A Hat Stand for Birds

author’s note:

The religious practice mentioned in the poem does--or at least, did--happen.


A HAT STAND FOR BIRDS

In Bora Bora
kings pay priests to pray for them

because they believe
without those pleas for mercy
they’ll become hat stands after death
and be forced to serve all ghosts--
even those who once lived as lowly peasants.

But I believe good karma must be earned
through sincere action:
unless you learn to serve
others in this life
you'll be made to stand
as a hat stand
in the next.

Not a punishment
but a blessing--
to be deprived
of a chance at education
would be damnation.

I myself have learned much
from all the work I’ve done
holding hats and coats
as well as umbrellas
for countless others--
both high and low.

Under the weight and restraint
of such servitude
I broke open for a moment once
and in my brief high flight
I looked down to see
a hat stand transform into a tree--

hundreds, maybe thousands
of rustling, restless birds
flitted through its branches--
I still hear their cries in my heart.

I’m listening carefully to that cacophony--
hoping I may one day perceive
the glorious design of a symphony.

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© 2023, Michael R. Patton

The Great Obsession of the Hotel Ghost

author's note:

I’m not a ghost…but I have been mistaken for one.


THE GREAT OBSESSION OF THE HOTEL GHOST

Our tour guide says:
the woman walks the same path
night after lonely night--
sometimes, guests
can hear her soft steps
on the hallway carpet
just outside their door.

A forlorn lady, yes--but
I see her fixation as positive:
I believe some ghosts relive
the same tragedy relentlessly
because
they’re trying to see
a higher reason--
they ask:
can a life that seems so damned
have a grand plan?--
they want the wisdom
that will set them free.

Maybe at first
the ghost expects this wisdom to come
in a sudden blazing beam of light from above

but in time, realizes
the light must slowly be raised
from depths within.

Then, as she delves down
maybe she’ll find a design
of cause and effect
but based on my own experience
I’d guess:
intellectual insight
won’t be enough to free her--
no

she needs to delve until she feels
the truth of what
she’d always been taught:
“all is as it should be”--

what I’ve sometimes felt
in a sudden moment--
a moment too soon gone
because
I’m still too dim to hold on to
that great sense of perfection.

However, I believe
if we keep delving and lifting
eventually that sense
will remain with us
then we’ll finally shed
our old dark chains.

But as the tour guide says:
though ghosts will abandon their haunts
they do so only gradually--
slowly fading over years--
decades.

Yes, decades--but
I can see how
with each delve, I lift
just a bit more light
than on the previous night.

© 2019, Michael R. Patton
what I learned while alone: poetry ebook