DUANE VORHEES

 

The Finder And The Found

 

(You stumble around on unknown pampas

with an unsure map and compass.)

 

Lovers suffer their epilepsies of lust and lassitude.

They’re unable to distinguish the greed from the gratitude.

 

(Can you tell the difference between the finder /and the found?

Between a rhino /and a cow?)

 

Astronomers treasure their whims about all of existence,

and logicians insist they can know what’s fact and what’s fiction.

 

(Can you tell the difference between the signet /and the signer?

Watch /and winder? Sausage, /grinder?)

 

Algebra

 

Grandly you took me to your meeting house,

so I could recite bawdy aubades to my tavern.

And you always bring proud hens to roost

knowing full well I’ll supply my ravens.

We both let self-image supplant reality.

 

We fear to face finality.

Station by station

we delay destinations.

We withhold needed balance

against equation’s nonchalance.

 

Pearling

 

People pearl

to repair

broken shell.

 

You charade

that you care.

 

I evade

inaction --

masks of words,

my bastion.

 

But your games,

my gird,

can’t hide shame.

 

From Mind To Hand

 

In the mind in the night

stone on stone – rock

fire on rock – river

stone on river – gods of rock

 

On the land by the hand

gods of rock – arts and arms

ornaments, tools

arrowheads, armor

 

from the brain to stage and page

 

The Nature Strikes Back

 

Carbon plutocrats

poison the planet

with their noxious plants.

 

To uproot their briars

Nature prepares her seeds.

First will come the fire,

followed by the freeze.

 

The focus of the sun

will emblaze to ash

the factories,

refineries.

 

The revenge of the wind

extracted against

the coal smokestacks

and the oil rigs.

 

The purging of the rain

clears away the trash--

the factories, refineries,

the coal smokestacks,

and the oil rigs.

 

DUANE VORHEES

 

DUANE VORHEES is an American poet in Thailand. He is the author of THE MANY LOVES OF DUANE VORHEES, HEAVEN, GIFT: GOD RUNS THROUGH ALL THESE ROOMS, and MEMORIES ARE LINKED LIKE OASES. Born in Farmersville, Ohio, USA, he graduated from Bowling Green State University with a doctorate in American Culture Studies. He has taught at Seoul National University, Korea University, amd the Asian Division of the University of Maryland University College (now the University of Maryland Global Campus). He has traveled extensively on five continents.