Wednesday, November 16, 2016

bad haiku for mid-november

today, the air is
all october, a mix of
leaves and nostalgia

that betrays what's left
of the constructs we cling to
in the aftermath

of the second week
of november. this day feels
so four weeks ago,

like former years when
trees peaked as scheduled. this year,
they reject their own

anatomy, their
fated decline, and instead
attempt to remain

as they were, remains
of a summer that exists
only in shadowed

memory.  in a
few days, the green that persists
will drop and die and

nothing will stop that.
november will once again
be november, the

way it must, the way
we all are.  this month feels so
forty years ago,

decades fortified
against a clock that cannot
be unwound.  or a

timer. such things wound
equally well, depending
on one's perspective.


one morning this week,
logical fallacies on
tap, a middle-aged

woman tapped her desk,
fixed me with a look and said,
"be careful."  the room

became the week, the
year, the decades.  everyone
felt it. i hadn't

said anything.  it
was a warning shot and a
moment that defined

more than that student
will ever understand.  i
will be careful – as

careful as deluge
that follows the harshest drought,
as careful as time,

careful as hornets,
careful like vesuvius,
like cannonade, like

cacophony, like
clamor, cracking, crush, and cause –
and effect.  oh, yes,

effect.  i will be
careful, as careful as a
comet and just as

easily resigned.


Great Lakes Greta

6 comments:

  1. Nothing to say to this but YAAAAAAAS. Greta, ever grateful for you.

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  2. I know I am one of MANY who treasure you, Greta....

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    1. You are very sweet. You are all much too kind to me. I'm glad that CM tolerates my poetic rantings. Seriously.

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  3. Thanks, Greta. I needed that. I love the movement from an almost nostalgic/elegiac mood at the beginning to fiestiness at the end. And all the alliteration at the end -- especially since it builds on sounds in the key word in the original admonition -- is just great.

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    1. What sweet things to say! I think the alliteration is a bit ham-fisted, but it felt SO good to write.

      This one's been bubbling since last week (obviously) and took longer to put together than most others. I don't spend a lot of time writing them (which also should be obvious), but I can't adequately explain the cathartic effect of ranting in this specific form. That anyone else values them at all is really surprising -- and something for which I'm very grateful.

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