Everlasting

Old guy, reading the paper
at Stop & Shop,
"I'm one of those
everlasting survivors."

-Jim DuBois

We Will Remember You

We will remember you,
said the stars and the rain

We will remember you,
said the flames of the sun

We will remember you,
said the mass of humanity.

We will place you
in our collected memories
and pass you on
    and on
        and on



-Jim DuBois
June 12, 2010

Bone Memory Poet *

Bone Memory Poet
dwelling in the
blood marrow caves
telling the ancient stories
of the genetic ancestors,
the primates of days past.

These bones,
these caves,
were grown
so long ago
no one really remembers
but everyone knows
they go further back
than some find comfortable,
to rodents and bacteria,
mud and rocks,
strands of protein
from unknown shores
off the planet.

Bone memory leads us back
to the calcification
of our own skulls,
to the womb,
to the very first vertebra,
back further
to Africa
via our individual paths,
to tiny mammals,
an ice age
and the extinction
of the dinosaurs.

Speak, bone memory,
speak, bone memory,
speak!

Remind us of our
elemental nature,
of calcium and iron,
of our siblinghood
with water
and oxygen,
of our ability
to generate
electrical pulses
and create chemicals.

You've seen
all these things
and encoded them
in mysterious genetic runes
and protein alphabets.

Bone Memory Poet,
reminding us
of our foundations,
of our inner structure,
reminding us
that below
the cleverness and cognition
we are physical entities,
forces of nature.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 6, 2010

* title line from a friend of a friend

Stars, and Ice

Walking back through the front field at night,
after feeding the cats at the barn,
we used to lay down and stare up at the stars
and feel the enormousness of their distance
and what it would be like
to just keep falling
up into the sky.

Sometimes when we came back that way
in the winter,
the whole hill would be covered
with ice-encrusted snow
and we used to lay down on our bellies
and slide slowly
all the way down.


Jim DuBois
Jan 1, 2010

Identity

This is where you live
On this sidewalk
In this chair
Among these people
Wherever it is you actually are

This is who you are
With these thoughts
Eating this burrito
Making these minute by minute decisions
Doing exactly whatever it is you are doing

This is what you are
Temporarily animated matter
Atoms somehow made conscious
Not separated by the boundaries you think you are
Not different from other atoms
Unique but not different from the other conscious beings that surround you


-Jim DuBois
Jan 16, 2010

Computer summary of my older poems

I was putting together a book of poetry for publication on Lulu.com, and I tried the executive summary tool, just to see what it would come up with. Here's the result, which I enjoy:


            some-times
Shirt,
Shirt,
Shirt,

shirt,
Including time

it’s time
      in time.
      if I lived


-Jim DuBois + computer
Nov 10, 2009

You

It wasn't anyone
any different than you

who started that last
revolution,

who fell in love,

who was remembered
    for thousands of years.


-Jim DuBois
2006

(Sorting) Laundry

Shirt,
Shirt,
Shirt,

Socks, pants, shirt,

Why do I have so many shirts?

shirt,
long-sleeved shirt,
pants,
pajamas,

I wonder how other people categorize their laundry?

I have the most categories for shirts,

shirt,
long-sleeved shirt,
shirt I need to hang on a hanger,
Oh! this shirt's not really dry yet...

Maybe I'll do more laundry tomorrow.


-Jim DuBois
Jan 22, 1998

When You Were Almost Two

When you were almost two,
you and me and Shahana
ran around in Eastworks
while our other people
talked after dinner
at the Apollo Grill.

There was this huge plastic bear
in one of the windows
and I lifted you up
so you could get a better view.
Shahana wanted to see too,
so I picked her up with my other arm
and we looked at the bear together.

We laughed and talked and pointed
and I felt peaceful and happy and content.

I held you guys for as long as I could,
until my arms got tired,
but if I could, I'd be there still,
holding you up to see the bear.


-Jim DuBois
March + Aug 2009

Ordinary Days on Planet Earth

The light from the sun
travels to earth every day,
soaks into the ground,
        the dirt,
        the water,
        the rocks,

and the plants burst upwards
in a multitude of colors

and the animals grow
and change
and evolve,
wandering over the land
and in the sea

and the people
are simply starlight
with brains and hands

they create marvelous art and music

they solve incredible problems
with knowledge, ingenuity
and vast imaginations

they invent technology
to communicate with each other
and transform the lives
of billions

and though they
don't always know it,
they are
        striving striving striving
to be good,
and kind
to one another.


-Jim DuBois
Aug 11, 2009

In the Winter, I saw Ducks

I hear the unceasing hum
of the traffic in the distance;

Everyone is rushing to get somewhere
and not spending much time
being anywhere.

In the winter, I saw ducks
swimming on an icy stream,
dipping their heads down into the water
to eat, like they always do.

I imagine the people turning off their cars
and placidly floating along like ducks
on the currents of life,
not controlled by those currents
and not resisting them either.


-Jim DuBois

---

This is an selection from my book of poetry philosophy, "Like the Sun". You can get a copy here

Genetic Astrology

They say
your destiny
has been written

in the stars
of your genetic make-up.

You can only be
so smart
so inventive
so analytical
you know.

Your mind
has been made up
for you,
since you were
born under the
constellation
of the
double helix.

It is a system
that has a place
for all of us,
even those destined
to be toilet cleaners
and idiots –
just remember
never to rise above
your station
or have any ambitions –
you’ll only be
disappointed by
your limitations.

There’s no arguing
with science.

Now go back
to that stupid job
and quit complaining.


-Jim DuBois
Aug 1, 2005

Oberon Returns (Jan 28, 2009)

Oberon returns,
    running full force
    through the veil of worlds,
    wearing his magic white boots
    and gossamer armor.

