I listened to a scientist speak on Public Radio
and discuss optimism versus pessimism.
She stated that pessimism is the default human response.
Our brain is wired and routed in such a way
that our thoughts choose the negative What-Ifs first.
It’s no wonder, then
that poets, writers, and artists alike
who spend so much time sending so many thoughts
down the wires and routes of their minds,
prefer the shadowed side
I have defeated the Wind
and out-smarted that swinging door
outside my bedroom window.
With a small piece of rope
to bind a latch missing its lock,
I have proven that simplicity always wins.
Copyright Oren Peleg 2009
Who is the man
that drives the
fire-truck?
Horns and sirens
blaring,
streets are cleared
wherever he goes.
He can run
Red lights
and drive
on the wrong side.
No one cuts him
off
or stops him speeding.
How does he feel
back in his car
REQUIREMENTS FOR GOOD BREATH
Requirements for good breath:
1. Understanding of the French language
2. Lawn-mower with at least 8 horsepower
3. 4 plain white t-shirts, 5 pairs clean socks, 2 black trousers
4. The need for speed
5. A visit to the Indian subcontinent within the last 6 months
6. Verisimilitude
DISCIPLINE'S TALE
8:32 am. Tuesday.
Eyes open
A few scattered thoughts
Then: “When was the last time I ran?”
“I have to run this morning, or else I lose all discipline”
Out of bed
Dress up
Bowl of cereal
Then: “Are you going to run today?”
Answered by: “Yeah, I need to”
TV turns on
9:15 am. Wednesday.
Eyes open
A few scattered thoughts
Then: “Ok, I didn’t run yesterday, today I must”
“What time is it?”
Cell phone opens
Then: “9:17. I need to run now before it gets too hot”
“Alright man, get out of bed, lets do this”
Bed sheets are warm
10:06 am.
Then: “Ok, I could run later in the evening when it cools down, I don’t have to run right now”
8:22 am. Thursday.
Eyes open
A few scattered thoughts
Then: “I’ve been telling myself to run for two days now. How can I run a marathon if I can’t even do 3 miles?”
“Ok, today is it. I’m doing it today”
10:12
Showerhead turns on
Water runs over skin
Then: “Well, at least I could go to the gym later if I don’t want to run”
10:15 am. Friday.
Eyes open
A few scattered thoughts
Focus
“This is ridiculous”
“I WILL run today. I will. There is no question that I will get out of bed, and just go.”
Pause
10:23
“Well, I’m a bit tired, and there is no real rush, so let me just sleep another half an hour or so.”
11:11
“Alright, am I gonna run or not?!”
11:20
Bowl of cereal
Newspaper
8:30 am. Saturday.
Eyes open
A few scattered thoughts
Then: “Ok, lets go.”
Run shorts are pulled up.
Tee-shirt is pulled down over.
Shoes are put on.
Stretches are done.
8:47 am.
Running.
9:13 am.
Cool down.
Then: “About 25 minutes for 2.5 miles, not bad.”
“That’s about 10 minutes a mile.”
Door opens.
Sweat drips across chest and down forehead.
Then: “Man, that did not feel good.”
Roommate at the table studying. Looks up.
Then: “How was your run?”
Answer: “I did about 10 minutes a mile.”
Comment: “Good.”
9:47 am. Sunday.
Eyes open.
A few scattered thoughts.
Then: “I need to run again today.”
10:03 am. Monday.
Cell phone rings
Hop out of bed.
Dazed: “Hello?”
Listening
Then: “No. No. I needed to wake up anyway.”
Listening
Then: “Yeah.”
Listening
Then: “Nothing. I just woke up, so no plans yet. Why, what did you want to do?”
Listening
Then: “Ok, yeah, sure. Let me just take a shower and stuff, and then I’ll come over.”
Listening
Then: “Alright, I’ll see you soon.”
Listening
Then: “Bye.”
9:18 am. Tuesday.
Eyes open.
A few scattered thoughts.
Soccer. Broken Leg. Did your father catch us? Did he hear? The sheets are stained with you. Yale. Tight white tee. Fox. Freckles that excite. Were you so alone and my timing so good, or was it serial momentum: I am a link in the chain. How do you remember me? Your soft skin, pretty face. All-American. The corner house; I still look when I drive by. We started one night -- we stopped short. Everything was stopped short – that is how I remember it. Do you remember? Did he wipe your memory clean? Link in the chain. I made my first film about you. When I told you, you freaked out, said: how dare you. But I don’t believe that – every girl wants to be someone’s muse.
