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Monday, May 2, 2011

Tunnels, Tsunamis, and Fake Moby Dicks



My left hand is in a cast from surgery last week. Dr. Don'tcha Luvme sliced the carpal tunnel and released the guitar strings that help my hand make music. My right hand, one month post-surgery, is now the Big Bopper again. I've done little but piddle around and write a few poems. I have my eye on a gopher tunneling in the neighbor's driveway flower bed, perilously close to my own. The critter seems content to dine on the neighbor's poppies so far, but if he moves east two feet, he'll discover my scrumptious dahlias. Then I'm afraid he'll meet his end. Savor your poppies, little rodent.

Meanwhile, the photo today is of Morro Rock in the harbor of a small town called Morro Bay on the California coast near my home. Geologically, it's the core of an old volcano. Historically, it's half the size it was before entrepreneurs quarried it in the early 1900s. Spiritually, it's significant to the local Native American people, who are now the only ones who may climb it, except for a few rangers who track the rock's peregrin falcon population. Oddly, a tsunami from the Japanese earthquake entered the tiny harbor last month and destroyed some fishing boats.


Fish or Cut Bait

I’m through with you, log
Done hauled your ass
From hell to kingdom come
And still you won’t be moved
Been days I hunched here
In this dinghy thinking
I would reel you in
You beast
I was a fool
Believing you
Were some big fish
I hooked, dived deep
And running strong
You weren’t
No Moby Dick
I know and now
My arms be
Rubber bands
Of weariness
I cut my line
And point my bow
North for home
Across the green lake
Wiser
Free

11 comments:

Brian Miller said...

wiser and free...we can get prtty sucked in chasing mobys...better to be free for sure

Jess Mistress of Mischief said...

Beautiful poem, so glad the surgery freed you up!

The Poetry Bus said...

More powerful poetry. Even the blogpost was poetry...'Dr. Don'tcha Luvme sliced the carpal tunnel and released the guitar strings that help my hand make music. My right hand, one month post-surgery, is now the Big Bopper again'

Brillo!

The Bug said...

Free sounds good. Wise and free instead of stuck.

I'm snickering at this: Savor your poppies, little rodent. Thanks for the smile :)

e said...

I hope your other hand recuperates as readily as the first did! Lovely words, as usual.

RNSANE said...

I got a good laugh out of this one, Chris. Glad you are on the road to recovery!

the walking man said...

Better to lose the log and have a fish story to tell than actually haul it in and have to wait for it to dry out.

Syd said...

I have had those arms of rubber bands chasing fish. But I keep going back for more.

Magpie said...

Praying your recovery from this surgery goes as well as the last. I can't help but smile at what you have in store for the gopher. :)

CiCi said...

Treat yourself well during your convalescence and heal well.

Marla said...

I'm reading through your posts, smiling and thinking. Then I get to this one and all I can do is stare at Morro Rock and cry. I hear it calling me home.

Thank you for posting this photo, my friend.