Ohio Time

Introduction
Going to Ohio
Across America
Sea Legs of the Airwaves
Ohio Fans
Green Yarn
Ohio Garden
Old Ironhead
Holy Water
Cleveland Disappears
Southern Gentleman
307
The $5 Chicken
The Bed
Praying Mantis
Above the Field
Heron Doing Time
Sundown
A Whale
Cleveland Cloud
Limpets
3 Elephants in Cleveland
Out of the Plant
Away From Work
Climate Control
Anymore
The Marx Birds
For Louie
Playground
Lady Day
Clockwork Rabbit
Cleveland Block
The Relics
Treasures
In Petals
Spiders
Ring Chimes
Wallpaper & Waitresses
Today
Welcomes
The 4th Bed
Laundry Chutes
T.C.M.B.C
Perry Como Pure Gold
Salting
The Hummingbird
The Paper Hand
Free Kittens
Ruby Eyes
Even If
Last Day
A Good Dream
Pictures & Words
Slow Bicycles

INTRODUCTION:
This book began with imagining Ohio.
When I flew there in the depth of night,
I couldn’t sleep, I looked out the window
at the most ferocious lightning I’ve ever
seen. The war storm followed all the way
to Cleveland in the rain. I still need to
explore that city more, the oldness of
stone and metal. Saw the d.a. levy sights
still being drawn, Tom Kryss holding up
a tape recorder to play Phil Ochs, Russell
Salamon talking outside the bookstore
bricks while flocks of birds flew over in
the last of dusk.
There are things in here I didn’t get
to say. A walk in the marsh the last day,
the cypress shade, a tan cicada shell
hung to a climbing tree. There are
books that aren’t on these pages,
experiences that might seem forgotten.
So much happens this book is only
a handful. It’s the old Basho practice
predating photography, capturing the
journey memory with little markers
made of words. So here they are.

After 2 PM, Washington,
September 3, 2007




Going To Ohio

Since I don’t know
when I’ll ever get
to Europe or Asia
or far off Africa
I have to pretend
going to Ohio
will be a journey
to a marvelous land
I’ll have to look
at everything
with amazement

What will I see
will I need
a guidebook
what customs
or strange behaviors
will I encounter
are there snowy mountains
beautiful moonlit seas
what stories
will inspire me
when I’m there
I can’t wait
to find out


8/16/7
11:37 AM




Across America

All across America
the plane flies over
lightning clouds below
the message is clear
from this window
people down there
must be sleeping
with the fear


8/19/7




Sea Legs of the Airwaves

When he flew from coast
to coast back in propeller days
the plane ran into so much
turbulence only a pilot or
a seafarer could take the ride
everyone else got sick
So he took a mop and pail
from the stewardess in a swoon
and he swabbed the aisle clean
until they landed once again


8/19/7
Ohio Fans

Some with Egyptian
papyrus leaves
some resembling
Sopwith Camel
propeller blades
4 paddles or 5
it all depends
they differ
like aeronautical
experiments
designed
to push air


8/22/7




Green Yarn

At night
she knits
the lawns
around town
a little longer


8/22/7




Ohio Garden

A garden full
of Ohio weeds
someone tried
a long time ago
to make it work
but what’s left
from farming days
scrap metal grown
an old wheelbarrow
bowing on its wheel


8/22/7

Old Ironhead

He fell off the girder
through a tin roof
left his silhouette
to be repaired
down to a pile
of stacked steel pipes
put a dent in them
with his head and
got up from there


8/22/7




Holy Water

That dew
in spider circles
little water buckets
left after rain

So holy
to get close
but I wouldn’t dare
tip them
and spill
the web


8/21/7




Cleveland Disappears

Outside
the window
Cleveland
disappears
gradually
purples
then dark
first sirens
then crickets

8/21/7




Southern Gentleman

“I like to
put a peach
in each shoe”




307

“There’s an old expression”
I tell my daughter
when we leave
the garage sale
at 307 Shawnee
“He’d sell the shirt
right off his back”
the 300 pound man
who stood sweating
beside a quilt set
she looked at me
and said, “Well,
it looks like he did.”


8/22/7




The $5 Chicken

It’s brass
hand held around
like a gold award
at the counter
of the junkstore
for a moment
I’m Gary Cooper
digging out
dollars and coins
to match
the masking tape
pricetag




The Bed

What a bed
pulled out from
the checkered couch
a used car salesman
used to own
take it
for a spin
just try
to sleep
if you can




Praying Mantis

How many years
have children
been taunting
the praying mantis?

This porky kid
says it will
jump on your neck
the other says
he wants to hit
it with a rock

But there it holds
to the window screen
of the restaurant
and here I am
telling them
please be kind
look at it
it’s amazing

I feel like
the old man
in a story
from Japan
where sea turtles
turn into kings


8/23/7




Above the Field

trying
to get it
airborne
the way
a kite
will slide
out of hands
before catching
the wind


8/23/7




Heron Doing Time

A bird
with one wing
remembering
flying



8/24/7
Sundown

sundown
sunflower
staring at
the ground




A Whale

Before you go outside
remember to grab
a string beside
the door

Take a shadow
with you

Open the door
hot as a furnace
you’ll be glad
to have
a whale
cool and big
casting blue
over you


8/24/7




Cleveland Cloud

Fill that cloud
with Cleveland
send it on
by the time
I get home
it will arrive
as rain
Limpets

They live on
the roar of
the passing trains

Those houses
by the tracks
like limpets
in the surf


8/24/7
3 Elephants
In Cleveland

Today we saw
three elephants
in Cleveland

Of course
they’ve been there
all along


8/25/7




Out of the Plant

She told her story
on the bench
in front of Discount
all I overheard
as I walked by
“She got escorted
out of the plant”
and the man
next to her
like the radiator
to her thought
let out a sigh


