Anthony Watkins's Blog, page 29

Corn stubble

Narrow asphalt 

Fifty mile straight line 

From Gainesville 

to Cedar key 

a city, the home 

of the University 

to an island 

In the gulf of Mexico 

most famous 

as a Civil War armory 

Small towns 

and roadside mailboxes 

too many big pick ups

Railroad tracks 

chain link fences 

Spanish moss 

draping over the road 

from the canopied oaks

Closed down landfills 

cornfield  stubble 

logging trucks 

rumble by

Cotton

Cotton dying

 and dead deer 

on the side of the road 

people talking 

on my radio

Winters stubble 

is coming 

Pecan leaves and Pineneedles 

collect under the trees 

This is autumn 

Vultures and hawks

splayed out 

across the road 

victims of the come-on 

Of an easy meal

but that’s all the time

Tumble down buildings 

and modern neo plantations 

shoulder up side-by-side 

along the road

I keep driving 

until I fall victim 

of some easy come-on 

one too many open roads

No Toaster

Walk out into the cold 

and watch the black rain 

clouds roll in 

with that certain sadness 

of knowing no one

In this small mountain town 

can sell me a toaster 

going back to butter 

some soft white bread

A Poem Instead of a Clunky Package

I went to the post office 

hoping for a clunky package 

containing a mug 

displaying a painting 

A friend of mine in Egypt 

painted of a building 

in Pennsylvania.

but life is full of surprises 

there was no mug 

only a Scottish poem 

with words 

I might not even be able 

to pronounce 

or understand 

but the poem is called 

for Lisa who once was a poet 

but is no longer

I am not sure if she quit 

being a poet or just quit being 

the poem doesn’t say 

only that she died on a little island 

off the coast of Scotland 

but it wasn’t Shetland 

and I don’t know 

what kind of poems

she wrote and because 

so many of the words 

I don’t understand 

I don’t know much else 

about her 

but it’s still good 

to open the package 

and there’s a poem

Cortez in the Wall

And here you see

amongst the stones 

we have a Cortez 

in the wall 

I’m not really sure 

how it got there 

or even what it is 

but if you look carefully 

you can see it

 it’s right there 

on the middle 

of the stones I

I understand it’s 

from the 15th century 

of course whoever told me that 

didn’t have any reason 

to know it any 

more than I do

But that’s what they said 

and I choose 

to believe them

 in the living room 

we have his helmet

Yeah 

it was not pierced 

by an arrow.

Ambulance

Predawn traffic

on highway eleven

is mostly semi trucks

and farmers

Except for one ambulance

That wants me to pull over.

I do on the nonexistent shoulder

and it flies into the night

red lights like

fire against the foggy sky.

And I think how happy

I am to be inconvenienced

rather than the destination

when an ambulance

flies past

On the Veranda

If you, like I,

sit off to the side

of the grand entry

to the Gulfstream,

in front of the doors

of the hotel bar

Later I will be

on the balcony above

the street

unobserved

spying

drinking

something harder

But for now

at eye level

I sip coffee

and nod to

passersby

And now

the pride parade

is passing

my child

holding a flag high

In my mind

the paint is fresh

the bar is noisy

the windows

are not boarded up

My heart is not yet broken

by the continual dying

of the grand old lady

of Lake worth.

Crows Calling

Sixty-six degrees

at daylight 

full moon still shining

crows calling

in the distance.

A light breeze

from the north

makes it colder.

Pecan leaves

on the ground

nuts to follow.

three more poems uploaded:

(it is quite possible this videos do more harm than good)

Big Yellow Pinata Chicken

burst open

over the hardwood floor

spools of blue candy

that taste like ice cream

spilling and sprawling

and not a plastic

easter egg, peep

nor chicken sandwich

to be found

Only the dreams

of an old man

who slept too long

on a Sunday afternoon

with rotisserie chicken

half eaten for lunch

and stuffed in the microwave

bag and all

from the local market

to be eaten

warm for supper

Big yellow piñata chicken

spooling out

blue candy

like ice cream.