Small Town Night
From that long ago distance
Of my small town sheltered youth
I remember still so clearly seeing,
On one deep blue starlit night,
Framed and cross-veined by then
Stark and leafless trees, lines
Like thin rivers reaching
Star bound Orion caught,
Cast and held, beheld poised
Mid stride and moving timeless
Above my sleeping, tree-lined street
And how alive then seemed
All the skies on that clear
And youthful dreaming
Distant small town night.
To the Editor:
You have to hand it to the communist Chinese government for its capitalist acumen. Not only are they utilizing their vast labor resources to manufacture and sell nearly everything the American consumer buys, they are investing that money in natural resources all around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and also earning US Treasury interest on the billions we have borrowed, including the funding for our invasion and occupation of two nations now open to global corporate exploitation. With the Federal Reserve again madly printing money to try to stimulate our anemic economy, it would seem we have indeed become the “Paper Tiger” Chairman Mao always said we were, however, the big question is: is our military being used for the safety and well-being of America or for the profit of international corporate interests?
RP
Lost Creek
The rich dry falling, curled
Walnut brown parachute
Sails of sycamore leaves
Zigzag down, falling,
Floating then stately down
The layered, limestone-lined,
Gentle celadon stream,
The early Fall afternoon
Earth, air, and light etched
And embossed, back lit,
Gilded and butterfly splined
With dappled leaves,
Tall yellow blooms,
And black dragonflies.
To the Editor:
There is an understandable local opposition to the construction of large solar “farms” in rural Colorado. The greatest demand for electricity is, after all, in urban areas and the resulting miles of transmission lines, while once seen as a sign of progress, are now regarded as unwelcome intrusions upon a growing environmental aesthetic of open, untrammeled land in the West. Rural communities over and over see their valuable resources, be it water, oil and gas, their children, and now treasured vistas, being drained into the seemingly insatiable metropolitan lifestyles they eschew. Apparently overlooked by the power brokers is that there are thousands of acres of roofs, already connected to the grid, in the very areas in need of additional electricity. A combination of private and governmental incentives and directives could create a modern, state-of-the-art, decentralized power generating network that would both serve our needs and preserve our Colorado landscapes. Germany, a country with far less sunshine than here, has done exactly this with remarkable success.
RP
To the Editor:
Politicizing religion with wedge issues like abortion and homosexuality has long been a successful campaign tactic for the Republican Party, but one has to question severely Glen Beck’s recent condemnation of the concept of “social justice”, which, besides being central to the Civil Rights Movement, is at the core of legislaton and the rule of law. In esence, Beck is trying to demonize the Beatitudes and Christ’s, “As ye have done to the least among you, so have you done unto me” and unabashedly invoking the sanctity of wealth, of which he has plenty.
RP
Sage Ecology
Delicate gilia
And brusque paint brush
Scattered scarlet and orange
With the pink and blue pastels
Of chiming bells, crane’s bills,
Lupine, and penstemon
In bloom among the pungent,
Black-branched, jade green sage
Lure in, darting, the quick-tongued,
Needlepoint, petal-tickling,
Probing, stirring whirl and blur
Of broad-tailed hummingbirds,
With wingtips whistling,
Weaving briskly rhythmic
And trilling metallic green
Through the rich sweet nectars
And colors of a mystic land.
Notes from the Provinces 