The Daily Poem

A PLACE OR A SHOW

I'm fighting abstractions attacking like mongrels.

    Anonymous money-time-freedom is ripping

A hole in my fabric with metalloid tendrils;

    Believe me I tink I'm in need of a whipping.

My mind is behind and in need of a whack,

To jolt me up ready to meet their attack.

Don't leave me alone in this decadent city;

    I may not escape with a limb or a living.

It's got its designs, and they're on me so pretty,

    Like gamboling horses intent on a winning.

My feet want to stran where I know not to go;

Come settle me down with a place or a show.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 522

Daffodils Stanza

Paris, France

Lat: 48.86, Long: 2.35

JOURNAL: "A ROOM IN PARIS" Bed & Breakfast

~ The Daily Poet

FORGET PICASSO

Forget Picasso, this is us,

    We're on our way to things unknown,

To better faster brighter stuff,

    To thinks un-blossomed still un-grown,

Un-planted now until we do;

we're on our way to something new.

Hang on with keeping eyes my friends,

    The time is exponential now,

We start before the last one ends,

    Forget the sacred cubic cow,

Let's go for beauty all the way,

Let's push the truth and let it play.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 514

Daffodils Stanza

Barcelona, Spain

Lat: Long:

JOURNAL: Hostal Mont Thabor 

For half the price and half the stars, we left the Barcino for the Mont Thabor hostal right on Las Ramblas. We got a private room, clean and functional, with a bathroom down the hall. Picasso Museum and then the Museo Europeo de Arte Moderno (MEAM). Both excellent art experiences. But the MEAM was a mind-blowing thing of beauty. The best collection of figurative art I’ve ever seen. And the “manifesto” on the wall in the café was amazing, the best advice for 21st century artists I've seen, and echoing my sentiments exactly. This town is hopping—tens of thousands of people out roaming the streets all day and all night.

~ The Daily Poet

ALL THE PEOPLE

I can't stop thinking about the earth,

And all the people standing around,

The throngs of children given birth

On a patch of footprint circle ground

No larger than a day is wide,

No room to run, no place to hide.

A pail of water to wash the blood,

A dusty nipple to feed the mouth,

A dampened rag to wipe the mud

In a brackish river going south

Like scraps of sinking luckless grime,

No hand to catch, no rope to climb.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 455

Daffodils Stanza

Chitimba, Malawi

Lat: Long:

THE MUSIC

Another time, another place,

I won't be here to listen to.

One spin of bottle-necking space

And who will I give lessons to?

So take it here, there's not much time.

No matter what, you've got to rhyme.

It may not seem important now,

A flicker of a candle flame.

Beyond the meaning words endow,

The music is the greater aim,

When weaving words to hold the mind

On wings of the unfeathered kind.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 437

Daffodils Stanza

Cape Town, South Africa

Lat: -33.92, Long: 18.42

JOURNAL: Crystal Villa Guest House

The ferry to Robben Island was sold out this afternoon so we bought tickets for tomorrow.  We rode the Blue Line Tour Bus out to Hout Bay and back along the Atlantic seaboard.  Beautiful...!  Dinner at the Waterfront after mailing our 3.4 kg package home.  Then we hooked up with Dani & Annie at A Touch Of Madness for desert.  On the way I picked up a little old hardback book and gessoed a couple of the pages and wrote an impromptu poem for them at the table.  After we were finished with our desert, I read them the poem and gave them the little book as a keepsake to remember our times together here in Cape Town.  Hugs all around and then we said goodbye.  I'm back at Crystal Villa feeling all stirred up and homesick.  Such dear sweet girls.  I must pass along the beauty of metered verse to the next generation.  Mimi lay down beside me and immediately fell asleep.  Dani & Annie looked tired too, after a long day of classes.  I guess it's just me feeling wide awake and ready to roll.

~ The Daily Poet

LUNCH TIME LAPSE

A zero palm tree island dream

    Is all I had for lunch today,

And for desert a bit of cream

    On berries blue as Too Blue Bay,

Where dolphins offer brief remarks

On the fallacies of flavored quarks.

