As soon as I put it into words,
it ceases to be what it is.
Category: Blog Characters
“Blurtso jumps” (II)
Spring with the knees… weight forward… over the skis…
246 meters! cried the coach. Ten inches from a world record!
“Blurtso jumps” (I)
Harlan said you went skiing, said Alex. Yes, said Blurtso, and the strangest thing happened. What? said Alex. I was invited to join the ski team. Really? said Alex. In what event? In the ski jump, said Blurtso. Today is my first practice.
You want me to do what?
“Blurtso and Harlan go skiing”
Ready? said Harlan. Ready, said Blurtso.
Hmm… thought Blurtso,
I wonder why the people at the lodge are cheering?
“Graham Cracker Crumbs” (V)
“Your name”
The world was still new,
uncertain shapes and sounds,
when first
you heard your name.
“Lizzy” could have been an apple,
or a butterfly, or a sunset in spring,
but its syllables
became a seed,
the sprout of your center.
Little by little
you grew comfortable
with the sound and the colors
in your name,
its wings sailed
from voice to voice,
crossing
the houses and streets and trees,
making its way
to the peak of a dream.
At the first competition
it seemed the chilly name of another.
It was not yet you,
its essence was untested,
so you went seeking,
searching in weary mirrors,
in questioning shadows,
in solitude,
until you found
its true voice singing
in the slow light of dedication.
It was then it lingered,
and stopped a Blurtso that passed,
thinking it was the echo of an apple,
or a butterfly, or spring.
“Graham Cracker Crumbs” (IV)
“Moonrise”
Just above whirl the sparks
and the planets in space.
Their silver tails leave wounds
on the dark glass of the sky.
Tonight the moon mounts
the slow steps of the spheres,
raised like an idol by holy hands,
scaling the edge of the night.
At the summit the light lingers,
awaiting its worldly worship,
then descends, riding on ropes,
borne on the back of the air.
Like a burning crystal,
the moon has been sent for you.
It lights and carries your name
to a place beyond the sound
of the whistle and whirl of stars.
“Blurtso flies into an easy chair”
“Blurtso looks at the snow” (XX)
It’s late now and most everyone is home. Resting and reflecting on the day, what went right and what went wrong, what to look forward to and what to dread. Or they’re filling their eyes and ears with electric sights and sounds, while their heart, alone beneath the surface, reflects on the day.
“Blurtso goes for a walk in the snow”
Ooops…
“Graham Cracker Crumbs” (III)
“Lizzy”
A single obsession of light,
a single smile
in the soil of the soul,
a flash in the shadow,
a burning planet,
a single note from the spheres.
A single light illuminating
the water’s crash
at the cliffs of the heart,
a leaping light of statues
erected and razed in the foam,
an undulating light reflecting
the swell and hollow and sway.
A simple light persisting,
in absence,
an extinguished star that continues.