Telegram

Tendrils hold one another,
timeless art expands my split second--
Margot Fonteyn’s arms pushing out the borders.
 
A bee burrows into a cucumber flower,
deliriously clear,
moisture dampens the buzzing.
 
STOP A heat wave hits three continents STOP More than 100 Barbie dolls are sold every minute STOP A global warming “tipping point” is closer than once thought STOP
 
Raindrops jump on the lake’s surface,
a tern hunts in thunder,
while a heavy-headed rose bows under the downpour.
 
Miniature frogs take to the paths,
pilgrims among the slick leaves,
prophesying autumn.
 
STOP As the world boils, a backlash to climate action gains strength STOP The hottest July STOP Why Barbie Must Be Punished STOP
 
The aroma of tomatoes is stark and forbidden,
a wild aphrodisiac,
making roots heave.
 
The sting of nettle drowns in the rotting,
needles dissolve
into a smoothie for the soil.
 
STOP Trump is crushing GOP rivals STOP Barbie on Bitcoin STOP Elon Musk’s geopolitical clout STOP
 
Beans bend the corn,
in tangled, heavy stocks,
submitting to gravity.
 
Golden hairs—a child’s or a witch’s? —befuddle the ants
over sheaths of white kernels
protected by a stiff green glove.
 
STOP Trump is indicted, again STOP Elon Musk on ‘white genocide’ STOP Summer of Barbenheimer STOP
 
Under the succulent grass is the straw bed,
a memory of the summer’s moods,
cushioning the earth.
 
Chantarelles defy the contraction,
African ochre in the musty decay,
skirts of whirling dervishes.
 
STOP How Quran Burners Got the Global Attention They Wanted STOP A Wedding Pushes Through Despite Floods STOP What’s in Trump’s Head STOP
 
Honey oozes through the sieve--
wax, pollen, and the dead,
all, work for ants.
 
Too-slow or too-fast, too-long or too-short,
nonsensical in the sweet lava--
yearning toward sugar crystals.
 
STOP Ukraine and Russia expand the battlefield STOP Can carbon dioxide removal save us? STOP Barbie’s 1 Billion Dollar Box Office Haul STOP
 
Morning brings the rhythmical rounds--
stir the honey, water the greenhouses,
clear the debris, rinse off the dirt.
 
Relinquish the conquest!
Spiderwebs will be cotton candy in the corners,
butterflies will leave their eggs in the kale.
 
STOP Disaster in Hawaii STOP What Should You Do with an Oil Fortune? STOP She Wants to Burn Down Hollywood STOP
 
Warmth returns,
feeding the illusion,
a dream of never-ending summer.
 
Bushes re-bud—could play be forever? --
but the gentle air holds the tension,
tired flowerpots betray our make-believe.
 
STOP Ukraine’s War of Attrition Draws Parallels to WWI STOP Death Toll in Maui Wildfires Rises to 89 STOP Gen Z’s Housing Anguish STOP
 
Wasps lick wood,
hungry for the cracks
in a life of twenty-two days.
 
Hornets scavenge for light,
under the window latticing,
sun-seeking tourists.

​STOP America’s Obsession with Monster Trucks STOP Trump Hit with Racketeering Charges STOP The Ruble is in Rubble STOP
 
The mature sun’s glory
bleaches highlights in the birch,
stroking the greying water.
 
The roses try for another round,
but their flowers are small, their scent timid
in air that smells of burnt sugar.
 
STOP See the Powerful Storm’s Latest Path STOP India’s Moon Landing Sets the Tone for A New Type of Space Race STOP Trump Inflated Property Values by $2.2 Billion STOP
 
The storms have come,
but the morning’s immersion continues--
The wind slices off the tips of waves, freshening my face.
 
The summer is over, but there is still time,
always time, neither friend nor foe,
a condition that softens us.
 
STOP Punctuation is too expensive STOP We don’t have time for it STOP We’d like to stop STOPPING, but we can’t STOP
 
A telegram from August 2023.

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