Crg Hill's poetry scorecard

Robin up and off sidewalk

onto wall and beyond

                        Oakleaf

falls against my chest

down to sidewalk

 

Tree filled not with leaves

but the racket of grackles

 

Sharp, fresh contrail

plane visible heading west

Older contrail

diffusing

plane no longer visible

Oldest contrail

wispy helix

plane long gone

Redbud, well,

 

are budding

red 

 

Universality

of cacophony

on school playgrounds

swings, slides

balls, sheer

blasts of running

jumping, pushing

laughing, crying

 

For a project on life

and death Ye Mimi

visited a remote village

in Indonesia where

to celebrate the spirits

of their deceased relatives

villagers disinter them

dress them up and place them

in positions of honor

Mallard male

 

wings splashing water

chasing mallard male

into the lake

away from female 

 

Oklahoma City

to Charlotte NC

to Frankfurt

to Ramstein AFB

April 2

 

Four missiles were launched

from North Korea’s west coast

crashing into the ocean

600 miles away in the sea

between Japan and South Korea

ratcheting up tensions

region and world

Straight-backed, for Ye Mimi

 

full-bellied

breath

up spine

through hand

on top of skull 

 

Earlier I introduced

Taiwanese poet

Ye Mimi

to beavers, American coot

cardinals, mourning doves

songs of mockingbirds

sound poetry

bp nichol’s Pome Poem

 

“We decided to make the pond stronger

to make it deep again.

When the rains come we will be ready.”

found a white

 

cat whisker

under the pillow

on the bed 

 

Grew up in my 20s

S. F.’s Tenderloin

46^th Ave and Judah

Just north

of Berkeley’s

Ashby Bart Station

near Lake Merritt

in three Oakland

neighborhoods

 

March marks

escalation of spring

tornado season

volatile atmospheric

ingredients beginning

to spin

One turtle

 

two turtles

three turtles

four turtles

One beached

log 

 

Family first

near and wide

dui/s, stroke

intervention/s

Poetry to make

sense of

Research

or not

Service

first to colleagues

to grad students

to undergrads

to department

then to college

 

        “wherever you are is called Here,

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger.”

Coot and mallard

 

cohabitating water

grackle and robin and red-winged blackbird

cohabitating earth

cardinal and mourning dove

cohabitating air and song 

 

I don’t hear

the plane I’ve been watching

descend into Will Rogers

from Texas

or other points south

until it’s cleared our house

 

Going to Galveston

springbreak

the black drum run

30-40 lb.

Big Bull Reds too

“Those old drums

can put a strain

on the line”

Coming upon chalk drawings

 

on the sidewalk, I recalled

a tanka by Harryette Mullen:

“Pedestrians on neighborhood sidewalks,

swerving slightly to avoid smearing a child’s

exuberant drawings in colored chalk.” 

 

Tomato plants rioted early

                      last spring

       then ceased producing

Peppers and jalapenos

                                     slow to start

                      gave and gave

into November

 

In a bay

to the northeast

of the campground

the 5 horse-power

engine sputtered

to a stop.

Dad turned the bow

southwest

and started to row

while I leaned

over the side

stared into

cold, clear water

of Simonhouse Lake

for hours