These Days

Bob, , ,

And Our Lady of Scrap Paper
Playing the guitar for the dappled pigeons.

The 5 cent poems the clerk at the laundry sells
When not making up her own postage stamps
To give away to whales.

A wind lost before speaking or the metaphysics of standing on one leg
Choreographing a weathervane.

Clouds think in hieroglyphics and pull calligraphy
Out or their bellybuttons. So go
The yesterdays of the future.

11 thoughts on “These Days”

  1. another Bob classic: : ‘Our Lady of Scrap Paper’, those calligraphic clouds, and those 5 cent poems the clerk at the laundry sells: nothing ‘poshy’ there; and the ‘metaphysics of standing on one leg’ I practise each morning who knows why …?

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  2. Five cents for a poem is not only a brilliant idea, but a great deal! The entire paragraph is very inspiring to me…..”When not making up her own postage stamps To give way to whales.” I’m reminded of that old song (Billy Holiday I think) that says “God bless the child that’s got his own,” something a poet, that you Bob definitely have.

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    1. Thanks Steve. I guess the clerk isn’t too interested in the usual stuff, prefers a no-brainer job that affords her time to write and make up postage stamps….haha, sounds perfect. Thanks for the Billy Holiday lyrics, I plan on looking that up and seeing if i can find that song. Sounds right on target for me.

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      1. I agree with her. I prefer doing physical work like washing dishes or delivery than having to think at work. Reminds me of something Utah Phillips said. “But if it’s true that the only true life I had was the life of my brain, what sense does it make to hand that brain to somebody for eight hours a day for their particular use on the presumption that, at the end of the day, they will give it back in an unmutilated condition? Fat chance!”

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  3. Inspired by the first line, I thought of each stanza as written on a piece of scrap paper… with most of them containing a gift: guitar music, postage stamps, calligraphy. And what imaginative gifts! I’m hoping the whales send mail to the clouds 🙂

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    1. Thanks Dave. I really like your interpretation about each being on a piece of scrap paper. That’s a really great idea. I think come back to this one and see if I can add to it, making it like a scrap book. Much appreciated!!

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