Earthquakes, Chili Peppers and Vinyl Records

Did you feel it?

That’s a section on the US Geological Survey website
(A Science for a Changing World)

I was feeling a lot of things
in my dream

listening to vinyl records
with the man who
professed his passion
for hot chili peppers

people all around us
were preparing for
impending disaster
tsunami maybe
but I was not well-versed

I was looking at his bookshelves
putting the needle on the record
might as well listen to a good tune
feel happy
when catastrophe strikes

there was that white knitted afghan
tilted shelving
an enormous brown couch
who was it we were listening to
when my bed began shaking?

I felt an earthquake
while I was dreaming
rocking me in waves
while I slept

In the morning
I jot the dream details
but my rattling bed
is doubtful
in reality
there are no earthquakes on my dormant island

to be sure
I search the USGS
maybe I felt distant fault lines trembling

documented there
2:59am
on the other end of my island chain
Hawaii had a 2.1 tremor
and so too, Japan
a 5.1
the Philipines
4.9

when you look to see the online list
it seems the whole world is rumbling!

courtesty USGS

“Did you feel it? Report an earthquake”
links
in cyberspace

I won’t report it
except for here
record players and chili peppers
earthquakes shaking my bed

dream science
a changing world
are we feeling it?

Wireless Reception

One hour a day
I dial in
to the broadest band

That’s how the poem began
as I walked damp wet sand
crafting words
that spun
in swirling mists
of salt
and streaming sunlight

out of range and loving it
my 60 minutes
of wireless reception

Jessica Dofflemyer

 

but then…
nature time’s up
back at the car
I’m recording phrases
in my iPhone
trying to remember
the communication
I received
seaside

There are phone calls to return
appointments to keep
I plug in
and realize
my gift of words
are somewhere
wild
unkept
in the ether

I grasp air
dig deep in heart
give it a rest
knowing
there’s only so much time
what’s real surfaces

Hey
I got poetry
and the hiss of mushy ocean waves this morning

it’s OK if it’s not posted here
in fact
I encourage you, my friend
go out
and listen
find your own
then share it

Card Games, Prophesies and Sunday Afternoons

Before 9am, Jeb has taken me to a beach I’ve never been to in all of my 15 years on the island. Nothing like letting the next generation lead the way.Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved

It’s an interesting Sunday. We pass through manicured lawns to remote coves. Talk about the Mayan prophesies of 2012 (kids at school are telling Jeb he’ll die in 3 months from a great flood).

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reservedTake recycling to the transfer station.

Get home by 10:30 in time to go through a restore process on my iPhone while Jeb deals a game of Uno. It seems the magic carpet has now become host to family card games.

I’ve got a load of laundry in the washer and some dishes in the sink.

Jeb’s playing with our neighbor’s cat on the balcony, who has been dubbed “Agent 5” (a partner in some spy mission I am not privy to). Apparently, Agent 5 made a run for it, as Jeb describes some sort of typical, cat-like leap from great heights that landed Agent 5 deftly, but distant, from Jeb’s grasp.

iPhone says “sync is in progress” as Uno calls. Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

To be honest, I’m taking a look at that bottle of Patron and wondering if a weekend cocktail may be in my future.

It’s Sunday, 2011. Jeb’s seven, going on eight. We’re home with no big plan.

I try to soak in this day at 11:22am. Sync is complete. Daily Chronicle, chronicled.

Time, space and Mayan calendars. Laundry, Uno and Agent 5. These days will never come again.

Love, love, love it.