Bakers

Inspired in part by the role of Peter Falk in the movie Castle Keep, 1969, by Sydney Pollack

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1106222/13366779

LEARNER full text (2024)

PeaceWorld or death

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1106222/13381922

APPRENTI texte integral (2024)

Le monde paisible ou la mort

Transcript

WORLD WAR COVID, Poems, mine and theirs

Bakers

 Certain smells haunt human memory, even beyond the grave

Smell is the sharpest trigger of memory

The cool damp smell of woods decay

The blanket heat of tropic jungle, pending swift, dark kills

Mown grass, plowed fields, blacktop, hot rubble hardscapes after rain

The fireworks fall of Kellogs’ crisps a foot deep before winter

The sweet perfume of a lover, of one’s child

Explosives and infrastructure KO’d & charred by the square block, 

Human and animal waste exposed, 

Corpses fair and foul, old and new 

Cemeteries tactically dug into and blasted out of 

Their night-time ghosts draw fire from nervous newbies,

“Oh, they are there, alright, scaring you shitless; 

They just never shoot at you, so cease fire at them!

(Or I'll kick your ass, Private!)”

Fire discipline is hard for unblooded troops

The deep breath of nature renewed,

Its flocks and fish  and stems exponential, its insect hum louder,

The quiet, simple hum of nature growing stronger

That only loudens after years of human plague.

Bread eaters share the best smell of civilization

Every baker gets up early every morning

Day and night for a  lifetime’s devotion

Sacred devotion to the smell of hot fresh bread

That fragrance means everyone will be fed today, at least

And not the other stink of famine and chaos

As long as they can get up and go to work

And even after, even if things don’t work out so well

As long as they breathe, fuel the fire, get flour and clean water.

So too, cultures that eat rice, barley, 

The three sisters, the diet of Pacific colonists

Other foods just as honorable I don’t list

Someone gets up early to make tomorrow happen

A common meal prepared early morning

Most often by women, of course

But bakers usually form couples equally devoted (I guess?)

Plus the breakfasts of Africa, mother to humans

The sun rises, where is the morning meal?

As common to the unarmed victim as to his hunter

We Learners have that at least in common?

How hard would it be to share breakfast every morning

In hourly meridian succession across the world

The way we share New Years Day once a year

And wish each other health and happiness?

PeaceWorld or death

IN FRENCH

… 

COMMENT?  markmulligan@comcast.net