—Poems and Photos by Robert Lee Haycock, Antioch
TOMB OF THE MUSE
In at the front door:
Hushed expectations
Glimmer, glamour, shimmer, sham
Shushing of school kids
More like a library
Tut notwithstanding
Church of the Plastic Arts
Static, unchanging
In at the back door:
Cubicles, closets, oubliettes
Cacophony, kakistocracy
Cliques, cabals, catered events
Conflicted interests
Compromised ethics
And meetings and meetings and meetings
And meetings and meetings and meetings
Designs on napkins (I kid you not)
Prima donnas and borderline psychopaths
Peter's Principle personified perpetually
There I go
With baling wire and bubblegum
Getting it done yesterday
To no one's satisfaction
In at the front door:
Hushed expectations
Glimmer, glamour, shimmer, sham
Shushing of school kids
More like a library
Tut notwithstanding
Church of the Plastic Arts
Static, unchanging
In at the back door:
Cubicles, closets, oubliettes
Cacophony, kakistocracy
Cliques, cabals, catered events
Conflicted interests
Compromised ethics
And meetings and meetings and meetings
And meetings and meetings and meetings
Designs on napkins (I kid you not)
Prima donnas and borderline psychopaths
Peter's Principle personified perpetually
There I go
With baling wire and bubblegum
Getting it done yesterday
To no one's satisfaction
NOT WHAT I MEANT
I looked for you in the stars' icy fires
I looked for you as the days spun back
I looked for you in the green flames of leaves
I looked for you as new love died
I looked for you in unchanging moons
In suns that stood still
In meteors that mounted to the skies
I looked for you through a ridicule of tears
A humiliation of successes
A surety of doubts
I looked for you in the young man's empty promise
The old woman's unborn children
The baby's ancient soul
I looked for you among the leaden clouds
Beneath the ponderous heights of the sea
Above the unassailable mountain roots
And I found you
PLACE OF THE HUMMINGBIRDS
It was up from Lexington and Wright's Station
From there down to Loma Prieta and Corralitos
That radar flower spun seaward
Then scanned back across the bay
Lockheed P3 Orions wasp-stingered
Prop-driven Navy grays from Moffett
Hummingbirds licking nectar from Mount Umunhum
From Umunhum's twirling blossom
Oo mun hoom
Oo mun hoom
All is well
As well as can be in a cold war world
LIVING WELL
The Creators sing and Stars shine
Galaxies crash and Black Holes
Turn themselves inside out
Consider the Aeons that have rolled
To make you possible
To bring you here and now
You are as essential to the Universe
As the Big Bang and Dark Matter
As Gravity and Light
Never imagine that you are not wanted
Never imagine that you are not needed
Never was a time when you never were
There is nothing to fear
There is nothing to fear
There is nothing to fear
_______________________
Today's LittleNip:
Saturday night
Bob Wilkins
Creature Features
Laughing my head off or
Cowering behind the couch
National Anthem
Faure's Pavane
Test pattern
Snow and sleep
The Creators sing and Stars shine
Galaxies crash and Black Holes
Turn themselves inside out
Consider the Aeons that have rolled
To make you possible
To bring you here and now
You are as essential to the Universe
As the Big Bang and Dark Matter
As Gravity and Light
Never imagine that you are not wanted
Never imagine that you are not needed
Never was a time when you never were
There is nothing to fear
There is nothing to fear
There is nothing to fear
_______________________
Today's LittleNip:
Saturday night
Bob Wilkins
Creature Features
Laughing my head off or
Cowering behind the couch
National Anthem
Faure's Pavane
Test pattern
Snow and sleep
_______________________
—Medusa
