letters

why do they call them letters
are they a b or c
or those writings we send by snail mail
i guess some make others
maybe they even meet others
on the program mash
a classroom of children send letters to their unit
it becomes a soul searching journey for each doctor
each child has questions that haunt their very being
each doctor responds with real
their own soul searching story
hawkeye
received a letter from a boy
who's uncle was patched up in a medical unit
then sent out again and was killed
why? 
was the boy's question
and then
i hate what you are doing there
hawkeye had no answer
asked father mulcahy
who mentioned his own soul searching letter
hawkeye was on his own
and then a civilian was brought to 4077
hawkeye and hotlips fix him up
save his life
hawkeye is ready
to write his letter

denis streeter   3/31/20

I'm a Stranger Here Myself

Is the title of a volume by Ogden Nash from a 1938 collection.
If I were to speak at an open mike,
I would read from page 144 to 146
The Strange Case of Mr. Fortague's Disappointment 

Once upon a time there was a man named Mr. Lionel
       Fortague.

He didn't have much to talk about.

In summer he used to ask people if it was hot enough
      for them.

It always was.

In winter he used to ask people if it was cold enough
       for them.

It always was..

Mr. Lionel Fortague got pretty sick of people it was
       hot enough for.

He got pretty sick of people it was cold enough for, too.

He decided he would arise and go now.

He decided he would go to Innisfree.

The people of Innisfree are different, thought Mr.
      Lionel Fortague. 

As soon as he got to Innisfree he asked the people if
       it was cold enough for them.

They asked him What?  Was what cold enough for
        who?

Mr. Lionel Fortague was delighted.

I knew Innisfree would be different, he said to himself.

He could hardly wait for summer to verify his con-
      clusion.

As soon as summer came he asked everybody if it was
        hot enough for them.

Everybody said the question was familiar but they
        couldn't remember the answer.

Mr. Lionel Fortague said he would settle down on
      Innisfree, the home of iridescent chitchat.

He said he would a small cabin build there, of clay
       and wattles made.

Everybody said did he mean he would build a small
        cabin there, made of clay and wattles?

Mr. Lionel Fortague said yes, but his way of putting
       it was more poetic.

Everybody said maybe, but they were all out of wattles.

Mr. Lionel Fortague grew very angry at the people of
       Innisfree.

He a small cabin built there, of clay and beaverboard
       made.

He a fierce-looking dog at an annual clearance sale
      bought, and it the people of Innisfree one by one
      to bite he instructed.

My, he was disappointed.

He had forgotten that a bargain dog never bites.


Edward Lear.

reflection on daniel 2

there is a heart of darkness
so dark of compacted light
coaling our surroundings
it comes in different packages
form fitting lives triversity
if there is the father son and the holy spirit
do these split open dark passageways
mother creation holy spirit
splits conversely bring together
battlefields dark with light
light with dark
shades intermingling broken
mixed iron and clay
bronze silver gold toppling down
daniel's king dreams
seeking interpretation
generations
compacted light
a tightened soul
strings so low no vibration
an altared fact does not know
it's double fractured
wheat and chaff
good and bad
where do you come from
light within this burial

denis streeter    3/24/20

the bait

afternoon minds
a crisp brown baked
nothing mind
a baked green take
saucing up my sleeve
math in sleeveless knees
captures left behind
bait whose asking
a clout meant to sleeve
bait could not benign
unnumber waits
won't benign line
late without a crime
that we know
baboons acknowledge
crem brulees and leaves
altar shavings left
saves bees knees
nickel mending minds
plum puddings next
no sleeves for spit
a strange constitution
meanders shades of hay
that got away
all that means goes
a means to pray
no altaring that
oh god
sensibles conclusion
crisp brown baked
shaves leave behind
norms go home
abs bake sleeves
everyone waits

denis streeter    3/20/20

add another

each afternoon brings another
death on its bed
not as morbid as its said
there no apostrophe graves
each side deserves another
grave circumstances provide
a temple in a grain of sand
and other words of useless wisdom
an equal chance for beginning
better lose that hose
a flytrap and a lance of wine
a trigger happy fool with a stick of gum
thats what the bystander said when having fun
a riskless retaliation bed
all souped up to go
down your head uprampted
a suicidal duck trimmed high
wheres the gum
hiding in the shadows
not the shadows again, anything but the shadows
yep.  afraid so.  its my default phrase
putting gun in my wrist sandwich
just for fun to whinny the hay
guess its meant this way
but not for long
its giving up gas for sandpaper
check the lines between the edges
this wont be revised
nor televised
why would it be
it has no horse whip nor blue cheese
why the long face
its chased with ivy
no need for the doctor.  a shade of gray
a tightening of the chest hey hey
just watch it
you're doing the best you can
theres no envy
just a left over bottle on its way
no y when xe
what does that equal
a pair or a date
be prepared
make sure its enough
you cant get it someone can
get in line pay the price
give me rice and beans
maybe some nuts or almonds
be prepared
do you have enough fruit
vegetate cognitate
how will it lie with your pants on fire
just another expression
tell me your impression
you know your y
tell me your xz
no you cant im dying
just kidding
you cant say just kidding in these times
no time for humor people are dying
fear is
fear is
add one
add another

denis streeter    3/18/20