Enga mellom fjella

Choosing the 8 best for sushi.2. GPs sent for help.

I desperately need to sort these short 'whatevers'. Last time I sent gps. This time I'll need to send more, say 1,500 - 2,500.

I'm looking for the best, say the best 8.

(another 4 alternatives would be okay)

Any opinion as to why something works is deeply appreciated. Humor? Truth? Depth? Emotional response of some sort? Good poetics?

If you have an absolute favorite or two, I'd be amused to know that too!

They will become Sushi.2. You may have read them before as they are old. I've re-edited and renamed some though.

NOTE: it's okay to mention grammar, but that is correctable (I've re-edited since posting to catch errors). What is most essential is impact. If you have an idea how choosing a different word would make or break one, that's great too. However, it's how the audience responds here in Montana!

#1

Good morning, California!

Patchquilt
of excitement:
montañas, tsunami,
playas, sushi, terremoto,
Ahnold.

#2

Once seen from Windsor

Water,
summer swimming,
cherry trees, ice fishing,
crowded ferries and Henry Ford,
Detroit.

#3

Spirit Lake in North Dakota

On wings
of Lakota flutes,
woven with wonder
from blue flax and blue sky, we dance
with hoops.

#4

New Hampshire

Old men get lost here,
turn to mountain stone,
but not all is taken for granite.

#5

Talamina Drive, Oklahoma

“Red and flat, they say!”
The Ouachitas laugh, beckoning
from green knifed heights.

#6

Will the Black Hills answer?

We ask at Rushmore,
we who lived here first:
Do faces
of these presidents cry stone tears
for what was robbed
and never returned?

#7

Utah Valley

Vaporized,
the Mormon trials ended here;
faith grew anew from a bed of salt.

#8

Richmond Virginia

Statues
stand in granite,
legacy of an ancient war.
Hearts still resist all change,
stone cast.

#9

Vermonters

Hidden behind the cloak
of evergreen, the red of maple,
the white of snow;
in silence,
folk just watch.

#10

Steven's Pass

Index
points one finger skyward;
pines shed snow;
mountains peek
above the fog.

#11

Midland Texas

Oil stench,
guns and fists clenched,
violence raping hot ...
this desert land where people worship
money.

#12

Along I 80 through Nebraska

Wide as the sky,
deep as grandma’s washtub,
the Platte flows slowly eastward.

#13

Missus Sippie

Scent of magnolia,
thick upon the breeze,
beckons morning mist,
a Southern dream.

#14

The eyes of Idaho

Cut off by mountains’ majesty,
river canyons, whitewater tease,
land of potatoes in summer,
in winter, the abode of skis.

#15

Song of the Ozarks

Houses cling to hillsides,
while hidden in the hollows
fiddles sing
as roadkill cooks
and hogs wallow.

#16

Northern melodies

Why not
enjoy the buzz,
fly’s kin that sucks on skin?
Dare you swat to kill Alaska’s
songbird?

#17

Tucson, Arizona

No green
revealed by rock,
this color of dryness
shares no foothold of life without
water.

#18

Nowhere east of Illinois

In Diana,
note the fragrance
of her personality.
Indiana?
None.

#19

At the Preakness

Black-eyed Susans,
green-eyed Margaritas,
crabs cakes doing a dance,
the sound of two clams clapping.

#20

Somewhere in the State of Misery

Earth, wind and water.
All meet here in the flow of mud.
Baked, they run through Oz,
the yellow bricks of Dorothy's dreams.

#21

Fort Bragg North Carolina

Fresh breezes from the Outer Banks
and mountains' cooling mist don't reach here.
Piedmont heat hugs humanity,
boils all in its humidity.

#22

The road through Columbus

Ohio!
To your three piece civility,
spanning north and south,
I say, “Hi!”
To your chilliness,
"bye-bye."

#23

After the Oregon Ducks game

Slugs climb over moss.
The road from Eugene glistens
with their slime.

#24

Wamsutter Wyoming

The continent divides here,
leaves a hole in the middle,
vortex of this emptiness.

#25

West Virginia

Her curves:
green mountains of narrow roads,
coal fed streams,
fiddles heard at night
through mist.

#26

Nevada gambles

Dice tumble.
What will it be today?
Avalanche or earthquake?
Or the breach of dam that floods?

#27

Sunburg Minnesota

New Years Day:
so many frozen lakes,
at minus five it's mild.
But oh so few hours to skate.
Uff da!

#28

Western Kansas

Wave hello.
Wave goodbye.
Only the friendly survive
among the hardy wheat!

#29

At the small town bookstore

Quiet.
After vespers,
even the sunbeam motes
soft-shoe among the coffee cups
and flies.

#30

Exorcise of summer

Heat seeps,
beyond the bones,
into weary muscles,
then sweats away the excess fat
and pants.