Wednesday, July 31, 2019
AGAINST POETRY IN ENGLISH
My father did not
waste his words.
He chewed them.
And when he spoke
folks listened.
I learned from that.
Give me one
plum blossom
to make a line,
a poem, a life.
Give me one
mountain hermitage
and enough
silence to make
each syllable
an explosion
of joy. Give me
an aha moment
when once is
enough, and
more than enough.
Monday, July 29, 2019
PAPER
I do not
like white
paper.
I prefer
the off-
white,
cream-
colored,
as if
light has
something
to say
about what
is what.
Sunday, July 28, 2019
BECAUSE
Because, when we sleep,
the world lets loose.
Because, when the world
lets loose, we dream.
Because, when we dream,
we dream ourselves,
the world lets loose.
Saturday, July 27, 2019
ONLY
Friday, July 26, 2019
THE WIND
Thursday, July 25, 2019
CHICORY
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
HOW DEATH-
How death-
ly pale
the dark-
ness which
shimmers
inside
of us.
Nothing
left but
loss and
sadness,
which find
their way
to silence.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
TREES DON'T
Trees don't
believe,
he said.
Or if
they do
their god
is the
sun. Rain
is their
hope. The
sound of
wind in
their leaves
the prayer
they make.
Monday, July 22, 2019
REDTAIL FOLLOWS
Redtail follows
kestrel across
the grasses.
It's eat or
be eaten.
Don't look back,
someone says,
they're gaining.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
THE OLD MAN
The old man
dances on gravel,
smoothing it
where flooding
washed out
the driveway.
He doesn't
know anyone
is watching.
His dancing
settles the world
anyway.
Saturday, July 20, 2019
YOU CANNOT SAY
Friday, July 19, 2019
LESSON
Thursday, July 18, 2019
THE LAMP
The lamp
within the stone,
like a star's
particles
flying at us,
light
we notice
or don't as
we go on
looking
at the surface
of things.
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
THE CEDAR / IN THE WINDOW
The cedar
in the window
is somehow
changed
by my seeing
it. I am
somehow
changed
by its being
there. Neither
of us
speak of this
in ordinary
moments.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
SHADOW
Monday, July 15, 2019
I WONDER
I wonder
do creatures
of the far
stars have clowns?
Do they know
as we do
that when we
laugh, we laugh
at ourselves?
Do they laugh
at themselves
as we do,
at the far
darkness in
the heart of
our dark hearts?
Sunday, July 14, 2019
GREAT BLUE
Great blue
heron
in the
grey sky
above the
library--
what does it
bring me
that I need
now? What
do I take?
Before you
can answer,
the bird
is gone.
Saturday, July 13, 2019
AT THAT MOMENT
Friday, July 12, 2019
THE LOCUSTS
How do the
locusts count
to seventeen
in their long
darkness of
waiting? Why
do they sing
all summer
in their time?
What does their
pregnant silence
mean in other
years? What else
am I not
meant to know?
Thursday, July 11, 2019
HISTORY IS WRIT
History is writ
in the grasses,
the old paths
coming out
of darkness
and leading us
back into
who we are.
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
SOUND OF THE STORM
Tuesday, July 09, 2019
SPRING FOOLISHNESS
Monday, July 08, 2019
REDTAIL FOLLOWS
Redtail follows
movement across
the grasses.
It's eat or
be eaten.
Don't look back,
someone says,
they're gaining.
Sunday, July 07, 2019
THE OLD MAN
The old man
dances on gravel,
smoothing it
where flooding
washed out
the driveway.
He doesn't
know anyone
is watching.
His dancing
settles the world
with joy.
Saturday, July 06, 2019
YOU CANNOT SAY
Friday, July 05, 2019
WHAT CAN WE LEARN
Thursday, July 04, 2019
THE LAMP
The lamp
within the stone,
like a star's
particles
flying at us,
light
we notice
or don't as
we go on
looking
at the surface
of things.
Wednesday, July 03, 2019
THE CEDAR / IN THE WINDOW
The cedar
in the window
is somehow
changed by
my seeing.
I am
somehow
changed by
its being
there. Neither
of us speaks
of this in
ordinary moments.
Tuesday, July 02, 2019
SHADOW
Monday, July 01, 2019
AN IMAGE OF
the black hole
at the center
of the Milky Way --
I think
of us loving
into the night,
the darkness
not something
we have feared.
We empty
ourselves into it
again and again.
Loss fills us
for another
go at hope.
