30 for 30 (Tides)

Down by the river

Just at the break of dawn

The grass has grown

The water is swamp

My youth is washed

Away

Somewhere

A long time ago

It was clearer still…

And the men go hunting

And time moves through my hands like sand

The physical and torn element

This is time

And I wonder about my place in it

And the women

Gather

And used to read

They said there was news shared

But in the world of men and giants and shadows

And ever changing fears

Months

Of cold Mondays

Where do you go

How have you grown?

Remember

Colette

Kathryn Hepburn

Zelda Fitzgerald

Mae West

Billie Holiday

So many more…

All of their shadows

In the water

Moving by

And by

how easy it would have been

To just sit

Quiet

And fit in the places made for them

I wonder what they thought

I wonder

What they wrote

I wonder

If you ever see them down by the river

Still

Making tides…

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Beagle in the City #246

Pizza man: Hey Simon!

Simon: Hey best friend.

Garfunkel: Hey Who is it?

Simon: Nobody, go away.

Pizza man: that’ll be 15 dollars.

Garf: You can’t PAY the pizza man with dog treats. He needs cash. He’s gonna cut your paws off!

Simon: Well, I hope he likes dog treats.

Simon: This is my friend puddles. He’s going to pay you.

Garf: What? That’s not my name !

Pizza man: that’s a cool name

Simon: It’s cause he pees in the floor.

Ethan: Hey man, here’s your money. Sorry it took so long. Come on boneheads.

30 for 30 (sand castles)

She tilts her head back

As if to ready a violin

Her hands made into fists

Punching her face

Her mouth foams

Blood runs

From chewing on her tongue and jaw

I have timed

Tornadoes

Storms as they pass over

Shop lifters

But this was the longest

Minutes of my life

The seconds carry the weight of hours

After the seizure passes

Like the eye of the storm

It takes half an hour for the cloud mass to break

And clarity to return

I have to repeat answers to questions asked every few minutes

Like fragments

Falling to the earth

Left behind

And she slurs her speech

And I am reminded

How much we take for granted

This idea that everything will be here tomorrow

Exactly as it is today

And I think

How quickly all the lamps expire

And how much of ourselves we put on hold

Betting for tomorrow

How much I didn’t write

Believing I would be

Could be

Better

Tomorrow

Life

Tears us apart

And takes away our talents

The people we love

We are so bold

So brass

So full of our youth

We believe

We have time

But the lamps

Are expiring

As I hold my wife

And she is sleeping

I think about

The rain against the window

The dry lightning

As

The sun is setting

We are not permanent

We are not forever

I think about the orchestra

Playing in rhythm

I think about the shows we’ve seen

The musicals

The theater

I think about

How quickly we are gone

Even stars burn out

Even phoenixes are reborn

Even the air is thin

Between the lightning

Everything

Everything

Everything

Expires

Even when denied

Time will prove

Right

As the spring leaves

Are swept away

In the street

This is all we have

All we are

– Ethan Bethune

Beagle in the City #244

Simon: Every day, dad comes home on lunches, and we go to the outside. It’s great. We play for days.

Ethan: You realize, it’s only one hour. And most people actually get to eat on their lunch.

Garfunkel: Well I’m just a starvin’ marvin, just a starvin’ marvin, I ain’t eat in three whole days!

Ethan: What are you singing? What is this?

Garfunkel: what if we all go and get sammiches.

Ethan: How about peanut butter and you guys go to the bathroom like you’re supposed to. I’m about to have to leave.

Simon: Whaaat what do you have left, a week, three days? Is it 57 minutes! No not the minutes! They are so sad!

Ethan: that’s it, I’m leaving. I’m never coming back. I’ll send you a postcard.

Garfunkel: Wait for me! Bum bum dum dum starvin’ marvin…

30 for 30 ( rain )

She’s electric

Traces the space

Between each star

Swears she’s named them all

And

She’s midnight fire

The eye of the hurricane

I swear, I know nothing at all

She’s here at my door again

I’m lost in her pouring rain

My lips against her skin

Her winds

This breath

This free

And I know

Nothing at all…

Beagle in the City #243

Simon: Look dad! I’m digging!

Simon: And you’re sure Moles aren’t scary?

Simon: You know one time, I knew a squirrel, he wasn’t a Mole though, have you ever seen a squirrel? You probably have.

Simon: Why are they under the ground? Is it dark under the ground? How do they see? Is it as dark as when I’m under the covers?

Simon: When do we take breaks? I could go for some snacks…

Simon: Just look at the size of this trench I dug!

Ethan: I don’t think you did as much as you think you did…

Simon: What do you mean? I’m exhausted…