Lines

by Paul Hellweg

all life a circle
one looks west, the other east
the wind blows both ways

Wilderness Solitude

by Paul Hellweg

“Anxious haste and hasty fear help rob man of his most essential properties. One of these is
reflection ...”  - - Konrad Lorenz

Thirty-five years of solo backpacking
in the Golden Trout Wilderness,
camped today at Movie Stringer
well away from the nearest trail,
just lodgepole pine, fragrant sagebrush,
and the occasional bear, sometimes
alone, often as a pair.
Last night below freezing,
this morning chilly,
not knowing for what time
the mosquitoes have set their alarms,
wanting to heed nature’s call prior,
dropped trou, squatted, and
within a moment, 127 kamikazes
mistook my untanned derriere
for an American carrier,
followed shortly thereafter
by a group of scouts, lost,
wandering off-trail, looking for the way
to Monache Meadow.
Makes me wonder if a soul can find
neither privacy nor solitude
in 300,000 acres of wilderness,
how are we to heed Lorenz’s
call to self-reflection?
Silence terrifies, but
bear, mosquito, human,
apparently few creatures
can tolerate much time alone, and
not many are likely
to be aware, ever,
that silence can
and indeed does
calm our ghosts.

Gently Flows the Rhine

by Paul Hellweg

Beauty intimidates, and
ego’s desire yields nothing.
My body in Room Nine, Joshua Tree Inn,
my timid soul needs to check in too.
Lavender bedspread, mirrored dresser,
floral drapes, paisley pillows,
room once used for nude photo shoots,
home of the singing Lorelei and
exuberant female sexuality,
unapologetic, undaunted.
Mermaids, Sirens, Lorelei
lure men to their fabled doom,
favoring those who fear the female,
murmuring rock, lurking rock.
Women have the incubus, men the succubus,
equal-opportunity demons,
both genders with something to fear,
intimidation, timidity, restraint,
limitations to lose ourselves in,
barring entrance to that Room Nine
where reality awaits the dream.