Ape Man

Inside me an ape man hides

i know because by osmosis he seeps

into my soul

so that 

instinct overrules 

fear triggers 

adrenaline surges

fists clench

I know what's fair

but how I know I owe to him

who knows what courage is

and knows what's in our genes

challenged we strive

we grow we feed

pull ourselves up

though gravity pulls us down

our minds learn to muscle up

to crawl to stand

inside me a genetic core

programmed to survive

easy to provoke

be careful

don't trespass on my freedom

for I'm one of many in my tribe

all programmed to survive

straining at the yoke

to fight another bloke

if needs must 

should we forget we're civilized

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                    2024

After E.P’s: Ts’ai Chi’h

there's a stone statue

a woman pouring water

into a bird bath

powered by current

water flowing forever

coming through the pipes

always replenished

if there is running water

day after dry day

tall montbretias

pennants guarding the bird bath

only for a while

red blossoms clinging

that fell in the stone fountain

shredded yellow white

a hummingbird sipped

before weather wear and tear 

drowned them in water

she’s still beautiful

she pours water very well

while there is water

an aged statue

molded around a brass pipe

birds perch on her head

Dick Russell © Richard M. Russell

                         2924

Jokers Wild

So, one of the nine 
slipped a trump card 
into the decision deck 
a get out of jail free card
for breaking the law what the heck
a reusable get out of jail card
used to trump Jack Smith

overt legal power 
immunity
the shape of things to come
awake to the rule of kings
with divine right and then some
for lives can be made forfeit 
estates proscribed
just as was once described

So, six of the nine
stacked the card deck
installed a de facto King
even though elections weren't over
afraid of what elections bring
the voice of the people heard over
bigots wanting serfs again

So, three of the nine
chose freedom
showed courage to stand up
three women standing for millions
most of the country knows what's up
five men and Amy driven by billions
dollars hiding from tax
polluters wanting regs lax

In November 
will we awake
to find we've been trumped
or will people come to the ramparts 
to stop freedom from being jumped
yes, they will be brave hearts
and unselect a King
yes, they will be counted
freedom will take wing

]
Dick Russell © Richard M Russell
                        2024

 

 Ode to Loveliness

I’m alone in the evening 

politics pulsing urgently in the news

traffic noise far-off and near-by birdsong

I was most alone when I most desired to be talented

to be able to write short stories in pubs 

or at an outdoor table in a French café

under a fringed canopy near a sheet plane glass window 

where I could see Hemingway 

oblivious except to words flowing onto the page

telling him the story he was writing

Persephone’s fragrance wafts in air

near a fast-flowing fountain

water splashing from its brink

where hummingbirds drink

She bathed nearby and her perfume lingers

all around blossoms touched by her fingers

Water flowing and falling forever

pumped into a bathing bowl songbirds prefer

then one larger robins use

then even bigger should they dare

a yard wide almost a foot deep

on a base decorated with acanthus leaves

upstairs a bath is running

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                    2024

 Shaving

I do homage to my father every day

when I hold a razor under a running tap

to wash away metal bits left on the edge

he warned me to do this with new blades

before he died when I was beardless 

eight years old

I remember him each time I shave

Dick Russell (c) Richard M. Russell

                        2024

 Unnamable You

Stories survive, stone walls crumble but words still tell of you

I can speak of Medea, tell of Odysseus, but not you

in a world without wheely-bins where wooden ships once sailed

where honor was most of the law, beliefs only in what you saw

you were unnamable but all knew who you were

you were their hope their destiny their goal

except for rubble there's no trace now that world was a mythic place

 of witches, warriors, tyrant kings where pottery was precious

there were no disposable things just half lemon rind spoons on twigs

still our hope is unnamable still there would be tyrant kings

unspoken words still tell of our hope our Swainson thrush singing

far off in the woods a free bird unheard when head phone enslaved 

unspoken hopes never described unmentionable written down

unnamable you 

Dick Russell (C) Richard M Russell

                         2024

 Ode: To Inspiration

So Donal kicked his slippers off

travelled on bare feet

swiveled swaggered high stepped side stepped

made it to the street

his muse clasped him in her arms

once again he was young

standing outside her house

his first day onshore of a magic place

encircled by trees

water not far

as an outcast feels

so it felt to be alone

downcast

facing winter without a scarf

journeying to Spain

to cold Valladolid

austere in winter as in spring

to find her again

with a sketchbook

wearing a handmade scarf of tie-dyed silk

loosely tied

colors of gold and green

shades of reds and browns

clash 

to find her again

by an orange grove where a stream

fell from the hills

in Andalusia below Ronda

where beauty bathed in a stream

long hair iridescent in moonlight

brushed in sunlight

to find her again

when she had seemed long lost

having her near thereafter

Dick Russell © Richard M. Russell

                   2024