Free verse № 20178
One Country
You are standing in Doan's house,
built strong to fight the upslope in
an alluvial valley west of Fresno,
hidden from the desert by fading hills
revealing secrets one year at a time.
In this place we can meet
without discretion,
where harvest ended long before
these early days of October when
darkness does not bend
troubling even stars
navigating from horizon to horizon, and
the wind's new chill still feels thick and fertile
blowing past fields barren in bounty.
In this dream, I can
wrap my arms around
you as the woman in a photograph
I found on a street some years ago of
a place I have never been, although now
it is Mendoza or La Rioja, and you are
staring away from the camera all the
while knowing it is there.
In this dream I come as
teacher and apprentice to
you humming with Gardel's birdsong
in the kitchen heat,
sweat lights your skin,
En unos labios ardiente
dejar una promesa
hips swaying, arms kneading
flat dough for semolas
quiero calmar los enojos
siempre mintiendo amor
and sweet bread bakes in the oven
In this place I have bent to my knees,
prayed for disappeared
mothers and stolen sons,
swallowed the dirt of your country,
just to feel a part of you.
68 comments
It's funny and I learn small things too. Thanks.
I believe it was you who wondered why I resented
the zero you gave me. Of course, your poem was given
a zero by an anonymous source but still, it is
obvious that you took umbrage just as I did.
Borderline hypocrisy in my opinion.
you were given. Hell, someone found at least
some redeeming qualities in your poem while
you found absolutely none in mine. Yes....
hypocricy fits quite nicely.
of us have resorted to profanity or personal
attacks on family members as did a previous post.
I did not rate your poem so it was not I who gave
it a three. I will have some comments soon and
did read your piece but not in depth. My first
impression was quite positive and it was obvious
your poem rates much higher than a three.
More later and I apologize for calling you a
hypocrite though we all are to various degrees.
Also, you seem to well versed and I was wondering
if you have an interest in cosmology? The relatively
new world of quantum mechanics is an area I have
pursued for years and I am convinced it is not
written about nearly as much as it should be. I have
written several poems concerning the new physics
and related subjects and my main problem is the
abstract nature inherent to such matters. But, I
keep trying to describe the abstract in a
non-abstract way and believe I have made some
progress though there remains much difficuly
in doing so.
i am curious, how does that fit with an overall holographic philosophy? is it aligned, against, or irrelevant? do you think what they are doing is acceptable? important? what of thier motivation?
Not sure if your question was for me or not but
I do have an opinion. Being a deist, I do not
believe in a "personal God" and tend towards a
humanistic view.
Cloning humans is a controversial subject as we
all know and the strongest objections come from
the religious community--primarily those that are
monotheistic such as Christianity, Judaism and
Islamism. Their beliefs are pretty much entrenched
and not likely to change for reasons involving
their personal faith or blind beliefs. From their
perspective, God is in control of everything. He/She
is supposedly omnipotent and omnipresent, a concept
that I find not only bogus but utterly ridiculous.
The God they have created is a kind of spiritual
elephantiasis, pervasive and always watching and
knowing both our
thoughts and deeds ad nauseum. Eastern religions have
more credibility as they are free of the dogma and
moral certitude that accompany most other religions
and would probably leave issues such as cloning in
the hands of the human creators.
From a medical or scientific view, there would be
proponents as well as opponents for there are logical,
medical, scientific and moral considerations that
must be addressed prior to a resolution. I won't go
into detail regarding the above but one example from
a medical position would be selective cloning in which
genetic and/or hereditary factors would be considered,
thus greatly improving quality of life and longevity.
Everything considered, I believe the issue is
inherently intractable. It is comparable to the
abortion controversy with strong opinions from both
sides that are not going to change. So....there will
certainly be more human cloning and the arguments
both pro and con will continue. Where it will all lead
remains unanswerable considering specifics but highly
predictable considering the opposing views that address
moral and religious precepts.
Wow. I could have used that advice six years ago in Honduras when I was do hungry I looked to the bottom of my shoe and put what I though was old gum in my mouth. Well let me tell you those dried mushy dead snails on the coastal beaches may look good and at first have a nice taste, but they pack a punch indeed. Maybe pollution, who knows, but you will wind up in a third world hospital three days later with a staff of student doctors who only speak tribal Spanish poking and prodding at your thingys. Where were you then, oh, you were only 10. Damn. I could have used you as my errand girl and Shin as my driver. Limonade could have been my genius dictation girl. Of course, the embassy was 600 miles away and no one was home.
How keep dark
and pattern that any man suffers
off--at the wall, at where the hat
comes out of the maroow & yawns--
how keep head up the scream
& up the burial where the pattern is born--
how the leagues washing their hearts
& wrung dry only to sponge back up--men
smooching mirrors--blades honing--
tongue & eyelash of Sweet Thing
staggering the shape by the door in the baggy shadow--
how keep dark back?
Or should one bullet-forth, sleek-clothed or naked-- pierce
each entity--each clock--sharpened by art
or wine--how
enter the needle, the cloth--
how take the pattern any man suffers
and lose nothing when you
rip it off.
Stan Rice, Some Lamb 1975.
[editor's note,by horus8]here something else for you and gardel's tango don't let your pride turn your heart to the drink on the mirror to the lines in the glass dusting hollow, i'm indifferent, you're not.
what goes around comes around,
and trust me it will.
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