I sat on nothing more than sand,

    And held a conch with conscience clear

Of any guilt from either hand,

    Since right is left when I appear

To look myself inside of me,

And find there’s only roaring sea.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 387

Daffodils Stanza

St. Georges, Grenada

Lat: 12.05, Long: -61.75

JOURNAL: Rohanthon Dubissette's Guest House

I made breakfast of cheesy eggs, pan fried toast, and coffee.  After breakfast I got a hair cut at The Spanish Barber Shop right next door to our room, in the same building.  "Normal Hair" cost $20 EC, while "Straight Hair" cost $25 EC.  He spent a long time on the back and sides, but when it came to the top, he really didn't know what to do.  He did a bit of tentative clipping with scissors, but in the end Mimi said it looked fine, so we called it a done deal.  Then we caught a bus into town to consult with a travel agent about Venezuela.  There were three travel companies to choose from so we took the first one we came to, climbing the stairs to the second floor office of Astral Travel.  The ladies behind the counter were very patient with us as we batted around various itinerary options.  I decided against the Send-Mimi-To-Lima-Peru-Solo-Amazon option in favor of traveling together along a route that we are both comfortable with.  So, we will cancel our flight to Suriname, and instead fly to Quito, Ecuador, where we will spend a week, taking in the Galapagos Islands.  Then from Quito we will fly to LIma, Peru and on to Cusco, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca.  The great Amazon will have to wait for another year.  One upside of this itinerary is that we won't have to take any malaria medicine in South America, since all the countries we will visit will out of the malaria zone.  And following Joanie's suggestion we bought some multivitamins with probiotics to beef up our GI systems in general.

This whole South America Problem has been hanging in the air between us for a couple weeks, neither of us willing to opt out of our wishes for the other; both of us hoping the other will see our side.  Having it solved now is a great relief to me.  We went grocery shopping and then rode the bus down to the Excel Plaza near Grand Anse and caught a movie.  We saw NARNIA: The Voayage Of The Dawn Treader.  We really enjoyed it.  I'd forgotten about Eustace becoming a dragon.  we had hot dogs for supper at the movie. Even though we haven't done any sightseeing here on Grenada, we've had a restful, enjoyable time.

~ The Daily Poet

MY DOMINICA

My California fades to nil,

While thronging greens close every space.

The chloroform of chlorophyll

With sweet anesthetizing grace,

Reduces me to semi-sleep,

Consumes my shallows with its deep.

Perpetually the wind and I

Converse in languages unknown.

The white-capped sea, the cloud-washed sky,

Like mothers cradle me un-grown,

Un-made the knowledge of my years,

My lips with milk, my eyes with tears.

What sacred incense paints the air

From burning heaps of stream debris?

The forest offers up its prayer

In Celtic knots and fleur-de-lis,

In fractal twists of spinning swim

And every spiraled synonym.

My ears unfold with taken shapes

From music never heard before.

The lullabies of waving drapes

My window sill and open door,

Where sunlit amplitudes of sound

Reverberate this barefoot ground.

I’m far from home but where for sure

Is home when loving arms are here?

The time goes by like something pure

Parading past all clean and clear.

