Hans Ostrom Poems

Gratitude-that's a tough one, easy
to fake, or to ruin even when you're
not pretending. It isn't the same
as feeling lucky, and when you
...

Molecular in nature were the two,
For they were human, and therefore made
Of carbon, protein, fat-the usual stew
Of which stuff in this matter, fact, is said
...

I live in wariness,
which is no place.
It is an atmosphere,
a mental space.
...

Please enter your 200-digit identity-code.
If you'd like persons paid by citizens' taxes
to continue to incarcerate and torture people
in the absence of habeas corpus, touch CONTINUE.
...

Electrons here, electrons there, but no
Transition anywhere. They disappear.
They reappear-a quantum jump-or so
It's been identified-not well, I fear.
...

They wait for me across the creek.
They look like shadows from this side.
One day I'll wade across to seek
The insubstantial. Petrified
...

'Mr. Debit, we advise you to put part
of yourself in stocks and part in bonds.
These punishments should occur in the
Town Square, as penance for your miserable
...

My soul, in search of skylights,
Climbed flights of stairs,
Hit its head on attic beams,
Fell over cast-off chairs.
...

I pledge allegiance to the flagging
spirit of hope in the united cells
of my cerebellum, and to
the republic of individuation
...