So many haunted lives.

Holger Droste, photographer

Raindrops like teeth, the enamel of god. 

A horse of lightning. A tractor of thunder. 

The muddied boots of the children, 

Waiting forlornly by the front door. A wet winter, 

Here to move water back to the earth, and back to the ocean. 

You can cry or laugh or find a drum to pound. 

You can catch a bus to Dayton or Tulsa. 

This isn't fate. This isn't preordained. 

If I were foolish enough to make predictions or claims 

I would tell you of dark-haired, dark-eyed girls dancing to gypsy music. 

I would say that the government is lying about the shape of the world, 

Lying about the dreams that wake you with a shudder, 

Lying about everything. I am living now in the silence of things, 

Sleeping in the dusty corners. 

Accept the finality of the human experience. 

Raindrops like teeth, the enamel of a god; I am a being of light, 

And I refuse to answer to anyone. 

james lee jobe 

___________

Time eats us alive.

On my birthday yesterday 

I was only one day older 

though I began ten million eons ago 

as a single cell in the old mud homestead.

Jim Harrison, 1937-2016

___________

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It is late, and I am praying 

For all of the things that I want. 

I want the earth to grow kindness 

Like trees, like fruit. 

I want for the children to breathe easily, 

I want the hands of the devils to fall away 

From their tiny throats.

I want the rain to wash away 

The blood from the hands of the killers. 

I want the stomachs to be full 

And the bodies to be protected 

By a roof and walls. 

I want peace to cover the temple 

Of our collective soul like a shawl 

Covers the head of a grandmother at mass. 

I want my arms to grow long enough 

To embrace the suffering of this world. 

I want to ease the pain that rules 

So many haunted lives. 

And I pray for peace. 

Hear my prayer, please.  

Hear my prayer. 

james lee jobe 

EARLY MORNING RAIN, Gordon Lightfoot, 1938-2023

To be ethical is always the most intelligent choice. Sadly, most humans are not very smart.

Brad Warner 

I am on the telephone, on hold, with my doctor's office. 

I am trying to set an appointment to have my brain removed, 

Because I am the Vivaldi of the dream world, the astral plane. 

The brain will be displayed in Visalia, California, in a glass case, 

And I will then pack my head with sand or straw or rich valley soil. 

My dreams will continue to be a symphony and I will continue to write poems. 

I will pull the blanket of being human up to my neck, and blink my eyes 

Until I arrive on the astral plane. I think the music is starting early today. 

james lee jobe 

I'm not sure where I got this. 

It's possible my wife and I made 'em and ate 'em.

I always heard that if you had one good friend, you are blessed. 

I have many, many very good friends.

james lee jobe  

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james