousy coffee. Are there any left? Will report.

While on the muddy, muddy banks, we'll help celebrate a 70th wedding anniversary (!). Yes, seven - oh.! and they're still very cool people. Don't ask me how the hell that works, life is full of mysteries. Here's to Lorna and Pete, flowing like a river. Roll on, roll on.

And the rest of you - turn off your damned computers, close your books, and go LIVE.

Later, -R.

Scorecard:

Real Women - lots
Great Pies - zero
Lousy Coffee - getting hard to find
Wolves crossing road - one, very close
Brake for low-flying blue heron - once
Clothing layers on return - four, thick
Living done - lots
Books read - zero

happy birthday

Happy 94th, Studs,
and for the sake of all of us,
may you have many more.

The News

Didn't buy a paper today and I'm not watching the TV news, which leads to a thought, unoriginal though it may be: How different would the world be if I never learned any of the news? Probably not very different at all. But how different would I be? How would I behave if I never knew about the bombs and beheadings, the feasts and famines, never saw the peacock of NBC or heard the poppycock of the BBC? I'd probably sleep better. Is ignorance bliss?

(Ignorance ought to be cheaper -- think of the money that might have been saved if several of our world leaders had skipped expensive educations in prominent universities.)

How would I be different if I didn't take my walks in the woods? never saw these blossoms?
That's a little less fun to imagine.

- Ralph Murre

deborah butterfield

On “Riot”,
sculpture by
Deborah Butterfield

Riot


In the riotous coming together of you,
no horseflesh, but old Texaco station “T”;
nor Texas tea nor oat nor hay burned
in the transport of spirit
from salvage yard of tortured steel
to bluegrass of Elysian field.
What god is this, or goddess,
that can create from tornado twisted tumult
and with torch wielded, weld
this elemental equine?
What wand is waved to bring alive
this alloy, so brave and fairly fused?
Of what steely something
can bridle be built
to control the manner of this mare ?
Of what miracle stuff, the harness
that can contain the energy
breathing
in this red riot?
Contain her not, I ask, lest
mere metal she become, and joyless junk.


- Ralph Murre

appeared in WFOP Museletter

Dream

Did you ever have the one
where you're being chased
by a short man with a hatchet
down a long balcony and you
think this has got to be
mistaken identity 'cause I'm
a good person but you keep
running 'cause you don't think
you could reason with this guy
and he may only speak another
language and just as he throws
the hatchet you come to the end
of the balcony and jump to your
certain death but it turns out
you can fly better than Michael
Jordan or Mikhail Baryshnikov
and you lightly touch down and
then spring to the very treetops
and you're a bird?

You should have that one;
it's pretty cool.
Really messes with your head.

-Ralph Murre

I Tried

moonlight and blossoms

my words drowned out

by Basho's laughter

- arem

Thank you, and ...

Grand Scheme or Random Event, God, Allah,
or Great Spirit,
Holy Myth or Happy Accident, we thank you
for your generous contributions to our planet.

Due to unforeseen crises which have developed
since the onset of our species, we must now ask
for your further assistance.

We hope you will again find it in your heart
(or whatever)
to increase your endowment to help us, as we
endeavor to sustain this magnificent facility.

Your ongoing benevolence is appreciated.


- Ralph Murre

Towhee and Murre

two birds

he rummages the wooded floor
noisy, these mornings
behaving exactly as the book
says he ought
yet, he's clearly his own bird
misbehaving
by the code of some

I rummage the crowded shelf
quiet, these nights
but cannot find the book explaining
my behavior
no field guide's colored illustration
looks like me
my code, perhaps, out of print

- Ralph Murre

spring dancer

at rest, the dancer

unchoreographable

the life to be danced

-arem

Middlewesterner

Happy to announce that one of my poems appears today on Tom Montag's good blog, The Middlewesterner. http://middlewesterner.typepad.com

