Sentinel

4 am 

low motor sound in the cul de sac

black sedan full of young men...boys?

scanning for opportunity

key fob relay thieves, or

tools from the trailer out front

 - maybe gas from the shed

the tired monk emerges

from the cedars

puts down his morning tea

120 000 lumen flashlight

clicks on 

illuminates the temple yard, 

and startled faces

one burglar turns

jogs away

jumps...splosh!

lands in thick ditch muck

tumbles into the side door, and away

one shoe remains 

stuck in weedy slime

dozer

bulldozer rumbles

ploughing over trees

pulling up roots

that cling to ice age rock

tremors shake

mud quakes

windows rattle

I turn the radio up

and look away

rain shadow

484 kilometers away...

...lets call it 500 

the rain has passed

raging fires are quenched

a few wisps of steam 

     the air crisp clean 

here the rain storm of the north

is just a steady mist now

the tired monk dribbles

shoots bank shots

swishes mid range jumpers

under the maple tree rain shadow

hooping

tree shade over the driveway

phife dawg rhythm 

bouncy old school beats

dribble step back three

can't miss

hooping in the early June heat.  

out by the fence

May rains June heat

lush soaring weeds

fat rabbit by the fence

Radio Silence

one more big stretch to go

big city radio station

finally within range

first tolls of

Acca Dacca bells

next brother Gord

sings of New Orleans

blessed trifecta rounded off

with Neil's blazing licks

I'm indeed Rockin' in the Free World

radio cranked to 11

...commercial break...

a mellow set

The Tired monk sings

Lost Together

out the window 

cows look up chewing

then...

opening chords of

New Kid in Town

radio clicks off

silence 

on the open road

The Dude was right.

the Collected Works

The Collected Works: Poems by Brother Ollie the Tired Monk

This looks so much better all opened up...  I'll work on my cover design for my next book (My Collected Haiku).  I'm a total amateur in the realm of book publishing, but it is nice to have a printed version.

Thanks to Sherry Blue Sky for the Foreword.

Visit my bookstore via this link:

The Collected Works of Brother Ollie   Tired Monk Poems 2009-2023