Ginger island Girl Gone soon

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I have been so tired. Hence, unmotivated, uninspired. But the colds are finally over so I’m working to find some resolve, get some reading, editing, heck, maybe even some writing done this summer. Just used “charm offensive” in Botched Mission. I sent several revised poems to collaborators Victor Bonderoff and Mark Deutrom. Here’s something island themed, as we prepare to exit paradise. Oh, this image is from Take Shelter, a movie I’ve been wanting to see and  I’ve been enjoying Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl,  recommended by my son. ‘Tis indeed “wickedly clever” and “razor sharp.” The novel’s premise could be, what if you gave into every bitchy impulse you’ve ever had? After all, nice is never enough.

THE HUMBLE MURALIST AND THE REPROACHFUL BUDDHIST

Island roads are only as long as the island,

invariably leading to the vortex every island hosts,

the village or burg hugging the cove or bay,

the place where sweaty, unsighted, unrepentant

cocaine and alcohol abusers

wind up in, gurgle down to rub

elbows with the vigorous Tilley-hatted,

swamping the gentry

with their nasty habit stench.

 

Island roads snake lowly

through a bucolic landscape;

swaying grasses, expansive elms,

lambs, cows, horses, llamas.

Do not be lulled.

Anxiety stalks the dales and hollows,

tamped down, concealed behind neat

rustic wooden fences,

skulking in the cottages

despite a glut of yoga, meditation,

acupuncture outlets and pottery classes.

Here there be much intestinal discomfort,

trembling, ceaseless aspiring,

straining, toward the light,

strong belief in our island selves.

 

Dolly for example is the biggest Buddhist,

the baddest, blackest sheep

herder on Vancouver Island,

happily bending over

for regular shearing

as long as the tax man

is tranquil about it

and she’s back at the ranch in time

to inject herself

into the tête-à-têtes.

 

Her resident good egg Greg studies

the recommended sutras,

working on his anger,

moving past it, out

of his townie flat to create

murals in the great outdoors.

Grandiose depictions,

towering trompe l’oeil.

Ostentatious? Yes,

but they have provided

our meek hamlet with an angle,

a tourist attraction.

Indeed, they have saved us!

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