Author: davestankowicz

Dave Stankowicz is a retired educator who lives on an island off the coast of Portland, Maine with his wife Debbie Jordan and their dog Cody. Liberated from the responsibilities of teaching he has found the space and time to pursue so much that interests him. Dave is the former host of the WMPG radio show Palm Wine Radio, and currently hosts Next To Silence - an hour long show that explores different themes, genres, artists and record labels. Next to Silence can be streamed live on Peaks Island Radio at https://peaksislandradio.com on Mondays and Fridays @ 7:00 PM EDT, and Tuesdays @noon. You can also stream archived shows at his site (category: next to silence) He continues his lifelong efforts to master space and time.

The Smell of Change


 The smell of change,
 the shift towards
 the stillness of growth.
 
 Brilliant flash
 in a last display
 of  color,
 marking the
 dry time of
 sleep.

August 12, 2019 – Stonehenge

Even the Dog

 
 Even the dog
 is flummoxed by
 the existence of
 “Hogan’s Heroes.”

Early Morning

  Early morning 
 searing beach -
 low tide, 
 the whiff of
 fresh brine vegetable decay.
 
 A faint breeze mutes the humidity
 like a flirt whispering
 sweet nothings in your ear,
 
 making promises
 she will never keep.

June 9, 2018 – ANIMALS

Secret Amusement

 
 
 Every source of secret amusement
 comes with the cost
 of isolation, and
 the threat of smugness - 
 conviction of a specialness,
 a vestige of a
 childhood inkling
 that, inhaled
 like some illicit powder,
 maintains that delusion,
 when the rough truth
 remains: 
 it is not so.

August 12, 2019 – Stonehenge Selfies & Posies

Who Owns What?

 
 Born into a situation not of our choosing,
 an everlasting tornado of intentions 
 and events, 
 is what we were born into, 
 and what we will die out of, 
 and almost none of it is under our control.
 With illness and decay, 
 until we are no more.
 
 What do we truly own?

This Morning

 
 This morning I woke up
 to the constant chomping
 of the dog chewing
 her dinosaur,
 steadfastly digging through
 the cotton skin
 to get to the plastic
 squeaker.
 
 For a second
 my mind strayed,
 attempting to
 find a metaphor
 connecting fierce,
 extinct Triassic
 giants to this gentle
 domestic creature;
 
 but all there was
 was a dog chewing
 her squeaky toy
 in the morning
 before breakfast.

Clacks and Flashes and Chings

 
 All the clacks and flashes and chings,
 culture becomes a twittering machine,
 lost in distracting cravings from electronic crack,
 it’s shattered attention flung everywhere - 
 stroboscopic Soma.
 
 Myths are changed
 while consensus reality
 is distorted;
 three dimensions are reduced
 to momentary haze;
 
 anger misplaced,
 counterfeit pleasure,
 sentimentality trumps reason,
 truth is played like three card monte,
 and consequences are yet
 to be tallied.
 
 This is another engraving
 on the Bastards’ win list.