Thursday, March 7, 2013

Yesterday's Song



image borrowed from bing


Yesterday’s Song

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The important thing is to never stop questioning.”
----Albert Einstein.


Driving easy, thrusting
gently in loving summer strokes,
into the office

at 4:40 a.m,
gleefully greeting the northeastern skies
as they began

to lighten up
already, as those first tentative
reddish rays of

daylight were beginning
to sweetly stain the horizon,
smearing some brickdust

onto the ample
midriffs of the few clouds
that were still

hanging ripe as
puffy-fluff air-fruit on
low heavy branches.

The polished hood
on my cherry red pickup
captured some of

magical morning as
I weaved like a spirit weevil 
from lane to

lane, dodging the
giant 18-wheelers, those gargantuan 
proud arrogant behemoths,

still lit up
like holiday porches, flying high
and rolling tall
in the crisp
air, busily spanking the tarmac
with their thick

numerous notched radials,
beating out both a jazz
base and a

blues riff as
I streamed past like a
whisper, barely noticed.

But soon enough
from my solitary office window
I could breathlessly witness

American Lake creating
alchemy, glazing its surface, turning
it to liquid

gold, as Mt.
Rainier got busy pouring strawberry
bisque over its

wide receptive glaciers. 
I remember an eaglet’s cry,
a gull’s reply,

as a thick
phalanx of snow geese flew
by, winging past

my screened arrow 
--slit on the world, dropping 
below the gray 

steel on my
government sill as I witnessed
the sun clawing

a fiery rill
into the sky’s burgundy bosom,

burnishing the rust
blemishes on my window screen
into lopsided smiles.

Glenn Buttkus

March 2013

Posted over on dVerse Poets MTB

Would you like to hear the author read this Lune poem to you?

15 comments:

Claudia said...

nice start with the einstein quote..never stop questioning...i like..oh wow...and you drive at 4:40 to the office already...heck...that's early.. but just love how you capture the morning magic..i so can feel this being a morning person myself..just so much beauty and peace in the morning sky..

brudberg said...

Wonderful reading. There are so many great words so it's hard to really pick out a favorite. :-) very nice

Laurie Kolp said...

beating out both a jazz
base and a


blues riff as
I streamed past like a
whisper, barely noticed

... love that. What an early morning you have!

flaubert said...

Glenn, this is lovely, I was right there with you. Some excellent imagery here. btw, love the A.E. quote.

Pamela

Brian Miller said...

nice....some really cool visuals along hte way man...i will admit to being frustrated with the trucks at times...lol....makes for a pretty cool morning...love the tapping out of the music as well man...

Victoria said...

Really love the rhythm of this, Glen. This makes me realize that every place does have its own beat, in a sense.

Kathy Reed said...

Nice...I must confess I don't always finish reading your longer entries, although I try...you live VERY near to me..and we do have some spectacular sunrises here...I love the 'brickdust' the alchemy of the lake as well as the 'fruit puffs'..and we both mentioned strawberries ;)

Anonymous said...

What a lovely sight you have from your office windows, gorgeous journey to and from work, wonderful to read.

Anonymous said...

I'm coming towards the end of a busy working week (Friday here), and I made the mistake of reading your poem too fast, and was overwhelmed with imagery. Then I listened to your reading, and oh wow - perfect. I just want to end my day with a whisky in the sun, while listening to this again. Thank You!

JayG said...

Sounds like an amazing view on the lake and the alchemy taking place, from the base to the incredible. Moving images in words.

Savage Heathen said...

Very beautiful, all around.

Anonymous said...

There is a heated undercurrent to this really sets it apart from an ordinary, work-day poem--nice! ~Jason

Anonymous said...

weaving like a spirit weevil made me laugh out loud - wonderful view of your day! K

Anonymous said...

Fabulous descriptive work here, Glenn. Just one tiny thing; base is bass if it's a musical reference.

Anonymous said...

Excellent