12/24 any year

 12/24 any year

there's a box and another.
another. another. another.
gifts are to let go of, and
like lottery tickets are not
to be used for investment
purposes - whatever the
diamond sellers tell you.

snippets of vintagerie 
and advice in the on-line edition

thanks to astonishing impresarios,
former foundrymen, former ...er...
politicians and eclectic artists advise,
"don't try this at home, except when
you do." you see, difficulties attend
every gestation, and fill our oh so
short summers with beguilement.

    news from a small town 52, December 2011

assigned reading

once upon a time in a land
where Chinese miners were
murdered, the literati decided
to read about the lives of their
descendents, older and newer,
to check out the traditional chow -
not the kind Americans eat – to
play the gambling games, to learn
the lives of the ones made in-
visible. this is called progress, in
between the bar fights and in-
justices. life lurches forward and
sometimes it doesn’t. growth is
hard to see except when it isn’t,
except when it is held up as
a shining example of what we
won’t tolerate here. if you
make yourself small enough, we
may just let you be, maybe even
call youfriend. but you never know
for sure. watch how we treat
each other, and then you decide.

    news from a small town 51, December 2011

wrong turn

twenty years ago, a wrong turn,
turned back any number of times,
returned to town, got a new job,
a new life, a new car – came back
to the end of the road, took
a deep breath, bounced and
jounced down the track to where
you are, got turned away at last.
now I need a new road, friend.

     news from a small town 50, November 2011

semi-feudal fiefdom (Joseph, Oregon)

there’s always a lemon floating in this
traditional style lemonade. and -
sometimes you just can’t make up
the muck that passes for reasoned
discourse here, so here goes: via
PhD, we are a semi-feudal fiefdom
in thrall, with pre-capitalistic systems
serving to protect something from
something (but we aren’t sure just
what) -  nonetheless, we will enforce
our ways, and blame you for the kids
who need milk, the mills that have
run off to richer/poorer pastures, and
the places where our pillowcases are
not recognized at the local laundry.
be still my heart: those people like
those people and so are to be pestered
with regulations and expenses – then
we’ll lower the boom anyway, hints
the realtor on the commission. but
shooting one's foot, lynching, and
bar fights are the favored means of
making a living here, because, you know
it is the tradition, but not anyone can play.

    news from a small town 49, November 2011

winter zen

half an inch of mystery -
flake by flake

white on white on white

     news from a small town 48, November 2011

mustelid news

photo-perfect, a pair of
they-aren’t-here wolverines
appear, eyes shining in the
spotlight. and now the game
department celebrates what
they pooh-poohed before -
and the old biologist who
could have said “told you so,”
just makes two more marks
on his collection of sightings –
that makes ninety possible, thirty
probable, two on digital media.

    news from a small town 47, November 2011

sonnet for the merchant's association

the merchants are thinking of disbanding
after the holiday celebrations - maybe
"We'll just go hang with the group down
the road - make it two for one in a bad
economy." that's loose in the paper, just
before the next holiday sale. time to see
will it feel good enough to keep it together. 

over coffee, they debate: "Do we feel safe
enough  to do this, knowing just how the chair 

of the gang next town down whips her group
into shape, paralyzing independent action?
and what about what they all say - behind
her back? or are we grown-ups enough 
to make the right next choice, til next time?

and there in the corner, whispering, the same
old troublemakers: "We can take over, you know."

    news from a small town 46, November 2011

ranch dressing

I am the fatted calf; let the bellering begin 

as I go down to the trampled water grounds
wearing this season’s seeds and burrs.
I strut a grazing gaze across the landscape
that carries within it the seeds of deconstruction.
but you know, while cars can carry them
everywhere, ain’t no beggars ticks on me.

      news from a small town 45, November 2011

in the news: it's us v. us

in the news again: it's us v. us
however we make them the
them... and in response 
all that displeasure expressed
pithily-wittily – when enough is -
find a dark hole, bury self-satisfaction in’t.

     news from a small town 44, November 2011

how to lie with statistics and be quoted in the local paper

"killing two wolves won't have an effect on the population as a whole"

the only thing between us and tyranny is bureaucracy.
you don't want those official wheels to grind too fast

especially on illogical days when furlough cuts
the state paycheck a bit too tight at holiday time. thus:

"it's only two wolves - it won't affect the population
as a whole." but what I want to know is "since when

is dead not dead?" and if it's all true, then "why bother
with killing at all?" make up your mind! or wait, perhaps

it is. gather your troika and guns, boys, and be sure to
hang the wolf-loving B&B's out for breakfast. thus -

if you have twenty fingers and toes, what happens
if you cut off two? will that hobbling gait be nothing

to you? or will you hang around for the lopping
of another two, another two, till you run out? 

