PRIVATE AUTO

 

by Robert F. Thimmesh

 

Public transportation

is not embraced

by stoic Midwesterns

who love

the laconic ways

of a Caruso or Callas

leaving North Dallas,

of a peacocked Jaeger

rolling through Peoria,

of howling at the moon

with wolf-man's tune.

A dashboard McBurger

teeters over fries

in a pool of frozen catsup

while Cleveland's orchestra

is conducted

through barricades

which cannot deny peace

to the Balkans this

Friday morn.  Of

guarding Michael Jordan

to a four free throw night

and dance Barishnikov's

Nutcracker as the car

salesman shouts

“break a leg” until

the private auto machines

sputter out of dreams.

 

 

 

 

TREK OF THE TURTLE

 for Cheryl Jeanne

 

                                    by Robert F. Thimmesh

 

A tulip

rides the springtime's sun

a wind

whispers to Superior's rocks

and time

slows for the turtle's trek

to muse again this day's mystery

                        unhindered

                        by the helter-skelter

                        of a rabbit's run;

 

                        for meditation's quiet

                        trims foliage

from a spirit's repose, a necessity

unrecognized by the pragmatism inhaled

with each breath of civilization;

 

civilization that stampedes

through a perfect rose

to venerate---   the biggest

                        the fastest

                        the strongest

                        conjunction

                        of imagination

                        and flesh,

and celebrates the winner who sits

at the apex

of our memory

until absorbed by the next morning fog.

 

I am birthed

by a shadow

that masks my intent

as I minister the rose so drooped

with water bucket and fertilizer sack;

I sing a lament

from the garden of possibility

as I sit

with my friend in the afternoon of the hush.

 

 

 

Robert Thimmesh currently works in a real estate office helping out with leasing, maintenance, and other duties.  He continues to be a life-long resident of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area.