He breaks through
    into the land
    of snow and ice,
    crouching low
        in the drifts,
    feral and vital,
    hunting, hunting
    for the flower
    with the thousand year berries,
    and the alabaster bones
    of the griffon.


-Jim DuBois

Just Keep Running

I remember running at Hampshire College...

...through the woods & snow with Cedar,
reckless and excited,
because we could,
and I don't remember why.

...jumping and yelling, like a dog,
behind Amy skiing,
later running in the snowstorm
without a shirt
(and once without my shoes ... brrr)
to amuse & impress her
and just to let out
the energy
of my desire.

...across from Greenwich to Prescott
with Dave and Rachel,
getting tired halfway
and stopping
for a moment in the sun
to say,
"I just realized
that when you get that feeling
that you're too tired,
and can't go on,
you have to just keep running,"
and we got up
and ran.

-Jim DuBois

This is the Coat (March 31, 2007)

This
is the coat

This is the coat

This is the coat
I wore when you were born

This is the coat
my brother gave me

This is the coat
I wore every day this week


-Jim DuBois

Transformations (Dec 15, 2008)

The wolf and the crow
    visited me one winter night,
    whispering,
            "Your true self is waiting,
             Your true self is waiting,"
and I snuck out
    into the cold and dark
where I ate wild grubs
    of the present moment
and foraged for bark
    from the tree of life
until my clothes turned
    brown and grey and green,
    the colors of the woodsfolk,
and I could run one hundred miles
    without stopping
and my wings finally regrew
    and I disappeared into the sky.


-Jim DuBois

Spiderman Retires

I.

Spiderman retires
and takes up
watercolor painting
in the countryside
because he gets so tired
of all those tear-jerking moments
where his friend,
who was his enemy for a while,
dies after fighting off
the real bad guy,
who probably wasn't bad,
just misguided.


II.

Gandalf goes to therapy
and starts to realize
that the shadow of the past
is only a shadow,
and a ring is only a ring,
and even though he wishes
for a dramatic solution
to soothe his dark memories,
he starts to understand
that the best thing he could do
is live in the present,
and save Frodo and the other hobbits
a whole lot of trouble.


III.

Young Bruce Wayne
never becomes Batman
because some helpful social worker
realizes that Bruce just needs
to cry and cry
about his parent's death,
and explains that all his
dark fantasies of revenge
can never bring back
mom and dad.
Instead of growing up
to be a costumed vigilante,
Bruce becomes an artist.


-Jim DuBois

Brief Encounters (Sept 5, 2000)

I saw the fading slogans
  of ever lasting love
    decorating the rusty railroad bridge
      in dare-devil
        spots.

I wondered about
  the people who wrote them,
    10, 15, 20 years ago.

I wondered
  if they still
    remembered.

I thought of you
and I wondered if
    our brief encounters
    were like those slogans,
  thrown up in a momentary abandon,
  left like relics
    for future lovers to find
    and wonder over.



-Jim DuBois

My Borrowed Ambition Pen (May 4, 2003)

My borrowed ambition pen:
      doodling,
                  noodling,
                              sketching,

trying to find
      what was lost

trying to arrange
      what is in disarry

trying to make sense of
      what doesn't make sense of


Like a mind of its own,
   it’s searching the shadows of my understanding,
      probing into my broken heart
         looking for the indestructible black box
            that holds the secrets
               to what went wrong


My borrowed ambition pen
   is travelling deep into outer space now,
      chasing comets of lost love,
         skirting the gravitational pulls
            of black hole disaster zones
               where nobody knows… knows what there
                  is there and nobody can.

What is it learning?
   What does it know?

When it gets back to earth
   we’ll have a party
      to study the complete map of the emotional cosmos
         called me,
      and we’ll put big red danger ‘X’s
         on certain spots,
         and never never go there
            except by accident,
            or if we have to because of true love again

Only this time I’ll have a new,
   re-enforced space suit,
      and extra oxygen tanks
      and plenty of food,
      in case I get stranded
         for a long time,
      and probably a homing beacon
         so you can come rescue me,
            all you people who were at my universe party
               and warned me not to go there,
                  but knew I would,
               because who can hold back
               where love and hearts are concerned,
               and who would want to anyway?


My borrowed ambition pen
   is like anti-kryptonite,
      boosting my strength to super human levels,
         and I’m using it to chop down
            forests of primal delusions
               where – by gum! – it’s still beating:
                  this old heart,
                     this old forgotten heart.

It looks like we got here in the nick of time, too,
   but it always feels like that,
      doesn’t it?



            -Jim DuBois

Let’s Tell The Same Old Jokes (Nov 26, 2005)

Let’s tell the same old jokes:
Men are X
Women are Y
    ha ha ha

Kids are Z
    ha ha ha

The liberals _________
The conservatives ________
    ha ha ha

Let’s tell the same old jokes
Let’s buy the same old stuff
Let’s do the same thing every day

Let’s watch the same old
    white guy talk show host
        tell the same old jokes
            with the same old attitude:
                cynical, detached, passionless,
                    mean, empty,
                        american bullshit artist

Let’s make the same old movies
Let’s write the same old dialog
Let’s have the same old plots

Let’s have the same old news:
You’re fucked!
There’s a disaster,
There’s a war,
Be afraid

Let’s show the same old ads:
Cars will set you free,
Beer will get you sex,
other stupid shit will make your life easier

Let’s make the same old excuses
Let’s play the same old games
Let’s tell the same old jokes

Let’s write the same old lines
Let’s tell the same old lies
Let’s commit the same old
    slow-death suicide by overwhelming mediocrity
        so popular in America.


                            - Jim DuBois