We

We
Are two
Are one
Are we
You the sun
I the sea
In love
With love
With each
Are we
Are two
Are one
Are you
Are me

Beatnik Poem

The saxophone is wailing and the piano nearby is tinkling.
I'm reading some poems by a very dim light.
The ashtrays are full. My beard itches.
This turtleneck is giving me pimples.

And, all the while, in the next room,
some demented bongo player is trying my patience.
I'll howl at the moon, but I still won't know the difference
between here and now.
I don't care. I'll carry on.

Unidentified Flying Object

Was that a robin
or
a sparrow?

The Fishes Wish

The stream was streaming past
It was streaming extremely fast
Though much too rough for serious boating
The fish were there, serenely floating
Singing, “Life is but a dream”

The birds were in formation flying
As my friend, his hook was tying
He hoped to fill his empty creel
With enough nice fish to make a meal
But that’s easier said than done

The fish just thought him foolish
And the idea of eating them simply ghoulish
In a perfect world, we all are brothers
All us fish and all the others
But that perfect world lies elsewhere

The fisherman calmly waited
Thinking his success was surely fated
But their fishlike ways were wily
And their freedom prized so highly
That their life remained a dream

The sun was shining brightly
And his cares were resting lightly
Surrounded by the green
And sung to by the stream
He had a thought, a new one
That life could be a dream

The fish plainly stated their wish
Not to wind up on a dish
“We really think we oughta
Remain here in the water”
That was the fishes’ wish

A compromise was reached there
Between the water and the grassy banks there
This fisher and the fish decided
And have ever since abided
To be both content with singing
“Life is but a dream”

Happy Birthday!

Fatman's Prayer

Thank God for clothes.

Mendelssohn

The Wedding March is a wonderful tune
Felix composed it in early June
He married a girl in late July
It’s December now and he wonders why

He says it was all a Midsummer Night’s Dream
That things are not what they once seemed
His sweetheart then, has now turned sour
Each married minute is like an hour

A carefree man was he
Without words, but full of melody
His way was clear, his problems few
Before he uttered the words “I do.”

He ran away to Italy
To learn what happiness could really be
There he became a great sensation
Divorce, for him, brought reformation

In Awah Dah

Neek woo ze naybah. Moko no feenah zu.
In Hala Eeva, zu wah so fine. We nui
Za badah. E go like dis:

On a day so near le fah
A goo du ga me see so lah
A goo no me ah oh so sweet
De fu she no da nui neet
Dos lips sa wah nee fata yah
She so be sah in awah dah

Tu eetah oos a wah no fah
Me cuus she sah so nee no wah
See scoooo in Hu no fah dee bah
Ah gi woo she ah gi no bah

A Gesture to Exercise

My gesture to exercise
I call it.
This ride I take
each evening.
The dust rises behind me,
as I pedal by.
The hills stretch south
in a long line,
softened by the changing light
and comforted by the
blue of the fading day.

God knows, I need the exercise,
but it is the quiet view,
so vast and so still,
horizon to horizon,
that really brings me here.

Clouds hang weightless
above the green and gold
of the prairie
and, if I’m lucky,
I’ll see a hawk
on his way home,
like I am,
with the space and time
to feel how lucky he is.

Paper Crowns

We sit here with our paper crowns,
speaking quietly to each other,
turning right and turning left,
stopping occasionally,
reacting,
remembering,
lost in a wonder that includes everything -
the delicious light as it comes through the window,
the endless day that is passing,
the noble company around us,
the sad idea that makes us laugh
at ourselves,
here, with our paper crowns.

Fast Food Haiku

Wok and Roll
Friday night's exhaust
Yakatori or sockitumi?

Keeping Them Crossed

I keep my fingers crossed

Hope for the best

Indulge in expectation, again

Thinking that knocking on wood

Will protect us all

Or that the proper placement of objects

Will bring about what I am

Always working towards

I send wishes to the stars

And trust that the

Cosmic arrangement of things

Out in cold, dark, and

Unconscious space

Will guide my small dreams

Into orbit around a glowing globe

Somewhere

My intentions are directed

Toward a future I'm hoping

Is beyond the reach of this past

Filled, as it is, with

Cracks beneath my slow-witted feet

Mirrors broken by accident

Hats thrown casually on beds

And a lot of ladders

Mid-life Crisis

Oh, my God!

My hair!

My waistline!

My bank account!