JANNAA Mormon and a Jew walk into a bar. White paint. Blue hibiscus. Australian. You were so nurturing and so cruel. Hummingbird. Utah. Ohio. California. New York. Your fox nose: the peak of my fetish. I have not heard your voice in three years. Abstinence. Pain. Beauty marks, I called them – those two on your chin. There is something so spiritual about you. Insecurities turned to arrogance. Huron and civics. She caught us behind the wall. He caught us on the couch. You cried once in my car -- that vulnerability, it is the sexiest you have ever been. When you left we thought it would end, but then it did not, and then it did not, and then it did not.
LOVE LETTER TO A BLANK PAGE
I Love You
I wanted to say
That
Even if
It is just to a
Blank Page
Even if
I say it with a
Pen
And not so much
A Mouth
I Love
You
Wherever
You
Are
And it’s real
And I mean it
Disconnect me. Unplug me. Tune me out. Cut me off. Shut me down. Dial me out. Erase me completely.
No commercials. No ads. No brainwashing. No spoon-feeding. No junk food. No strip malls, mega-plexes, or amusement parks.
God is dead. Politics is dead. Da Vinci, Picasso, Miro: dead.
I don’t want to dress the same as you.
I don’t want to shop in the same places as you.
I don’t want to drive the same car as you.
I don’t want to read the same books as you.
I don’t want to live in the same suburbia as you.
I don’t want to think the same thoughts as you.
I don’t want to listen to the same music as you.
I don’t want to worship the same celebrities as you.
I don’t want to watch the same television shows as you.
I don’t want to eat the same garbage as you.
My time in the house of mirrors is done.
My time feeding consumerism, commercialism, corporate America
is done.
Don’t count on me to be status quo.
Don’t count on me to lead or follow.
Copyright Oren Peleg 2009
Gawky
That’s a good word
Skinny as a rail
Unshaven
Big Glasses
Nose that protrudes like a parrot
Are those my eyes? Enormous
Why did no one tell me I look like this?
How can a photo so
Old
still hold so much
Influence?
Awkward hair
Loose fitting clothes
What a disaster.
Do I still look like that?
Burn the picture; erase it.
EIN GEDI
I remember it so clearly
I was standing on those rocks yesterday
Between the pools of water in the desert
Under the waterfall and a wet sun.
Whether I am romanticizing my emotions or
Actually felt them
It was a magical moment.
The anchor of summer.
I have made friends
and lost friends
and run through entire relationships
start to finish
between then and now.
I have gone from
Country to Country
City to City
House to House
Apartment to Apartment
Girl to Girl
(And back to Girl)
Friend to Friend
looking for a Job
And looking for
Myself.
Who I was then wouldn’t
Recognize me
or my world
now.
In fact,
had I stayed
Like the plan said,
Everything would be erased
Some things might have
Never even existed
Relationships and dynamics
Would be far different
And an entire
Foreign history
Would replace it.
That day on the rocks was
A fulcrum,
A line that separates an
Entire series of events
before
And
after.
It’s the end of the fuse
And the beginning of
The bomb.
For everything that has happened since
Is my life
Now.
Everything the way it is.
But had I stayed
Like we agreed upon
That day
Copyright Oren Peleg 2009
The gossamer glow of a distant star,
A hole in the twilight sky –
That one’s for you Brautigan.
If that golden yellow ray were liquid
It would drip so
Viscous
Upon the blue and purple wonder
Of our dying days.
God’s eye through the peephole.
Hello? Can you see me?
A million tiny holes glitter
In that midnight blanket;
BOTTOMS UP
Bottoms up to
Bukowski and
Salter,
Hemingway
and the rest.
Bottoms up, because
A drink
In Los Angeles
Summer is a sore loser
and Fall too lazy to work.
The Santa Anas start
in October.
Sometimes it’s
cold, sometimes not, but even
the worst is over in a
week or two.
We’ve had forest
fires as late as
November with
90 degree heat.
Fall fights back
with a night or two of
drizzle
and goes for the
knockout
with a week of
gloomy skies,
but that never lasts.
The only reason
Winter
has any luck is
because Summer is
too tired