On the Gaiety of Spring

Suffering in Translation

Ah, Spring . . . showers and flowers
birds and bees, motorcycles and
mercury rising and everything
flowing, flowing – sap and streams
and hormones and young men’s
fancies turning toward love and
some turning toward fancy young men
and Christ dieing on the cross
so we could be dying eggs of
fertility on the first Sunday
after the first full moon of spring
sing it with me – SPRING –
you know the tune – and rising again
to remind us to feel guilty forever
but he really was a nice
young man, fancy, I suppose
what with the halo and all but
when he said “suffer the little children”
I don’t think he meant it like that
I think it was more like allow
the little children ‘cause I got
some stories I wanna tell
- but you know how it goes when
you’re translating from Aramaic
into King James’ English – allow
the little children to hear the stories
and then stand back and allow
them their fancies and I really
don’t think he meant they should
suffer if some of their fancies
are different than yours or they’re
marching to the beat of other birds
and bees than you’re hearing ‘cause
if I’m wrong why would his
wise old Dad have created Spring?

- Ralph Murre

Impossible

Consumed


these thoughts
consumed by impossibility
as surely as flame
gnaws at dry cedar
still fueling desire
as surely as cedar
becomes hungering flame
quiet madness where
brick on brick
of a life well built
wants mortar
admitting blades of light
slicing at a dark interior
crazy as an afternoon
meeting evening
over still lake mirror
and laugh of loon
all purple and gold
these thoughts
and night coming fast
and night no cure for the sleepless
and night no cure for madness
and morning; so far off


- Ralph Murre

Sense

must it all make sense
dreaming or waking
question or answer
death or birth
this earth ?
do you see what I see
little drummer ?
is it good morrow
born of the past
or the flash at last
of dark to come
a rum pa pum pum ?
it's all in your drum

- Ralph Murre

International Design Competition

To the Individual or Group Submitting the Human Body


First, and overall, let us say: Well done!

Rather appealing design ideas evident in even utilitarian aspects, though not without a few questionable details.

- Observations:

While most entrants in our mammalian division chose to cover their models in hair, often beautifully colored and patterned, you opted for the naked look. While this may work well for earthworms, we have to wonder about the practicality in anything warm-blooded. Range of operation may be severely limited if some sort of covering is not devised. It appears that most entries in this division, with less hair, were intended for aquatic use. Yours simply don’t have the lungs for that application. And frankly, we believe that something more cuddly would be an easier sell.

Eyes appear adequate but lack good peripheral vision – take a look at what’s going on over in insects.

Ears – functionally acceptable, but least appealing aspect of your entire presentation. You’d have done well to have tried something like they’re using on Labrador retrievers. To your great credit – you have shown us a nose which may be the best looking in all of mammalia.

As to the teeth – if you have the technology to replace these once, as you’ve demonstrated in the growth process, why not keep replacing them every time there’s a problem? This appears to have been an economic decision which we cannot condone. The shark gets high marks in this area.

Very, very nice work on the female breasts, though we wonder if the decision to make them so attractive to the male may not lead to problems in the long term. And why, please tell us, do you mammal designers insist on putting the little pseudo-breasts on males? These seem a peculiar affectation, akin to portholes on Buicks.

Genitalia appear functional. (You did not choose to demonstrate the birth process, and some of our members wondered from exactly which point the spec'd 7.5 lb. baby would emerge.)

Buttocks - oddly attractive, particularly on the more slender samples submitted.

While the feet look pretty good, and one of our committee was quite taken with them, we question their suitability in rough terrain or harsh climates.

We do feel that ALL members of the primate design group should share a special award for their work on hands. While we initially questioned the group’s efforts to stand these creatures on two feet, we’ll be happy to admit that the opposable thumb feature may well have been worth it. We expect great things of thumbs. A brilliant concept - dare we say it? - an intelligent design.

- Outcome:

We are pleased to announce that you have been awarded an honorable mention for your entry. As in the past, all top awards went to species with tails.

Watch for announcements of upcoming contests, and keep trying!

- Ralph Murre, writing for the committee of the judiciary

at sea

a stranger at sea

in the light of a new dawn

so far, the warm shore

- arem