8/25/7




Away from Work

Today is Friday!
that thought
was a shock

All it took
was a week
away from work
to forget about
the days


8/25/7

Climate Control

Things just go on
around the weather
if there’s thunder
it doesn’t matter


8/25/7
Anymore

Trains are cutting through
all the time, that scar
rail crossing is ever warm
I don’t think the trains
know this place, this town
is a blur to blow a horn
and we don’t even count
those trains anymore


8/26/7




The Marx Birds

Reading Groucho Marx
the sound of Sunday
morning cartoon
in the other room
I finally get up
to go see
my son watching
a girl dancing
with four birds


8/26/7




For Louie

Ohio afternoon
is no place
for a werewolf

He paces low
from window
to window
the carpet is hot
under his feet

Locked in the room
he clings to a dream
where he takes off
his fur and suddenly
becomes a man
selling ice cream


8/26/7




Playground

Find a cricket
in the grass
by the swing
tired
worn out
from music
and moonlight
all night


8/26/7




Lady Day

It doesn’t take
a special radio
to hear music
from those days

Put a flower
in your hair
listen to it
play


8/27/7




Clockwork Rabbit

The day starts
with the rabbit
in the yard

The day ends
with the rabbit
there again

I guess
time is set
by that rabbit
better than
a clock

8/27/7




Cleveland Block

Cleveland Block
written on a brick
looking up
the geese
are flying
low above
the eaves
just beyond
our reach


8/28/7




The Relics

who knows
what rivers
or landfills
they lay in
the things
that meant
the world
while they
were mine




Treasures

I don’t keep
track anymore
the earth
hides treasures
and grows
them again
when time
is ripe
In Petals

ganged up on
by flowers
he goes down
in petals
and vines




Spiders

I don’t want
you to be
scared of spiders
when I see you
get nervous
at the sight
of the web
bent there
I touch
silver string
to show you
how the spider
reacts to me

You see
the shape
doesn’t matter
when a spider
wakes in arms
of morning
we’re all alike
living a life
doing what
we have to do



Ring Chimes

no string
of flowers
however beautiful
can parade with
that sound
in the wind




Wallpaper & Waitresses

Someone
to talk to
about someone
you think
you love




Today

Today
a butterfly
made its way
over Lake Erie

Then turned
around
again


8/28/7




Welcomes

Coming into
a big city
even if
your map
directions
are bad
the radio
welcomes
with songs


8/30/7
The 4th Bed

This is
the 4th bed
I’ve slept in
I sightsee
every time
I dream
some crazy
adventure
all night
each place
has new
movies
to play


8/30/7

Laundry Chutes

Those secret canals
run echoes
through houses
this one
I open
to drop
a towel down
I stop
I can hear
a radio
Billy Eckstine
carries up


8/30/7




The Cleveland Monarch
Butterfly Club

You may see them
leaping off brick walls
their orange wings
have sooted gray
by cars and industry
they fly toughened
on the juice of flowers




Perry Como Pure Gold

The cassette tape
on a shelf upstairs
with the toothpaste
lotions and colognes
is a reminder
that anyone
can be romantic




Salting

Salting the tree
with egrets
settling for
the night




The Hummingbird

I’ve watched
the hummingbird
arrive every day
living on flowers
I know the feeling
sped through
a garden
and gone




The Paper Hand

This world crushes
the paper hand
awake at night
waiting to write
that down
I guess
it’s true
we’re all
as papery
as kites
with only
the memory
of words


8/31/7




Free Kittens

Another sign
a mile from one
just like it
on Berlin Road

Around here
they grow
cats like corn
then they
draw signs
on cardboard
to give them
away


8/31/7




Ruby Eyes

The Tin Man is still here over in the
corner of the barn, though I don’t know
if he is much remembered. After all, these
years he resembles a rusted spring that
might have flowed up from caverns
underground and frozen. He’s watched
his friend the Scarecrow who stayed by
dissolve gradually, he was only made of
cloth and hay. The lion had to run away
a long time ago, he didn’t want to scare
anyone who might come by. Dorothy, oh
there’s still the little spark held memory
of her bright in him as a lightning bug
in a jar. The barn leans more, holes let in
the sun in places, while other places get
darker shadows and one day maybe one
of those terrible storms will strike it away
with lightning into fire. But before that
possibility, one morning something else
happened. A little girl’s voice carried past
the slats of wood dreamily, like a lantern
blinking in. She was singing, and she
stopped outside that corner where the
wind blew a hole in. She looked just next
to him, she got courageous enough to put
her head in. Her long brown hair, her eyes.
The Tin Man who was nearly blind, old as
sunken treasure, knew those eyes. They
shone rubies carried inside of her in a
long line of people all the way from
Dorothy.


9/01/7
Even If

Even if
we could stay
the reality
probably
would be
hard times
finding a job
a house
money worries
and sometimes
a loneliness
deep as water
it’s not easy
going back
or remaining


9/01/7




Last Day

Last day
on Lake Erie
there are clocks
tied in trees
and the beach
runs sand
to the sea


9/01/7




A Good Dream

Like a tree
starting as a seed
looking for
a good dream


9/02/7
Pictures & Words

We draw in the sand
race to finish
pictures and words
before the waves
wash them away


9/02/7




Slow Bicycles

Slow bicycles
creak with crickets
it’s so nice
to take it easy
sit in a chair
until the day
turns into shade
if you can
make it here
you’ve got it made


9/02/7
5:30 PM




writing & drawings: allen frost