poetry
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March 12, 2010
poem: old man brontosaurus
by sven at 7:00 am
Here are the origins of that brontosaurus the walrus was chatting with…
old man brontosaurus
old man brontosaurus
i have never seen
an elephant
not in this neighborhood
you've stayed with me
all these years like
death, a roommate
surly, whom i live with
begrudgingly
but old brontosaurus
my footsteps in yours
following on hot summer
sidewalk, you're
a kind companion
to sit in upholstered chairs
with, slowly chinwagging
about yesterday's newspaper
over drinks
all the children wish
they were Rex the king
but i, as i melt in the sun
i would be a brontosaurus
too
December 31, 2008
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March 5, 2010
poem: oh, honey
by sven at 7:00 am
This was for a friend who apologized after writing a "long" email…
Oh, honey
"Oh, honey"
says the voice in my head—
a voice,
I hasten to add,
that silently chats with both
adult men, children,
and cats, too—
don't feel embarrassed
about being too long-winded.
There's plenty of air in the world
to go around.
All the better that you should get to
exhale completely.
It makes me happy:
then you get to inhale
to full lung capacity.
Everyone should get to breathe.
January 19, 2009
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February 26, 2010
poem: the walrus and the brontosaurus
by sven at 7:00 am
On days when you're feeling old… Think about things infinitely older than yourself.
the walrus and the brontosaurus
the walrus and the brontosaurus
are sharing tea and biscuits
lingering in fatly stuffed chairs
in the den
i say to dear Bronte
"what days we've seen
what days yet to come
and even more
already forgotten"
the dear lizard replies
head crooked against ceiling
"the years are shorter than they seem
i've counted my footsteps here
in mountain dreams
cane in hand, admired the
mayflies' pageantry
whiskers and wrinkles
i say volcano
your eye twinkles
don't joke sleep
as if you're drifting off
already
old is a such a small thing
counted in millennia absurd
so
toothsome friend:
please pass me the lemon curd?"
January 19, 2009
posted by sven | permalink | comments (1) | categories: poetry
February 19, 2010
poem: the snail's request
by sven at 7:00 am
One of several poems from last year about keeping a daily journal.
the snail's request
I am a snail
with a feather for my shell
leaving inkwell paths behind me
handwritten and slow
all summer long
I'll draw glistening arcs
my cursive memoir
through your victory garden
please don't pick me up
break the memory
my history
long sentence going back to my birth
just let me write
quill tooth biting paper
let me eat through
sheets and leaves
digesting in my study
quietly
just this little while
until my black blood
with winter
too soon
runs dry
January 19, 2009
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February 12, 2010
poem: thursday
by sven at 7:00 am
A poem written for Gretchin on a dreary day.
Thursday
Thursday is brought to you
by the color red!
when you look through the window
it may seem gray
but go outside today
and you'll discover little bits of red
everywhere
on leaves
on cars
on houses
on street signs
I may appear the same
as when I stepped out the door
a moment ago
but actually
I'm two weeks older now
having been all over town and back
in a blink
with my bucket and paintbrush
there was so much area to cover
I had to use a lot of different shades
and I'm sorry to say
I ran out
before the job was really through
but just look for it
it's simply everywhere
dabs and splashes
a little glimmer
hidden and waiting
I put it there for you
November 19, 2009
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February 5, 2010
poem: the breath of giants
by sven at 7:00 am
I'm really fond of the last line.
the breath of giants
the office is the brain of the house
the studio the soul
the kitchen the heart
living room the stomach
bedroom the libido
our home here is
a thirty-foot-tall marionette
and I the puppeteer
each morning I get
the giant moving again
water the plants
put dishes away
feed the cat
each night I
put it to sleep
I look out from
giant's eyes
running from room to room
turning cranks and pulling cords
not a robot that I command--
this house is a living being
and I am the hidden motor
running its body
I am the breath that
spirits through every cell
animating colossus
(and yet
what a small being we are
set beside the great towers
of the city
whose hands touch clouds
gods propelled by
the furious pedaling of
fleas)
January 1, 2009
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January 29, 2010
poem: don't live in the cage with your elephant
by sven at 7:00 am
I'd like to dedicate this one to all my art buddies out there who are mired in multi-year projects…
don't live in the cage with your elephant
i have a love for colossal animals
the giraffes and rhinoceroses
with my camera
i go to Africa all the time
hunting thunderous beauty
but to bring a pachyderm
back to America
is a Herculean affair
i arrived by airplane in a wink
transport back
is four months by boat
on a heaving dark ocean
posters go up
and the crowd murmurs with expectation
but suddenly there's no coin
for opening day banners
in horror you spend every nickel
trying to figure out
what this damned thing eats
and it turns out that what it eats
is time
not by the bushel
but by the year
consuming your earthly body
like only the most ravenous calendar can
proper care and feeding
requires dawn to day-end attention
the would-be zookeeper sets up residence
in the cage beside his capture
ever attending to
its hunger, its exercise, its boredom
you've got the elephant keeper's blues
as it slowly sinks in
just how much bigger
this creature is than you
so lithe and wild on another continent
now the insight:
the bigger the animal
the more excrement it produces
tonight i think i want to go home
to sleep in my own bed
tired of sleeping with my broom
and janitor’s hat
soaking in a stale smell
on these bales beside the behemoth
tonight i'd like to dream
of other dreams
November 19, 2009
(This one ought to help illuminate new year's resolutions a little, too… i.e. "I will tend my elephants.")
posted by sven | permalink | comments (1) | categories: poetry
January 22, 2010
poem: the spiritual dimension of time-lapse photography
by sven at 7:00 am
Obviously inspired by the film I made of 2010's first dawn…
the spiritual dimension of time-lapse photography
an animator should take equal interest
in capturing time-lapse photography
as in composing sequences of images
that fake motion
snapping the camera's shutter
once each minute for an hour
I watch the year's first dawn erupt
like a new god's visitation
noon and starry night
chasing each other in streaks
and in the bright darkness of my studio
I become slow athlete
sweating with a patience
that nudges puppets to inhale
their first breath
whether by power of my own hand
or long surrender to a crawling world
from within the silence
of my crystal ball
this is my magic:
to slow myself to the point
where small, voiceless things
come to life
January 3, 2010
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January 15, 2010
poem: new year's resolutions
by sven at 7:00 am
Seems I write 40+ poems in a typical year. Not doing any good just sitting on my harddrive, now are they?
new year's resolutions
I will tend my elephants
I will avoid the death march
we will go around the mountains
I will map our journey
we will take time grazing in meadows
we will explore the forests
when snow comes, we will set up camp
to wait out the winter
December 20, 2009
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