News from a small town 43, Oct 2011

Notes from and Interview (for Lasso the Wind)

Notes from an interview: “These rural people are
pretty simple and unsophisticated,” the local
rouser of rabble said, leading a mob of eighty
so-called friends and neighbors to hang in effigy
two folks on the other side of an idea. Not that
this is new. “Joseph didn’t sell” notes Tim Eagan,
lucky enough to be through here but not on
the business end of an imaginary lynch mob.
Meanwhile, life goes on. “Vote for me!” pleads
this one and that. "I'm of this place - and here
just for you is a bumper sticker equal in
intellectual weight to my estimate
of your intelligence.” And with that, we'll all
operate according to our morals (all secretly
thinking prophylactically - I don’t want my laws
enforced with someone else's morals - as
you never know where they’ve been.) Oh, it’s
beautiful here in Wallowa County - poor stolen,
beat-up landscape. And all of us are complacent
beneficiaries  - whatever side we're on, no matter
how righteous or not, we occupy the Wallowa Country.

News from a small town 42, Oct 2011

tis the season, but not the one you think

I’ll bet you three bucks 

you’ll find them hiding out
in someone’s back yard, 

browsing the lilacs in town, 
now its hunting season.

No need to confirm this
prediction – you know
two days before the orange
vests and whiskey bottles
hit the ground for good

all the whitetails, all the
mule deer have hit the
road for lower ground
where they’re strictly
off limits. Deer too, read all

the ODFW reports, and snicker
as they head straight to town,
where all the dogs know that
barking only brings on antlers
and hooves for the trouble.

News from a small town 41, Oct 2011

the illusion next door

five old men sit and solve

the problems of the world

or at least next door over

fair coffee and good muffins

five young women drive by

laughing and smoking and

not yet aware of fear or where

the next meal might not come

five middle-aged women

conspire over red wine and

good chocolate - it is not

at core, all about the men

five teen boys flex their fists

and contemplate pounding

fear of god and law and

where to get the next beer

it's a town like any other
some good, some wretched
some joy, some pain - but

all so very close to home

 News from a small town 40, Oct 2011

winter in a tea cup

that's not rain dancing
in the sky

only October snow 

 News from a small town 39, Oct 2011

again

we thought we might miss it
this is the week the larch pops
yellow on the hillsides, just
before frost bites the valley
just before the second snow
and just after that fake winter
that somehow lasted a week,
that second day of hunting season

 News from a small town 38, Oct 2011

Explanations and resolutions

Aug. 15

Unsecure business reported.

Aren’t they all?

Possible wolf kill.
Possible hooraw to come.

Aug. 16
Horse running loose on Highway 82 in rural town mid valley.
Ticketed for speeding.

Alarm reported at the Lake.
Oh gasp!

Aug. 17
Alarm at business reported.
There, there, dear. Nothing to fear.

Aug. 18

Suspicious circumstances in rural town up valley.
Aren’t they always?

Tractor fire reported from rural town up valley.

You’ve got to be kidding.

Revolver reported lost.

At least it works.

Dark-colored water reported from resident.
Too much vitamin B, perhaps.

Aug. 19
Dog complaint in town.

Cat therapist summoned.
 

Aug. 20

Road hazard up valley.

Three cars that morning.

Aug. 21

Horse on Imnaha Highway in city limits, owner located.
Horsing around in progress.

Motorcycle accident on the 39 Road.

Oh ouch.

Civil dispute up valley, noise complaint down.
Civil but loud.

 News from a small town 37, Oct 2011

applesauce season

little fresh apples
bubbling on
the electric hob,
a few leaves in
the sink; modern
homesteading
in Wallowa country

News from a small town 36, Oct 2011

     

personals (who would dare?)

rattling open the page

of my local paper, I see

so many options for life:

love-adoption-lots-of-love

allied health care, all on line

$135 divorce, 1-5 weeks -

and multiple anonymous meetings

the answer is in there somewhere

I dare you to find it

 news from a small town 35, September 2011

the conviction was eventually reversed (found poem)

Ancient curse:

may you live
in an
interesting
county.

news from a small town 34, September 2011

applications available (soul optional)

so you want to be

a rodeo princess

maybe the queen -

to ride down the

main streets of

grubby little towns

(just like home).
and you can be
in the grand entry

at every rodeo
grinding fairground
dirt to fairy powder.

all we ask is this:
don’t be too different, too

chubby, too intellectual - oh!

and you must promise to 
keep out of trouble while
you're representing us...

so no one can point
and snicker. here's how
we’ll know you’re good enough:

you won’t fall off, you will sell
tickets like hell, and you will

buy the company line.

news from a small town 33, August 2011