And, death, too!

Checking It Twice

Let’s make a list of the
powerful words
the evocative ones
the ones that will
bring forth love
from the cruelest heart
and replace the weeds
with flowers

that will turn the moon full
that will cast long shadows
that will inspire birdsong
that will ignite the flames
that will melt the ice
set the table
keep the pages turning

that will breathe honey
that will create a breeze
that will still chaos
that will cross bridges at twilight
improve tans
straighten desks
and build strong bodies 12 ways

Words that will saw a woman in half
pull a rabbit out of the hat
push worry to one side
unseal fate
instill confidence
and bind together all wounds

Words that coast downhill and
incite perpetual motion
that carry the tune
take the weight off
induce laughter

Words that bring about reconciliation
accomplish big deeds
that fire the imagination
that initiate long years of prosperity
and cause dreams to arise
like fish to the surface

Words that compel the impossible
install, nearby, the unreachable
and allow the inevitable

Words that
share the wealth
save the whales
and give peace a chance

Words
more powerful than despair
words that evoke the once hoped-for
and now forgotten

These words are a way to
define a wish
to tell the future
to make hope real

a way to imagine
a way to begin


- Ted Ringer

4/5/09

First, we take a little step
And then we take another
We started somewhere way back there
And now we're here, oh brother!

Two Thousand Nine, April fifth
It sounds like science fiction
We're walking on this road of life
Let's do it with conviction

Those little steps accumulate
And take us quite a distance
Along the way, we sometimes fight
But we bow to Time's insistence

There is no other way we find
And no other way is better
We stick our toe into the lake
And each day just get wetter

Finally, we're in the swim
Contentedly, we're floating
Each drop contains a universe
Each drop deserves our noting

- Ted Ringer



Way, way back.



At least the robbers
left this one thing behind -
moon in my window

- Ryokan

Jazz

Hello Poets, writers or not, today is the day.


Jazz

His hands, like alligators, are eating up the keys
And he’s there, facing the music, jumping up a little on the bench
To pull the notes out of that battered old box,
Running up the keyboard to hit the one note that gets you,
Left hand laying down the beat for the trumpet to soar over.
We’re pinned to our chairs and know there is nothing else to do
Except, take it in.

The trumpet now is overstated, but no matter, the moment will pass
And another will come to take its place and then it will be now again.
Always now, moving to the next bar, the next inspiration,
One note coming out of the one before it, without thought,
All made from feeling, rising to drive us crazy.

- Ted Ringer



And, oh, the past.



Canis Major

The great Overdog.
That heavenly beast
With a star in one eye,
Gives a leap in the east.

He dances upright
All the way to the west
And never once drops
On his forefeet to rest.

I'm a poor underdog,
But tonight I will bark
With the great Overdog
That romps through the dark.

- Robert Frost

Poems On Parade!

Flags are flying.  Poem majorettes are twirling.  Poem players are marching - some in order, some not.  Everyone is out in the sunshine waving, watching, wondering.  

Did I mention wishing, remembering, and celebrating!?   Kids, moms and dads, guys hanging out on the corner, girls giggling and pointing, grandcouples smiling, everyone is glad to be here and ready for more.  

Old standbys, new friends.  Form and formless.  Figure and ground.  Noise and silence.   Whispers, exclamations.  Narrative and abstract.  Colorful and wildly monochromatic.  Serious (ahem) and not so.  Big words, small ones.  But, plenty of them.  Or, not.  

Welcome to the parade.  Every day is a holiday.  Everything, an occasion. 

Krazy

I am always ready to play along

And trace the picture here before us

Two trees amidst the wilderness

Two birches in the forest

The moon shines down 

Through leaf and limb

It's raining down upon us

And sings so sweetly in the dark

To you, Ignatz, addunnis

You merry mouse

You show yourself

Not through words

But through your actions

With your bricks of love

A home we'll build

A shelter from all factions

Of discord

And of datchord

Of one and 

One another

For me, there's you

That's all there is

There isn't any other

 

- Ted Ringer

And now, a blast from the Past.

Simple Talk

Spilling themselves in the sun bluebirds

wing-mention their names all day.  If everything

told so clear a life, maybe the sky would

come, maybe heaven; maybe appearance and

truth would be the same.  Maybe whatever seems

to be so, we should speak so from our souls,

never afraid, "Light" when it comes,

"Dark" when it goes away. 

- William Stafford