Simple

"What is a simple life now days?", he pondered.
He walked out onto the screened porch, wondering why he had never smoked.

The moon hidden behind a low humid winter dark sky
His dog ran out the screen door, trailing the smell of some animal that had been in the yard

"Is the mind a simple thing to understand?" he asked out loud to god and to himself..
He waited for an answer but none came. His dog came back wanting in.

"Do we really get to choose with all the baggage we carry that affects our decisions?"
A truck went by on the wet highway, tires singing their lovely tune.

"Simple must mean normal, and normal means following the rules of the day." he mused to his dog
The dog looked at him and wondered if his master was ok, wishing he could use his master's primitive language to speak..

The wind kicked up and his cell phone buzzed, a text message... 'Hey dad, can I borrow your Lucchese boots?"
He typed back, "Yea, but please don't get them muddy or wet."

He wondered why God is so silent and hidden, and then he said, "Hey God, why are you so silent and hidden?"
His son texted back..'I will treat them with care."

He sat down in the swing and took a sip of his drink..
His dog jumped up in the swing lying next to him, wishing he could explain what "simple" means..

wkm
Oxford

A Fox

All day Saturday and Sunday in Clarksdale Mississippi
I saw a beautiful Red Fox out behind the house we stayed

The Clark House B&B is a charming place with ghosts in every room
Tom Waits and Robert Plant stayed there last year I am told

We stayed in the "Big Daddy" room
It has an antique bed the size of a 1970's Gran Torino

Delta avenue is where the music is
Ground Zero is a cool place with kind folks running it

Rust has amazing cuisine, grilled Asparagus resting on a dark Balsamic rue
Crunchy catfish tacos with pineapple salsa, cold ale from a local brewery

Red's Blues Club is a real Juke Joint, in every way.
So cold inside everyone was bundled up listening in the red haze of red lights and steaming blues licks

Abe's BBQ is too good..Lucille is the kindest server with a smile that makes God smile
I had Tamales buried in a salad of tomatoes lettuce and onions with mild BBQ sauce...a cold Ultra,

The cradle of the Delta, the home of the Blues, a sleepy little town oozing with art and culture
Its history is cool, and its pretty dang cool today as well...

wkm
Oxford

Running through the Woods

A gray sky morning

Low moving clouds creeping along just above the trees

 

The wind blew late in the night, falling a few small Poplar along the path

Thinking a moment of going back and getting the Jeep it to pull them out of the way..

 

Instead, the sound of something moving through the woods distracted me

It sounded like a man running, not a deer..two feet not four

 

I ran toward the sound as the hackles on Jack and Pig's back stood up rigid,

which made the hair on my neck stand up, feeling the blood pump harder in my veins

 

Both dogs ran ahead, stopped, ears back, unsure of what it was they were seeing..

It was a huge Gobbler..

 

He flapped his wings and made it across the large creek to our left..

He hit the ground running, vanishing, blending into the dense forest, camouflaged like a hunter.

 

A Turkey walking or running through the woods, I will confirm,

Sounds like a person walking or running through the woods.

 

wkm

Oxford Ms

a Balm

I cook every morning, early, around 5:30 or 6:00
Two eggs in olive oil, garlic, peppers, onions, cumin

Sauteed morels in garlic, onions, butter with olive oil
A slice of Provolone melts, melding all into one..

Cayenne pepper, salsa, and crushed black pepper blanket this concoction
Food aroma blends with the dark roast coffee brewing, Leonard Cohen sings deeply in the background..

As I chopped onions I spoke to God
"I am contemplating abandoning musical aspirations, if you agree,,, don't say anything."

The dogs were waiting by the Jeep when I walked out with my to-go mug of green tea..
Jack barked until I put it in reverse and backed out of the drive..  "RUH! RUH! RUH!"

This morning was incredible and crisp, the sun's rays easing on and off my path through the trees..
42 degrees, deer move in herds through the field on the hill, camera in pocket...

God did not speak to me. He did not tell me to do anything, feel anything, His silence is comforting.
Joy comes when we pray for others, help others, halting the damned inward stare that ponders the black whole within

The woods tell me this, the dogs tell me.. the hope of others tells me.. Mass tells me..
Wish I were more cogent with these thoughts, I am trying terribly to be so.

Jack is snoring, lying here under my desk..
His peacefulness is a balm to my soul, possibly like the one in Gilead?

wkm
Oxford MS

Winter Trees

We are Winter Trees
Stripped bare

Naked, waiting, silent, abandoned
Crows nest upon our limbs

We are Spring Trees
New leaves of color, seasonal hope

Filled with life and movement
clothed again

We are Summer Trees
Sweating in the heat and humidity

Languid limbs in the heat
creaking in the relentless sun

We are Autumn Trees
Embracing our slow coming death

Windswept and stripped
The confident cold our destiny

We are Winter Trees...

wkm
Oxford MS

American Idol

Saint!
Sinner!
Wake up from your slumber!
Sinner sin with focus and commitment to your path
Saints serve and love with commitment to your path
This generation shall not pass away
it will linger into oblivion from laziness and mediocrity
no art
no poetry
no irony ( maybe except for Colbert)
nothing stirs this generation's soul except profit, politics, and porn..
Wanting is the music, the literature, Broadway, film...
but of course, there are exceptions..(Big Bad Love)
Sinners who give their all find fixating forks in the road,the severity of the mirror, the need for love, within and without...
Saint who give their all find mystery, the hilarity of the mirror, the need to love, within and without..
from this comes the candid confession..Charles Bukowski, Larry Brown, Robert Barron, Jim Harrison, Mother Teresa...
"Nothing pristine comes from American Idol"...she said as she poured a glass of Bordeaux.

wkm
Oxford
for Jim Harrison

Hush Puppies

As a kid growing up on 60 acres of woods, a lake, and pastures,
I spent 90% of my life outside..eating fresh fish, fried green tomatoes, peppers..

Home cut fries, watermelon from the garden, along with Black Eyed Peas, String Beans..
Billy plowed the garden with an old horse named Maude.

My five dogs went everywhere I went, out till after dark alone with my canine siblings,
Horses, cattle, deer, motorcycles, Go-Carts, an only child, never watched television, three channels...

The lake was 20 acres and it was stocked with Bluegill, Bass, and Perch.
We fished whenever we wanted, I would take either a pole or reel and catch enough to fry..

Billy, my old man, had a large "Fry-Daddy" filled with oil, frying fish was a passion
Nothing in my life has ever tasted like those fresh fish from our lake on a warm evening.

He would fillet the Bass, and sometimes the Brim if large enough..
All of this took place near the large wooden picnic table close to the shore

The smell was wonderful, the air clean, the sounds of dusk on a summer day
My mom would bring the Hush Puppy badder in a large white plastic mixing bowl..

Fresh onions mixed into the badder, salt, pepper, a light sprinkling of Tabasco,
All blended perfectly, little dough balls dropped slowly into the bubbling oil.

My old man had a system, cook the fish first, then the Hush Puppies..
the most beautiful golden brown morsels you have ever put in your mouth..

wkm

Oxford