Hans Ostrom Poems

My eyes turned feral, made
visitors feel hunted. When I
talked, interlocutors thought
of machine-gun turrets, wolf-children,
...

Sex is an excellent syllable, which
detonates meaning and is fillable
with much connotation. Of course
it conjures a deed done and conjugal
...

("Aspiration, " painted by Aaron Douglas,1936, oil on canvas,60" x 60", Fine Arts Museum of
San Francisco)
...

My love for you
is but for you, just
like the only apple
pie of its kind, the one
...

They call each other `E.' Elvis picks
wildflowers near the river and brings
them to Emily. She explains half-rhymes to him.
...

A rumor made the round,
gliding slowly like a fat skurzing
fly. Before peaking, my attention
got briefly piqued. I lost interest
...

A stone rings with heat in the desert. A
lizard answers the stone, speaking in tongue.
On the other end of the line is the Sun.
After ringing off, the lizard does push-ups,
...

(near Hoodsport, Washington)

Otters, people, and seabirds covet
the plump valved purse
...

(for Walter Scott, South Carolina, and uncounted others)


If you've ever asked yourself
...

The Etruscans employed fulguriators-
interpreters of lightning strikes.
Jagged, sizzling bolts wrought phrases,
injected warnings, illumined portents,
...