Thursday, May 7, 2015

AND THEN THERE WAS GODFREY

AND THEN THERE WAS GODFREY   

‘You look like happy birds in there.’
Unusual greeting by the gas station
Attendant.
Processing: literal birds?
Nope.
Birds, like in a British pub?
Nope.
Godfrey offers a wee smile,
Gazes at the sky of
Increasing cloudiness.
Entirety of self realizes
This is A Moment.
I hand him the payment card:
‘Please fill the tank with regular.’
He moves softly, quietly,
Doing his job-
Which is not his job.
Returning to my lowered window
He gives a little cough,
Proceeds with his heart.
‘When I was eight years old,
I decided to make
Everyone in the world
My friend.
People think I pump gas,
But all I am is an Aviation Event.’
Aha, my brain proceeds,
Method to madness to meaning.
Birds fly.
Birds soar.
Birds sing.
Bids make nests.
My brain proceeds but
Godfrey is not done.
‘Now folk don’t see me,
They see the gas pump.
They judge me.
But I am not down here.
I am soaring.
I am making friends.’
The last tank of petrol
On the last day of traveling
On the last leg of the journey
Yields another blessing on top of
A thousand blessings in a
Mere two weeks.
It is easy to make eye contact
With this Aviation Event.
It is easy to smile
With this Aviation Event.
It is easy to cry a bit
With this Aviation Event.
The pump clicks off.
The chocolate gentleman
Of soft voice and white beard
Hands me the card and receipt.
‘Yes,’ he states, ‘I am making progress.’
Indeed.
Godfrey has two new friends.
‘God bless you Godfrey.’
‘God bless you too.’
It is only then
I realize that,
On the Garden State Parkway,
In the midst of crushing rush hour,
We were, most unusually,
The only car at the pumps.

(CarolAnn Edscorn, Jaffrey, NH. April 10. 2015)
)

Interior Room Insights: Travel learning


There is no privacy.

Sitting in your car
Paused at the signal light
Tapping the fingers of one hand
On the steering wheel in rhythm to
Perhaps music on the radio or CD
You think no one sees the other hand
Rising to your nose-
Fascinating human constructs.

There is no privacy.

Shopping with the family
Pausing to read the label
Pausing to inspect the product
Catching your mirror image
You gaze around looking for lookers
And angling your body
Slightly ever so slightly
You reach down to straighten
Those Lines of underclothing
And you think no one sees you
But it is a store and
It is a holiday weekend
And please stop being naïve
And crass –
Human behavior does have some
Rules which make sense
Use the restroom

There is no privacy.
Especially for political diatribe.
In the restroom.

Touring the nation’s capitol
Is akin to touring the Vatican
Opulence
Marble, brass doors polished,
Cloisonne in rich lapis,
Misty lavender, opalescent
Grandeur circling through the
Mere two centuries of Americana
And the American citizen makes
Judgments
In the bathrooms of the capital
“Can you believe the
Amount of money
Spent in this place?”
Wafts across air molecules between
Stall walls
“Right? They need to stop
Making porcelain frames and
Brass relief sculptures and
Feed the poor of the city!”
Heeled shoes clicking on marble floors
Water washing hands below polished
Brass faucets and gilt encrusted mirrors
“So much waste! (Irony of place)
Makes me ill to see all this
And know how much poverty there is!”

I keep quiet.
I really want to comment.
I have heard this naïveté before.
Most of this was constructed
Decades ago, even centuries ago,
Inspiration, look for beauty,
Look for opportunity,
Look for a future.

There is no privacy.
Human behavior is perplexing.
Human behavior is complex.
Human behavior is—
Not private.


(CarolAnn Edscorn, Jaffrey NH May 7 2015)

Best Beastie Best Friend

SHAAAAAAAAKES-
peare.
SHAKES! Hey!
Kommst hier du kind!
Come, come, come!
Looking about
But he won’t come out,
I am feeling a bit dumb.
SHAAAAAAAKES-
Oh there you are!
Under my bed. Funny dog.
So fat, hard to believe
You can tuck under there!
My big, happy, chunky,
pup, my forever
Best Beastie!
Come here. Treat.
Let me scratch your—
You are so fast!
Scritch scratch How’s that?
I so hope our love lasts.
My forever and ever
Best Beastie.


Shuttle Song: Traveling and learning

Shuttle Song

A 15 minute ride
Bumpy 15 minutes
Anxious 15 minutes
Merely hotel to airport
So very early
So very, very early
In the morning
In the city more or less
No spring peepers chirping
No robins out tree singing
Just the shuttle drive
Me and my dog
And he is Alex
Jamaican
Deep rolling voice with
THAT ACCENT which
Many love in commercials right?

One must listen to the elderly
One must tune the ears
The quiet voice the accent
The words chosen because
Alex is all about choice
And his voice is Jamaican
Lilting, rolling

Ant chu know all righty
Dat dis life, it’s all about de choice
We make de choice
Sometime de right choice
Okay yes?
Sometime de good choice
Okay yes?
Oh but sometime it is
De Wrong Choice
Capital W Choice
And sometime de choice
One dinks it is guud
One believes it is guud
But it comes out to be a
Wrong Choice
Okay yes?

It is hard werk to make de Good Choice
To make de good choice
Dat is also de right choice
Okay yes?

Ya make a choice today
Ya make de choice
Ya make a way
So
Ya go home today, yes,
Go to yo home and
Make yo choices
And be happy
Okay yes?

Yes, Alex, I will.

(CarolAnn Edscorn, May 6, 2015)


Saturday, January 3, 2015

365 Sketchy Days of Art 2015

Some people choose to diet, some to exercise, some to pray. Been there, done that. New directions in old age!

"Nailed It" January First 2015 Ink
CarolAnn Edscorn
"Milk and Cookies" January Second 2015 Ink and wax pencils;
pointillism and cross hatch
CarolAnn Edscorn

Monday, December 8, 2014

Best Beastie

SHAAAAAAAAKES-
peare.
SHAKES! Hey!
Kommst hier du kind!
Come, come, come!
Looking about
But he won’t come out,
I am feeling a bit dumb.
SHAAAAAAAKES-
Oh there you are!
Under my bed. Funny dog.
So fat, hard to believe
You can tuck under there!
My big, happy, chunky,
pup, my forever
Best Beastie!
Come here. Treat.
Let me scratch your—
You are so fast!
Scritch scratch How’s that?
I so hope our love lasts.
My forever and ever
Best Beastie.



Choices


I will never ever understand how people see differences and abhor them.

I see differences and adore them;

Made me an easy bullying target.

Lots of pain.

To forgive trumps to forget.

We are not the same.

I suspect this why

Words I share trigger anger.

I see the life

The possibility not the fear.

But others do fear.

Others gets angry.

Many are sad.

I will never ever understand why with so many gifts


Humans choose the art of war.