Jason E. Hodges's Blog, page 12

Fingerprints of Yosemite

The kings and queens of Yosemite
Who’ve climbed her mighty walls
Of stone
Will live on forever
Within her legends
Within her whispering winds 
Blowing high above the valley floor
Robbins and Harding
Bridwell and Bachar
Fingerprints of Yosemite, fingerprints on stone
Pushing ever higher
Into the unknown
Johnson and Kauk
Potter and Caldwell 
Rutherford and Davis    
Harrington and Hill
Fingerprints of Yosemite, fingerprints on stone
Their upward assent
Their attack on th...

Here For The Stay

It seems only a handful
Are here for the stay
Never wasting their
Moment in time
Their
Many moments of madness made possible
By actually living their life so alive
Not wasting it
Watching it drift by
With what ifs
And what could have been
Maybe this is why I love them so?
Yet, they’re almost always looked upon
By the status quo
As wasting it all
For living their life to the fullest
Yes, some are here for the stay
Hell, we all are, I guess
It’s what we do while we’re here that matters
Yes
Guessing
Is all...

Two Dragonflies

As I drove
Into the parking lot
Of the skate park
I saw the charred remains
Of a burned out Jeep
Torched down to the bare bones
Flaked paint and shattered glass
Covered the ground around its outside 
Like an oily tie-dyed junkyard roadway
It sparkled in the first rays of light 
Its skeleton steel frame
Was all that was left
A fate Galileo could’ve encountered himself
If he continued
Going against the status quo
For
The status quo
Is almost always right in their own minds
Never wrong
They...

Billie Holiday

Rain falling on this tin roof
Sounds like
Magic falling from Zodiac Stars
Billie Holiday’s voice
Plays through these round speakers
It’s about as close to
A perfect ending
On a long hot day
As one could ask for
My memories move through music melodies
As I listen and see her face in my mind
Her smile said it all
Without having to say anything
Gardenias dressing her hair
The horn section is
Blowing beautifully behind Billie
Notes intertwine with notes
Stitching each verse together
With record needles
Followi...

7.2 Billion

Red Light Theater always has
A captive audience
Cast members
Hold cue cards
For you the director to read
“Will work for food”
I guess we all work for food in
Some way or another
Just remember
Hustle the homeless Hustler before he hustles you!!!
But
Whatever you do
Don’t look them in the eye
You might see your soul
He’s one of the 7.2 Billion people on the planet
You know?
Standing on the corner of your city
Or frozen to death
On a bench in Central Park  
Or her
Stepping off of the city bus in the...

Lies And Deceit

X-raying the mind through dreams
Bubblegum wrapper and battery fires
Guide my way
Two skateboarding sisters greet me
Each holding diamonds with numbers
Etched on their side
That only my eyes can see
They open a book of naked faces
And say in unison
“Lies and deceit get folks far at first
In the land of the conscious
But they are of no use here
In the land of the unconscious
Truth is all that works within this world”  
I awake momentarily
To the sound of
Dog claws clicking on the wooden floor
I...

Fish

Falling far
I free fall
Right out of the sky
I’m safe for the moment
For
Just underneath me
Is life’s swirling lagoon
I’m almost certain
As certain as one can be
That fish never sleep
Like people today
With
Their caffeine mornings
And nicotine nights
They’re always on the go!
Yes, yes, like fish we’ve all stopped sleeping
Rising energy cost
Might be from
The worlds inability to call it a night?
To sleep
To rest
To just shut its eyes
Maybe
The rippling waters from human progression
Will ripple a change?
Or it...

3 Poets 5 Stars

“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” Charles Bukowski   


I recently ordered books off Amazon from three poets I greatly admire. Each have their own unique view of the world that surrounds them. At the same time, I felt these poets were a good fit for this review. A review I hope will shed a little light on their work and provide a glimpse into three of today’s modern poets.
I’ve always been fascinated with the counter...

Giraffes

Going viral is a good thing
With bad things, sometimes
It forces us to see
Man’s senseless acts
Like the
Despicable devastation of dehorning rhinos
Or hacksawing tusk
From the last of the wild elephants
Leaving their bloody bodies to
Swell and rot in the African sun
I saw this photo the other day
Of someone posing with their
Freshly killed Giraffe
I thought
Who would kill a Giraffe?
I mean really, who would kill these plant eating giants?
These harmless creatures
That roam the scorching savanna
I was dum...

The Patrolman

As I sit drinking coffee
Reading Patti Smith
Sitting in an old iron chair
In front of my home
I suddenly see a spotlight searching street to street
Home to home
Yard after yard
A patrol was combing over my neighborhood 
Untangling its strands of night shadows
With his bluish white beam of light 
Until he was center stage
Well really
It was me that was center stage
Of his onlook
At least for a moment
Satisfied with my
Book choice and coffee cup steaming 
He drove on and kept looking
Al...