declining to teach

after spending almost my entire life

canoeing in the shores of the Palk Strait

surrounded daily by dolphins

and hammer head sharks i feel

a sense of defeat to teach

my daughter canoeing in the banks

of Athabasca where salmons swiftly swim

with Athabasca Falls only few blocks away

i shudder and cease boasting

my past boating, soberly announcing:

‘boat making and boat paddling

are butterflies, discovered and caught

and never taught’; politely

but with no dithering, declining

to speak of sailing

to the sacred, into the ultimate

© henry victor      04.08.2003

 

small and brief

a bacterium, a virus

bugs so small

causing damage so huge

a smile, a kiss

an orgasm, a brief joy

alleviating sorrow so large

 

© henry victor

cabbage from home depot

four little cabbage plants

i bought at the home depot

to plant in my not so huge backyard

feeding my young plants with dung

from Belvedere, South of Barrhead

in no time i saw my tiny plants

grow into four huge green balls

like an American Military Base in Mid East

attracting fluttering butterflies, gliding dragonflies

and more dotting leaves and punching holes

eventually when i harvested my cabbage

and began to peel off the dotted leaves, one by one

i discovered, in between the leaves

worms, like bulging women with exposed bodies

crawling and creeping to hide their faces

© henry victor     13.08.2003

Note: When I first published this first in May of 2017, I had this note added on top: “

OMG, to use the texting style of my daughter, I have hidden this for so long in my attic. Good that my grandson keeps nagging me to know where I have kept my treasure, my gold! I climbed up there and pulled this out and dusted swiftly, posting as my …”

brevity

in another three weeks

summer will be spent

providing space for fall

and soon it would be winter

forcing me to shut shutters

announcing me that secret:

brisk and brief is beauty

and bidding me to enjoy

lightning in lightning speed

© henry victor     06.08.2003

 

hope: merge with the large

money, always, easily slipped

through my fingers

lands that i tried to own also slid

quickly from my hand

the bed i slept in the night

someone else secretly

occupied in the day

the juvenile bird i cuddled

in my bosom

to give warm comfort and a nest

flew away to build her own

my remains too, soon

the fire will consume

leaving, perhaps, my soul

to merge with that larger soul

that welcomingly smiles

from behind the veil

© henry victor

living nightmare

my waking from slumber was too sudden

also, announcing others, my companions

in journey, about the entrance of our train

at the destination, with effects to un-board

before the carriage is shunted to the yard

to be locked for hours, may be for days

before becoming a carrier of another herd

in ride to a distant land, a different moment   

 

but it was nightmarish to unclutter dream

filled minds, purposeless lives, lumped

in the baggage of laziness with scattered

shoes and stocks of habitual procrastination

© henry victor            24.06.2014

gray jay in my campsite

like that camp thief, the gray jay

boldly inviting herself

into my campsite, my grace to enjoy

i bravely venture into your precincts

hoping you will take note of my presence

and drop scraps of manna

or at least, take pleasure

in my being in your vicinity

that you may in your sketchbook

sketch my form and note my color

to later open your guarded tablet

to cross check and tick my name

© henry victor     05.08.2003