Michael Bates Verse-Virtual 2017 August

August 2017

I once worked in international publishing, travelled Latin America while living in Brazil. My poems were written in English, a few in Spanish. Their time and place were hotels in distant cities, or on the planes that flew there. My retirement home is a condo overlooking Tampa Bay, Florida. Recently I launched a poetry website/blog, three by 3 — http://michaeljbates.com/

Sightseeing over Scandinavia

Not a road around.
Nor telephone poles.
Just deep green miles
of pines...

Dirigibles make our pursuit
of transcendental truth
a moving experience.
We can cover lots of ground
while floating around, day
after day, at the same height
as any horizon.

Scandinavian forests are supposed
to be full of dwarfs.
So far, we haven’t seen any;
only herds of reindeer,
and a preying wolf.

We’re heading towards the sea,
looking forward to the coastline
for a change of place.
There’s where the fjords are, and
maybe a mermaid.
Before running out of tides
or into unfair weather, we’ll
hover over each beach,
searching for a lagoon
that shimmers, sounds like
it’s singing.

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