November 1, 2017
Kirk Merlin
The dragonfly’s shadow rests on a rock
in the creek
twitching beneath the breeze
as if the two were somehow connected.
Through its translucent wings
I look back in time
and see eons of granite
placed lovingly in this spot
by winds
by waters
by gods.
Its still there as I painstakingly
write
and rewrite
this ode
my only worry
on such a glorious desert day.
And now
finally
from zero to sixty in no seconds
it zips into the water
and swims upstream.
Kirk Merlin
October 31, 2017
Kirk Merlin
the same
they say
but each rectangle tells a story.
Though their grandparents built the Great Wall
these here bricks lie prone
timid
unable to repel even a midget Mongol horde.
They sit here
beneath my feet
waiting to be trod upon.
Their story is a peaceful one
asleep at the Snowbasin
Mountain Resort.
Awaken!
Arise!
Commerce cannot sit still.
Sections of it have been rebuilt
re-told.
It's for tourists, of course.
For education.
There's even an alpine slide
they say.
It's up at the Great Wall of China
they mean
not at the Snowbasin
Mountain Resort.
Kirk Merlin
October 27, 2017
Kirk Merlin
Hat and sunglasses
do not dampen the flare
of the mountain autumn sun.
Over the trees and
beyond the chairlift
it peeks
from behind the clouds.
Now it is hot
and getting hotter
as the hat hunkers
down.
But just then
the cooling clouds cross again
like the misunderstood emotions
of a new girlfriend.
The gondola sits empty.
This bench has but one.
A young man
alone
with his thoughts.
Kirk Merlin
October 18, 2017
Kirk Merlin
Let's not use the term dive bar anymore.
May I suggest neighborhood bar or local joint.
Watering hole.
There's still a jukebox against the wall
Maybe some pull tabs or peanuts
being eaten by folks not so different from you
getting through another day like a wildebeest on the serengeti.
What you call a dive
is someone's surrogate family.
Someone's watering hole.
October 18, 2017
Kirk Merlin
There's an energy vortex in Sedona, AZ
that has a female orientation.
Or so they say.
It lives along both sides of the stream
underneath the red rock buttes.
There's a male vortex, too,
and two more that are said to be equally balanced.
Trans? Bi?
This morning I entered the female vortex carrying provisions enough to spend the day.
But not the night.
My trusty tent is waiting for me
next to the campground latrines
underneath
the crooked sky.