Vance Joy life surfer (folk fest '23 #2)

you like this 

upbeat smile 

ukulele vibe 

surfboard freedom 

singing love and adventure

in this tough tough world 

making it better one wave after another 

this likes you 

 

tilted

yellowed maple leaves

sigh down onto lawn marking 

fall’s onset in late August 

tilt of the planet doing it again 

as it has through the ages 

but here it is again 

Autumn’s death giving way to 

sweaters and shoes of September 

we are all tilted this way 

tied torn tattered 

by life 

detached 

and drifting on the wind

sunsitting

like a cat 

I sit in the sunbeam through the window 

warming my cold shoulder 

until a dark cloud passes over 

and I wonder if more rain is coming 

cuz what I really need is the giving sun 

in a blue sky softening my hard heart 

until these chord clusters connect 

with the deep strings of 

longing within 

and purring begins

Oma and Norah in flowerbed

grandmother amidst

flowers in the sun holding

child intent reaching

 

Fleet Foxes (folkfest '23 poem #1)

abstract videos like hospital wall art

play behind you on 

that large stage 

after the storm and 

you fling your butterfly harmonies 

out into the tarpy crowd 

song after song of vocal variation 

that rests on bruised souls 

like a multi-coloured monarch 

that has winged one thousand miles 

to be here resting so lightly 

a certain healing can occur 

and we can leave the hospital bed 

in our teeming minds 

 

Roger and Bambi

dog and boy exist in syzygy 

aligned in spirits that gravity

like moon and earth 

in constant tug and push 

wax and wane 

tides of love come in go out 

so clasp your leash to this collar 

and go gadding through ditches of thin spring ice together 

undistracted by squirrels’ silly chirps tree to tree 

chilling rubber boots and stinking fur 

with brisk bracing water 

for this is no quiz or test 

no right or wrong 

no A or F 

just growing blonde boy and eager shepherd dog 

in the dark abyss 

where 

if you close your eyes 

the phosphenes can set you on your way to see 

the promise that exudes 

from two lives leaning together 

life teaches life

blue eyes shining 

smile at cousin jumping blond curls bouncing 

and giggles escape seven month mouth 

with two sharp teeth growing 

she sucks on pickles or watermelon 

always holding with right hand 

left is used for balance while she bounces on lap 

and tests her voice for all the different noises it can make 

for life teaches life and we can only watch 

sometimes how the sparks behind those eyes

line up and map the future