Monthly Archives: November 2003

General Chaos

a mighty wind

Kurt wrote a morning verse about the wind today. I guess we're getting that wind here now.

This afternoon, here in Baltimore, the wind is blowing so hard my front door has opened for it to come in about a half-dozen times so far, and the trees are bowing to each other like they're at a squaredance. I'm watching the 60-foot sycamore out my office window, noting the direction of the wind and calculating the direction the boughs will fall if they snap off in the gusts. The wind doesn't so much whistle past my window as much as it moans, like tearing cloth.

The flapper in the skylight to our bathroom is doing its best imitation of Tito Puente.

I was considering a bike ride today, since the rain put me off yesterday. But there's no way; I'd end up in Delaware.

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General Chaos, Headline Haiku

Quiet

Front porch swing, November night. inky blue sky, twinkling stars
A Chevy van idles, its pistons cry for an oil change
a leaf drops across the street, swoops and glides
my daughter curls against my chest for warmth

I want a few quiet minutes
but tractor trailers and buses won't yield their time
A white Monte Carlo rolls by, music blasting
low-rider pickups and teenage foot-draggers

Back stoop, daughter's in bed
the full moon shines like a police chopper spotlight
neighbor's windows flicker with TV light like bug-zappers
something rustles in the leaves

Back in my daughter's room
banishing monsters with my guitar
the quiet is within the chords
the strings create solitude

Front porch, November night
my Washburn blocks the woman cursing at her dog
the chuckleheads wandering the streets
Chords as a prayer, a rosary for stillness

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