#tallow
Planes of Memory,
Stones and Ash
The canoe that lay in the corner,
propped against the wall,
never belonged to him.
The means, the ends.
There were too many candles,
and never enough all at once. sweetly.
The dust on the floor,
scraped patterns,
whirling designs.
tiny creatures that live therein.
Not all the stones on the wall are from the same quarry.
Pink granite. azurite, biotite, the occasional smattering of limestone.
So well done,
a master and his hands there once was,
at least here.
They didn’t all sit well with each other,
as is all too often the case. As are all too often thoughts
and memories.
The furs of some giant, now unrecognizable beast,
surely it never could have imagined being the comfort for someone
( to comfort without knowing or realizing)
musty,
welcome near a fireplace,
like those they just don’t make anymore.
Huge overhanging Hearth.
Inside, metal accoutrements
once so necessary and dear,
likened to those that look upon.
to purpose made clear.
Heavy pots and kettles.
( form and function)
Some there, some not.
All once needed...but now?
The low flame.
She comes again, the ever dancer.
her crackle,
beautiful pitch-black solid dark spaces.
growing grayscale cover.
Vertical lines stacked,
enigmatically interrupted,
horizontal flames
play in her crevices.
(movement, action and reaction... necessity)
The solid red of wood, that once was.
The brilliance of our heat, fading out,
dissipating all too quickly.
(You've got to wrap up tight.
You've got to get bundled.
You’ve gotta just grab one part of it and roll,
and roll,
until it doesn’t do you any good anymore.)
But still you don't let go !
( not until it's time.)
Hopefully you'll know when it's just right to.
Laying there,
on the heat of blankets,
pillows,
staring blankly up at the ceiling,
remembering them,
wondering if they remember you.
The floating dissociative feeling of not needing your body,
vaguely even aware of it or breathing.
Warmth and comfort,
too often taken for granted.
The feeling of being home
and never wanting to leave.
Having done so much and yet nothing.
The satisfaction that everything that needed doing is done,
and yet
hasn't even begun.
The cycle with or without you.
Days of counting.
Days uncounted.
Dreams of gains and losses recounted.
(not remorse or suffering... looking)
In a daze.
Not knowing,
not caring,
restless in the void.
No calling out.
Tumultuous whispers,
cycles of darkness.
Dreaming in colors.
Sweaty solid panes and planes of flawless hues,
nothing more, somewhat less.
Happiness and lust.
Back to the dream.
Devoid of sin,
natural,
all of it and nothing.
The fruitless inexhaustible wandering.
The things we would fight for.
The things we would trade.
The things we would say and do
to have it all again.
( just one more day with them. )
Not necessarily regret or longing,
but a comfort,
an ageless knowing.
No delight.
Nothing close to rapture or joy.
Enlightenment a far cry.
silent internal satisfactions,
without, effort.
An Understanding.
Acceptance
or just giving up!
Lips and smiles,
hair twirled around fingers,
eyelashes.
The delicacy of little toes.
Whispering leaves in the grass.
Thinking back to when anything actually
really mattered.
Birds and crickets,
reminders that it’s not a bubble.
That you can’t find the isolation.
Tenderness.
Wholeness.
Extravagance.
Words that would have been
better left unspoken.
A spell once cast never wanted to be broken.
In to planes of memory
or smoke and ash.
Oct 5, 2025
Oct 5, 2025 at 3:50 AM UTC
Tongue daps vinegar,
and your face winched,
as if offended,
as if death was a butterfly
fetching nectar from you,
but your soul has never resided
any body other than yours.
Yogurt is enough
to make you scoff,
sandwiches the same,
you shudder at the sight
of my teeth flensing fat
off a rind and the cream
of hardened tallow on steamed
rice.
Your lunch box comes with
this world’s gravy,
mine comes with
I-am-lucky-that-I-am-here
kind of deal.
Mine comes with bricks
my scrawny frame has to bear,
mine comes with my mama’s
expectations that I need to
build a better road for my siblings
and I to walk on.
Mine is more edible than
what papa keeps in his belly.
You have a lunch box,
I have lunch, now go eat.
Oct 7, 2024
Oct 7, 2024 at 12:23 AM UTC
In this peaceful dripping
of the rain
I see sparkles
even under a cloudy sky
resting, not quite ready to drip
from the leaves of the Tallow.
May I sparkle
before I take the trip
of the drip.
Sep 3, 2018
Sep 3, 2018 at 11:02 AM UTC
The Tallow sapling is swaying
in union with wind and saying
good morning
wake up to a swinging
universe singing
softly in the early breeze
waking up trees
oh how the first movement
of this precocious symphony
shows up Chopin
Debussy and Copeland
in its sweet harmony
with the sun
and moon
and precious tides.
Look at the yawning and stretching
from side to side
in the awakening
of this day.
Jun 16, 2018
Jun 16, 2018 at 10:54 AM UTC