I close my eyes and then I see

My Dominica holding me.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 370

Daffodils Stanza

Marigot, Dominica

Lat: 15.54, Long: -61.27

JOURNAL: Rashawna’s House

Mimi and Rashawna went into Roseau today to buy groceries. I stayed home to wash clothes. Using the primitive washing machine was fun. Process: 1] put clothes in, 2] turn faucet on and fill washing tub with cold water until clothes are covered, 3] add soap & softener, 4] turn timer on and the mechanism at the bottom spins water to the right, then the left, then right, then left, until finished, 5] turn another dial to drain washing tub, 6] turn faucet again to fill with water, 7] timer again to rinse, 8] drain, 9) fill 10) rinse, 11) drain, 12) put half the clothes into spinner and dial in spinner time, 13) spin, 14) remove and place other half in spinner, 15) spin, 16). Then repeat steps 1 – 16 for second load. Then hang the clothes on the line under the porch with clothes pins. Wait all day for the sun and wind to dry them. As sun is setting take in the clothes and fold. Then Wash Day is complete. After I hung out the clothes I walked down to the store and bought a few things for lunch: one can of black beans, one can of kernel corn, a small chunk of cheddar cheese, three packets of ramen noodles all for 19 EC dollars, which comes to about $7.50 US. With matches, I lit two burners on the gas stove. Placed two packets of ramen noodles in a pot. Opened the cans of beans and corn into a frying pan and placed the chunk of cheese in the middle. Let it all cook until noodles were done and cheese was hot and partially melted. Served in a bowl with ramen noodles on the bottom with corn and beans on the noodles and the gooey cheese on top. I ate two bowls of my ramen noodle extravaganza and put the rest in the fridge. After lunch I lay down for a nap. When I woke up the sun was setting. The electricity was off, so I lit a couple of candles for light. Mimi called to say they were just getting a ride with some guys in a pickup truck with the groceries and would be back in about an hour and a half. No lights, no TV, just a candle burning beside my laptop as I write. The wind is blowing as it has been all day. I can hear neighborly voices shouting back and forth from house to house, and a distant dog barking.

~ The Daily Poet

LANDS OF MAKE BELIEVE

Fantastic lands of make believe

Are slight compared to what we find

Round every corner when we cleave

Aside the doors of must and mind

And gallivant the spreading plains

Of all the world that love retains.

Of all the world that love retains

And gallivants on spreading plains

Outside the doors of must and mind

Round every corner that we cleave

Can scarce compare to what we find

In drastic lands of make believe.

D. Edgar Lamp

The Daily Poem - 327

25980 Scenic Drive

Idyllwild, California

Reflected Daffodils Stanza

JOURNAL:  Went to early service at Idyllwild Bible Church with Mom and Mimi.  Tim's sermon was taken from Mark 11:1-11 about the Triumphal Entry.  Brunch at Little Chef in the Forest.  Finished visa applications for Russia, China & India. (whew!)  Mimi got an e-mail from Arthur in Yakaterinburg.  He said the Trans Siberian goes right through town and for us to hop off and spend a day.  We will.  Added it to our itinerary. Played Canasta with Mimi, refreshing our memory so we have a fun card game to play on the train.  I won 4 hands, she won 3, but she skunked me 5212 to 3515.  We discussed what we really want to see and do on our trip and we decided that Art, Architecture, Adventure, and Aid are all high on our list of what we want to focus on as we go from place to place.  We want to see the beautiful buildings, visit the contemporary art museums, experience the open country and offer aid those in need.

NEWS FROM KIM: Still waiting for Teen Challenge interview this coming Tuesday.

NEWS FROM ELLIE:  Last day in Paris.  Saw the Louvre, wasn't particularly impressed.  Saw the Mona Lisa.  Two more nights in Paris and then they're off to London.  Still no word about "You Know What."

NEWS FROM STEPHANIE: She and Ray found a Honda Civic with 180,000 in Dinuba that was in great shape.  By the time they got there another guy was just buying it.  It was only $2600.

STEPPING DOWN

Down from forty thousand feet,

   Standing on my own, just two;

Old familiars rise to greet,

   Bowing with, "How do you do?"

Words that strike me new somehow,

Now that that I am stepping down.

written in Ontario, California

in Daffodils Stanza

for The Daily Poem

on October 3, 2010

by D. Edgar Lamp

STEERAGE

Hello there Captain Burton, Sir,

I never thought you’d stoop to this.

Why aren’t you topside wearing fur

And sipping bubbly, kiss by kiss,

With your propitious dilettante

Who surely knows just what you want?

I can’t believe you’d climb down here

Below the decks of decadence

To chew the fat and bend an ear

With all us bums-in-residence.

We tip our gallon jugs of rum

And take our women as they come.

~ D. Edgar Lamp (Daffodils Stanza)