Thursday short poem: Lober's "Girltown"

If Robinson Jeffers is the great poet of the Central Coast where I was raised, George Lober is at the least the region's best living poet.  This is one of my favorites of his, and after showering with all sorts of lovely-scented things this morning, it just seemed perfect.

Girltown

Not every man has had the same pleasure as I
of being reminded each morning while shaving
that body soufflés come in tangerine,
that no matter what shape or size they come in,
all lotions are good, and in the shower
the truly enlightened mind never can, nor ever should confuse
shampure´ with shampoo,

and that later while getting dressed,
of the eternal verity no house can have
too much closet space,
or while going downstairs for coffee
how flowers by Nature's intended design hold the center of every flat space,
end and dining table, kitchen counter,

in fact, any surface otherwise begging
for stacks of sports magazines,
old newspapers, the mail unopened
for, say, fourteen days,

that citrus-fresh, sparkling cleanliness
in the kitchen, the bathroom,
everywhere is God,
and candles may burn in broad daylight,
in the morning, afternoon,
and there's nothing illogical
or odd about Slim Fast and chocolate
occupying the same cupboard shelf,

that for reasons within rules wrapped
in a mystery the self may never know,
suddenly after two years, because of some aesthetic slight or insult,
akin, perhaps, to thumbing one's nose,
a chair in the living room, an area rug
or floor lamp is found wanting,
and, worse, "It has to go,"

but the vase bought yesterday,
or a painted potpourri bowl will be perfect
on the flat space above the television
if, and trust me on this, it's turned just so

Comments

[erica]

man, i can't tell you how much i love it.

[annika]

totally! that was so cool, Hugo. it brought a cheer to my afternoon!

[typhonblue]

Yuck. What a bunch of stereotypical crap.

I don't buy anything lotiony unless I've got a rash, and I certainly hope there's more to being female then buying earth-consuming baubles and frivolous decorating with decapitated foliage.

Leave the flowers where nature intended them, out in the wild, creating little flowers.

[Paz]

Now, I know it's not Thursday, but I thought you might like this.

Ode To My Socks

Maru Mori brought me
a pair
of socks
which she knitted with her own
sheepherder hands,
two socks as soft
as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were
two
cases
knitted
with threads of
twilight
and the pelt of sheep.
Outrageous socks,
my feet became
two fish
made of wool,
two long sharks
of ultramarine blue
crossed
by one golden hair,
two gigantic blackbirds,
two cannons:
my feet
were honored in this way
by
these
heavenly
socks.
They were
so beautiful
that for the first time
my feet seemed to me
unacceptable
like two decrepit
firemen, firemen
unworthy
of that embroidered
fire,
of those luminous
socks.

Nevertheless,
I resisted
the sharp temptation
to save them
as schoolboys
keep
fireflies,
as scholars
collect
sacred documents,
I resisted
the wild impulse
to put them
in a golden
cage
and each day give them
birdseed
and chunks of pink melon.
Like explorers
in the jungle
who hand over the rare
green deer
to the roasting spit
and eat it
with remorse,
I stretched out
my feet
and pulled on
the
magnificent
socks
and
then my shoes.

And the moral of my ode
is this:
beauty is twice
beauty
and what is good is doubly
good
when it's a matter of two
woolen socks
in winter.

By: Pablo Neruda

[ray]

Hugo, you're tickled cause you spent the morning "showering with lovely scented things?

even in this post-GQ-age, isn't that just a tad, ah, Froo-Froo?

just wondering . . .

geez, it's been a long way since hunter-gathering, eh bro?

:O)

and Slim Fast and chocolate occupying the same cupboard shelf is not ONLY "odd" and "illogical," it's about as confused as many Western mens' sexuality!

[mythago]

even in this post-GQ-age, isn't that just a tad, ah, Froo-Froo?

No. It means Hugo is less paranoid that someone will see him as, you know, GIRLY, because he doesn't think girls are gross. Get over it.

It's funny that men are allowed to appreciate nice-smelling lotion and shampoo on a woman. The scent and liking it are the same, right?